CHARLESTON — South Carolina could soon join other Southern states that allow alligator hunting.

South Carolina wildlife officials plan to introduce legislation next year that would allow a limited alligator hunting season. Derrell Shipes of the state Department of Natural Resources said officials are studying seasons in other states including Georgia, Florida and Louisiana.

South Carolina’s alligator population is estimated at about 100,000 — two times what it was around 1970, when experts think it bottomed out.

As the numbers have increased, the state has allowed removing nuisance alligators and some hunting on certain private lands.

South Carolina’s proposal recognizes the species’ rebound from its endangered status, but it would still follow federal protections extended to alligators as a threatened species.

“There’s still a good bit up in the air,” Shipes said. “It has been done in other states, and we will look to those states for lessons learned and for successes and model our program after that.”

The proposal already has the support of the agency’s board and some lawmakers.

“We need a gator hunting season in this state,” said Senate Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. “We do not have an endangered species.”

McConnell recently told Charleston-area lawmakers that he is very concerned, especially after a woman reported seeing a 12-foot-long gator near children swimming.

An alligator hunting season could provide a new recreational outlet and curb complaints about nuisance gators.

Georgia has an alligator population estimated at about 200,000 and began allowing limited gator hunting in 2003, when 180 hunters bagged 73 gators.

South Carolina’s hunting rules would be crafted so the alligator population stays healthy and the gators killed are not lost or wasted, Shipes said.

The state gets about 500 alligator complaints each year, and it permits the removal of about 200 annually, Shipes said.

“It’s clear, very clear, that the animal has recovered from its endangered and threatened status of 30 to 40 to 50 years ago,” he said.

Other lawmakers agree.

“I’ve seen rice fields down in the ACE Basin where you can almost go and walk on them,” said state Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Charleston.

State Rep. Chip Limehouse recently recalled a fishing trip to Bear Island where he was surrounded by alligators.

“We have a very, very healthy gator population in this state,” said Limehouse, R-Charleston. “It’s just nerve-wracking when you’re trying to fish and you’ve got a hundred gators coming at you.”

Wildlife officials expect to finish the legislation within a few weeks. South Carolina’s Legislature convenes Jan. 9.