WATCH: Mainers Blow Up a 425 Pound Pumpkin with Tannerite in Windsor, Maine

Kevin Haskell tried his hand at growing a giant pumpkin this season with hopes of entering a contest. His first generation pumpkin reached a massive 425 pounds, but with his competitors weighing in at over 1200 pounds, he decided to display his pumpkin in another way... By exploding it into thousands of pieces in an undisclosed gravel pit in Windsor, Maine.

Kevin is my step-dad's best friend, so I was invited along to capture the explosive moment on camera. The pumpkin was nearly as tall as I am and the 20 pounds of Tannerite nearly filled a 5-gallon bucket.

I was worried that the cashier at Hussey's General Store would question the purchase of so many exploding targets, along with a few boxes of handgun bullets, but he simply said, "You know you're gonna need a bigger gun to explode these things right?" Oh, we know, and that's why Kevin packed the 300 Winchester Magnum, too.

I know that my step-dad and Kevin had everything under control and made sure the conditions were safe before firing the gun. I urge you not to try this at home! The explosion pushed us all back in our seats. The pumpkin was 100-yards away but you could feel the pressure and fragments of plastic from the bucket and pumpkin puree were splattered across the entire pit.