As the battle for 350 fresh gator tags
Nears the end of week one...
What a giant.
He'll go in the hall of fame.
...Tensions rise as newcomers challenge
The king of the swamp...
This year we're gonna knock him off his throne.
Be careful what you wish for.
He don't know that I'm with the queen of the swamp.
...While mother nature deals punishing blows.
This is just a disaster,
And that's not good for us right now.
And hunters desperately try to turn their season around...
Y'all ready to get it?
Y'all need a bigger boat
If you're gonna catch gators to keep up with me.
It's a never-ending struggle to triumph over all.
Slow down, dude. [snap]
What are you doing?
-It's huge! -Oh, my god, anna.
He's gonna flip us!
♪♪
It's the final day of week one of gator season,
And the competition
For the longest average gator size rages on.
Let's make it happen.
The landrys' reign continues
At nine feet, six inches,
While willie and little willie are nipping at their heels
With nine feet, five inches,
And ronnie and ashley cling to third.
In pierre part...
I'm excited.
-We ready, ashley? -Oh, yeah.
Ashley and anna
Are preparing to hunt in troy landry's backyard.
Hey! Hey! [horn honks]
[honk]
Uh-oh.
The king of the swamp has decided to pay 'em a visit.
Aw, y'all look so cute.
[laughs]
Anna and I are hunting where troy hunts,
And I know that troy is king of the swamp,
But with this big competition,
It's not an average of how many gators you bring in,
But who brings in the biggest average gator.
So hopefully this year we're gonna knock him off his throne.
Y'all pumped up or what?
Oh, yeah, I'm excited. We got them bigger gators here.
Yeah, we came to catch the big'uns.
Be careful what you wish for.
Comprends?
It's easy for y'all if you catch the little ones.
Cypress knees, the roots,
Yeah, you're gonna have a lot of trouble here, too, believe me.
All right.
-All right, ladies, good luck. -All right, bye, y'all.
Have a good one.
Remember, catch a lot of little ones.
You, too, man.
-[laughs] -y'all stay safe.
Troy is just trying to throw me off.
Trying to tell me things that aren't right
Just so that I'll do 'em
Because I'm used to taking his advice.
But I know that he wants to win those 350 tags, too.
-You competitive? -Very.
But I guarantee you
He was coming over here to mess with our juju.
He wanted to know what area we were going to.
I mean, we got a lot to prove.
Troy is king of the swamp, you know.
Mr. Troy might be the king of the swamp,
But he don't know that I'm with the queen of the swamp.
That's right. We got this.
All right, anna, this one's down.
It's wrapped around that tree.
Let's hope this one's a 12-footer right here.
Feel anything?
Oh, there's something.
Get the gun, get the gun, get the gun.
Oh, yeah, he's already pulling back. Get ready.
I'm ready.
-Oh! -Whoa!
Whoo! He tried to get in the boat.
-Whoo! -Oh, shoot.
Just get me a shot.
[gunshot]
-Night, night! -Sleep tight.
This nine-footer is a solid start,
But they'll need even bigger to rise from third.
Here we go.
Oh, yeah, that's a good gator.
We gotta focus on the big gators.
We're gonna have to have a much bigger gator than this
To win against troy.
He obviously knows where to get the bigger gators,
And he's been doing this for a lot longer than me.
Now don't forget about my lucky socks.
So, you know, we're gonna get some 12s today.
I can't believe you wore the same socks.
They smell a little bit.
Anna having just a positive mindset is so important to me
Because she's motivating me to think more positively,
And that's super important out here.
20 miles west in bayou chene,
Daniel edgar and his grandson dorien
Have secured 11 tags
For an area that hasn't been hunted in a decade.
They believe it should be full of monsters,
And daniel has a strategy
Guaranteed to catch only the biggest gators.
Little higher.
Seven-, eight-foot alligator can't get to that bait.
To catch these 11 tags,
We're gonna set our bait 36 inches above the water.
Mathematically, if your bait's three feet above the water,
And an alligator can only jump a third of his length,
Well, that eliminates everybody under nine feet.
Guaranteed to catch a monster.
Line's down over here, pa.
I think he's on there.
I'm coming.
-Watch him! -Whoa!
Give me a shot on this thing, pa.
Burn him.
Give me a shot.
Bring him over here.
[gunshot]
All right, let's go straight up where your feet are, pa.
Yup.
All right, let's go with him.
There we go.
That's what I'm talking about.
Starting off with a nine-footer is pretty positive.
Having a plan and, you know, as it comes together,
Looking way ahead at the prize,
When these plans work, it's really satisfying.
Coming hot out of the gate.
That's more like it, papaw.
We need some more big ones.
After a slow start...
Leron and porkchop are hoping today
Will propel them up the leaderboard.
Yeah, man.
Me and porkchop doing everything right.
We just need to sharpen up our skills a little bit.
What you think, buddy?
I got him, I got him, cuz.
Give me a shot, porkchop. Give me a shot, buddy.
I'm gonna give you one, cuz.
[gunshot]
Whoo, man.
Yeah.
-Let me--I got this, porkchop. I got this here.
Grab the back foot. Not that foot.
Sounds good to me, cousin.
This nine-footer is a good start,
But they'll need bigger to move up in the competition.
I'm trying to still keep my positive attitude.
Things are looking up, and I have a lot of faith.
I wanna win so bad,
I'm starting to question my own self sometimes.
North of bayou cocodrie,
King of the swamp troy landry and his deckhand pickle wheat
Hunt an area troy calls deadwood,
Where alligators are only one of the threats.
Deadwood is a part of the swamp that's real deep.
We had a big hurricane years ago,
And it pushed in a big surge, a surge of saltwater.
Saltwater stayed there for about a week.
It killed thousands of trees,
And it's a good place to hunt alligators
Because it's deep swamp.
Look, they got a cone at the top.
See that, pee-wee?
Who put that up there?
That's from 1973.
The water was 20 feet higher than it is right now.
It's dangerous.
All them thousand trees you see up there that's dead,
If you bump 'em with your boat, they can fall in your boat.
Watch the winch. The winch gonna catch.
Whoo! We just made that one.
We got to be careful, p.
You know how sometimes when we pull up to a tree to put a line,
I bump the tree a little bit?
We gotta be careful,
'cause sometime when you bump 'em,
-The top breaks off. -Yeah.
One of 'em hit my little brother in the head. Guy?
He pulled up to one of them dead trees to put a line,
And he bumped it kind of hard.
He was coming in hot, and the top broke off
And hit him in the head and knocked him out.
Knocked him out of his boat.
Slow down a little bit.
What, p?
Pee-wee, they got stumps that push me into something.
Be careful.
My heart is in my throat today.
All right, let's check this one.
What we got, p, what we got?
Nothing?
Oh, wait, hold on.
Whoo! It look like a good one.
Oh, god.
-Want me to take the line? -Mm-hmm.
Whoo!
Ooh! Whoa!
-Ooh! -In deadwood,
Troy and pickle battle a monster.
Shoot him!
Whoo!
Shoot him!
[gunshot]
Whoa! Boy, dude, that was a perfect shot.
We gonna use the winch, pee-wee, on this thing.
Pull up on him a little bit.
Like that.
All right, p. Good.
That's a big alligator.
Deadwood may be dangerous, but this 11-foot gator
Has pickle reassessing the risk versus reward.
That's a big one. -The kind we're looking for.
I ain't coming back without a helper.
That's right.
There's a lot of risk coming into this area,
And all these dead trees I'm super worried about.
But this first line we pulled up to,
We have a massive alligator on.
So I'm excited.
I'm not even thinking about the trees anymore.
I'm just ready to run these lines
And see what we got back here.
I'm on a mission.
On a mission to kill me.
If I make it through today, it'll be a miracle.
I'm about to call my mama.
S.O.S.!
Call mine, too.
Across the bayou...
I like hunting in troy's backyard.
I think we're gonna fill this boat today.
-Max it out? -Yeah.
Ashley and anna are determined to out-hunt
The king of the swamp in his own territory.
I'm really hoping that anna and I
Can get some big gators in the boat.
Because it's a lot of pressure
When you're going up against the king of the swamp.
Line's down.
It's right there.
Please don't be on land. Please don't be on land.
-These gators--oh! -No, no, no. No, no, no.
He's pulling tight, he's pulling tight,
And he's going to the big water, anna.
That is a good, good sign.
Are you ready? You got the gun ready?
Okay, I got the gun.
He's moving.
Hang on. I'm gonna move us out of this tree.
Oh, my god, hold him, anna!
Holy smokes.
Oh!
Don't let him roll up the line.
He's in shallow water right here, ashley.
He could jump in this boat.
Oh, my god.
Yeah, there's a lot of mud. He's tearing it up.
See if you can pull him up long enough to get me a shot.
He's sitting in the mud under the boat.
Get out from underneath my boat.
[tap, tap, tap]
He's coming back out. Hold on to him.
Hold on to him, anna.
Hold him.
[gunshot]
Boom! Night, night!
Sleep tight, alligator!
-Whoo! -Whoo!
Oh, man.
This eight-footer isn't the giant
They were hoping to haul in.
Obviously, ashley and I's goal
Is to catch as many big gators as possible
Because we wanna win those 350 tags.
But if you're on a hook and line catching gators,
Sometimes you catch small ones, and you gotta take what you get.
We gotta change up our strategy.
This isn't good.
Not good at all.
Back in bayou chene...
-Big gators only. -Big gators only.
We don't need anything small.
Daniel and dorien have hung their lines
Three feet above the water
To make sure they catch only big gators.
Line's down, pa.
I can't tell yet.
Not sure if we got something on there or not.
A whole lot of nothin'.
Man.
We're hanging the bait real high.
I don't understand how.
I know one thing. We need some alligators in this boat.
Something's not right.
I'm concerned. It's not looking that good.
And this area has got a lot of big alligators,
But they're just not getting on the line.
There's a mystery here somehow.
Another one.
I can't believe we missed this one.
The problem is all animals like chicken,
Especially raccoons.
Yeah, pa, you can definitely tell a coon got this one.
Look how easy it is for 'em to get here.
-Just come up that tree, huh? -Oh, yeah.
Pa, he just walked right there to the chicken.
Finding these several lines down and pulled towards the bank,
That's normally a raccoon's style,
And I'm pretty sure that's what it is.
We have cayenne pepper in the boat.
Why don't we put some cayenne pepper on the bait,
A little bit on the bank?
Okay. Yeah, the coons are definitely a problem.
We gotta try something different.
Yeah, yeah.
Here in creole cajun country, we all have pepper.
If we can spice this bank up,
Put some of this cayenne pepper along the bank,
As soon as the raccoon smells it,
He is just not gonna go anywhere around it.
There's no way a coon is gonna grab that piece of chicken.
Cayenne pepper will run him away.
That's right.
There's no coon gonna mess with that.
Mm-hmm.
In amelia, leron and porkchop are searching for the monster
That will rocket them to the top of the competition.
Me and porkchop, we gotta step it up.
We need to figure out something fast.
Because if we don't,
There's not a chance in hell we gonna get these tags.
Straight ahead of you, buddy.
Whoo!
Watch out, cuz. Come on.
Come on, cuz!
In amelia, leron and porkchop
Are fighting their biggest gator of the season.
-Gimme a shot, gimme a shot. -I'm trying.
Oh, man!
Porkchop.
It happens, porkchop.
Man.
You get up early in the morning, you go out there.
You run your lines, you know, you're pumped up,
And then when things not going right,
You gotta come up with another game plan.
It'll be all right, man.
Meanwhile, at duffy's...
-Watch out it don't splatter ya. -It's good.
Ashley and anna didn't reel in the giants
They were hoping for in troy's backyard.
Nothing they've caught measures over nine feet.
-Just one more? -Yeah.
I hope y'all ready to unload ours today.
What y'all caught?
Well, we caught, uh...
Don't tell him. Nuh-uh.
Our biggest was 12-4.
Dang. Need a forklift for every one of his.
Good god.
Dude, his average is really high.
Look at his smallest one.
Do you know how embarrassing that would've been
If we had came in after him?
After this?
I'm very, very competitive,
Anna is, too, which means
That we're both gonna do whatever it takes
To make sure that we don't lose this competition like this.
As the day comes to a close,
Troy's risky trip to deadwood
Secures his spot atop the leaderboard,
While the gap between ashley and willie grows larger.
Those are monsters.
We're bringing big boys in tomorrow.
It's what we gotta do.
-I'm not here to lose. -No.
As a new day begins in pierre part,
Ashley and anna head back to hunt in troy landry's backyard.
But today, ashley's making some changes.
What're we using this boat for? This pirogue?
Well, my plan today
Is we're gonna use that to get back in those cuts.
Okay.
Our boat, I know we can get through the sloughs with,
But we're gonna need that one for sure.
Why are we doing this, like, the cuts and sloughs?
Well, troy's boat is three times as wide as ours.
His boat can't get back in either one of them,
And I think that we can get
Some of these gators that he's missed.
Yeah, that makes sense.
I mean, we gotta have a different strategy from troy.
We're just gonna get more creative.
Awesome.
-Whatever it takes. -Whatever it takes.
The only advantage I have over troy
Is he goes along just the big water
And puts out as many lines as he can.
So anna and I, we're gonna bring a pirogue today
So that we can get back into these little narrow cuts
Where not a lot of people can get.
This is like old-school alligator hunting.
There are big, big gators there.
Trying to find a good place to put our pirogue.
What about that, ash?
Yeah, that looks really good.
Yeah, that looks perfect.
Right there.
There's a gator!
Anna and I, we're gonna set lines
Where nobody else wants to go.
It may take us a little more time,
But I'm hoping that these bigger gators
Are gonna bring our average up and make it worth it.
This looks good.
There we go.
That oughta be good, right?
With their pirogue stashed,
Ashley and anna have everything they need
To navigate these narrow and shallow waterways.
You got your lucky socks on or not?
Ha-ha, I wore 'em again.
Over in the spillway,
Leron and porkchop have come up with a solution
To kick their season into high gear.
Me and porkchop realize there are people teaming up, you know,
To come together to get these tags.
So me and porkchop are like, hey, man,
Maybe we need to think about teaming up with somebody.
What's up?
Y'all need a bigger boat, man,
If you're gonna catch gators to keep up with me.
[all laugh]
Gonna bust our butts.
I've been knowing leron and porkchop
For a good while, you know.
I met these boys years ago.
They called me up,
And they got some kind of little contest going on.
And you don't just run up and get 350 tags from nowhere,
So this is really worth-- worth shooting for.
You could make a lot of money on this one.
The tide's been dropping out.
Now how high is y'all's baits?
'cause a lot of time when the tide goes out at night,
People don't realize you gotta watch your weather.
If the tide drops,
The gator hooks are gonna be higher.
So just drop that bait down a little bit lower,
I think you'll do all right.
They're hard workers, and, um, they gonna get it done.
But I think with a few tips from me,
We're gonna get it done with bigger gators,
And that's what we after.
We gonna win this thing, I think.
Let's get 'em.
After missing out on gator season last year
Due to a hurricane,
Swamp veteran bruce mitchell
Had to forfeit many of his tags.
Now he's eager to team up to win 350 new tags,
And he knows the perfect place to get started.
Oh, yeah, definitely got a gator on right here.
Wonder time. I wonder what we got.
Oh, whoa!
Mm! Come on. Oh! Come on, buddy.
Oh, yeah. Whoa!
Whoa!
Boy, he's mean. Whoa!
-In myrtle grove... -Come on. Oh!
Whoa!
Bruce fights a dinosaur.
Whoa!
Boy, he's mean. Whoa!
Ahh-ah-ah-ah.
[gunshot]
Put the magnum on him.
Whew!
All right. That's a nice gator here.
This monster is a sure sign
This new partnership could work for everyone.
He's at least a nine or 10.
I think leron and porkchop's gonna like this.
Come to the first line, we got a good gator.
I mean, I hope it stays like this the whole season.
Not a bad gator at all.
Now if I can catch about 10 more like this,
15 more today, I'll be happy.
In bayou chene...
Using this cayenne pepper,
Those raccoons won't know what hit 'em.
Yesterday, daniel and dorien
Covered all their bait with cayenne pepper...
There you go. There you go, pa.
In the hopes it would stop raccoons
From knocking their lines down.
That'll back those coons off.
Whatever job you do, there's always something
That you have to adapt to, adjust to.
And right now, I've got a raccoon problem,
But I feel really good.
Our plan is in place,
So we're gonna go run these lines
And see if these raccoons
Decided to leave our chicken alone.
We're driving up to one of our cayenne lines.
Looks like we got something on there, huh, pa?
Yeah.
Line's tight.
Could be a bull.
Yeah, I see him.
He's decent, pa.
He's decent. Get your rifle.
Nice one.
Whoa, boy, that's a good one.
Give me a shot.
Turn his back to me.
I can only do so much with this.
Hey, big boy.
Watch yourself, watch yourself.
He's destructive.
He's a good alligator.
Take it to him, take it to him.
[gunshot]
That take care of that problem.
That helped our average out.
-Let me get up. -Let me get a leg.
Let's go.
Good job, pa. Nice alligator, huh?
-Oh, yeah. -Oh, yeah.
Not a monster, but a keeper.
This nine-footer is an encouraging sign
The cayenne pepper might be working.
You know, starting off with a nine-footer is pretty positive.
Starting to feel like, well, we're still in the game.
We're still in the game. This is real positive.
We got a chance.
I say we just keep doing what we're doing.
It's working. Stay with the program.
Meanwhile, in deadwood...
Ooh, this is a problem.
These water lilies are so tight, so packed.
Troy and pickle return to check lines
And find the area choked with water lilies.
See, I would think that they'd be all up in that, you know?
Good for cover.
Yeah, but if it gets too tight, they don't like it.
Yesterday evening,
They had a few little patches of water lilies here and there,
But it wasn't nearly this bad.
They can't hunt like they want. It's hard for them
Because they can swim underneath them,
But they can't hunt when they swimming underneath them.
My motor's running hot.
-That's a cluster. -I'm not going in there.
We not gonna try to bust through these lilies.
-Okay? -Yeah.
I'd need an airboat to get in there.
This big boat, we're gonna get stuck
If we go in there.
We gonna come out of this canal,
And we'll go around the big hole.
But we have to be careful.
And you gonna have to really pay attention, okay?
Because if I bump one of them dead trees,
Half of the top of that tree could fall in the boat
And hit you in the head or hit me.
So we gonna have to go extremely carefully.
All right, let's do it.
We got a game plan. Let's do it.
Big tree. [bleep]! What are you doing, dude?
Goddog it.
Hit that doggone log.
I hit a log. I couldn't stop.
Pickle: Just pay attention. [laughs]
Come around with it. Come around with it.
Ooh, pulling tight.
Be careful. Coming in hot.
Ooh-whoo.
What we got, p?
I don't know. He pulled kinda hard just now.
Urrgh! Can you see through lilies?
-Oh, my god! -Whoo!
Ooh!
-[grunting] -got him?
Yeah! Ooh!
Shoot!
[gunshot]
Do I need to put another one?
Mm, I don't think.
This seven-footer is not the way
They wanted to start day two in deadwood.
You know, it's a lot of work and a lot of time to get back here
And bust through all them water lilies,
And all we got caught so far is a seven-foot alligator.
That's hurting our average,
And it's definitely not worth the time and the trouble
It took us to get in here.
This is setting us back big time.
I wish this was open more.
All them lilies. If them lilies weren't in there...
[whistles]
Deep in the cypress swamp outside of pierre part,
Ashley and anna hope hunting in the narrow cuts and sloughs
Will help them compete with troy.
Just watch yourself.
We're gonna hit right here.
Slide through.
Oh, this is so hard to get through.
There's definitely no boat traffic.
Mr. Troy is not fishing the cuts and sloughs.
He fishes the main areas because he runs so many lines.
That's his strategy.
But ashley wants to change it up.
She wants to go back in these cuts and sloughs.
It takes more time,
But there's bigger gators back there.
I swear that line ain't far from here.
It's just gotta be right up here on these next couple trees.
If we can just get past right here, we'll be smooth sailing.
There it is, right under that tree.
And it's down, anna.
Ooh, it's down. Yes!
I got the line.
I'll get the gun. Is he heavy?
Yeah, he's pulling back hard.
Come on, let me see him.
Just be ready to duck and let that line go.
Pull him up real nice and smooth.
-You see him yet? -I don't see him yet.
Oh, I see bubbles! Hold him!
Holy smokes! Whoo!
In a narrow cut, ashley and anna
Have their hands on a monster.
Holy smokes!
Good god!
Whoo, he's mad!
-Trying to get you a shot. -Whoo!
Come on, gator.
Hold him.
-Yes! -Whoo!
-Night, night. -Sleep tight.
-Oh, girl! -Oh, my god!
Yes, yes, that is him!
-Hell, yeah. -Did you see that?
-That's right, girl. -Oh, my god.
We got to get this big boy in the boat.
Gotta do some stretching first.
-Yeah, stretch out. -Swamp yoga.
[grunts]
Here we go, here we go.
I think I got it slid further.
Three. [grunting]
No, no, no.
We need to put it around that other back leg.
Damn.
-You okay? -Yeah.
Hang on.
Hang on, I think we got him.
I think we got him.
We got him!
Whoo!
Hell, yeah.
This 12-foot giant
Is exactly what they needed to gain ground on troy.
Coming out here is a lot of work,
But anna and I, we can be a little more selective
In the gators that we're able to get.
Troy's definitely a contender,
But at the same time, he's gotta run a lot more tags.
-Queen of the swamp for sure. -That's right.
You gonna be princess of the swamp, you keep on.
I want my tiara.
I'll have to get you one made out of some gator scoots.
I'll take it.
Oh, man, I love these big ones.
Me, too.
19 miles south, in amelia,
Leron and porkchop's fortunes have improved
Since bruce told them to lower their baits.
Bruce, with his experience and his know-how,
Just adds so much value to our team,
Because, you know, me and porkchop,
We been doing this, but bruce been doing this.
He can give us a ton of tips, you know,
If things not working out.
-Big gator, babe. Big gator. -Oh, yeah, man.
Ha-ha! I got him, bud, I got him.
He ain't goin' nowhere, cuz. Huh!
-Get me a shot, bud. -Come on, you gotta get him.
Oh, man. All right, all right.
Come on. Get ready. There he is.
[gunshot]
With another beast on their line,
Leron and porkchop are reaping the benefits
Of their new alliance.
Bruce got so much swamp knowledge, man,
That our luck start changing.
Everything that he was telling us,
You know, we took it up, we took it in,
And we started listening at him and following him,
And it paid off for us.
Meanwhile, in myrtle grove,
Swamp veteran bruce mitchell
Is taking leron and porkchop's hunt to the next level.
You start fishing in areas like this,
Then the big gators come out.
Something new in the area, they wanna see what's going on.
And I see big gators everywhere over here.
Everywhere you look, they got a big gator.
What we trying to do at the end of the day
Is we gonna add leron and porkchop's gators
And my gators together and see what the average is.
And if we get a big enough average and can win this,
If we get out there and hit and catch right,
I think we got a good chance, you know.
Ooh...
We got a line down look like.
Yes, indeed.
Starting to stack 'em up.
Whoa!
This is not a small gator. He feels heavy.
Keep on going, gonna knock yourself out.
Sometimes they just don't wanna give it up.
Unh!
I definitely think I'm doing-- I'm doing my part.
I'm just hoping porkchop and leron can get it.
This gator is a solid addition
To bruce's already impressive haul.
Golly, yeah, he's a lot bigger than I thought he was.
Hey, I'm glad that I can help out and keep the average up.
You know, we wanna win. We wanna catch these gators.
We wanna make that money.
All right.
I'm knocking this bag of tags down pretty fast,
But I think I got more if I need 'em.
In bayou chene,
After spreading cayenne pepper on their bait,
Daniel and dorien have yet to find
A single line raided by raccoons,
And they're loading up the boat.
Coon repellent.
Our plan is in place.
We've got our cayenne pepper.
Starting to feel like, well, this is real positive.
We got a chance.
Line's down, pa.
Let's see what we got here.
Got something, pa?
He's wrapped up.
Oh, yeah. Told you that cayenne would get him, pa.
Hold on to him.
Give me a shot, son.
I ain't got much to play with.
This might be the best one all day, boy.
350 tags, pa, on the line.
Give me a shot, give me a shot.
I'm jammed up. Ain't got no room.
In bayou chene, daniel and dorien
Have a fighter on the line.
Whoa. He's trying to put water in the boat.
Burn him.
Oh, that was my shot.
I only got so much rope.
Stop him.
Man, I just can't get it.
Whoa!
Burn him.
-That took care of that problem. -Thank god.
Okay, help me.
Let me get the nose.
Let me get a leg. Hold on.
Wait. Ow!
He's rolling on my hand.
Handle that thing, pa.
-Let's go. -All right.
Two.
Handle that thing.
Yeah.
That's an 11-footer.
Well, I don't know about 11.
Come on, pa, you gotta stretch it out.
It's a competition.
That cayenne pepper did the trick, huh, pa?
This plan to use pepper seems like it was a good plan.
At this point, it looks really good, really positive.
Our luck's changing now, pa.
That's the kind of average we need to win this thing.
In deadwood, day two in this hunting ground
Is proving to be a disappointment
For troy and pickle.
Line after line after line.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Normally we catch a lot of big alligators
Because this is one of the best parts of the swamp
To hunt right here.
But all we had caught so far
Was the little skinny seven-foot alligator.
So maybe they moved out of here 'cause the lilies are so bad.
It look like, on this side,
The dead wood is a little bit better.
I think the lilies ain't as packed over here.
Yeah, they not as thick.
It's kinda keeping our little trail.
-Got a few little open spots. -Yeah.
Pee-wee, pee-wee, pee-wee.
Look by them water lilies. Look by them lilies.
I just seen a big one go down.
Oh, he's a good one.
-It's a good one? -Yeah.
Hey, I got a nice one.
Show him who's the boss, pee-wee.
Show him who's the boss.
Oh! Whoo!
Big one, pee-wee.
Whoo!
-Don't panic. -Whoo!
Whoa! You all right?
-Whoo! It's a big one. -Unh!
He's doing what he wants.
Whoo!
Whoo! I got him. Shoot!
[gunshot]
Ooh! Oh, my god.
This nine-footer doesn't meet troy's high expectations,
And it's only their second catch today.
It's so much trouble and takes so much time to get here.
It didn't set us back on our average,
But it set us back on our numbers big time.
We ain't gonna win no contest like this, pee-wee.
Nope.
-Know what we gonna win? -A goose egg.
In the cypress swamp outside pierre part...
These things are so tipsy, man.
Ashley and anna use their pirogue to reach a line
They've set in a spot inaccessible to bigger boats.
Small boat.
I know.
That's the only thing I'm worried about
Is getting a big gator with it.
You know what I mean?
Oh, I know.
I'm super nervous
About being able to get a gator into the pirogue.
Because once you break the water surface in a pirogue,
You're either flipping or you're sinking.
But at the same time,
We have to do whatever we can to win those 350 tags.
Ashley, the line's down and it's out the water,
But it looks kind of slack.
Yeah, it might just be because it's so shallow back here.
Feel it?
He's pulling a little bit. See them bubbles?
Just pull him up real slow.
Don't let him thrash. He'll flip the boat.
See? Just like that.
It's huge! [thud]
Oh, my god, anna, here.
I'm gonna lean this way, I'm gonna lean this way.
All right.
Try to get him pulled up just good enough for a shot, okay?
Oh, my god! Whoo!
This is insane, ashley. You got the gun?
Oh, my god, we're gonna flip over in there with him, anna.
Don't make any sudden movements.
-Oh, my god, is he big! -[bleep]
Anna, back. Be careful, be careful.
He's gonna flip us!
Anna, back. Be careful. Perched in a small pirogue...
He's gonna flip us!
Ashley and anna battle a dinosaur.
Good enough for a shot, okay?
-Watch your face. -Here he comes.
Watch your face!
-Whoo! -Oh, thank god.
I got him. Whew!
Great shot, deadeye. Oh, my god.
-Yes! Night, night. -Sleep tight.
There's no way we're gonna be able to get him in this boat.
Hell, no. He's bigger than the boat.
-You know what we oughta do? -What?
Is put this life jacket on him.
Oh, will he float?
That's what I'm thinking.
Pulling a gator into a pirogue is not the easiest thing to do.
-Lean that way. -Okay.
So I don't tip you in with me.
So I'm gonna have to get into the water with it.
This is so stupid.
Put his arm through the life jacket if you can.
You got it? All right.
All right. Now I'm gonna push him back.
Gonna try to roll him onto his stomach.
Oh, my god, that's a beast.
I hope this works.
Let me try to cinch that.
We get the life jacket around him
Just enough to where his body
Would hopefully float along a little bit
To where we could paddle on the way out.
-Got it? -Yup.
Whoo!
Almost there.
One, two, three.
Okay.
What an ordeal this gator was.
But at the same time,
We didn't waste time catching little gators,
And we kept our average up for the day
Because we were able to target just big gators.
Unh!
-Uh! -Aah! Whoo!
That's the name of the game right now.
We got to win those 350 tags,
And anna and I did our part today.
I can't--I can't believe we got him in this boat.
Golly, the things you do for big gators.
Meanwhile, in myrtle grove...
That's another tag and another gator.
Bruce's boat is already loaded down with big gators,
And he still has one line left to run.
These all nines and 10-footers.
I gotta call leron and porkchop.
I hope they holding up on their end.
I'm hoping we could all do good together.
Just make us a good average for this year.
We need to get these tags.
If we can get these tags, we can make a lot of money.
I think that tree be shaking.
If it's something,
It's a little bitty one tangled up in the grass.
Let's see what we got, huh?
What we got?
Whoa!
That son of a gun almost bit me.
Whoa!
This dude is tough.
Whoa!
There he is.
[gunshot]
Whee! Got his attention.
With this 11-foot leviathan onboard,
The team's average is rising quickly.
I think I did pretty good today for an old man.
Got good numbers, good size.
I'm just kinda hoping
Leron and porkchop pull up on their end.
I'm hoping they catching a lot of gators.
Nice gators. Gonna help my average out a lot.
Back in amelia...
Since teaming up with bruce earlier,
Leron and porkchop's slump has turned into a hot streak.
I thought we just wasn't gonna catch nothin'
Besides the small ones.
But everything is starting to turn around now.
We keep running into one giant gator after another.
You know, that's just a lesson of where you just never quit.
You know, a lot of things work out
When you just keep pushing.
He in the mud now.
He coming up?
Down in amelia...
Leron and porkchop have a fight on their hands.
[gunshot]
-Whoo, boy. -We got him, buddy.
Grab him with that stick.
-I got this here. -All right, come on.
-Grab that back leg. -[grunting]
Grab that back leg.
[grunting]
Lord have mercy.
-Whoo! -Whew!
We got him, cuz.
-Whoo! -Whoo!
I'm so happy that we end up teaming up with bruce
'cause we got some big alligators.
Bruce give us all the confidence in the world.
And, I mean, teaming up with him and our luck changed.
We started catching some nice, big alligators.
Oh, yeah.
In bayou chene...
Good thing we put that cayenne pepper on that chicken
To keep them coons away.
It's working. It's obvious it's working.
Daniel and dorien's swamp wisdom
Helped fend off their bait snatchers,
And they've reaped the rewards in full.
We're pretty loaded.
I'm feeling pretty good about this thing.
We've got 10 big ones.
Our average is right where it needs to be.
I'm feeling confident about this plan coming together.
We've got one more line in this corner right here, pa.
Line's tight.
Could be a bull.
Whoa!
Hold him, pa. Hold him.
Don't let him get under that log.
-Don't let him whip you. -That's a big alligator.
Prop that line along your leg.
That's what we need. Raise his head up.
Pull him back over here.
That's the way. Pull his head up, pa.
-Raise his head up, pa. -Eliminate him, pa.
Eliminate him.
[gunshot]
Put a stop to all that.
What a giant. He'll go in the hall of fame.
We've gotta get his butt this way so we can roll him.
I'm gonna take head.
All right, but we need his butt to come.
Oh, wait, if you wanna go now, let's go.
One more time.
One, two, go.
Uh-uh, uh-uh. Don't let him slide.
All right.
Don't let him slide just yet.
-All right. -Okay.
Nice.
Tagged out of this area with an 11-footer,
Daniel is confident that they've got the size
To stay competitive with the rest of the teams.
You know, this plan really worked.
It's gratifying to succeed.
But when there's 350 tags in the back of your mind,
It's extremely good when you finish off with an 11-footer.
Helps the heartrate a little bit.
That's a very, very good average.
All giants.
Back at duffy's,
Ashley and anna are ready to unload their catch.
Let's go see what they got, huh?
Let's go see.
What we got, y'all?
We got a few.
-Whoa! -That's a good one.
[laughs] what?
Pee-wee, you done. I'm trading you for them.
[all laugh]
Pulling into duffy's
With this monster load full of gators
Is such an accomplishment,
And troy cannot believe
The big gators that we bring in.
I mean, honestly, if I wasn't there,
I wouldn't believe it myself.
Look at the size of this thing.
-Look at that. -Dude.
Mr. Troy, our winch, right here.
-Right here. -Yeah, there you go.
Y'all did awesome. Congratulations.
Could y'all give me and pee-wee some tips?
We ain't giving no secrets away.
We're keeping 'em, keeping 'em close.
All right.
All right, let's get the forklift.
Jacob, we need the forklift.
Ashley's strategy catapults her team
Into a tie for first place with the landrys
At nine feet, four inches.
Leron and porkchop's new alliance
Moves them into a tie for third with the edgars
At nine feet, two inches.
And willie and little willie slip into fifth place,
But remain within striking distance
At nine feet, one inch.
We're hunting in troy's backyard,
And to be able to bring big gators in, too,
I can't even explain to you how good it feels
To actually do what he I'm sure didn't expect us to do.
That's anna brought you that good luck.
I need it. We're gonna keep it all year long.
[laughs] yes.
[laughs] whoo!