Today is the final day of gator season.
Nothing but big ones.
The hunters are out for blood...
I got him. Shoot the damn thing!
to capture the swamp's biggest monsters...
-It's a big one. -Big bull.
...just hours from the end.
-It's do or die. -Now or never.
Today we're knocking Troy Landry off his plateau.
Everyone has a shot...
-Watch him, he's a fighter. -Oh!
...to win it all...
Yeah!
This year Troy Landry's gonna lose his title.
...or die trying.
Oh, my God! Pop!
♪
After 30 grueling days of gator season...
How many tags we got left?
Eight for you guys, eight for us.
...hunters load up for the final battle.
Here we come!
Teams are neck and neck in the competition,
with Ronnie entering the last day on top,
while everyone battles within inches of each other
in clear view of first place on this make-or-break day.
Just outside Pierre Part...
Ready or not, here we go.
Yup, tag out today, baby.
King of the Swamp Troy Landry
gathers his team for one last push.
I think we oughta try to win this competition,
fish a little harder than we been fishing.
Both Landry boats need a huge day
to pull off a come-from-behind victory.
-Well, where we headed? -We gonna go to West Fork.
We haven't fished West Fork in a couple years,
about two or three years.
-Where you going, Jake? -G.A. Cut.
Fish some different spots over there.
You know that's gotta pay off.
Yeah, it's a good little ride.
Yeah, it's a good place.
Come on, let's go. We got a job to do.
-All right, let's roll. -Let's do it.
If the boys and I could win these 350 tags,
it might be way better than some of the property we have now.
So we could rotate some of our tracts of land
that really we've been hitting hard for years and years.
We could leave those alone for a couple of years
and hunt this new area.
Straight ahead.
Talk to me. What we got?
Uh, I don't know.
Oh, we got a good one.
All right, Pee-wee, bring him up.
-Whoa! -Ooh!
Ooh! Oh, God!
Whoa! Oh!
Aw, he popped the line.
Son of a bitch.
He cut the line on his teeth.
He went down right here somewhere.
He went down, yeah, right. Look right here, Pee-wee!
-There he is, there he is! -Right here, right here.
He's still going.
Still going.
And he stopped.
I got him!
Hold on to him, Pee-wee!
Whoo! It look like a good one.
I see the head. I can see it.
Aah!
Whoo!
Always hook 'em in the tail.
Shoot him as soon as you see him,
because the hook ain't in him too good.
Shoot!
[gunshot]
Got him.
He didn't get away.
Hooking this 9-1/2-foot line-popper is a strong start,
and Pickle sees a path to victory.
These are the kind of alligators
that we need to be pulling out of the water,
and if we continue to get this done
and pull these out like this,
we got this competition in the bag.
All right, Pee-wee.
That was kind of crazy, huh?
I don't know if we've ever done that before.
Lost one on the line and then treble hooked it.
We doing good.
Over at St. Mary's...
Everybody's very, very, very close.
The Edgars are gearing up for their final push of the season.
Although they're currently two inches behind Ronnie and Ashley
in fourth place,
Daniel has a plan to come out on top.
We don't have any lines in the water.
It is strictly hunting today.
Sniping and with the treble hook,
we can select big alligators.
Yes, sir.
We trying to win this thing.
Yeah. I'm counting on you guys.
We gonna try to make some ground.
-We're gonna make it happen. -Good luck.
At the end of the day,
hopefully get 350 additional tags.
It's a great opportunity.
The more tags you have, the more land you have,
the more income and security.
It's very important.
Now there's one swimming.
Get your hook ready.
Get up on top. Look.
Yeah, yeah, that's him.
Make your throw count, make it count.
Just right, just right.
Hold him, pa.
Now, don't give him no slack. Don't let him unhook.
Uh-oh.
Imma shoot him when he comes up.
Aah!
It's a big one.
Okay, give me a shot on him.
Bring him back over here.
Whoa!
Give me a shot on him.
Oh, I don't want him to roll.
It's a big alligator.
[gunshot]
-Good shot. -[laughs]
Got him, pa. Whew.
Okay, give me the front leg.
-One, two, go. -Okay.
This 10-1/2 footer is exactly what the hunters need,
but beating the competition
means every gator they catch has to be a giant.
When you start off with a 10-foot alligator,
how do you maintain that momentum?
If we don't make any mistakes,
we have a really good chance of winning this thing.
Good job, pa.
-[laughs] -I know it was a struggle.
We need some more big ones just like that.
In Bayou Sorrel,
swamp veteran Willie Edwards and his son Little Willie
are fueling up for the final day.
What kind of biscuit you got over there?
This is sausage and egg.
Sausage? You don't know what's in it.
They might be grinding up bull testicles or something
and put it in there.
-Are you serious? -[laughs]
The hunters are just an inch away from the top,
but with seven tags left,
every gator has to be a monster,
and Willie knows exactly where to find monsters.
We're going to the Flats. We gotta catch big ones.
The Flats is a lake off in the woods.
They got alligators in there like they in the zoo.
Last year we caught a couple 12-footers,
and this year, I mean,
I hope we match that or catch even bigger.
You think it's gonna be worth our while?
Oh, hell, yeah.
Telling you, when we get in there,
we're gonna fill this boat.
We gotta break the ice this morning.
We gotta get pumped up.
We need them tags for next year for sure.
More tags you got, the more money you're gonna make.
And I'm gonna try my best. That's all I can do.
Look at them big old pile of bubbles coming out of here.
Right here.
Right there. Throw way up there.
-You got him? -Yeah, I got him.
-Oh! -Oh, man.
You should've hooked that thing, man.
He was a big one, too,
the way he was going with that rope.
Bubbled there, but he gonna go out here
because the rope was going that-a-way.
Right there, son.
He's right there down. So you gotta throw it up there,
and it's gonna drift to him, Willie, right there.
-See him right there? Right there?
Throw it way up.
Yeah, there you go.
-It's a gator? -Yeah, it is.
-You got him? -Yeah, I got him.
Get him back, get him back, get him back.
Watch your arm, son.
Pull him back.
Ah! Oh, yeah, we got him.
Oh, yeah, we got a fighter.
Good Lord!
Get him up, get him up.
[gunshot]
This 12-foot leviathan
instantly shoots Willie and Little Willie into the lead,
and they're just getting started.
Look at that tank. That's a brute right there.
Right off the bat we caught a big one this morning,
and, I mean, can't complain.
The Flats has got 'em.
We getting it done and strictly treble hooking.
Feel like we're back in the game again.
Take 'em like that all day today.
Further south in Violet...
We gotta get serious.
Today we're knocking Troy Landry off his plateau.
We got to.
It's make-or-break time.
With 350 tags within reach,
Ronnie and Ashley have decided
to hunt close together in the marsh.
Good luck to y'all.
Boom. Let's do it, my baby. We'll see y'all.
Good luck. Nothing but big ones.
Nothing but big ones.
Last few days, I've been on a hot streak.
I wanna keep it rolling, my baby,
and keep pushing forward.
I'm ready to be king, prince,
anything you wanna call me,
Duke of the Swamp.
But I'm ready to knock Troy Landry off his pedestal.
That's all I know.
He's been running around with that title way too long,
and it's time he steps down
and passes on to the next generation.
I see lilies on that one opening over there. See that?
But it looks like it's got a jug in it.
It might be an alligator.
Man, if it's another big gator, we're trebling.
Go check him out.
Oh, it's moving fast, T.
Hell, yeah, T, that's an alligator.
That's gonna be a big gator.
T, get me that treble ready, bro.
Oh, we about to zap this dude.
Let me get over to him.
He's gonna be right alongside the boat somewhere right here.
-T, you drive the boat. -All right.
Let's see where he's at.
Oh, look at him over here, T.
Go to him, T.
Keep going, T, keep going.
Right here, T. Get me closer.
Right there.
Got him, T. We on, bro.
It's on, brother!
Ooh, yeah, baby, get the gun, T!
We got a good one here, papa.
Whoo! That's a good one!
Back in Violet,
Ronnie and Timmy just hooked a monster.
T, soon as you can get the shot on him, baby, get him, papa!
Drop the hammer, baby.
Whoo! That's a good one, baby.
Come on, get the shot!
[gunshot]
Hell, yeah!
Bam!
What a way to start the morning!
-Oh, yeah. -Hell, yeah, brother.
I told you that was a good gator, huh?
One, two, three.
Oh, yeah. Hell, yeah.
Watch that treble hook.
This 9-1/2 footer
keeps the hunters close to their first place average.
I really, truly feel like Team Adams
is supposed to be on top of the leaderboard,
and we should be kings of the swamp this year.
There you go.
But right now if I don't come out
with a better average than I was yesterday,
my season could be over with for them 350 tags.
But with several teams catching big gators,
both Ronnie and Ashley need to up their game
to hold on to the lead.
Click-clack, don't come back.
Where's the big gators at, T?
In Bayou Shaffer...
I'm ready to get 'em, man.
Leron, Porkchop, and Bruce start the day
only two short inches from the top,
and they're ready to do whatever it takes
to win the stack of precious new tags.
We down to the nitty gritty, down to the wire, man.
We gotta pull it off, make some stuff happen, man.
I hear you.
I think we got a good chance, too.
Oh, hell, yeah.
We down to the wire now, and this is it.
Whatever I catch today goes in the books.
And if I could just add another inch or two or three
to this count,
it's gonna make a big difference on our average.
I think we in the running, though.
I think we're doing pretty good.
Oh, hell, yeah. I got a few extra tags, man.
-What? -Oh, yeah.
I mean, we gonna apply the damn pressure today.
That's what I'm talking about, Porkchop.
We applying pressure today.
Let's get it.
350 more tags would be extra valuable for me
because I could make more money and provide for my family.
I'm keeping a positive mind-frame.
We gonna tag out and catch a lot of big alligators.
Keeping that positive mind-frame all the way to the end is key.
That's like the most number one thing you gotta have,
not just being a hunter,
but everything else you do in life.
Porkchop, what we got here, buddy?
Oh, look at the size of that thing, Porkchop.
[gunshot]
Man!
-Ah! Oh, that sucks. -Oh, man. Man, bro.
That sucks right there.
That was a big-ass gator.
Losing this monster to start the last day of the season
is a gut punch for the veteran hunters.
Man.
When moments like that hit you right in your face,
it's hard to come up with a--with a plan.
I wanna win them tags bad, I wanna win the competition.
I'm pretty much on survival mode.
It's very stressful.
Man.
In the G.A. Cut...
See that willow? It's in that shaded spot.
I think I see where you're talking about.
With only hours left in the season,
Jacob and Don are hoping to snipe a giant.
Yeah, he just took off.
Dang.
We wanna make sure we get these tags
because it's some of the best hunting in the area.
You can't pass it up, you can't ignore it.
You want these tags because it's just a cream of the crop area.
Sucker was way out.
I didn't see him until we was even with him.
You want a really big one to bring your average up
because the margin between the averages amongst all of us
is gonna be really, really close,
almost too close to call.
So we gonna set out
and find an alligator to snipe or treble hook
just to give us that little bit of edge
to hopefully come out on top.
See anything, D?
I see something swimming up there.
Oh, yeah, way up there. Yeah, it's a good one, ain't it?
Going straight at him right now.
Yeah, I see him.
Get ready, he's turning.
Right there.
[gunshot] There you go.
We got him.
Good job. Good job, Don Brewer.
That's it, baby.
Got him.
Sink it in him good.
That hook ain't sharp.
Oh, yeah, baby. Oh, yeah, baby.
That is a beast.
That's a big boy McCoy right there.
-Oh, he wrapped himself up. -Whoo.
One, two, three.
There we go. Put your leg on him.
Imma get my hand off.
-Oh, dang, what a beast. -Ohh.
Aah!
Aw, look at that sucker.
Bam!
Hell, yeah. Look at the head on that thing.
Red, White and Blue worked good on that'un.
This 12-foot monster
keeps the Landrys neck and neck with Willie and Little Willie
and puts pressure on Ronnie and Ashley.
But to win, both Landry boats
will have to keep up this pace all day.
It's just gonna be one of them things we have to deal with.
We're just gonna have to pick and choose the best areas,
and then try to catch the biggest alligators.
It's gonna be tough.
Some of these big giant alligators,
you only got one shot at 'em.
But I'm willing to try anything. Let's do it.
-That's what I'm talking about. -Bam!
Hell, yeah.
Good job, Don Brewer.
That's what I'm talking about, brother.
Across the swamp in West Fork,
Troy and Pickle have four giants in the boat.
We catching decent alligators, good average,
but it looks like everybody else is also.
So, you know, your competition's tough.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh!
Oh, I see some action, I see some action.
-Action, Pee-wee. -Oh, oh, oh, Lord have mercy.
Tell me where I gotta get, Pee-wee.
Tell me what you see.
You don't have your pole in your hand?
You ain't got nothin' in your hand?
No, 'cause I think he's stuck under this log right here.
You was never a Boy Scout or a Girl Scout?
The motto is "be prepared."
-What we got? -Hurry up!
Oh, no, he's rolling.
Ooh, it's a big one, it's a big one, it's a big one.
Shoot the damn thing!
Way back in a remote corner of West Fork...
Shoot the damn thing!
Troy and Pickle are battling a brute.
Ooh!
Give me a shot.
I be trying to unravel him.
Oop, oop.
Is he pissed or what?
Pee-wee, Pee-wee, hurry up.
Shoot, shoot!
[gunshot]
Ooh! Good job, Pee-wee.
-Good. -What?
Girl, we don't play, huh?
Okay, ready?
One, two, three.
This 9-1/2 footer keeps them in the running,
but Pickle senses it may not be enough to win.
We catching pretty good, but we're not doing amazing.
We do have some nine-footers in the boat,
and we really need to pick up that average,
so we gotta make that up by catching an 11, 12-footer.
We'll see if we can do it.
All right, Pee-wee, three more tags.
It's do or die, Mr. Troy. You better be ready.
Across the bayou...
Ashley and Anna have caught several big gators
that may just be enough to keep their team in first place.
After this tag, there's only one left.
Yes!
With a single tag left,
the last gator of the season
has got to be a homerun.
At the end of the day,
I think it's just gonna be a matter of eighths of inches
to actually win.
I think it's down.
It's down and over there.
To the right.
Oh, yeah.
Ooh, he's hiding up under them lilies.
Whoo! That's a nice gator!
Oh, he's pulling us out.
Damn, like we ain't nothin'.
Oh, God, he's gonna get himself off the line.
Oh, my God!
[bleep], Anna, he's barely hooked.
-Oh, no! He's on it. -Aah!
Oh!
Give me a shot.
Come on, give me a shot, gator, give me a shot.
I can't get him. Can you get a shot on him?
I'm trying.
[gunshot]
-Night-night! -Sleep tight!
Great shot, Deadeye!
One, two, three.
Wrapping up the season with a 10-footer
is a sure homerun
and proves that Ashley and Anna
have done everything in their power to win the tags.
Careful.
And they have every right to be proud.
Uhh.
I got him now. I got him.
Whew!
Anna and I did our part.
I'm really hoping that Ronnie and Timmy are doing good,
because if we don't win,
I don't get to have a boat next year.
This is our last one. Good gator to tag out on.
It's a dang good gator.
Can't believe it's over.
I know. Click-click.
Whoo! Last tag.
That's what I'm talking about.
I've been humbled a lot this season.
I think I'm stronger than I thought I was,
and, um, I've learned a lot.
You know, it's been a struggle,
but it's also been extremely rewarding
to be on an all-women team,
me and Ashley out there doing it,
proving to everybody that we are true gator hunters
and that we came here to do the job and do it well.
Oh.
Now what do we do with ourselves?
Go home and get some sleep.
Over in Bayou Tendu...
Daniel and Dorien's hook-and-snipe strategy
has nudged them up in the rankings.
We're starting to catch better, though.
These big ones are piling up.
But only time can tell
whether their late surge will be enough.
We really need to do some things uncommonly
to try to pull these big bulls out.
It's really important.
We need to bump our average up just a little
to get where we need to be.
Last tag, pa.
With a single tag left,
Daniel and Dorien are down to their last chance
to push their season average just a little bit higher.
For that, they'll need a swamp dinosaur.
We have to get one more big one, pa.
We'll get another one.
Now or never, papa.
Look, he's over there.
He's over there!
I see him.
Right here. That's him. You got him.
Snag him, pa.
-Ooh, I bumped him. -That had to be him.
I bumped him.
-Oh, you got him that time? -Yeah.
Yeah, get ready.
Hold that son of a bitch, pa, hold him.
Oh, my God!
Tag out gator, pa.
I think this is it.
Oh, my-- Don't give him no slack!
Aah!
In Bayou Tendu, Dorien's two-steppin' with a T-Rex.
It's a giant. It's a giant.
Pull, pa, pull.
Okay, pa, give me a shot.
If his head come up, Imma shoot him.
Hurry, pa. He's beating me up.
-Oh. -Good God.
I ain't got a lot of string.
He's death rolling.
Now send him to the underworld.
[gunshot]
Whoo!
Whoa! [laughs]
That was a struggle. Wow.
Let's see if we can load him, pa.
Hurry, hurry, he's heavy.
Come on, pa, you weak?
I'm telling you, he's heavy.
Give me that, give me that.
Let me get his front leg. Hold on, hold on. Hold on.
-He ain't that heavy. -Okay.
At 12-1/2 feet,
this dinosaur is the best final capture
they could have hoped for,
but they'll have to wait
to find out if it was enough for the win.
You know, in life
we all have to count blessings as we move along,
but right here is 350 tags.
I need to win this thing. [laughs]
It was harder work and a lot of moving strategically,
trying to target big alligators,
and for the most part it paid off.
I mean, it don't get much better than this.
-Yeah. -Lord have mercy.
Tag-out gator, pa. We did it.
Talk about a struggle and a hard day.
But we got it done.
Back in the Flats,
thanks to their treble-hooking mastery,
Willie and Little Willie
have already filled four of their last seven tags,
and they haven't hooked anything under 10 feet.
Get another one.
See him over there in front of them stumps?
Where you going?
I'm going to get this big one right here.
I'm gonna get him. He's going across there.
See that one in front of them stumps?
Catch the ones that's bubbling already, son.
Can't get happy just yet.
Can't get our hopes up and everything,
because we still got a long ways out.
But we been catching good alligators,
and nobody does it like us.
So we gonna try to go out there,
knock it out quick with big gators.
Okay, I'm ready.
-He's a big one. -Don't worry.
Look, throw it up like kinda right there and let it pass.
I'm gonna pass him up.
Throw it right over there by that lily thing.
Right there. Now pull back until you get it away from the bank.
Yeah, pull it back to you.
You're gonna hook him right there.
That's a big one.
Pulling the whole block of lilies.
Hyah.
There he comes.
Big one, Willie.
Good Lord. You got a frickin' crocodile.
He ain't started pulling yet.
You still got him?
Do I still have him? Oh, I got him.
Yeah, this gator ain't even started pulling yet.
Watch your head, watch your head. Watch the tail.
That's a big alligator.
Big old alligator,
he wants to come up and see what I got for him.
[gunshot]
With another 10-foot swamp monster in the boat,
Willie and Little Willie are on their way
to passing Ronnie and Ashley and the Landrys
with mere hours left in the season.
These most probably the biggest we caught so far.
We got alligators stacked up in the boat,
and there's some giants.
And catching these kind of alligators,
I'm pretty sure we're gonna win that competition.
But we just can't look at that.
We gotta keep going,
and we gonna keep using the treble hook.
We know how to find 'em.
If you know how to find 'em, it's easy.
Further south...
Today's tag-out day.
Yep, we're knocking them tags down, but...
I need to catch some big boys though.
Bruce only has a handful of tags left.
If he wants to win it all with Leron and Porkchop,
each line needs to hook a dinosaur.
Need to catch some big boys.
I don't wanna let Leron down.
Today I'm trying to catch big gators and tag out.
It's gonna be a tough battle.
Everybody's wanting these tags.
Everybody's wanting to make that money next year,
but it's gonna be a tough go-around.
Oh, yeah.
Something good.
It's a gator. Oh, boy.
Oh, boy.
What do we got here?
Whoa!
Oh, yeah. Whoa!
Whoa!
On the last day of the season,
Bruce is fighting an angry giant.
Whoa!
Calm down, calm down.
[thud]
[gunshot]
Look at that bad boy.
Whew!
This prehistoric brute is Bruce's biggest of the season
and by itself adds half an inch to the team's season average.
It's a possible claim to the lead.
That's a 12-foot gator all the way.
Big ones are fun, but they wear you out.
Now we talking about upping the game.
This gonna make my average a lot better right here.
Leron and Porkchop's gonna like this.
You know, we wanna win. We wanna make that money.
12-foot, one-inch.
That's what I'm talking about.
Really gonna help me out a lot in the end,
keep my average way high.
Back in the G.A. Cut,
after filling their boat with big gators,
Jacob and Don are finally down to their last tag.
One tag, baby, one tag.
But with no way of knowing how the other teams are doing
and time running out, they want to make sure it counts.
And one line left.
Gonna see if we're getting lucky.
We wanna finish with a bang.
We gotta finish strong with a good 10-foot-plus alligator,
and that just adds to the pressure.
All right, D, you see the line?
Yeah, way over there by the stick coming up.
It's tight, too. Look.
Huh. Got a bunch of trees right here, too.
-Got a gator on it? -Yeah.
Hurry up and grab that sucker.
It's about to frickin' fall in the water.
Look at this, Jacob. Watch.
Ooh, look at that [bleep].
We lucky to save that sucker,
God.
Man.
He's heavy.
Let's see what he looks like.
-Feel good? -Feels good.
He got plenty of deep water.
There he goes, there he goes, there he goes.
Whoa, yeah.
All day long.
Boy, he's hooked in the top of the mouth, looks like.
Get him, Jacob, get him!
Aah!
That's gonna help that average.
Hell, yeah.
Whew.
Three.
With another 11-footer to fill their last tag,
Jacob and Don help the Landrys compete for the top spot.
Boom, baby. [laughs]
Worked just like I thought it would.
With their season over,
their fate now is entirely in Troy and Pickle's hands.
I would say me and Don,
we fished some really good areas,
we caught some nice 11s and one or two 12s.
We caught a 13-footer that really helped the average.
So overall I would say we contributed pretty well.
I sure hope Dad and Pickle's catching good where they at,
and I'm anxious to see how well they did.
Back in the marsh...
Let's get bigger. Bigger and better.
Ronnie and Timmy's lead is razor thin,
but the veteran hunters have no more lines to run.
Come on, Legend! I need to take down the King of the Swamp.
With no lines left to run, the only two options we got
is to either try to snipe a gator or treble a gator.
We don't have much time left in the day,
but we gotta make it happen.
Hey, hey, that's a nice one.
Or is that a log?
I think that's a gator coming at us.
-Yeah, that's a gator, T. -Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's a big motherfreaker.
Get me to him, T. That's a monster.
You see his bubbles, huh?
-Yeah, he's right here. -Coming to you.
He's coming to you. There's the bubbles right there.
Damn, too close.
Look, look, there's the bubbles right here.
Okay, back, okay. Back me up hard that way.
See, he's just sitting there.
-Okay. -He ain't moving.
-Right there, Ron. -Come on, baby.
-Ooh, I had him. I had him, T. -All right, all right.
Oh, look, look, over here. Over here.
Look at the bubbles going that way.
I don't know where he's at.
There's bubbles all right here.
We got this big gator in our sights.
Every time I throw the hook, he's going the opposite way.
I think it's 'cause of the end of the season,
this gator's wise and he knows what we trying to do.
We trying to sink this treble hook into him,
but this is a smart, ring-wise veteran.
What you think about if I drop you off?
That look like solid ground over there.
And when I leave with the boat, he's gonna hear this boat leave,
and within two minutes, I guarantee he's gonna come up.
Yeah, you could set me off over there,
and y'all can go wait at the entrance over here.
Yeah.
Locked and loaded, bro.
Yeah, right here. Perfect, T.
[whispers] Come on, baby.
[whispers] There he is. Right there.
[gunshot]
On dry ground in the marsh, Ronnie takes his final shot.
[gunshot] Got him, boy.
Come on, Timmy! Let's go!
Come on, Timmy!
He's right there. Come on.
I just don't wanna lose him.
I'm just gonna get the treble ready.
T, he was out here somewhere, bro.
This is him right here, my baby.
Go ahead.
Oh, we got him. We got him, T.
We got him, baby!
Oh, boy, he's a good one.
Right there, T, get him.
[gunshot]
Snipe and treble a big old monster, bro.
You ready? One, two, three.
Hell, yeah.
This behemoth fills their last tag
and raises Ronnie's confidence.
Oh, my God, dude.
Whoo-hoo. What a gator to finish out the year.
Clickity-clack.
-Don't come back! -Whoo!
All the veteran hunters can do now
is wait and see if their lead holds.
Imma be honest with you.
Right now the only one I think is a threat to me
and beat me in a race is gonna be Troy Landry.
As far as the rest of them, they pushovers.
I ain't worried about 'em.
Nobody else can top me.
The only one that's gonna give me a battle
at a chance at the end is gonna be Troy Landry.
But this year Troy Landry's gonna lose his title.
What a way to tag out, baby.
In Bayou Shaffer,
Leron and Porkchop have caught four huge gators
since losing one on their first line.
But with a single tag left,
they have their last chance to pull off a win from behind.
Me and Leron, we're pumped up.
We been catching, we been doing good,
so, you know, we start catching some nice big alligators,
so we got a chance to win this here.
Oh, yeah, that's our average there, buddy.
Hold on, hold on, cuz. Hold on, hold on.
Oh, we good.
-Huh? -Gonna be all right, cuz.
Yeah, we gonna be all right.
Take your time, man. Don't let him wear you out now.
Whoo! [laughs]
Oh, man.
-Yeah, -Come on now.
All right. Let go. Let go.
Come on.
-All right. You ready? -Yeah. Hold on.
This 11-foot swamp monster gives Leron and Porkchop
a chance for a stunning turnaround.
Biggest one of the day, man.
And they're well aware they wouldn't have come this far
if they didn't have a great partnership.
I'm gonna be honest, bro.
We went through hell and high water.
We had a lot of obstacles and we pulled through.
You know, I'm proud him, and he proud of me,
and hopefully our average came up good
and we got an opportunity to get those extra tags.
-Oh, what a way to tag out. -What a way, cuz.
That's what I'm talking about, Porkchop. Whoo! Ha ha!
We gave it our all.
At least we both can say that even if we don't win.
At least we could say we gave it our all.
Look how solid that thing is, man.
Hey.
No, I got some crap with myself, too, Porkchop.
I love you, too, man.
Porkchop, Porkchop!
Deep in the Flats,
with a boat filled with massive bull gators
and the season winding down,
Willie's feeling good about reaching the top
at the right moment.
Down to one tag, son.
Last one of the season.
Bittersweet. Don't wanna see it go.
But it's gotta go. Gotta fill it.
It gotta be a good one, though.
-Yeah, it gotta be a big one. -Gotta go out with a bang.
Me and my son,
it look like we gonna be the treble hook legends.
I mean, we have five or six alligators in the boat,
and all of a sudden we just about tagging out.
Right there, right there. Get your hook, Willie.
He wanna come up.
-Where? -Right there.
See all them bubbles right in front of you?
Watch your elbow.
Last gator right here, Willie.
He's heavy.
Watch him. He wanna fight.
-God. -Got him.
[rifle clicks] Oh, what the--
Coming back!
In the backwaters of the Flats...
[rifle clicks] Oh, what the--
Willie's gun jams
with a monster on the line.
Hold it right there.
-Coming back. -He's a big gator.
Coming up, coming up.
[gunshot]
That's what I'm talking about.
Ending the season right there, on a big one.
Ready? He's heavy.
Tagging out with an 11-footer
brings Willie and Little Willie closer to first place.
Still, for both of them,
hunting alligators together is the best prize of all.
Big one.
This right here is the 350 extra tags next year.
That's what I'm talking about.
That's the fastest we ever caught that big alligators
and back to back like that before,
and, uh, ain't no better feeling.
Can't ask for no better day.
The size of the alligators is unreal.
Catching these kind of alligators,
I'm pretty sure we gonna win that competition.
-We got it. -Been a long season.
A rough one, tough one, but we got it.
Across the bayou,
Joey and Zak have had a great day,
and they've got a single tag left.
I'm excited about this. One more, bubba.
They're looking for one last monster
to give the Edgars the boost they need
to make it to the top.
We need a big one.
One more. Let's get this over.
Zak and I been catching really good.
We got a decent average going forward.
Seems like momentum's going our way. I'm excited.
These tags are a big deal.
It would be a big deal for the Edgar family.
There's a big alligator right there.
Straight ahead.
Dude, that's a giant.
-[grunting] -Good shot, pa.
He's coming back under the boat.
No, no, no, no, no, no!
Damn it!
Oh, my God.
I think he's bigger than we think, pop.
Coming under the boat again. What the hell?
-Again? -Damn.
Oh, my God!
Pop!
Pop?
Come on, come on. Come on.
Hold on, pop.
-Hold it. -I got the line.
I got the line.
I got him. I got him.
-You got him? -I got him.
Oh, my God, we gonna kill this alligator now, bubba.
Let's put a hook in him.
There you go. Oh, that's on him.
Oh, my God.
All right, I got him.
-You have him? -I got him.
Got him?
Oh, yeah, it's a big one!
Pop, get the gun, get the gun, get the gun!
Kill this thing. He pulled you in, pop.
That's a giant.
-You got him stuck good? -I got him.
[gunshot]
Good job!
Dude, I almost ran over you.
You all right? You all right?
Yeah, I'm all right.
That stupid reel, man, it got stuck.
We got the gator, pop.
You all right? You need a break?
Let's just get this in.
All right, pop.
One, two, three.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
This 10-foot dinosaur marks the end of a heroic push
to get the Edgars to the top of the leaderboard.
They'll find out soon if it was enough to win.
[Zak groans]
And just like that, pop, our season ends.
Yes, sir. Good job. Good job.
Whoo!
It's been a tough season.
I mean, we've really grinded it out.
Catching the bigger alligators
and focusing on nothing but the big alligators,
while still having to fill our tags
has pushed us this year
above and beyond what I thought we were even capable of.
To be honest, I did as much as I could possibly humanly do
with that rod and reel to get as many big gators as I could
to come home with a W.
And, you know, sometimes
it comes down to a little bit of luck.
Another season in the bag. Let's get outta here.
Over in West Fork...
All right, Pee-wee! It's do or die, Pee-wee.
Troy and Pickle have been filling the boat
with swamp monsters all day,
but whether it's gonna be enough for first place
is anyone's guess.
One more, babe.
I'm not gonna give up until we run all the lines.
There's always a lot of competition out there,
and to get 300-something tags
would be a big shot in the arm for whatever hunter gets 'em.
I hope this works, Pee-wee,
'cause we're running out of time.
Pee-wee, Pee-wee, Pee-wee, grab your gun, grab your gun.
Grab your gun, hurry up.
Hurry.
Hurry! It's loaded?
-It's loaded? -Yeah, it's loaded.
[gunshot]
Oh, you got him, you got him, P, you got him.
Hold on, hold on, hold on!
-In West Fork... -Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Troy and Pickle have one last shot at victory.
Right by that little lily right there he was.
Throw, throw!
-You got him? -No! Not yet.
I know he was right there.
I think I got him.
[both grunting]
Ooh, I got him in the tail.
He's dead.
-He's dead you think? -Yeah, he's dead-dead.
-Boy, he's big, huh? -Yeah.
What a tag-out alligator, huh?
One, two, three.
Good Lord have mercy.
Okay, on three. One, two, three.
All right, Pee-wee, we got him now.
Roll him.
This massive 12-footer
is the dream tag-out in an epic gator season
Troy and Pickle will cherish for the rest of their lives.
Tagged out, babe!
I want you to put it.
The last one of the year.
Pee-wee and I's on a high right now.
We pumped up,
and we think we could conquer the world right now,
we so excited.
Yup, click it, baby, click it.
I don't know if we got the competition or not,
but I wouldn't trade our season for nothing.
-Aw. -Especially the finale.
Huh?
Win or lose, we had a good one, Pee-wee.
I'm a baby. [laughs]
It was a good season.
Win or lose.
Back at St. Mary's,
the Edgar teams gather to celebrate
the end of an intense, but rewarding alligator season.
The fact that we didn't have a hurricane this year
was a blessing.
We tagged out, it's all over.
Before Zak goes home,
we gonna cook a little something.
It's been weird for us all
to compete against each other for 350 tags.
But at the same time,
I'm just glad that no one got hurt,
and it's nice having us all together,
eating a meal together and spending some time.
Oh!
Wow!
-Look at that, huh? -Mm-hmm.
Guys, what a successful season, huh?
What a blessing.
A lot of giant alligators.
It was hot, but it wasn't that hot.
I'm hoping for number one on those 350 tags.
Y'all think we won?
Well, we have a chance at it.
I mean, you know, you can't ever say for sure.
Yeah.
But we have a very good chance.
I don't worry, Dad.
In time, I don't worry about nobody but us.
As long in life as we do the best that we can do,
get up early, work real hard...
I don't worry.
It--It's always successful.
This has been the most stressful season.
It was harder work thinking about these big alligators.
But getting older, having kids and grandkids,
there's a feeling.
I don't know, maybe man hadn't created the word yet.
But the feeling of family,
it's very important, really important.
Thank y'all very much, Dad.
I hope I can share 30 more years of this with y'all.
The way I feel right now, I'm good for 50 more.
-I wouldn't be surprised. -Watch out.
-I'm telling you. -I would not be surprised.
I feel good. I'm serious.
-We learn from you. -Yeah.
It's a real pleasure.
Let's toast to family and friends.
Yes, sir. Amen.
Yes.
As the last day of gator season winds down,
across the swamp...
Oh, that's all big gators.
Back up, back up, back up.
Hunters do their final measurements
to determine the winner
of the 350 prime gator tags.
-He is 10-foot, 120 inches. -10-3.
They don't call you the king for nothin', man.
I feel like the queen right now. [laughs]
I can't wait for this day to be over.
No, save the best for last.
-All right. -Oh, the best for last.
I'm kinda really nervous
because I got a lot of money invested
in extra boat costs, extra everything.
I'm just kinda little worried about the whole situation.
9-foot-6.
Leron and them are pulling in big gators.
Willie's definitely pulling in some big gators.
Nine-foot.
Willie's a beast.
Yeah, Troy would be the only really competition
I have too much to worry about.
Drumroll. 11-10.
11-10.
At the end of an epic gator season,
the Landrys squeeze a victory by the narrowest of margins,
finishing with a nine-foot, six and a quarter-inch average.
Willie and Little Willie trail the King of the Swamp
by only one quarter of an inch.
Ronnie and Ashley complete their best season ever
in third place
with a nine-foot, five and a half-inch average,
and the Edgars edge Leron, Porkchop, and Bruce for fourth.
With more than a thousand gators
harvested for the season,
the difference between the first
and the last team's average
is less than two inches.
We gave it our best this year.
We fought tail, tooth, and elbow,
and we literally put it all on the line.
I mean, Ashley and Anna and me and the Legend,
we laid it out there.
It's a huge disappointment
that we ain't bringing home them 350 tags,
but, hey, in the long run,
I feel like we gave it our all and we all champions in my book.
Man.
Troy is used to being King of the Swamp.
This is his backyard.
It was like he knew he was gonna win this.
-He was bad. -Yeah.
It's hard to be in a competition with somebody like that.
It's kind of a disappointment.
[all laugh]
You know, we gave it our best shot,
and that wasn't good enough.
It was my year, huh?
I am stoked to be on Team Landry, you know.
I'm very blessed to be on their side.
I feel like I kinda have a little bit of an upper hand,
but it's nice to be on their team.
As the swamp settles down
after the most intense gator season on record...
What's up, boys? [all laugh]
The King of the Swamp invites hunters to his home,
proving the unbreakable bond
that holds the community together.
This is Belle River snapping turtle,
18 pounds of it.
This is some gumbo, okra gumbo.
[all laugh]
I know a lot of people look at me as competition,
but when we off the water and we at home,
we all friends and we all help each other.
There you go, Pee-wee. I got you your favorite.
Aw, you made my plate.
You're my helper all day and during the week in the boat,
so tonight I'm your helper.
We had a lot of pressure on us this year
to win an extra 350 tags,
and it is a relief.
It's just a weight lifted.
Hey, y'all caught some nice alligators.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Y'all caught some big alligators.
The girls, too.
Everybody did good this year.
I was really concerned about Anna and I both
in the beginning of the season
just because, you know,
she and I are both taking on new roles,
and it's a major responsibility.
But now we're closer than ever,
and we actually came and we kicked ass,
and I'm proud of both of us.
This year me and Porkchop
pulled some big, wide alligators, man.
Y'all did good.
It probably wasn't the longest in length,
but we did good in width.
Y'all did very good.
Proud of Porkchop. You know, we never quit.
You know, the competition stuff
makes it more nerve-wracking,
but we held on to it and we never let go.
[all laugh]
We all worn out, we exhausted,
it's been a long month.
We been friends a long time.
We have overcome some serious obstacles.
I'm just excited that the season's over with.
I'm looking forward to next year,
but, hey, for the time being,
Imma take a little vacation and do some deer hunting.
Just so y'all enjoy y'all selves, that's all that matters.
It's a totally different world today than when I was young.
I mean, we got it made these days.
We flip a switch for anything we want.
But down here we willing to go the extra mile
and do the extra work,
and that's what separates us from a lot of other people.
Let me get y'all attention.
It was a great season we had this year.
It was a team effort.
Even though some of y'all here wasn't on our team,
we was still pulling for each other.
We like family.
Thank y'all for y'all help.
Thank y'all for being part of the family.
[cheering]