Ooh! Watch him, Timmy!
Shoot, shoot!
As gator season roars into its final weeks,
-Whoo! -hunters go to battle.
We gotta beat Troy.
Catch a bigger gator than him today, baby.
I wanna come in with a bigger gator than Troy Landry
and to know in my heart that I'm King of the Swamp.
As the king defends his throne,...
I'm gonna take a day and target just the big alligators.
Shoot him, shoot him. I can't hold him!
poachers wreak havoc...
Somebody cut that.
Some lowlife S.O.B. cut our line.
They took three good gators from us.
and swampers rush to save a ranch...
My old friend Steve, he's having a problem
with big alligators that catch calves.
He's wrapped. Lean, get him up, Joey!
...in the war to rule the bayou.
-[gunshot] -Ohh...
Get him, T! Get him!
-Look at the size. -Oh, my God.
-Hold on. -D'oh!
[both clamoring]
[gunshots]
At daybreak in Maré Concourse,
veteran hunter Ronnie Adams and his partner Timmy Aucoin
are checking their lines near Troy Landry's turf
after a run-in with the king at Duffy's.
T, we gotta try to get a big gator today, boy.
We gotta beat Troy.
Yeah, he been bragging, and
he got that good area along the Atchafalaya River.
Boy, they got some big gators there, yeah.
It's time the King of the Swamp
gets knocked off that plateau, baby.
-It's time. -You know, every day
showing up at Duffy's,
you run into Troy Landry all the time,
and every time I run into him,
you know, he's always talking trash.
I never had no trouble
until Ronnie come here from Chalmette over there.
I ain't from Chalmette, I'm from Violet.
Let's get that straight.
The Prince of the Swamp's here, baby.
Oh, the queen. More like the queen.
I just feel like Troy don't respect me as a gator hunter,
so I wanna come in with a bigger gator than Troy Landry today
and to know in my heart that I'm King of the Swamp.
Come on, baby, let's start this first line off and beat Troy.
Catch us a big 12-, 13-footer off the jump.
Oh, it's tight as can be, bro.
Ooh, that thing is tight.
Come on, take-- come on, baby.
Give me something, sexy. Yeah, talk to me dirty, T.
Oh, it goes way up under the boat.
Oop! Ooh!
Oh, watch out, Timmy.
Yeah, baby! That's what I'm talking about!
Whoo! Baby, watch it, king!
He's trying to get in the boat.
-Watch out, watch out. -Watch him, T.
Come on, T! T! Come on now, fire him up!
Get him, T! Get him, T!
[gunshot]
Whoo, baby! Good shot, T!
Whoo, boy, you got them guns working today, son.
This solid eight-footer will fill a tag,
but Ronnie knows it won't win him the title he's after.
I'm looking to catch a big enough gator
to out-beat Troy Landry,
and I feel like that gator's gotta be 12-foot plus.
That's the size gator
that I know comfortably I can come in with
to know I can knock Troy off his throne for one day
and be, like, I'm--
Ronnie Adams is King of the Swamp for today.
He's a good gator,
but we ain't beating King of the Swamp
with this motherhumper.
A stone's throw away in Pierre Part,
after an eventful morning at Duffy's,
King of the Swamp Troy Landry has
one mission today:
catch the biggest gator in the bayou.
I wanna make sure we have the biggest, not just the most.
I wanna make sure we have the most and the biggest.
We gotta uphold the reputation.
Already got quite a few people like Ronnie and a few others
trying to knock us off the ladder.
I love him to death, but Ronnie's always
trying to get me to bet with him about this,
bet with him about that and who's gonna catch the most,
who's gonna catch the biggest.
And, you know, one of these days
somebody's gonna knock me off of the throne
and I know that day is coming,
but I don't know if it's gonna be this year.
So I'm gonna take a day and try to cherry pick
and target just the big alligators.
Can't let me down. We gotta stay on top.
Peewee, that's a big alligator right there.
-Right here? -Yeah, yeah.
Perfect.
If you hook him, I'll fight him.
If that's him right there, I don't know how I missed him.
-Don't feel nothing? -Uh-uh.
I can't tell if that's bubbles down there,
if he moved on us.
I thought he'd have been easy to catch right here.
Look, look, you see them bubbles?
Yeah, that's what I keep throwing on.
I'm not making contact with anything.
If that was an alligator, I'd have hooked him just now
because I was right on that.
Missing this giant is a rough start to the day,
but the King of the Swamp is staying focused.
I'd bet my right on arm on a chopping block
I could win this with no problem.
Ronnie can make noise and sing his tune all he wants,
but I'm not gonna worry about it,
not one little bit.
Okay, we tried.
Might've been a giant turtle.
Across the bayou,
swamp veteran Bruce Mitchell has been filling tags
in the Landry's honey holes all season.
Today he's gambling on a promising but unproven spot
that he discovered himself called Towhead Bayou.
You ain't gonna get back here with a regular boat.
I mean, I've been down here a week or so,
starting to get into my groove. I'm doing pretty good, I think.
But the more I go back there,
the more I'm learning about this land,
and I found this spot,
and my gator tail's the only motor
that's gonna make it back there,
and I'm gonna catch gators.
Yeah, see all that mud? That means it's shallow.
Reaching this remote area requires a two-hour trip..
and navigating through its mud and lilies
poses a formidable challenge.
[clank] Whoa!
Crap.
Come on, baby, you can do it.
Come on.
Whew!
I mean, this is tough back here with lilies everywhere.
It's real shallow, low water everywhere.
But, hey, I think that's why it's gonna be good back here
'cause ain't nobody else can come back here.
Whew, it ain't easy getting back here.
Dang lilies. Boy, they're everywhere.
It's more wide open out here, got more gator trails
and places where gators can travel better.
Bruce is optimistic
the trip to this distant honey hole
is worth the journey,
but if the idea fails,
a dozen Landry tags may remain unfilled.
Troy's been telling me where to go
and it's been paying off,
but I'm going on this on my own.
It's all on me today. If I fail, it's my fault.
But if I don't, hey, it's gonna look good on me.
So I'mma set 30 lines back here
and see what happens.
I like it.
I'm feeling better over here.
Got a good bait here and I'm looking behind me.
Oh, that's a good eight-, nine-foot gator right there.
Get away from here. Let him come eat.
Meanwhile, at a ranch outside Franklin,
veteran hunter Joey Edgar
and expert fisherman Zak Catchem
answer an urgent call for help.
-Fanny Ranch, huh? -Yeah, Pop.
I've never seen so many blonde cows like that.
One of my old friends Steve, he gave me a call,
and he's having a problem with big alligators
coming out the marsh to catch calves.
This is an issue.
He gave me a call,
and we gonna try to help this gentleman out.
Man, you have a beautiful place.
-Thank you, thank you. -Yes, sir.
Sure glad you made it down here.
Yes, sir. We'll try to give you some help.
-I need it, I need it. -Yeah.
Got quite a few gators back there.
-Mm-hmm. -And they like
-to roam around sometimes. -Wow.
And we got some big ones, too.
It makes me a little uneasy. I don't sleep too good
worried about my cattle up here.
-Yeah. -'Cause we done caught 'em
roaming around in these pastures,
both over here and back this way.
You gonna need to set a line or two
right there by my bridge.
Got a couple of good ones we see on the regular right there,
and they the closest ones to my fields.
-Will do. -All right.
-Thanks, Steve. -Thank you.
I'll call if we need.
-All right. -When you have a ditch
on a big piece of property like this
with, you know, horses and cows,
these big alligators learn to live in these ditches,
and then they walk out at night or in the daytime,
out in the pasture and in the barn.
This is a really good place to put a line.
Ooh. Well, here we go right here.
Oh, that's actually pretty deep water.
Is that a big alligator right there?
Oh, my God, there's a giant one.
Stay up, stay up, stay up.
Everything or nothing right here.
You better be ready, Joey. If I snag this thing,
it's gonna be a battle and a half.
Come here! Pop!
Pop!
Oh, yes, he's on, just barely hooked.
He's barely hooked, Joe.
No, he's wrapped around a log now.
No!
He's still on, I think.
I got him out. Come here!
-Get him a little closer. -Yes, sir.
I'll put him nice for you.
Yeah, Pop!
He's hooked on the tail. He just wrapped. That's good.
Pull him. Whoop that thing.
Got him now. Yeah, drag him up here!
-All right. -He has his mouth open.
Oh, no! No!
You still on?
-You good? -One more try.
There you go. Get him.
Got him now. Drag him up.
Here, fights like a mule.
Wait, wait.
-All right, let's go. -Oh, we got him.
Oh, we got him now.
Hell, yeah, Pop. Make sure he doesn't lunge at us.
All right.
We got him now. Uh!
Shoot that thing.
[gunshot]
Come on.
Whoo!
Zak, even an alligator that size
-can hurt somebody. -Yeah, dude.
This eight-footer is a good catch,
but the hunters know
there are several gators in the area that need to go.
Every gator that we take out of here is good,
but Steve is hoping that we get
these really big ones out of here.
You know, we gonna be put this line here right now,
and I'm looking forward to checking this line later.
We'll probably have a big one on it before the day's over.
What a workout, huh, Pop?
I'm sweating just carrying the gun
and the hook and the rod and reel.
In Bayou Valore,
Jacob Landry and his partner Don Brewer
are behind on filling tags,
so today Jacob's taking them
to one of their most reliable honey holes.
We have 900 tags to fill this year
and a short amount of time to do it in,
and I know we capable of doing it.
No doubt in my mind. If anybody can do it, we can.
But at the same time,
we always have that little dark cloud over our shoulder
that we know things can happen
that can change the outcome of the season.
So you've just gotta run lines
and hopefully everything works out in the end.
See the line, D?
Oh, is it cut?
Look up to the right.
Somebody cut that.
They used a knife. It's cut straight across.
Some lowlife S.O.B. cut our line.
Poachers.
According to Louisiana law,
alligators can be harvested only by hunters
in possession of state assigned tags for that area.
Removing gators from lines without a tag
constitutes poaching and is strictly illegal.
Who the hell they think they are?
He ain't nothing but a crook.
Too lazy to go out and put lines himself.
And you never know, it might've been
a six- or seven-footer, you know.
It might've been a 10- or 11-footer.
Might've been a 12-footer, too.
A poacher's gonna do what he's gonna do, no matter what.
Hard to keep your spirits up.
But when it comes to alligator hunting,
they're not gonna take that chance
of getting caught with Wildlife and Fisheries and all
on a five- or six-foot alligator.
They gonna do it on a good quality alligator
because they there to reap the benefits of our hard work.
Line looks slack, huh, D?
It don't look good, boss.
-Cut? -Somebody cut it again.
Man, Jacob.
Straight across.
Now, who would've fricking cut this son of a bitch?
You can see it's wrapped around the tree.
You know damn well we caught one.
You see the line on this one?
Cut this one, too. Straight across.
That's not a break, that's a cut.
That's about right.
He sees us running around putting lines,
then goes and cuts everything.
If I catch him at one of our damn lines,
there's gonna be a damn ass whooping,
is what's gonna happen.
Losing three gators
is a terrible start to their day,
but Jacob's determined to make up for them.
We been trying to fill 900 tags throughout the season,
and we been doing a good job at it.
We've had our obstacles, but
when we lost three lines like that,
I know they took three good gators from us.
You know, no matter what we do,
we gonna get them three alligators back today.
We have to do what we have to do,
but we gonna do it the right way, the Landry way.
Sure be a bad day to run up on and catch him, wouldn't it?
Bad day for him.
That's what I'm getting at.
Back in Maré Concourse,
Ronnie's on a mission to catch a bigger gator than Troy.
He hasn't bagged a giant yet,
but he's confident he has the experience to win the day.
Troy Landry, look out. You heard me?
You know, I'mma be honest with you.
I'm a pretty good gator hunter, you know?
Look at last year, in that contest.
I, me, Ronnie Adams,
I'm the only one that gave Troy a run for his money.
I wanna come in with a big enough gator
to get some respect where Troy Landry
has to bow down to Ronnie Adams
and be like, yeah, I need to give this boy a little respect
because he's out there catching huge gators.
As the hunters scour the bayou,
they spot exactly what they need
to beat the King of the Swamp.
Look, look, look, look, look.
I think that's a gator over there.
Come on, baby, be a big dude hanging in here.
If he's sitting out in the deep, bro, this is a big boy.
Hey, he's going down.
That ain't good.
He don't wanna come out.
He might not come back up.
It's real deep right here.
Oh, yeah, we pissing in the wind with the treble hook.
He hiding somewhere.
With clear evidence of monster gators in the area,
Ronnie decides to set additional lines.
Oh, I see a pretty little hanging spot right for you, T.
Right there, baby, in that middle section.
The only way to beat someone at their own game
is to outdo 'em.
Troy's gonna work hard today, but I'mma outwork Troy
and that's the way I'm gonna come home
and bring the victory as King of the Swamp for the day
to Ronnie Adams.
Ronnie, I'm gonna put this one on the bank.
-Throw it right there. -Yup.
Try to trick that big one. He been avoiding the hook.
Hell to the yeah, T.
Over in Towhead Bayou,
Bruce is gambling on a new potential honey hole
that took him over two hours to reach.
Well, I'm in a new territory over here.
I've never been over here hunting.
New land to me.
It is way back in the woods,
and, uh, look,
I'm going for hours back here.
I'm hoping they got gators back here.
After setting his 20th line, it's time to start checking
if this spot's juice is worth the squeeze.
[clank]
-[engine dies] -I don't like how that sounds.
Something done happened.
Aw, this ain't starting out good.
Ain't nobody knows where I'm at.
I'm back here on my own.
Now I'm back here, my motor's acting up.
If you break something back here, you're in trouble.
I don't know how you can get out, you know.
I mean, If I waste a day
and don't catch no gators in here,
Troy ain't gonna be happy, I guarantee you that.
There's a fuse box here.
Please let it be a fuse. It ain't a fuse.
Nope.
I might be in trouble today.
Always something out here. Always.
[engine clicks twice]
[engine cranks, starts]
I don't know what I did, but I got it working.
I took the fuse out and put it back in and it goes.
Let's go catch some alligators.
I ain't never had that happen.
Dang lilies done went in here, blocked me up.
What I worry about in a situation like this,
shallow like this, you get hung up on a log...
you'll be stuck here for three days.
Line's down?
Dang lilies.
Bad enough you gotta fight everything else.
Then you gotta fight lilies.
Think they got a gator on here.
Oh, yeah, there's definitely something on there.
Oh.
I see a head. Oh. And a butt.
Come on.
Whoo!
Calm down, buddy, calm down.
Come on, get up here.
Come on, boy, come on.
Stay there, stay there.
[gunshot]
Whoo. I don't think we gotta worry about him no more.
Oh, yeah, he's out.
He's out for the count.
He ain't a real big one, but we got to start somewhere.
At just over six feet long,
this meager gator isn't worth the long trip to Towhead Bayou.
I mean, I got way back here,
I'm expecting to catch a big gator
and I catch this little thing on the line here.
I mean, it's a gator, it's a tag,
but I really wanted something a little bit bigger than this.
I want some big gators.
I done come way back here, I need to catch big gators.
Gotta get some of these lilies out my way.
Back on the spillway,
Troy and Pickle are trying to beat Ronnie today
and come home with the biggest gator,
but so far there isn't much going their way.
I got another line ready to tie.
God, not in the [bleep] chicken.
God dang it!
[laughing] My hat fell in the rotten chicken.
You know, I'm aggravated here.
It's not going good. We're having so much trouble,
and we not catching big ones, and I can't figure it out.
Hey, we got a good one over there though, dude.
Look.
See him pulling the line?
All right, come on, big boy, let's tangle.
Oh, my God.
There he goes.
Let me come over here, see if I can push him around,
make him go that way. Go over there, Peewee.
Shoot, shoot!
Shoot!
[gunshot]
Whoo!
Good job, Peewee, good job!
-Would you wait a second? -[Troy growls]
One, two, three.
Good alligator. Good alligator.
This nine-footer is great for filling a tag,
but Troy knows he'll need to get something much bigger
to quiet the likes of Ronnie.
You know, we not doing terrible right now,
but we not doing that great, neither.
We not doing nothing to brag about.
And I think we need to improve a little bit.
We need to try to do a little better than we been doing.
I wanna make sure you and I
are still on the top of the ladder.
In the canals off Fanny Ranch,
Joey and Zak are searching for the beasts
that are attacking local cattle.
Right over there, I saw something.
What is it, a slide?
No, dude.
-You seeing this? -I see it.
That's a whole cow carcass.
Yeah. All the bones.
Yeah.
Steve's talking about these alligators killing his cows.
The whole hip bone is broken right here.
This thing is shattered, dude. That thing was torn apart.
Steve has a bigger problem than we thought
because we can clearly see where the cows come through
and there are a lot of bones right up against the bank,
which means there's a big alligator killing cows,
eating 'em.
We're gonna get him in the boat.
The pair start by checking lines they set earlier.
Oh, we got him.
Look like a decent one.
Give it here. You get the gun.
Whoa.
Dang.
[gunshot]
This might be one of the alligators
Steve was talking about.
Right here, right up close.
That's a nice alligator, dude.
This eight-footer is a nice catch,
but Joey knows the bigger cattle killers
are still at large.
The big ones are the ones that do the damage.
The smaller ones, they don't do much damage.
The big ones are the ones
that can eat a dog, a cow, or a horse.
So we really need to focus on these big ones
and make that happen.
If there's one gator, dude,
I know there's a bigger one out here,
back in that little spillway back there.
In Bayou Valore,
after poachers stole three gators this morning,
Jacob and Don are on the warpath.
I don't know how you take thieves up there in Oklahoma,
but we don't like 'em down here.
So what if we catch him out here?
What do we then? We whoop his ass?
We sink his boat? What do we do?
-All of the above. -All right.
Remember you said that.
-[chuckles] -We gotta start trebling
and sniping or something,
make up for some of these gators these guys stole from us.
Yeah, it ain't good, buddy.
We'll never get 'em back, but we gotta replace 'em.
We gotta do something.
Poachers are lazy. They're thieves.
They--They're worthless.
We're gonna have to work our butts off because they're lazy,
and it makes us work harder.
Just because you took something from us,
now we gotta replenish what we lost.
Oh, my God, look at this.
Look, Jacob.
Oh, [bleep].
Get ready.
Right there.
Smoke his ass.
-[gunshot] -Aah!
Over.
Flat ass missed.
Oh, that son of a bitch.
Get ready, stay still.
[gunshot]
Throw your hook, throw your hook,
throw your hook.
-Got him? -Got him.
Good. Good, good, good.
Put that around him.
A monster with the sniper rifle is great for morale,
but Jacob and Don have more work to do
to get back to even today.
Good job, buddy. Good job, buddy.
Don just made a really good shot
on an alligator with the big gun
to make up for one of the gators that they stole.
But I'm not gonna stop until we get these other two
that they took from us.
[laughs]
He's good right there. [laughs]
Them three alligators make a big difference.
You know, that could be three tags
that you have to turn in at the end of the year.
That's what dreams are made of, baby!
Over in Maré Concourse...
Ronnie is hell-bent on finding a giant to beat Troy,
but with only four small gators in the boat,
Timmy worries his captain may be too fixated
on being named King of the Swamp for a day.
I feel like the King of the Swamp's going down today, T.
-Yes, indeed. -Uh-huh.
I think Ronnie's a little too obsessed
with trying to beat Troy.
You know, 'cause, like, me, I don't care
who catches more or what.
I'm just out there to make some money
and catch the biggest I can catch.
But Ronnie got that competitive nature to him,
so him wanting to beat Troy,
you know, that's just in his blood.
Come on, baby, be a big dude hanging in here.
Come on, legend. Come on, my baby.
Let's have a good one here, papa.
This line's down, Timmy.
Yeah, it's getting tight.
Look at all the mud.
He feel heavy.
-That's a big one there. -Oh, my God.
Whoo, look at that thing!
Ooh, we got Troy beat with this one, dude!
This is the one!
[gunshot]
Whoo! Troy Landry's in trouble now, baby!
We got King of the Swamp now.
Whoo, yeah, boy, that's a big one.
Yeah, that's a good one, boy.
I'mma get one, two, three.
All right, T.
Yeah, the meat hook's coming out of it.
Oh, yeah, there you go.
One more. T, I got him here.
Grab the meat hook and yank him in.
This is a big sumbitch.
There you go.
There you go, T.
Atta boy.
Hell, yeah, baby!
This monster is exactly what Ronnie needs
to take the crown from the King of the Swamp.
I'mma tell you, Troy needs to learn that Ronnie Adams
is one of the top alligator hunters in the state.
And to be honest with you, I feel like
I'm right up there with Troy Landry.
He's a got a full tail?
He a got a little bit missing.
-Come on! -Son of a bitch.
How much, T, you think we missing?
[bleep]
About five or six inches.
Unbelievable, dude.
It took the wind out me,
but I'm still pushing and still working harder.
That's just what it's all about,
putting goals out there and reaching 'em.
When everybody else thinks you're a failure,
it's such a great feeling to prove somebody wrong.
I still think we got Troy with this gator.
I still think we got him beat.
Give me some love on that one.
-High in the air, brother. -Whoo!
Whoo!
We coming for you, Troy Landry.
Back in Towhead Bayou,
Bruce is knee-deep
in one of the most distant parts of the swamp,
and while he's adding gators to his stack,
the long trip and thick lilies
are taking a toll on his motor.
To get back here, it's hard.
It's just tough on these engines.
It looks like I'm losing power with my motor.
I don't know what's going on.
It just don't have the power like it should.
I don't know if something's breaking
or I hit something back here or what's happening.
I just hope I can make it through here.
Oh, this sumbitch drive me nuts.
[engine chugs, starts]
Do what we can.
Ooh-whee, I just don't know how long
this motor's gonna make it.
[motor running rough]
I don't know what we got.
He's right here somewhere.
I'm not playing with you no more.
[grunts] Uh!
Boy, he's strong.
[grunts]
That's a big gator.
Whoa!
That's a good one.
Whoo!
Whoa!
Can't hold him.
Come on, boy.
Whoo! He's out.
Whew!
Hey-hey!
That's what I'm talking about.
That's a big gator there.
Oh, boy.
That's a big gator, papa.
This 10-foot goliath
is the reason Bruce traveled back here.
But with his ongoing boat issues,
he could easily find himself up a creek without a paddle.
It's just adding up one thing after another today.
Having motor troubles and then, got this big gator,
I got more weight in the boat, I'm even worried more.
I don't know if I'm gonna make it out.
I might wind up regretting this decision.
Back on land at Fanny Ranch...
Joey and Zak are checking a line they set in a ditch
near pastures where livestock have been attacked.
Man, I hope we got him.
He said there's some big ones in here.
That one we caught earlier, it couldn't be the big one.
It was solid, but I could've sworn I was casting,
I saw the big one's head.
I promise you, Joey, there's a big one down there.
Steve told us there's a big alligator in this ditch,
and we going back to it.
Hopefully this big alligator's on the line.
Oh, look at that slide.
-Yeah. -The way he sunning hisself.
What's it look like? Can you tell
if there's an alligator or not?
I can't tell, but we fixing to find out.
Oh, yeah.
-Oh, yeah? -Oh, yeah.
-Oh, look at the size. -Oh, my God, look at his feet!
Oh, my God, that's a big alligator.
Hold on. Pass me some of that rope
so I can help you.
Oh!
Well, Steve's gonna be happy with this one.
No! Oh, no!
Whoa!
Come on! Come on, Pop!
[gunshot]
Whoo!
What a monster.
Steve's gonna be happy with this.
Ridding the ditch of this deadly 10-footer
is good for Fanny Ranch,
but the mission isn't over yet.
Any time we deal with an alligator on land,
it makes me nervous.
He knows that he's caught,
so he's looking at Zak and I on land
and, you know, it's either us or him.
I'm excited to get one of the big ones out of the way,
but I bet you there's a bigger one out in the swamp,
and we coming for him.
[both grunt]
Holy hell.
What an alligator.
-We did good, Pop. -Yeah.
Real good.
I'll tell you what, Pop.
I'm not lifting this one over the bridge.
We're gonna have to go back and get the truck.
Oh, no, we gonna go get the truck.
Yeah.
Back at the Atchafalaya River spillway...
Troy's searching for a monster that will beat Ronnie.
He doesn't have a big one yet,
but he's not slowing down.
It don't matter what you do for a living,
If you alligator hunt, you can be a horse trainer,
you can be a schoolteacher, you can be anything.
To be schoolteacher of the year,
you gotta do more than the other schoolteachers.
And to be the King of the Swamp
or the best alligator hunter on the bayou,
you gotta be willing to work harder
and do more than the other alligator hunters.
It's that simple.
I'm no better than the next man.
I'm just willing to work harder than the next man,
and that's what separates us from a lot of other people.
Got something?
Oh, no, it's cut.
-Huh? -Somebody cut our line.
Cut or popped? Shouldn't be cut.
Looks cut to me.
Aw, well, yeah, that's cut.
The hunters know that a poached gator
means it was probably a huge one,
but that won't stop them from pushing on.
Once that happens,
there is no getting the alligator back.
Once they cut this line, the alligator's gone.
He's history.
So we'll see how the rest of the day goes from here.
It's a lot cheaper just to steal somebody else's one.
But one day they gonna pay for that.
Yup, that's it. You can't do nothing about it.
Back near Towhead Bayou...
Bruce's decision to fish far back in the swamp
is paying off,
but every monster he catches
puts more stress on his motor.
This motor's on its last legs.
It's so shallow,
and there's so many stumps over here to start with.
I was right, they got big gators back there,
but I might have some issues.
I mean, my engine's losing power,
I got more weight in the boat now.
The water's dropping.
I don't know if I'm gonna make it out of here.
I just gotta keep fighting and fighting
and hopefully I can get out of here.
This line's down.
Oh!
Got a gator on the bank, gator on the bank.
All right. Let me ease up here.
I don't know if he's dead or alive.
I think he dead.
You dead, buddy?
[gunshot]
Yeah, he's dead.
That's a good gator. Dang.
Troy gonna like that one.
How am I gonna get Fatso in the boat?
That's a big gator.
I knew they had a big one right here.
I just knew it.
Knew it.
This 12-foot behemoth
caps off a long, successful journey.
[engine starts]
But Bruce still needs to get out.
Now it ain't working at all.
[engine turns off]
They gonna give me a stroke out here.
I don't know what's wrong with it.
Come on, motor, you can run.
Come on, run a little bit.
Just get me back to the landing.
I mean, I'm done running the lines,
but the boat won't get up and go,
so I'm gonna have to deal with this.
I'mma have to do whatever it takes to get out of here.
If I don't get these gators back to the landing,
we're gonna lose 'em.
I don't know what to do.
Oh, I know what to do now.
Hey!
What's up, man?
You heading for the landing?
Yes, sir.
You mind giving me a tow?
No problem.
This thing's messing up.
Sure appreciate it.
Hang on, I'm gonna hook you up.
Hook me up.
Bruce is lucky to run into this good Samaritan.
He's coming out with a big payload of gators,
but the fate of his season is in jeopardy.
Well, I'm feeling unlucky right now
and I'm feeling lucky.
We're just gonna have to do what we gotta do.
Go get this motor fixed.
It's something simple.
I just don't know what it could be.
I made the decision to go way back there, and I did it.
But I might've pushed my boat a little bit too hard,
and now I don't have a motor.
I mean, if I don't have a boat tomorrow,
it's probably my own fault.
I don't know. I just gotta get this one fixed.
Something's got to happen. I got to still catch gators.
Off to the shop.
In Bayou Valore,
Jacob and Don are looking to make up
for the gators that were stolen from them,
and they soon find they're not the only victims.
Here comes torpedo.
Speedo torpedo.
[chuckles] Look at that thing coming.
[laughs]
What's happening?
You got people stealing your lines.
Yeah, I know about it.
Whoever it was, they stayed way on the back corner.
You think it's the same damn guy?
Oh, yeah, he's all around over here.
No kidding?
You know, there's nothing I hate more
than a liar and a thief.
It's a shame, because there's a lot of people like us
that if you just ask us for something,
we gonna give it to you.
But don't steal from us.
That tells me more about them than what they know.
All right, be safe out there.
Needing to fill tags, the hunters opt
not to waste time stalking the poachers
and instead part ways to continue hunting.
Got meat on the line.
Aah.
Hot damn, this one's bigger than I thought.
Where he's at, where he's at?
Oh ho ho!
Damn, look at him go, boy!
He's excited.
Come on, Don. Come on, Don.
Give me a shot.
Jesus.
Don't give it no slack.
Shoot, Jacob!
I'm trying.
Shoot it, Jake! Shoot it!
-Mm. -Yeah.
Here, chief. Good job.
This eight-footer
is a nice addition to their stack,
and Jacob notices something familiar.
He got an old hook in him?
Got an old hook.
Oh, that's a shark hook.
-That's our hook. -Yeah.
That's definitely our hook.
Not many people use those shark hooks like that like we use.
That's a gator that got away from us last year.
We do a lot and see a lot of crazy things,
but I don't think we ever saw that.
Look at that. Been in his jaw so long,
it wore out the barb.
Gol. Incredible.
Never know what you're gonna see out here on the swamp.
The hunters caught a monster
that got away from them years ago,
and Jacob considers that a bonus for the day.
It's like God gave us an alligator
to make up for one of the ones that the poachers stole from us.
So all we need is one more and I'll be a happy man.
Good job, Don Brewer.
That's all we can do. You gotta keep at it.
All there is to it.
Over in Maré Concourse,
in his bid to out-hunt Troy,
Ronnie has an 11-footer in the boat,
but he's not satisfied yet.
I can't see Troy beating us today. No way.
He's gonna have trouble doing that.
No way. Absolutely.
He better have a real good day to beat us.
By trying to beat Troy today,
what I'm really trying to do is get the best out of me.
This gator's over 11,
but I don't know if he's gonna beat Troy Landry.
But I'm gonna keep working hard.
I'm gonna find that gator that's gonna make me
King of the Swamp for the day.
The hunters have one last group of lines they set
next to the monster they saw earlier.
This is where we saw a giant.
We put two lines on him right here.
Yeah.
Boy, look at it. It's a tangle, bro.
He's on the bank.
It's dead?
I'm not sure.
-[gator growls] -He's alive. Oh, [bleep]!
He's alive? How big is he?
Yeah, he's alive. He winked at me.
I guess I'll just take him out from here.
Hold on, T, let me see.
Let me put this thing in front of you
in case he comes running.
Go ahead, T, get him.
Get him, T! Get him!
[gunshot]
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Yes, indeed!
Good job, legend.
This 10 1/2-footer
may be smaller than the giant they caught earlier,
but Ronnie notices something that could earn him a place
in the gator hunting Hall of Fame.
T, is that a female?
-Yeah. -God, bro.
I think the state record's 10-4
or something like that.
Yeah, it's under 10-6 for sure.
Let's put a flag.
Grab a flag, T, and wrap it around her leg.
I feel like right now
I got the new state record
as a female alligator in Louisiana.
You know, to bring this gator in,
to set a record like that,
especially in front of Troy Landry in his backyard,
Lord, how great would that be of a feeling to know I did that.
That's a big girl right there, T.
Yeah.
Troy Landry ain't got nothing on us.
Cruising a ditch at Fanny Ranch,
Joey and Zak are making one last pass
in search of any remaining cattle-eating gators.
Pop!
Go straight and then make a right over by these lilies.
We catching a bunch of alligators,
but we still have not caught
the big alligator Steve's talking about.
We saw those bones and we saw that big slide,
and, you know, who knows?
This big alligator might've killed a cow this big.
One way or another, there should be
a big alligator around here somewhere.
Bubbles?
In front of us?
You think that's an alligator right here?
Gotta be.
This could be a monster.
Hit him.
-[grunts] -Good job. Good job.
Coming this way. Coming this way.
[groans] Aah! It's a monster.
There, he's moving, he's moving,
he's moving, he's moving.
This is a big alligator.
This is 150-pound test.
This is the heaviest rod I got.
This is one of the biggest alligators
we have ever caught together.
Look at it swinging the boat.
Just look at it.
No, he's gonna go under the boat.
Holy crap.
Catch him with the rope. He's right here.
You better lean into that, Joey.
Joey! Joey! Joey!
Lean into that, Joey.
-You all right? -Yeah, I'm all right.
You got him?
Oh, my God, here's the tail!
Ah, he's wrapped.
Lean. Get him up, Joey.
Oh, my God, it's huge.
Give it to me.
Go shoot it!
Shoot him!
Look at that thing!
Look at that dinosaur.
After catching this 13-foot behemoth,
Joey and Zak feel it's mission accomplished
on Fanny Ranch.
I was so close to going in.
This alligator's not caught far from these bones.
This is possibly the alligator that killed that cow.
Steve told us they had some big ones here,
but I didn't think they had some that big.
I mean, this is a really big alligator.
I can't wait to show Steve what we got.
There's Steve right there.
What's up, buddy?
Looks like y'all did good today, huh?
-Yes, sir. -I appreciate you
coming to thin these suckers out.
You even got you a real big one down in there, huh?
Yeah. It feels really good to do stuff like this
for friends and people that need.
I'm just glad as an alligator hunter
that I can help the community,
and when somebody needs an alligator killed,
that we'll come in there and do that.
But I think we did our job.
I know we did our job.
That's a truckload.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
-Thank you. -No problem, brother.
Yeah, we gonna go get these things to sale.
-All right. -Yes sir.
Over on the spillway,
time is running out for Troy and Pickle
to catch a monster to beat Ronnie
and defend their status as swamp royalty.
I think they wanna be like us
and they think by coming over here
they gonna be hunters like we are.
It don't have nothing to do with where you hunt.
It's your technique.
This is our territory,
so we need to catch the biggest alligator of the season.
I mean, Troy Landry's my captain, and we have to.
We gotta do it. It's Pierre Part, it's ours.
That's an alligator I see?
Check the gun. Make sure it's loaded.
This is a big one, P.
Don't let him go by the motor. Keep him. Hold him.
Hold him.
Look at that swell.
Oh, what?
It's Moby Dick! Hold him!
-Don't let him go! -It's a dinosaur!
Don't let that line go, whatever you do.
-Oh, my God. -Shoot, shoot!
[gunshot]
-Ooh, that just pissed him off. -Shoot him again!
Shoot him again!
Mr. Troy, shoot him! Shoot him!
He's slipping, he's slipping.
Shoot him, shoot him! I can't hold him!
-Oh, my God! -Shoot, shoot!
Don't let him go! Hold him!
[gunshot]
Whoo! Dude, I thought he was gonna pull you in.
I was hollering, don't let him go, don't let him go,
and I don't know how you didn't let him go.
Give me a little slack on the winch.
Look at that, dude.
Right there.
At over 12 feet,
this dinosaur makes Troy and Pickle feel good
about their chances to out-hunt Ronnie yet again.
It's a massive 12-foot alligator,
and, you know, I hate to tell you, Mr. Ronnie,
but Mr. Troy's still the King of the Swamp.
As the day winds to a close in Bayou Valore,
Jacob and Don have made up
for two of the three gators lost to poachers,
but they're still looking for one more.
We need one more good gator, Jacob.
We got that one, we got that one smoked.
We hooked the other one. We need one more good'un.
We need one more swamp donkey in the boat.
To overcome what a thief done to you,
it feels that much better it's that much more rewarding.
Jacob, Jacob, Jacob, look.
It's a good one, boss.
Damn good one.
Right there.
[gunshot]
You definitely smoked that, buddy.
Definitely smoke city.
Got him, boss, got him.
Oh, my God, look at that.
Pop him one more time.
[gunshot]
You got it?
This 10-foot monster
is the last gator Jacob and Don needed
to climb out of the hole the poachers put them in.
One, two, three.
Bam!
That's what I'm talking 'bout. Uh!
You know, we made up for all three alligators
that they took from us,
and that's teaching them a lesson
that no matter what, we gonna come out on top,
whether they cheat or not.
You know, the Landrys never quit,
and the poachers are gonna get their day sooner or later.
That's what I'm talking about right there.
Good job, Don Brewer.
Way to stay persistent.
Over at Duffy's,
after Troy and Pickle's biggest gator
comes in at 12 feet, two inches,
it's the moment of truth
for Ronnie to see if his biggest gator
can knock the King of the Swamp off his throne.
Mercy. Oh, that's a hoss. How big is he?
I don't know. We didn't measure him yet.
Man, you know, I really wanted
to catch a gator 13-plus today
where I knew I'd win today without a doubt.
But I just don't know if this gator's gonna be enough.
It's gonna be right at 11.
11 foot, one inch.
Come on!
He got six inches missing.
Troy may have Ronnie beat
on the biggest gator of the day,
but Ronnie's got an ace up his sleeve.
I think the female state record is a 10-6, huh?
Why you talking about having a record female?
What this is?
Does that look like a female?
Timmy, I told you it was a male, Timmy.
Does that look like a female?
Ronnie's record female turned out to be male,
but the veteran hunter knows his day will come.
I set these goals and eventually I reach 'em.
It may not be overnight, it may not be in weeks,
it may not even be in months,
but eventually I reach these goals
because that's the attitude I got.
And in my heart I'm King of the Swamp.
T, don't let them gators on us.
Don't make me jump on your big ass, Ronnie.
Don't do that.
Stay your big ass down there, boy. [laughs]