Narrator: The swamp is under siege.
With high water washing out the best fishing grounds
We've caught nothing. The boat's empty, bro.
Narrator: Hunters team up...
-Peewee: Anything? -Willie: Nothing.
Getting a little worried, Willie.
Narrator: Travel to the ends of the bayou...
Leron: We in uncharted waters right now, man.
Gotta be some big ones back there.
Narrator: Pull out the heavy machinery...
Don: Let's go hunting.
We're gonna bring the airboat
and we're gonna see if we can find
some of them big old bull gators.
Narrator: And track legendary monsters...
Oh, my God!
Narrator: As they burn the midnight oil...
Peewee: Imma shoot it.
-[gunshot] -Whoo!
Narrator: To keep their season above the rising tide.
-Willie: He's on the bank! -Peewee: Aah!
Zak: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ You run these back roads all of your life ♪
♪ All the pain through the struggle and the strife ♪
♪ Now there's just one thing you got left to do ♪
♪ Light a match, let it burn, and break on through ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Like a wild horse running out of control ♪
♪ Like a loaded pistol, like a raging storm ♪
♪ You got thunder in your veins ♪
♪ You won't stop till your dying day ♪
♪ Comes your way ♪
[gunshot]
Narrator: It's 5:00 p.m. in southern Louisiana.
Over in Bayou French,
King of the Swamp Troy landry
and his trusted deckhand Pickle Wheat
are nearing the end of a successful day
of alligator hunting.
Troy: The water's already high and we got a big rise coming.
We got even more water coming down the river.
Peewee: That darn Mississippi.
Narrator: The hunters have been battling
changing water levels all season,
and tomorrow looks like a high water mark.
But Troy has a bigger issue.
Troy: I got a friend of mine that's a farmer
that has a hog problem,
and he wants me to go see if I can help him.
I can't hunt hogs all night and come run lines tomorrow.
I'm getting too old for that.
I'm thinking you could come run by yourself tomorrow.
-Behind the sugar mill. -Oh, in the sugar mill.
The sugar mill, remember?
-I told you about it. -Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In that big canal behind the sugar mill,
it's a canal, but it's a drainage canal.
They pump water out of that canal.
Narrator: With the pumps keeping the water level consistent,
the rising water won't affect the lines
set behind the sugar mill.
I wanna go shoot some hogs.
How about I go hog hunting with you tonight,
and I'll go run the lines by myself tomorrow?
That's up to you.
But if we stay out there until 5:00 tomorrow morning,
I don't wanna hear you crying.
Let me do what I wanna do.
I usually stay up all night as it is.
I got two kids at home.
I can surely make this hog hunt with you
and also come and run our lines and fish in the morning.
Don't see no action.
Troy: Some little leprechaun must've tied that one, huh?
Peewee: Yeah.
Troy: You got something?
Peewee: I don't know what it is, but holy crap.
Lord have mercy.
Whoo!
Whoo! Let me wear him down for a minute.
Troy: Better not let it go.
Show him who's the boss, Peewee.
All right, ease him up away from the boat.
All right, he's coming, you ready?
Whoo, Peewee! It's a big one, it's a big one!
Peewee: Shoot him! Aah!
[gunshot]
-Good job, Peewee. -Yeah!
Narrator: This ten-footer
is a great way to end the day.
On three, ready? One, two, three.
Narrator: But the work is far from over.
With a night of hog hunting ahead
and lines to run behind the sugar mill,
Pickle is going to have her work cut out for her.
Troy: She's been with me for a few years now,
and to me this would be a good test for her.
And maybe one day
she's gonna wanna branch out on her own
and hunt without Troy Landry.
So I'm kinda excited to send her out.
I just hope she takes her time, and she's careful
and don't get hurt. That's the main thing.
Well, somebody's gotta run the lines in the morning.
Yeah, that's right.
But I ain't gonna let you have all the fun either.
Oh, no, we going to shoot hogs, partner.
Narrator: To the east,
as daylight fades in Assumption Parish,
second-year captain Don Brewer
and his deckhand Calum Landry
are coming off two slow days.
But as they approach their last line of the day,
they spot an opportunity that could change their luck.
-That is? -Yeah.
Calum: Boy, they sure got a big hole
back there with some big gators.
Don: Well, we ain't gonna get through it with this boat.
Calum: They have a little bitty slough
that goes to a big hole, and I remember as a kid
going with Uncle Troy back there,
that was always full of big alligators.
But he quit going
because you can't get back there with an outboard,
and that's what we all fish out of.
But the high water must've came
and pulled all them lilies into this bayou.
I'm gonna tell you right now,
I don't even think we can get to the bank
in this boat right here without tearing something up.
Don: You can't get a boat back there
because of the high water we have.
Now all these lilies are out there,
we don't wanna burn up a $20,000 motor.
I mean, we gotta do something else.
I know one thing that will make it in there.
Nope. Hell, no, I ain't walking.
Take a damn airboat. That airboat will get through there.
Calum: Oh, I didn't even think about that.
Don: These lilies, if they get caught up
on the front of it, it pushes 'em.
- Calum: Yeah... - Don: I need to go over
the top of them, so I need to be running pretty good.
I'll tell you what,
let's wrap what couple of lines we got left
and... go hook up
that airboat and everything. Let's get ready
to rock and roll and get over here in the morning.
Narrator: The hunters hope an airboat
will be able to access the remote hole tomorrow,
regardless of how high the water rises
and how many lilies fill the entrance.
Calum: We got movement.
Calum: Get the gun, get the gun.
He's fired up.
Calum: Oh, my God.
[Calum groaning]
Good shot.
Don: I sure wish you needed some help loading that thing.
Narrator: Catching a six-and-a-half-footer
on the last line of the day
is even more motivation
to relocate to a new honey hole tomorrow.
Man, we ain't doing worth a crap on fishing.
So, tomorrow we're gonna bring the airboat,
and me and Calum, we're gonna see
if we can find some of them big old bull gators.
Don: I'd love to see a 12-and-a-half-footer tomorrow.
We'll show 'em.
Narrator: In Bayou Black,
with less than an hour left in the day,
swamp patriarch Daniel Edgar
and his deckhand Zak Catchem
are struggling to fill tags.
Daniel: Going to the right.
-[Zak laughs] -Daniel: Broke it.
Zak: Broke it, dude.
That's brute strength.
I mean, there is absolutely no alligators here.
Look at what we caught.
The boat's empty, bro. We caught nothing.
Zak and I are fishing alligators,
and we have a problem
with line, broken line, broken line.
Zak and I really are really just getting frustrated.
Broke it. Oh, my goodness, Zak.
Daniel: You know what kind of alligator it takes
to break that?
Daniel: Lord have mercy.
Look at that cut.
That's not a knife, that's broken, dude.
That's a big alligator, Zak.
Yeah, that's popped.
That's a giant. That right there is
1,800 pound test.
Boy, this thing is like the Terminator, boy.
It's chasing down every line and breaking us off.
Daniel: It's obviously a bull
that came here with all this high water
from a different area
and he's trying to claim new territory.
And he's so big, all the alligators
-just running. -Yeah.
They're getting out of here, Zak.
You don't catch that alligator,
you ain't making any money out here, Daniel.
Daniel: We gotta catch him.
Oh, hold on, Zak!
Aah!
Daniel: Hold on, buddy, I'm coming.
-Aah! -Hold on, Zak!
Zak: Here, I'm coming to you.
-Zak: I'm out. -Daniel: Man.
I was not going down there
with a giant alligator like the Terminator,
I tell you what right now.
That Terminator's terminating our chances
of catching anything.
Narrator: With six tags left to fill in this area
and the Terminator ripping up their gators,
Daniel and Zak need to catch him fast
before he ruins their hunting grounds.
-Let's put another line. -This one's a little thicker.
-You wanna use this instead? -Yeah, use that one.
Daniel: That one's 2,500 pound test.
Zak and I's plan to deal with the Terminator
is we put some bigger string out,
better hooks and extra lines.
Let's get all these lines up,
and then we'll see if we can find him.
Daniel and I are coming back tomorrow,
and hopefully we catch this alligator.
Because, if we don't, we're probably not
gonna catch any alligators
and fill any of the tags in this area.
Zak: Can you imagine that gator
takes all our gear and your deckhand?
-[Zak laughs] -Daniel: And you.
Narrator: Out on Dell River,
Leron Jones and Anthony "Porkchop" Williams
are riding a hot streak.
As the waters continue to rise,
so does their pile of gators.
-Leron: Cousin? -Porkchop: What up, cuz?
Porkchop: The water situation is really unpredictable
because one day it's high, one day it's normal,
the next day it's low.
And we have to just keep changing our game plan
day by day.
-Line down, cuz, line down. -Line down.
Leron: Hope it's something big.
Porkchop: He's bigger than what I thought he was, bro.
Watch him...
He's trying to knock us in the water, cuz.
-Got him, cuz? -I got him, cousin.
Give me a shot, Porkchop!
-All right, cousin. -Give me a shot, Porkchop!
I got you.
Give me a shot, Porkchop!
I'm trying, cuz, I'm trying, cuz!
Narrator: Deep on the Dell River...
-Leron: Oh! -Narrator: Leron and Porkchop
are battling a monster.
Leron: Aah!
Bigger than I thought he was, cousin.
-Got him, cuz? -I got him, cousin.
-Give me a shot, Porkchop! -All right, cousin.
-Give me a shot, Porkchop! -I got you.
Porkchop: There you go, cousin.
-Get you a shot, boy. -[thud]
Whoa!
-Cousin. -Give me some, boy.
Oh, yeah.
Whoo!
Porkchop: Hold up.
Leron: Yeah, yeah.
Narrator: This ten-footer continues their colossal day,
and the hunters are looking for ways
to keep their foot on the gas.
If I was a gator, I would camp out back here.
Narrator: The high water has opened up a new area,
but their fishing boat will only get them so far.
Damn.
I'm cool with that, but we gotta go back,
get the pirogue and come back, set lines.
By having a pirogue on deck,
you know, you can just get in-- you can get in inches of water.
Narrator: A pirogue is an ancient flatbottom boat
that allows for quick and easy travel through shallow waters.
Pirogues have been around for centuries
and once were used by Lewis and Clark
in their expedition through the American West.
The team will set lines on foot
and return in the morning,
ready to hit the cove with a pirogue
in place of their motorboat.
Oh, yeah.
Narrator: Back in Pierre Part...
Troy: P, you gonna shoot or you want me to shoot?
Peewee: No, I'm gonna shoot it.
Narrator: After a full day of alligator hunting,
Troy and Pickle are staying up late
to help a neighbor hunt down a menacing wild hog.
Okay, listen, you load it?
Down power all the way
because we so close, that's the other way.
Troy: A friend of mine, Mr. Mike, called me.
He's a big cane farmer,
and he has a terrible hog problem,
and one hog eating up all the sugarcane.
And he called me to see if I could kill it.
Narrator: Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries
estimate that there are 700,000 feral hogs in Louisiana,
and they're responsible for approximately
$76 million worth of damage
to crops and livestock each year.
I just-- I just--
Peewee: Now I see it.
All right, you hold the light, all right?
Right there, right there.
-I can't see it in the scope. -There's one.
That's one that's out.
It's a big one.
-Peewee: Ready? Ready? -Troy: Yup, shoot, shoot.
[gunshot]
Oh, you got him, you got him!
-Yeah, I got him. -You got him, you got him.
-Wow. -Oh, my God.
-Dude. -That's a big hog.
Make sure it's dead. Don't get too close.
Troy: Ooh, Mr. Mike gonna be happy.
Good job, good job. Good job.
Narrator: Harvesting this 250-pound hog
will prevent damage to Mr. Mike's cane crop,
and it caps off a nearly 24-hour work day
for Troy and Pickle.
It didn't come out till after midnight,
so I was really tired.
I had hunted all day yesterday and I had enough.
-Peewee: All right, ready? -Troy: Let's try to drag it
to the edge of the field where we can get it with the truck.
I know I gotta get back and get to bed
as early as I can to run these alligator lines
in the morning, but I'm pumped up right now.
I got to shoot this hog, and I think this adrenaline's
gonna keep me going running through all my lines.
I don't really care how long I gotta stay up at this point.
First-- first, just right here. Good job, baby girl.
We'll come get it with the truck.
Peewee: We're going home, cook some pig tonight, huh?
Troy: What? Not tonight but tomorrow night.
Good shot, P. You nailed him.
Peewee: Thank you, thank you.
Narrator: It's a new day in Pierre Part.
After a long night, Pickle is preparing
to hunt without her captain.
I think I got everything.
Peewee: Troy is usually the man with the plan, you know,
and this morning it's all up to me.
I'm exhausted from the hog hunt all night,
but I shook this man's hand
and I told him I was gonna make it.
And so I have to push through
and do what he asked me to do.
Jacob: Now, where are you going?
Peewee: The sugar mill.
He's sending me to the sugar mill this morning.
-The sugar mill? -Yeah.
-He's not going with you? -No, he's not going.
So you found somebody else to go with you?
No, I'm going by myself.
You want Willie to go with you?
You're good with that, Willie? You're sure?
-I'm good. -Good. Now give her a hand.
I'm good, go with the flow.
How we are, how we was brought up
and raised and everything, if anybody needs help,
we gonna give them a helping hand.
So, I told Pickle of course I'll go with her and all.
The only thing you gotta worry about
with Willie in your boat, I'm gonna tell you right now,
you might have to put the hook in the back,
because he's gonna be throwing that thing
out the boat left and right.
Willie: Uh-uh.
Taking a hook from an Edwards
is like taking a biscuit from a big kid.
-[Peewee laughs] -Willie: Uh-uh.
All right, now y'all be careful.
Call me if y'all got issues.
Peewee: Thanks for the deckhand, man.
Narrator: Just a few miles from Duffy's,
as Jacob heads for his lines,
he's grappling with the decision
to loan his deckhand to the rookie captain.
Makes it a pain in the butt, but sometimes you just
gotta do what you gotta do.
Jacob: I felt that it was my job
to send Willie with her
because I think that being a captain
and learning all of that
takes years of experience, and she needs more time.
But, at the same time, I was a little worried
because I knew the lines that I was gonna run,
and having to run by myself
produces some big alligators sometimes.
And I was just a little worried that I might catch one
that I might not be able to put in the boat.
Jacob: Got one here, baby.
It look like we got a mess, too.
Line is down, I just don't see--
oh, now I see it.
I don't have my good eyes
in the front of the boat for me today.
Oh, Lord, let me see what we got,
let me see what we got.
Whoo-hoo!
Come on, boy.
Oh! God.
God dang it. Come on, big boy!
Where's Willie when I need him?
Come on, boy.
Whoa!
[gunshot]
Yeah, baby!
[grunting]
Narrator: A seven-footer is manageable alone,
but Jacob knows it's only a matter of time
before he faces bigger beasts.
I know the area I'm fishing,
it's not a lot of lines,
so it won't be that bad by myself.
But at the same time,
there's some really big alligators in that area.
And running solo, the biggest challenge
is putting a big alligator in the boat.
Not a bad little start. Not a bad little start.
Narrator: Over in Assumption Parish,
Don and Calum are hoping to use an airboat
to reach an area that's only accessible with high water,
but it won't be easy.
Don: I'm gonna tell you, get in that area, that water's
-gonna be shallower. -Calum: Yeah.
Don: Yeah, then we're gonna get right on top of them.
In an airboat, it's way more difficult
because you don't have reverse,
it's so loud, you can't hear each other talk.
The sides on this boat are, like, a foot shorter,
so you're a lot closer to the gator
than what we normally are.
But I was happy we had it to get to this honey hole
because with our boat, we couldn't have came.
[starts engine]
-Calum: Are you ready? -Don: Let's go hunting.
Don: All right, ready?
Narrator: The airboat easily navigates the lily blockade,
but the hunters didn't anticipate the challenge
of the narrow canal ahead.
Hit the brakes.
Don: It's just on the other side of that,
but I don't know if I can get through there.
I got up there and I got this thing hung up.
Can't get it turned around,
there's stumps, there's logs.
So the only thing I can really do is go forward.
Don: I'm either gonna get hung up worse
or I'm gonna get it out.
We'll see.
Narrator: Deep in the swamp...
Don and Calum's hunt might be over before it starts.
Damn, I only got 30 feet!
Calum: What the hell?
Don: I got one stump holding me back.
Calum: They had a big tree,
and he just ran straight through that tree.
And all I heard was a big loud noise.
I was like, oh, this can't be good.
Don: I never got going fast enough.
Narrator: Don and Calum have finally pushed through,
but it cost them a lot more than just time.
Calum: So finally he comes to get me,
and I get in that boat,
and I really assess the situation.
I'm like, man, we got a lot of damage.
Means she got warm.
Calum: You seen this?
Don: Oh, yeah. Like I said, I tore every blade up.
Calum: Look at that.
Narrator: Don's not about to return home
and risk letting Troy down.
Don: We've already done the bad thing.
We've already tore the boat up.
There ain't no sense in just calling a bad day.
Let's try to salvage it.
Narrator: In Bayou Black,
Daniel and Zak have spent the morning
checking their set of stronger lines,
but so far they haven't caught the Terminator.
Zak: Empty line and breaking this off.
That's brute strength.
Daniel: That's a lot of lines not to have one alligator.
Goddog.
Daniel: Running all of these lines,
Zak and I are disappointed
that we didn't catch the Terminator.
So we decided that we're just gonna patrol,
just hunt him, hunt him down,
with the rod and reel and treble hook.
See if we can take him out.
Straight ahead, straight ahead!
Zak: Right there!
-Daniel: Gol, that's a big one. -Zak: It's a really big one.
Zak: It's moving. It's right here though.
Zak: I got him! Oh!
-Hold him, Zak! -I got him!
-Daniel: Hold him, buddy! -Zak: That's not a small gator.
-Oh, my God! -That's him, Zak!
-Zak: Yup. -Daniel: Hold him.
I can't stop him.
That thing is fast!
-Oh, my God. -Oh, hold him, Zak!
Daniel: Like a tuna.
Zak: There's his head right there, biting, biting.
Lift up, lift up, lift up.
Got him? Oh, my God!
Daniel: Get the gun, Zak!
Shoot him, Zak, shoot him!
-[gunshot] -Oh, he moved.
Shoot him again!
Zak: Don't let him roll up. He's rolling.
Get his head up.
Lift up, lift up, lift up!
[gunshot]
[both laugh]
-Daniel: The hook came off-- -Zak: All the hooks came off.
Zak: I got you.
He was trying to play hide and seek with us.
Narrator: This ten-footer is a welcome addition
-to the boat... -Daniel: That's not the big one.
Zak: I don't think so either.
Narrator: But it's not the giant Daniel and Zak are after.
Zak: We snagged a big alligator,
and that's great to fill a nice tag,
but he's not the Terminator.
He just doesn't have that strength
and that grit that the Terminator has.
He didn't have enough to him.
Daniel: We really gotta catch this alligator,
-I'm telling you. -Zak: We have to.
Daniel: We gotta catch him.
Narrator: Out on Dell River,
to take advantage of the high water,
Leron and Porkchop are preparing to run lines
in a traditional boat called a pirogue.
Cousin, look at the size of me and you,
-and look at the size of that. -Yeah.
I'm always in a pirogue by myself.
This was Porkchop's first time in a pirogue.
He say he can swim, but I don't believe him.
If it gonna flip, I don't know what the hell I'll do
if I hit that water. I can't swim.
Plus they got alligators in there.
In my mind, they're trying to seek revenge.
How the hell we gonna
-do that with a gator, boy? -Hey, hey...
Let me see, let me see.
You got your paddle?
Whoa.
Well, sit down then.
[laughs]
Come on, let that go.
Come on, use that paddle. You in the front.
-Oh, yeah. -You the captain now, cuz.
Narrator: Since the pirogue is small,
they'll be forced to offload each gator they catch
into their normal boat,
so the team has to adjust to the new vessel quickly.
Porkchop: It's rocking and all that. I'm nervous.
I don't know how that's gonna work out,
with me and Leron up in there.
We both some big guys
trying to get up in that pirogue,
but, hey, in order for us
to get these big gators from back there,
we have to do what we have to do.
Narrator: In Pierre Part...
-Peewee: Ready, dude? -Willie: Ready.
Narrator: Pickle and her new deckhand Little Willie
are running their first lines,
but old habits die hard.
I don't know what that is down there shining.
It look like an alligator's head
-on this side of the bayou. -On the left?
Way up there? You wanna go?
-Peewee: Sit down. -Willie: Yeah.
Peewee: This canal at the sugar mill is really deep,
so there's a potential for giant alligators.
And Jacob doesn't let Willie throw the hook
as much as I'm sure he would like to,
and everybody knows that Mr. Troy
never lets me throw it unless I absolutely beg him.
So I know it's on my mind
and I know it's on Willie's mind
that we're gonna be throwing this hook
probably a lot more than we should.
-Aw, I touched him. -That's one?
Willie: Yeah, I touched him.
Oh, I thought you had him, boy.
You got a fish stick.
He's right here,
I bumped him the first time.
Stop throwing your damn hook. We gotta run lines.
Getting me all excited.
Narrator: With the clock ticking,
the hunters refocus their attention
on running Troy's lines.
Willie: You see it stretched in there?
What we got, Willie?
[Peewee whooping]
Oh, oh!
-What we got, Willie? -Good little gator.
Peewee: Oh, that's a good one.
Whoo!
Bring him up.
Oh, Lord.
-[gunshot] -Peewee: Whoo!
Willie: Oh, you missed him!
Narrator: Behind the sugar mill...
It's kinda scary in the little boat. Aah!
Narrator: With a new deckhand in Troy's boat,
Pickle is ready to prove that she can handle her own.
-Peewee: Oh, look at the hook. -Willie: I see the hook.
Hold him still, hold him still.
[Peewee whooping]
Peewee: Hold him still! Aah!
[gunshot]
Yeah, Willie. First line, boy.
Willie: That's what I'm talking about, Pickle.
I got it.
This is nice. All I do is shoot.
That's it, you the captain, I'm the deckhand.
Jacob got you trained, boy. [laughs]
I like working,
I feel like I'm not helping out back here, you know.
You're doing good, Pickle.
Narrator: An eight-foot alligator
on their first line is a good start,
but the new hunting partners will have to work faster
if they hope to get through all of Troy's lines.
Little Willie's on the front of my boat,
and he keeps telling me, "I got it."
But I wanna grab everything that I'm used to doing,
and it's really hard for me to kinda hold back
and just work the motor
and help him out as much as I can.
But he's really not letting me do too much.
I do the work, he gives me snacks.
Jacob takes care of me.
Snacks? Jacob brings you snacks?
Oh, all the snacks in the world.
Sno-Caps, Reese's, Snickers,
-Hershey bars, Twix. -You got it made, dude.
Beef jerky.
I don't get none. You know what I get?
A good ass-chewing.
That's what I get every damn day, Willie.
That's all I get.
Peewee: You got it made, dude.
Willie: I told you, Jacob takes care of me.
Narrator: In Blackfoot Bayou,
without his deckhand,
Jacob is doing twice the work at half the speed.
Jacob: I think we'd be done with the lines
if I had Willie in the boat with me.
We'd make it back
before McDonald's quit serving breakfast.
I really don't remember
ever having to run lines by myself before.
I've always found somebody at the last minute
to come give me a hand.
It's not that I can't do it.
It just makes more sense and it's a lot easier
to run with a second person in the boat.
And all this is taking twice as long as it should have,
but when you're running by yourself,
you just do what you have to do.
Oh, let's see here.
See the pole moving.
Definitely got something.
Feels good. Feels damn good.
Oh, I'll tell you what, this thing feels good.
Ooh!
Motherhumper.
Whoa-whoa-whoa, big boy, get over here, get over here.
That's some skin went off the ol' fingers.
That's my shot. That's my shot.
Whoa!
My butt is whupped.
Narrator: Having to wrestle
another ten-foot monster into the boat
has Jacob questioning
if he's going to be able to run all of his lines.
One, two, three.
Jacob: All this time in the back of my mind
I'm thinking why don't I have
a second person in this boat?
Why am I doing this by myself?
I don't need to be doing this by myself.
I shouldn't be doing it by myself.
But at the end of the day,
you have to run the lines every day,
and we have to get these gators back.
What I'm interested in
is how Willie and Pickle's doing together.
I promise you they're cruising around,
looking for alligators to treble hook or snipe.
The last thing they doing
is playing with this old funky chicken.
Narrator: In Assumption Parish,
after damaging their airboat,
Don and Calum are running lines
they set in a remote slough.
Line's down.
Don: Remember, I don't have reverse.
Hell, yeah.
Don: Golly!
Don: Whoo, look at him go, look at him go!
Whoo! This is what we came back here for, ain't it?
-Calum: Yeah. -Don: See if I can get a shot
on this bad boy.
Gimme a good one, whoo!
Calum: Take him out.
-Calum: Right in the medulla. -Don: Yeah.
Hey, how you wanna stack them?
I tell you what, let's try to...
let's stack them right here beside us, right here.
Narrator: A nine-footer on the first line
would usually be a cause for celebration,
but Don and Calum are still in the red.
I done cost myself about $15,000 on my boat.
And I need to catch enough gators in here to pay for it.
So pull your cowboy hat down, let's cowboy up.
Calum: Yeah, I'm ready to go to the next one, man.
Narrator: In Bayou Black,
Daniel and Zak are still on the hunt for the Terminator,
the giant alligator that's been tearing up their lines.
Daniel: We really need to kill this alligator.
Zak: Nah, we're gonna kill him.
He's gotta be around here somewhere, he can't be too far.
Daniel: We'll see if we can find him.
Zak: Yeah, it's the only thing we can do.
Public enemy number one,
when you're an alligator fisherman,
is a big alligator,
because you're trying to catch alligators
and he's trying to catch 'em.
We need to kill him
or we're gonna just keep losing gear and money.
Zak, Zak, Zak, over here!
Right there, Zak.
Zak: It's him, it's him, it's the big one.
Daniel: That's him, that's the Terminator.
He's coming out right in front of the boat,
-he's coming. -Zak: Imma get him.
No, no, leave it, leave it.
No, no, no, no, stop, he's right here.
Leave it, leave it, leave it, leave it.
Trust me, trust me, trust me.
-Oh! -Hold him, Zak!
-Zak: I got him! -Daniel: Hold him, buddy!
Hold him, Zak.
Hold him, buddy.
Whoo-hoo-hoo! That thing is fast!
Oh, my God!
Whoa, hold him, Zak!
- Narrator: In Bayou Black... -That thing is fast!
Narrator: Daniel and Zak have the Terminator
right where they want him.
Oh, my God, here we go.
Zak: Okay, one second, he's gonna slow down for you.
Okay, here we go.
Yeah. What a throw.
-Zak: You got him? -Daniel: Yeah, I got him!
Come on, come on, you!
Hold on, hold on, hold on!
My line's out of him, my line's out.
-You still on him? -Yeah!
Just get a big gun.
Zak: I got the gun, I got the gun.
Oh, my God. Oh, that's a good one! Oh, hold on!
Come on, come on, that's all you, pop!
-Oh, his head's almost up! -Shoot him when you get a shot!
-You okay? -Yeah, I'm okay.
He's just tearing my hands up.
Shoot him, buddy.
-Daniel: Oh... -Zak: Aah! Hold on.
-Daniel: Oh! -Zak: Oh, he come off?
-He come off, Zak. -No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
-He rolled, Zak. -Oh, that was a big one, pop.
Goddog. I had him!
Narrator: The mighty beast has won this battle,
and as long as he remains on the loose,
Daniel and Zak's struggles
to fill tags will continue.
As soon as I set the hook,
I can pretty much tell this was the Terminator.
That alligator's gotta be feeling that.
Maybe we at least slowed him down a little bit.
Narrator: On the Dell River,
Leron and Porkchop are trying to land
their first catch in a remote cove.
Leron: It's gonna be hard for me to try to catch gators
because I'm [bleep] keeping my balance.
And at the end of the day, my job as a captain
is to put gators in the boat.
We gotta do what we gotta do.
Porkchop: Oh, yeah.
All right.
Porkchop: I got him, cousin.
I'm gonna give you a chance to shoot him, cuz.
Give me a shot, Porkchop!
I got him, cuz, I got him, cuz.
I'm gonna get you one, cuz. There he is right there, cuz.
[gunshot]
Narrator: This seven-footer is a good catch,
but to make the gambit truly worthwhile,
they'll need to find bigger beasts,
no easy feat in a pirogue.
When you're in a pirogue, you know,
the water level is right there.
So that means the gator is right there,
you can look at him.
In the boat, you know, you standing up,
but in that pirogue,
that water level is the same level as the gator.
Even though I'm very uncomfortable,
but this stuff's paying off, cuz.
Narrator: Several miles north, near the sugar mill...
Peewee: Getting a little worried, Willie.
Willie: We gotta do something.
Narrator: After catching two alligators
on their first set of lines,
Pickle and Little Willie's luck
has gone cold.
They got a lot of pressure on Pickle
because Mr. Troy's not here,
and I want him to be satisfied with what he sees.
But we don't have a whole lot of gators in the boat,
so we gonna keep running lines,
and at the same time we looking all over,
we trying to find gators swimming,
we trying to find them bubbling.
Peewee: Watch your head.
Peewee: Anything?
-Willie: Nothing. -Peewee: Nothing?
Peewee: Well, I just know he expects us
to come out with a certain amount.
And I don't know, kinda knew that earlier.
Peewee: You know?
-Pickle! Pickle! -Huh?
Willie: Big gator bubbling, going down the middle.
Get the hook, Willie.
-Right there, you good. -Hold on.
Peewee: You got him?
Ooh, Lord, whoo!
Yeah, boy!
Whoo, Lordy!
Narrator: In the drainage canals behind the sugar mill...
-Peewee: Ooh, Lord, whoo! -Narrator: Pickle
and Little Willie are hooked into a monster.
Peewee: Whoo!
Oh, hold him still, Willie!
Hold him still!
Willie: Shoot him!
Good job, dude.
Narrator: Snagging a nine-footer
definitely helps fill the boat,
but Pickle has a long way to go
to complete her mission from Troy.
I wanna throw the treble hook as much as possible.
I wish we could come out here and just do that.
But at the same time, if I come home
and tell Mr. Troy that I didn't run any lines,
I'm gonna get scolded for that.
Peewee: All right, Willie, we gotta go, bro.
Willie: Most definitely.
We got about half our lines to run still.
Narrator: In Blackfoot Bayou,
without his deckhand,
Jacob's been slowly working his way through his lines solo.
Jacob: I got one big alligator in the boat,
several other ones, real nice ones,
but nothing to really have trouble
putting in the boat.
But there's always that chance
you're gonna catch that real big one
that's just impossible to put in the boat by yourself.
Line is tight.
Ooh, look like we got a little crime scene here.
Oh, yeah. Now we're talking.
Got a good one here.
He's wrapped up, about to pop that line.
Look at that, he's got it torn into that right there.
Got that line so tight.
Come on, big boy, you gotta move so I can shoot you.
Ooh!
There he goes.
Where you at, Willie?
This is the kind of stuff
they should be teaching you in school.
What to do when you got a ten-foot alligator on.
He had that line in a bind, partner.
Ooh, Lord.
First of ten-- oh!
Almost went overboard on that one.
Narrator: Loading this 11-foot leviathan
takes nearly all of Jacob's strength.
Two, three, aah!
Jacob: I'm burnt out. I was really thinking
about just leaving and then once Willie and all get back,
come back out here and run it.
But we have close to 1,000 tags to put in the boat,
and that is not gonna do it.
I'm just missing Willie more than ever.
Sure is quiet running by myself.
Narrator: Across the swamp,
Don and Calum are loading up their boat,
but with one line left to run,
catching gators might be
the least of their concerns.
Calum: The motor was shaking,
the fan blades were shaking and vibrating
and could explode at any moment.
So we was both very nervous.
-Line's down, ain't it? -Yeah.
Don: Looks like there's something on it.
Don: Give me a shot.
Give me a shot, big boy, give me a shot.
[gunshot]
Pow! Ain't nothing wrong with that gator.
Calum: No, that's a good one.
Narrator: A solid eight-footer brings
the hunters' total to nine,
but their biggest challenge lies ahead.
The biggest deal of it is, now,
my boat will hardly plane out.
And I've gotta run it so hard to get back out,
I'm afraid these blades are just gonna disintegrate.
And, I mean, you get one going
right through right back of your neck,
I mean, cut your head off,
you know. It's dangerous.
I'm ready.
We made it out. We got some gators.
But I can bet your sweet butt one thing,
I ain't never going back over there.
Well, I think we can overcome anything after that, huh?
Yeah, that was rough.
Narrator: In Bayou Black,
after a near miss,
Daniel and Zak are desperate
to nab the Terminator.
Zak: I hate this alligator, bro.
If we don't catch this gator, we don't fill the tags
in this area, then we're stuck out here for days
until we fill the tags.
This one gator could push back our whole season.
Zak: There he is, there he is, there he is.
Go straight, go straight, go straight.
Aah!
-Hold him, Zak. -Get the treble hook.
Zak: Treble hook, treble hook.
Zak: Oh, my God.
I hope you're ready, pop, this is a big one!
No, no-no-no, stay on, stay on, stay on, stay on!
[grunting]
-Narrator: In Bayou Black... -Zak: Aah!
Narrator: The Terminator's back,
and Daniel and Zak are doing all they can
to make sure the giant doesn't escape a second time.
No, no-no-no, stay on, stay on, stay on, stay on!
Oh, he popped off!
He was right there!
Zak: Keep your eyes peeled, he's bound to pop up.
Oh, look, he's over there. Look, he's over there, Zak.
Zak: Yup, yup, I see him.
-Zak: You got him? -Daniel: Yeah!
Zak: Come on now.
Daniel: Get the gun, Zak.
-Shoot that son of a bitch. -I got him, hold on.
-Daniel: Here. -Zak: Oh!
Zak: Let me get a hand on it. Oh, my God!
Oh, my God, the rod!
Zak: His head's not coming up.
Daniel: I'm pulling. Shoot him!
[gunshot]
-Oh! -[both laugh]
We got the Terminator.
Whoa, whoa, Zak, he's not dead!
-No way! -Shoot him again, Zak!
Aah! [grunting]
Shoot, Zak!
-[Daniel laughs] -Zak: Oh!
I don't know if I have any more line
on my rod and reel, dude.
Narrator: There's no doubt this is
the massive 13-footer
that's been destroying their lines.
Zak: You can see it, it's all frayed up right here, look.
Daniel: We got the guy that's been taking
all our money away from us,
tearing up our gear.
Get him in the boat, and the boat's eight feet wide.
When the head's touching one end,
and I'm standing up and then you look down,
this is the Terminator.
That's a big alligator.
Zak: The Terminator.
[Austrian accent] Hasta la vista.
You won't be back.
[Zak laughs]
Narrator: Behind the sugar mill,
Pickle and Little Willie have to stay on task
if they hope to finish running Troy's lines before sundown.
Thought I saw one way down there, Willie,
-but it ain't, it's a log. -Stay focused,
Pickle Wheat, stay focused.
Of course we still looking for bubble trails
and getting a little distracted,
but nothing like it was before.
There's no way I can go back and tell Mr. Troy,
oh, I left half of them back there.
He would be really mad about that.
Oh, look, he's on the bank, Willie.
Willie: He's on the bank.
Peewee: Aah! I thought
-he jumped in the boat! -He almost came in the boat!
Good Lord, Willie!
Willie: It's a big one!
Peewee: I thought he jumped on the deck.
Peewee: Hold him still, hold him still.
Imma get him now.
Last one right here, babe.
Hold him still!
Pull him up!
Willie: Shoot him! Shoot him!
Good shot, Pickle Wheat.
Narrator: This nine-foot beast
on their last line fulfills Pickle's promise
to run all of Troy's lines behind the sugar mill.
Peewee: We made out all right.
Willie: We gotta make Mr. Troy proud, huh?
I was really gung-ho about coming out here by myself
and do my own thing,
but I don't think I could've did it without Little Willie.
Now I really wanna get back
and have a boatload of alligators
and make Mr. Troy proud.
Willie: Get on back to the ramp.
Let's just hope we don't get too much of an ass-chewing.
[imitating Troy] Y'all late.
What y'all been doing back there, treble hooking?
I can hear him now.
Narrator: On the Dell River,
Leron and Porkchop's hunt has been slower than expected
as each new catch requires over 30 minutes
to haul out of the remote cove.
Leron: Normally I'm after big gators,
but a big gator in this small pirogue
might be a little more than what I bargained for.
Whoa, straight-up shaker, cousin.
Leron: That damn thing will bite my kneecap off, man.
Porkchop: I need to stand up, cuz.
Leron: Don't stand up, we gonna flip.
Let me do what I wanna do, cuz. Ha!
Give me that rope! Come on here.
I got him, cuz. He ain't gonna do you nothing.
Porkchop: Cuz, he big, cuz.
Get him out here and shoot him, cuz!
-Narrator: On the Dell River... -Porkchop: Cuz, he big, cuz.
Narrator: Leron and Porkchop's pirogue is about to capsize.
Leron: Whoa, we gonna flip.
Porkchop: Trust me, cousin.
I told you them big boys are back here!
Come on, you ready?
My hands swelling up on me.
[gunshot]
-Oh, man. -Gimme some, bro.
Narrator: They may have bagged a giant,
but there's no room in the tiny pirogue
for the ten-footer.
Leron: Oh, man.
I'm a big man, Porkchop's a big man.
If this life jacket is designed to hold us,
to keep us floating in the water,
it's common sense that we can wrap it around the gator
and the gator stays afloat.
Porkchop: It took forever for us to get out there,
but we got the job done.
That was a good idea we came up with,
but we got to sit down and think about that again
before we do that.
I hope I don't have to get back in that pirogue no time soon.
I tell you what, this is our first and last time trying this.
Narrator: Several miles east, on Blackfoot Bayou...
I'm perspiring more than ever.
Narrator: An exhausted Jacob
approaches his last line on what's been
a very long and difficult day.
You really realize how much you appreciate
a helper in the boat when you don't have one.
Jacob: Ooh, look at that line,
coming straight to the middle of the bayou.
[whistles] Look at the bank all tore up.
Pshew!
Oh, yeah, he just moved that whole big tree.
That's what I like to see.
That's definitely something, though.
Let's see here.
Last line.
Well, hopefully it's something good on the last one.
Oh, yeah, he's underneath the boat.
Oh, jeez!
Get over here, big boy!
Now we're talking.
How in the hell am I gonna put that in the boat?
That's a big one there, boys.
Every time I go to get a shot, he goes down.
Well, I'll get an A for effort, worst case scenario.
All right, let's give it a shot, let's give it a shot.
Narrator: A massive 12-and-a-half-foot alligator
on the last line is a fitting end
to a challenging day of hunting alone.
Uh!
I did what I had to do,
but hopefully I'll never have to go back by myself again.
And if I do, I promise you,
I'll have a boat with a winch in it.
Biggest gator of the day, last line.
Go figure.
What a day.
Narrator: Back in Pierre Part...
Troy: I hope y'all hungry.
Narrator: Troy's fixing up a pork dinner for the team.
Come get it, come on. Mmm!
That's Peewee's hog.
We got a nuisance hog,
we took him out of my buddy's farm,
then we cleaned it, we cooked it.
It's very good to eat.
Mr. Mike's gonna be happy for sure.
We got rid of a hog, we got a good meal out of it.
But I wish we could do more to help him.
Jacob: Yeah.
[Peewee "baby-talking"]
That boy's hungry, dude.
-Troy: He got an appetite, huh? -Mm-hmm.
Dude, it's supposed to be a bite for you and a bite for me.
-Tell your mama. -Aren't ya hungry?
Tell your mama, say you get five bites
and I'm only getting the little bitty ones.
Narrator: Despite Pickle's successful hunt,
she's looking forward to teaming back up with her captain.
I'm liking this position,
but I'm also missing my captain.
I really feel like Mr. Troy,
if he would've had a daughter,
it would've been me.
The biggest thing that we have in common
is our core values and the way we were raised.
Now we gotta go back, hunt alligators.
-Peewee: Mm-hmm. -Oh, yeah.
We gotta go back to work.