[Joey] Whoa!
[Zak] His head's right there, shoot him!
[Troy] Oh, watch him!
[Narrator] With only two days left in gator season,
-the pressure is on. - Whoo-hoo!
[Narrator] One family makes a bold push to tag out early...
I'll tell you what, it's a hard spot to fish.
[Narrator] Betting everything on an untested bait...
-[Kallie] Dad, what is this? -[Joey] That's beef lung.
This might be the bait to help us end the season early.
[Narrator] Another team goes full throttle
to finish off the year...
Let's tag out today, T.
We got a bunch of lines out,
and I wanna end out with a bang.
Ooh, T, he popped the line!
[Narrator] While the King of the Swamp
-pushes his luck... -[Peewee] Look at that.
[Troy] The whole branch is broken. Wow.
There's a big alligator
we've been after for a couple of years.
Peewee called him Lucky. He done pissed me off now.
-His days are numbered. -[Narrator] An epic
high-stakes showdown ignites...
We decide to go ahead and have a competition
using just the big gun and the treble hook.
It's a big'un, Willie!
[Narrator] With the clock ticking...
-[gunshot] -...hunters have to cash out...
-[gunshot] -[Joey] You missed him, Tootie.
...before it's too late.
-[Ronnie] Oh, yeah, baby! -Ooh, ooh!
-[Daniel] There he is! -[Zak] Oh, my God!
[Daniel] Hold on, hold on!
♪ 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 ♪
♪ 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] As daylight breaks in Southern Louisiana...
King of the Swamp Troy Landry
and his deckhand Pickle Wheat need a successful day
if they hope to tag out tomorrow.
[Troy] Look right there, look at that corner.
They got it wore out where they climbing up and down.
[Narrator] The Landrys have over 100 tags left to fill
for the season, so Troy's hung lines
in one of his tried-and-true hot spots.
[Troy] Lake Fausse Pointe is a beautiful state park,
and I've been there quite a few times.
It's big, there's a lot of bayous
and waterways, it's a beautiful park,
and they got a lot of alligators in it.
What we got, P?
[Peewee] Oh, my God.
[Troy] Uh-oh, look at that.
The whole branch is broken.
-[Peewee] Popped. -[Troy] Gol.
I can't believe he broke that big old branch.
Look at the size of that branch.
There's no way he should've broke that.
-[Peewee] No, no. -[Troy] Wow.
[Peewee] He shouldn't have broke that.
That's a big old alligator, dude.
Probably would've been the biggest gator of the year
right there.
[Peewee] That's a lucky alligator right there.
He got away.
[Troy] Lucky. Lucky ain't the word.
[Narrator] With an escape this dramatic in this bayou,
Troy thinks he knows the culprit.
There's a big alligator we've been after,
really and truly, for a couple of years.
Every year during gator season
when I go to that area, I see him,
and we never catch him.
Wow.
Peewee called him Lucky
because he's been lucky.
For the last three or four years,
he's been dodging the chicken. This is very personal now.
We have to get him and get him out of here.
Lucky for him and unlucky for us.
[Peewee] Wanna reset?
No, we not gonna reset right here,
but we gonna put two or three close.
[Peewee] Yeah. I wonder if he's on the bank
-right here somewhere. -We gonna look good.
We gonna go real slow and look real good.
[Peewee] Let's roll, let's get it done.
[Narrator] Over in Pierre Part,
Jacob Landry and his deckhand Little Willie Edwards
are off to a painfully slow start on their lines,
and Little Willie is eager to mix it up.
[Willie] Jacob, I think we oughta start trying
to catch a lot more alligators with the treble hook.
[Jacob] I don't know. Them big ones are slick.
They don't let you get too close, you know that.
[Narrator] Knowing they can't come up empty
on the second-to-last day of the season,
with their lines failing,
the pair shift their focus to open water hunting,
but the best method is up for debate.
[Jacob] Treble hooking, it's fun, it's exciting,
it's probably one of the funnest things to do
in an alligator boat, but at the same time,
it's not my thing. I just feel that
with the big gun, I'm at a much better advantage
of putting big alligators in the boat
than with a treble hook.
[Willie] Yeah, I think it's time for a little competition then.
[Jacob] I'm all for it if you are.
We're gonna see exactly what's the best method,
whether it's big rifle or treble hook.
And Willie feels like he's on top of the world
with the treble hook, so we decide to, you know,
have a little friendly wager in the boat and go ahead
and have a competition about
who can put the biggest alligators
and the most alligators in the boat
using just the big gun and the treble hook.
[Willie] I don't know what it is.
They got a pile of bubbles coming up over there.
That's an alligator because it's still bubbling.
[Willie] Right on top of him.
[Jacob] There you go.
Ooh, feels good?
-[Willie] Whoa! -[Jacob] Lord have mercy!
I'm coming, Willie, I'm coming.
Yes, indeed!
-[whistles] -Big old gator.
[Willie] Don't get that wrapped up on your "goo-nads."
What?
Oh, yeah, that's a big'un, Willie!
That's a good one there, Willie.
Come on, Willie, give me a shot!
[Jacob] Come on, big Nelly!
Hold him, hold him, Willie!
-[Willie] Shoot him! -[gunshot]
[Jacob] Hey! Ha-ha.
I love it.
All right, Willie one, Jacob zero.
You in the lead.
In the freaking foot.
No wonder he was pissed.
You messed up his manicure.
Ready...
one, two, three.
That a boy, Willie!
Hell, yeah.
[Jacob] Oh, yeah.
-[Willie] Good gator. -[Jacob] Oh, yeah.
[Narrator] This massive beast puts Little Willie ahead,
and Jacob knows he has to bring his A-game
against the young treble hooker.
I could tell that it's a good 11, at least 11,
maybe even mid-11-foot alligator.
And I know dang well
that it's gonna take a hell of an alligator
to be bigger than this one.
He's up 1-0 on me.
[Willie] Yeah, that's a tank.
This treble hook ain't no joke.
Nope. I have my work cut out for me now.
That one's gonna be hard to beat.
[Willie] Hopefully we get another one just like him.
[Narrator] Over in cattle ranch country...
[moo-ing]
[Joey] Let's roll, Tootie, before it get too hot.
[Narrator] Joey Edgar and his daughter Kallie
have only a dozen tags left to fill,
and Joey's determined to finish today, one day early,
saving hundreds of dollars in bait, gas, and supplies.
-[Kallie] How many we got, Dad? -[Joey] We got 12 tags left.
It ain't gonna be easy.
Let's lean on these things.
I told Kallie we not gonna finish this season
with any tags unfilled.
But whenever I set a goal for myself,
I don't like to talk about it.
I just keep my head down, keep my fingers crossed...
and hopefully we'll get the job done.
[Narrator] To ensure the gators are biting today,
Joey is gambling on a radical new bait
he bets will be familiar to gators in the area.
Tie it on the big part of the tree by the boat.
[Kallie] Ooh... Dad, what is this?
-[Joey] That's beef lung. -[Kallie] Beef lung?
[Joey] Yeah, lung off a cow.
[Kallie] Where you got that from?
[Joey] The butcher asked me if I wanted to try some.
That's why I got it. These alligators know
-how to eat beef. -Yeah.
It ain't gonna have much smell. It's just more of a color thing.
It's not real bloody, but alligators,
anything white, real bright colors,
they're attracted to it.
-[Kallie] Let's hope it works. -[Joey] Yeah.
[Joey] These alligators in this area know what beef is
because the ranches in this area,
when a cow dies, they dump it overboard.
They dump it in the bayou.
And these alligators have learned to eat beef,
or rotting beef,
so this might be something right up their alley
and that they're accustomed to, they might be--
it might be the go-to bait for here.
[Kallie] That's a big piece, Dad.
Sounds like sponge when you put it in there.
[Joey] That's what it feels like.
Let me cut some off. That's a little too big.
[Narrator] Joey will hang 30 lines with this new bait,
hoping that's plenty to allow them to tag out.
Well, that's one way of utilizing everything, Tootie.
[Kallie] Yeah, not wasting any meat.
[Joey] Not wasting nothing.
[Narrator] Over in Charenton Landing,
like his son Joey, Mr. Daniel and Zak
are within striking distance of tagging out a day early.
-It's been a good season. -[Zak] Great season.
But we still got tags to fill.
But we don't have that many. I think we finish today.
[Zak] It feels so good to have a great season,
but we gotta fill these tags, there's no way about it.
So I'm feeling good, but five gators is
still five gators we gotta find.
[Zak] We don't have that many lines out.
That's right, that's right.
I'll tell you what, it's a hard spot to fish.
If we don't catch them on the lines, we're gonna
have to really depend on that rod and reel
-and treble hook. -That's right, yes, sir.
[Daniel] Line down.
[Daniel] We got one, you think?
-[Zak] Yeah. -[Daniel] I hope he's good.
[Zak] He was on this side.
[Zak] Is he coming? Is he coming?
[Daniel] Yeah, he's coming. I got him.
There you go. Hold him, Zak.
[Zak] Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Whoa! Come on!
Bring him to me, Zak, turn his head!
[Zak] God, this guy is strong!
Holy cow.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
[Daniel] That was my shot.
-[Zak] Whoa! -[Daniel] Whoa!
[Narrator] On the second- to-last day of gator season...
-[Zak] Whoo-hoo-hoo! -[Narrator] Daniel and Zak are
reeling in a vicious fighter.
-Whoa! -Whoa!
-Don't get bit! -Watch out.
[Zak] Wow, this thing's so strong!
[Zak] Aah!
[Daniel] He's facing me, turn his head!
[Zak] Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him!
[gunshot]
[Zak] Got him. Whew!
[Daniel] Oh, yeah.
-[Zak] Want help? -[Daniel] Probably not.
Come here, big boy.
Not too bad.
I don't mind taking them like that.
[Narrator] This ten-footer is a solid start for the hunters.
With four tags left to fill and 15 lines left to run,
they still have a lot of work left to do
in order to tag out a day early.
[Zak] It feels so good to have one in the boat,
and that's a great start today, but we have to tag out.
Daniel wants to fill these today.
It's the last day for Daniel and I to hunt.
[Zak] That's solid.
[Narrator] Over in Bayou Gray...
T, baby, last day.
Let's get it over with, papa.
[Narrator] Ronnie Adams and his deckhand Timmy Aucoin
have a dozen tags left to fill,
putting their tag out within reach.
Let's make it all count, all bigs, daddio!
[Timmy] Gator season's fun, but I'm ready for it to be over.
[Ronnie] Me too, bro. It's been a long year.
[Narrator] To ensure they finish today,
Ronnie saved his favorite honey hole for last,
an ace in the hole known as Salvation Bayou.
Waking up this morning, I was like a kid at Christmas
because every year, alligator season just seems
like it brings more and more challenges on.
And this was the toughest season ever.
We have never had a season like this before.
So right now I'm pumped up,
and I cannot wait to run the rest of these lines
to see what the outcome is at the end.
[Ronnie] Oh, look at it.
Straight out, dude, straight out, T.
All right, T, what we got, baby?
We downtown Julie Brown!
I don't see the line, T, you?
No.
-[Ronnie] Nothing? -[Timmy] Oh, it's on the bank.
-It's where? -It's on the bank full of ants.
Damn, T, bro. That ain't good, baby.
[Timmy] Yeah. You see the hook there?
The ants done covered the bait. You can't see the bait.
[Ronnie] Yup.
[Timmy] If there's that many ants on it,
the alligator will never even see or even smell that one.
[Ronnie] No gator on this son of a gun.
Look at the ants that was on that thing.
[Ronnie] Sucks this first line ain't got nothing on it.
-[Timmy] Yeah. -[Narrator] This is not
the start the hunters envisioned
in Salvation Bayou on what they hope
will be their final day of the season.
Let's get the hell out of Dodge.
[Ronnie] I'm kinda nervous right now.
We got a bunch of lines out. Happy that it's coming to an end
because it's been such a great year,
but I just hope and pray
as long as it pays off in the long run
I can deal with the anxiety right now, you know.
The nervousness, I can deal with that.
[Timmy] Not a good way to start out our last day, huh?
[Ronnie] Not a chance, bro.
[Narrator] Back in Pierre Part,
Jacob and Little Willie are reigniting a slow hunt
with a competition to catch in open water.
[Jacob] Never know what you're gonna catch over here.
You never know what you're gonna catch.
[Narrator] It's treble vs. rifle,
and Willie's ahead 3-2.
The advantage with the big gun is that you don't
have to make that alligator bubble.
You can take advantage of him and take a shot
at a far distance if you're a good enough shot.
Whereas Willie has to get right up on them,
he has to see the bubbles, you have to try to track
this alligator, which he's good at,
but at the same time, I think the odds are
in my favor by shooting from a distance.
Right there, right there.
[Jacob] Oh, Lordy.
[Jacob] That's a real deal one right there.
Willie, your big gun's loaded?
[Willie] Absolutely.
[Jacob] Look right there, look right there.
[Willie] Ooh, that's a big one out there.
[Jacob] Oh, yeah.
Try to keep still.
[gunshot]
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, get your hook,
get your hook.
Look right there on the right, Willie.
-Right there on the right. -Yeah, I see him over there.
Look, he just rolled again.
Got him?
Got him right here beside the boat.
Ooh, this thing is heavy.
Feels good? Ooh. [laughs]
Ooh-whoo. Look at that there, Willie.
-That's a giant. -Yes, indeed.
You wanna hold this leg and I'll try to get to the front?
And that's one with the big gun, Willie.
I can't... I can't reach, give me a sec.
Ready? One...
two... three. Aah!
Yes, indeed, my buddy.
[Willie] That was a good shot.
One, two, three. Ooh!
Good job.
Yeah, I guess that makes us tied, huh?
All I'm worried about is that they in the boat, baby.
That's all my main objective.
[Narrator] Another 11-foot beast
makes the score 3-3,
and Jacob is especially proud of this one.
You know, shooting from a boat is really difficult.
The boat's constantly moving. Every little ripple,
whether it be two or three inches tall,
can-- can make that boat move,
and obviously it makes you move.
So therefore you only have
maybe a one-inch target to hit
at 100 or 200 yards.
So, when you have that-- that opportunity
where you feel still
and you feel like you can pull off the shot,
you gotta take it because a lot of times
them big ones are big for a reason
and they're not gonna give you much of a shot
or a time to shoot.
Hammer, son.
[Willie] That's what I'm talking about.
[Jacob] Catching, baby, we catching.
[Narrator] Back in Lake Fausse Pointe...
[Troy] Is that a clothespin hanging off that branch?
[Peewee] Yeah.
[Narrator] Troy and Pickle are running their lines
and chasing a beast named Lucky.
[Peewee] No slack on that.
[Narrator] But so far, they're coming up empty.
No slack, no slack, nothing.
[Troy] Nothing?
You know, this gator is really a challenge
because we should've caught him by now.
He's smarter than your average gator,
he's popping lines. He's very frustrating.
This alligator's costing us
a lot of time and a lot of money.
[Peewee] I see a tight line.
Looks like we got a crime scene, Peewee.
[Peewee] You think this is Lucky?
-[Troy] Talk to me. -[Peewee] Get your gun!
Whoo, bring him up, Peewee, bring him up!
-[Troy] Yeah! -[Peewee] Whoo!
Oh! I gotta get ahold of him.
[Troy] Whoo! This thing is mean!
[Troy] Show him who's the boss!
[Peewee] Aah! Ooh, Lord have mercy!
-[Troy] Give me a shot! -[Peewee] I'm trying!
[Troy] Whoo!
[Peewee] Whoa!
-[Peewee] Whoo! -[Troy] Watch him!
[Narrator] In Lake Fausse Pointe,
Troy and Pickle hope they've finally caught
their nemesis Lucky.
-Whoa! -Watch him, Peewee,
-watch him! -Aah!
Oh, Lord have mercy!
-[Troy] Give me a shot! -[Peewee] I'm trying!
[Troy] Whoo!
-[Peewee] Whoo! -[Troy] Whoa!
Bring him up, bring him up, Peewee, bring him up!
[Peewee] Shoot him, Troy!
[gunshot]
Whew! Oh, yeah!
[Peewee] Oh, you just know right where to put it.
Look at this.
[Troy] Oh, Lord, it's all ate up.
-[Peewee] Yeah. -[Troy] Yeah.
I guarantee that's that big one.
The one you call Lucky. Look, his...
look, his head is all broken in.
-Oh, my... -His head is all smashed.
[Peewee] I ain't never seen one that just bit 'em in the head.
He got bite marks all over him.
He was just chewing on this little thing.
[Troy] Ooh, look at the teeth marks,
-look at the size of that. -Look.
[Troy] He was fixing to eat the whole thing,
but we drove up.
[Narrator] It's clear this mangled gator
isn't the beast they're after,
but with only two days left in the season,
Troy's brought along an insurance policy.
These gators, other than alligator season
for one month out of the year,
they eat wild animals, they eat raccoons
and nutria rats and possums and dead fish.
That's what their diet is.
Most of the time, it's dead fish.
So what I decided to do was try a different bait.
[Peewee] How you hang these things?
Show me just real quick. Just go through the gill?
Make a few little holes in it for the smell.
Just watch your hand, okay?
Make a few little holes like that for the smell.
-Like a potato. -Yeah.
-Okay. -Yeah.
And then you just hook it through the what?
-Come on the backside. -Okay.
From the back.
[Narrator] Troy and Pickle will rebait their lines
with a putrid fish known as shad.
You know, the chicken stinks bad enough,
but the shad has a different smell completely.
And it's a smell that gets in your sinuses,
and you smell it long after you off the boat.
I figured he wouldn't be able to resist this.
[Peewee] That's gonna get him, huh?
[Troy] Guarantee it, I promise you.
[Peewee] It does look kinda tasty.
[Narrator] Back in Salvation Bayou...
I can't believe we got 12 tags left
and done ran 12 lines
and ain't caught the first alligator.
[Narrator] Ronnie's guaranteed hot spot
is turning out to be the opposite,
and if they don't finish today,
it could cost them hundreds of dollars in supplies.
[Timmy] Not good.
[Ronnie] Not good at all, bro.
-[Timmy] Yeah. -[Ronnie] I was so pumped
this morning to be done with gator season today.
This is unreal, bra.
[Ronnie] I'm kinda nervous right now.
First couple lines, it's freaking empty.
I wanna end out with a bang,
at least catch one or two good gators.
But I gotta make it happen
because right now these lines ain't cutting it.
[Timmy] Got one on that little tree over there.
-Looks like it's moving, yeah. -It's down?
-Where at? -That tree that's shaking.
-[Ronnie] Oh, oh! -[Timmy] It's a tree shaker.
That'd be good, baby.
Let's get it! Twelve tags, let's fill at least one.
[Ronnie] I hope it's something nice.
I hope it's something nice.
We do got something here, baby. I don't know what.
Ooh, T, T, T, T, T-- get the gun, baby!
[Ronnie] Oh, yeah, baby, we got a good one here, papa!
Finally our luck's changed around, my dude!
All right, T, right here, ready?
Shoot him, T, shoot him!
[gunshot]
Good job, T. Good job, T.
Hold on, T, let me grab these tags.
Twelve left, T.
Now it'll be 11, baby.
[Narrator] This nine-footer jump-starts
Ronnie and Timmy's day,
but they still have a long way to go
to be able to tag out.
Click, click! Eleven more sticks to go.
[Ronnie] It ain't a great gator,
but who cares? It's the last day.
So I'm stoked, but I still got tags
left to fill, and we gotta catch them while we can.
Come on, baby, let's tag out today, T.
Our day's turning around, bro. I just hope it continues.
[Timmy] Yeah.
[Narrator] Back in cattle country...
-[moo-ing] -[Joey] Let's roll, Tootie.
Let's see if that beef lung's paying off.
[Narrator] Joey and Kallie are returning
to the lines they set with beef lung,
hoping the new bait will allow them
to fill their last 12 tags and finish the season early.
[Joey] I don't know.
Alligators, anything white,
real bright colors, they're attracted to it.
You know, alligator hunting can be repetitive
and just the same old grind all the time.
I'm just hoping that this beef lung
might be the bait to help us end the season early.
The sooner we can get these tags filled,
the sooner we can get back home,
so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
We might get our opportunity.
Okay, Tootie, we got one on, serious.
All right, all right.
Now make you a slip knot.
Like that.
[Joey] Strong alligator.
[Joey] Get your rifle.
[Joey] Whoa!
Oh!
Watch it, Tootie. Bad dude.
-[Kallie] Mm-hmm. -[Joey] Bad dude.
Watch him, Tootie!
Give me a shot, Dad!
[gunshot]
[Joey] Good job.
That's a nice alligator, Dad.
[Joey] We're gonna pull him in, while he's fresh.
Wait.
Okay, we got him.
Roll him, daddy.
[Kallie] Watch his head, I'mma try--
[Joey] Put his head down.
There.
-Ooh. -Nice one.
Yeah, that's a nice one.
Not a giant, but that's a good one.
-That's a contender. -Okay.
That's a contender.
[Narrator] This beef lung is already
off to a hot start,
but 11 gators still stand between them
and tagging out a day early.
[Joey] This beef lung, it showed that
it's catching pretty good.
We on track, but anything can happen.
Just because you're catching them early
doesn't mean that you're gonna catch them all day.
[engine starting]
[Joey] That's what I'm talking about, baby.
That beef lung's paying off.
[Kallie] It sure is.
[Narrator] Back in Charenton Landing,
Daniel and Zak have filled
two of their remaining five tags,
as they scramble to fill their season a day early.
Let's see what we can do back here.
It's a hard spot to fish, man.
[Daniel] Luckily for Zak and I,
just coming out the gate, we started catching alligators.
But time's so important so we're gonna work hard,
get some of these alligators, and get them to market.
[Zak] Right there.
-[Daniel] You got one on there? -[Zak] Yeah.
[Daniel] Well, you the man then.
[Zak] Whoa!
[Daniel] Wet me way over here.
I got him! Grab the gun, Daniel!
[Zak] Oh, that's a solid one. Come on!
Zak, give me a shot!
[Zak] All right, I almost got him to you!
-Hold him, Zak! -Oh, my God!
[Narrator] In Charenton Landing...
[Zak] Oh, that's a solid one. Come on!
[Narrator] Daniel and Zak hooked a wild beast.
Zak, give me a shot!
[Zak] All right, I almost got him to you!
-Hold him, Zak! -Oh, my God!
-Give me a shot! -I'm trying!
[Daniel] Give me a shot, turn his head, Zak!
[Zak] Come on!
[Zak] There you go, there you go!
[gunshot]
[Zak] Nice. Nice one.
We go out in the swamp and ride the bulls.
So we swamp cowboys.
[both laugh]
[Daniel] That's what I'm talking about.
[Narrator] With this giant on board,
Mr. Daniel and Zak are two gators away
from finishing their season.
Our fishing effort's going pretty good.
And we got a couple of good alligators on the line,
so I'm feeling pretty good right now.
[Zak] Not gonna be easy, buddy.
[Narrator] Back in Pierre Part,
in the contest between sniper rifle and treble,
Jacob leads Little Willie by a score of 6-5.
Look at that big one coming out down there.
The pressure's back on me. Now I'm up again
to get it done with the treble hook and all
and find another alligator.
I'm up on the chop block.
So, we're gonna see if I can get it done.
[Willie] Over there by that log.
He's right here.
[Jacob] Do your thing, Willie wing.
-[Jacob] Him? -[Willie] Yeah, that's him.
[Jacob] Got him!
[laughs] Here we go, papa!
[Willie] Ooh-whee!
[Jacob] Ooh!
[Willie] Aw!
[Jacob] It pop?
[Willie] Yeah, he broke it.
Damn...
-damn. -That was a big gator.
Man, he broke my rope.
Damn it, Willie.
[Narrator] Missing this giant alligator
is a huge blow to Little Willie.
He knows that he will need to treble hook a giant
to catch up to Jacob
and prove his worth in a Landry boat.
[Willie] Big opportunity for me,
and it's rough.
I mean, you get your... your time to shine,
you mess it up, and it kinda bums you out.
I mean, it's kinda embarrassing.
You wait all this time and you miss it,
so I gotta redeem myself.
I'm kinda in the hole right now.
I gotta go ahead and climb out of that hole.
You don't think he's still right there, huh?
[Willie] No, that gator...
-Long gone. -He went out there somewhere.
It would've been a good one to add to the pile, buddy.
[Narrator] Back in Salvation Bayou,
Ronnie and Timmy are anxious to close out their season,
but Ronnie's trusted honey hole
hasn't given them what he hoped.
[Ronnie] Eight more tags, baby, let's do it!
[Ronnie] We got eight tags left.
I know that seems like not that many,
but we done fished this area a bunch,
we got a bunch of lines out there,
but eight tags is like an eternity.
And hopefully it pays off, baby.
Come on, T, we need our luck
-to change, bro. -Yeah.
We need to reach out to the gator gods to help us out.
Eight more gators, let's make it happen.
[Timmy] It's down.
[Ronnie] Oh, bro, look how tight it is.
Come on, baby, be something.
-[Ronnie] Heavy? -[Timmy] Oh, yeah.
We got something here, papa.
Whoo, T! Whoo-hoo!
Come on, T, it's a good one here, baby!
Ooh-ooh, there, baby,
we got him in the tongue, got him in the tongue, baby!
[Ronnie] Come on, big boy! That's a good one there, baby!
-Whoo! -He's barely hooked, T!
Come on, T, come on, T!
He gonna get off! Uh-oh! Gol!
[Narrator] In Salvation Bayou...
-[Ronnie] Ooh, T! -[Narrator] Ronnie and Timmy
are struggling to hold on to their fifth catch today.
Ooh, he's barely hooked, T!
-[Timmy] Ooh! -[Ronnie] Uh-oh! Gol!
Eight tags left, let's make it count!
All right, right here, T, right here, T!
[Ronnie] Get the shot!
[gunshot]
-That a baby! -Whoo!
Whoo! What a relief.
I felt like we were on number eight a dang eternity.
[Timmy] Got him now.
Get over there.
Seven more after this, T, seven more!
[Narrator] With seven gators left to tag out,
Ronnie knows the battle is not over just yet.
[Ronnie] It's been an up-and-down day.
We are catching a few nice gators.
I got this special freak-out mode
inside of me right now.
I'm feeling the end, and I'm pumped.
I'm excited. Even Timmy's pumped.
Seven more to go.
We gonna get up and roll, T. Come on, baby.
Let's get out this bad area.
[Narrator] Back in cattle country,
with five tags remaining,
Joey and Kallie are within reach
of tagging out a day early, thanks to their new bait.
[Joey] Ah, Tootie, they biting better today than yesterday.
[Joey] Beef lung, I've never baited with it.
It's real light, it's not real bloody,
but it's the right color. It's kinda white-looking,
and it's got a strong beef smell.
This might be the bait
to help us get what we need to get.
[Joey] Line's down.
Let's see if we got one, I'm pretty sure we do.
[Joey] Okay, daddy, let's see.
All right, watch that gator.
-[Joey] Ready? -[Kallie] Yeah.
[Kallie] Let's see what we got, Dad.
-[Joey] Whoa! -[Kallie] Whoa!
-Oh! -Watch him, Tootie!
[Kallie] Give me a shot!
[Joey] Feisty!
-[Kallie] Hold him, Dad! -[Joey] Watch him!
Don't lose him!
-[gunshot] -You missed him, Tootie.
You gotta shoot him again!
You missed him. Whoa!
-[Joey] Hold on! -[Kallie] Oh!
[Joey] Get him this time! Whoa! Now he's really getting mad.
Get you a shot. I don't care if it's in the white meat.
-[Kallie] I will, hold on! -[Joey] Get a shot on him!
[Kallie] Hold him, Dad, hold him!
[gunshot]
Good shot.
-Got him. -Good shot.
[Joey] All right.
That cow lung look like it's working a little bit, Tootie.
[Kallie] Now we're getting a lot of alligators in the boat.
[Narrator] This beef lung is off to a hot start,
but Joey knows better than to celebrate just yet.
This alligator is not a monster.
It's a decent alligator.
I'd like to catch a big one,
and we still have a chance.
But I don't know if it's gonna happen.
We're gonna see.
[Kallie] That's what we need. Pa said he wants to fill
all our tags, so we're gonna fill them all.
[Joey] Wonder what him and Zak doing.
[Narrator] Back in Lake Fausse Pointe,
Troy and Pickle return to the lines
they baited with shad,
determined to reel in their nemesis once and for all.
Every year you leave a big alligator,
you take a chance that somebody's gonna poach him,
he gonna die from something.
[Peewee] Same thing with a deer.
Same thing with a big buck.
[Peewee] Now we're going after Lucky.
He's gonna bite eventually. He's gotta smell this fish.
I know we're gonna catch him. He's right here.
There's no way about it, we gotta get him.
We just gotta keep trying.
[Troy] Looks tight, huh?
[Peewee] Looks tight, yes, it does.
[Troy] This could be him.
[Peewee] Oh, to the left, to the left, to the left.
[Peewee] Oh, no!
-What, Peewee? -Popped!
No.
Look.
[Troy] He couldn't resist that fish.
That's 1,100 pound test line, and he popped it.
-[Peewee] That's a lucky sucker. -[Troy] One of these days,
his luck's gonna run out.
And then we gonna change his name
from Lucky to Unlucky.
-[laughs] -[Troy] This was Lucky.
We caught him, he couldn't resist that shad,
but there was either a log under the water,
or a stump or something,
that he stretched that line so hard
and popped it and got away.
So he was lucky again. Lucky got lucky again.
But that tells me something.
He took the shad.
So I know we have a good chance
of catching this gator.
You hear what I'm telling you, huh, Peewee?
Oh, I hear you, I hear you.
He done pissed me off now. His days are numbered.
[Narrator] Over in Charenton Landing...
[Zak] There's nothing on it. Damn!
[Narrator] Mr. Daniel and Zak have five lines left,
and they need two more beasts
to tag out a day early.
[Daniel] Our day started really good,
but these last couple lines didn't do anything.
Every day, it's a new challenge in the swamp.
Adapt to the weather, to the bait.
It's like gambling.
You don't win all the time.
They win sometimes.
[Daniel] Looks like we got one, Zak.
[Zak] Oh, that's a big one!
Oh, my God.
Oh, he might break off!
[Daniel] We'll cut the string on the tree.
You need to tie it to the boat and get him out in the canal
because if we fight him right there,
he'll probably break it. Quick, Zak.
Quick, quick, quick, quick!
[Zak] That's him dragging us. Oh, my God!
-You got the gun? -Oh, yeah, buddy.
[Zak] Oh, my God!
-Oh, watch him, Zak! -Oh, he's huge!
[Zak] He's death rolling!
Hold on, Zak, hold on, Zak!
[Zak] Gah! He's huge, dude!
Pop, shoot him!
Shoot him!
You gotta shoot him, pop!
[Narrator] In Charenton Landing...
-[Zak] Oh, my God! -[Narrator] Daniel and Zak
are battling a behemoth in the water.
-Oh, watch him, Zak! -Oh, he's huge!
-He's death rolling! -Hold on, Zak, hold on, Zak!
I got him, I got him, but he's huge, dude!
-[Daniel] Oh, my-- -[Zak] Oh, my God,
-look at his back! -Whoa, don't let him
-break the rope! -Aah!
His head's right there. Shoot him!
Shoot him quick. I'm running out of line!
You gotta shoot him, pop!
[Daniel] Tell him to stay still!
[Zak] Shoot him now, shoot him! Shoot him!
[gunshot]
[Zak] Oh, my God.
-[both laugh] -It started raining.
That is a monster.
[Daniel] Look at the mouth on that thing.
[Zak] I could bring this gator to the other side of the boat.
[Daniel] And we'll just leave the winch over there,
-all right? -Yup, yup.
[Zak] I can drag him right over there.
[Daniel] Well, let me just hook him first.
[Zak] Okay.
All right, over here, Zak.
-Got him. -Big boy.
[Zak laughs] Oh, that's a monster.
-Yes, sir. -It's a nice alligator.
[Daniel] Some of these old alligators,
they have adjusted themselves
to all our chicken and lines, and they've seen it all.
But that lung, it's just-- when he saw that,
he stopped thinking about everything that he learned.
[Daniel] His head's all the way
on the other side of the boat, and this boat's
-eight feet wide. -Yeah, that's--
that's probably 11. That's a big boy.
[Narrator] This giant is a great catch for the hunters,
but they still have one tag left to fill,
and no lines left to run.
We finished running the lines, but we still need
one more alligator to tag out.
So I know it's time to break out that rod and reel.
It's time to go hunting.
[Daniel] Let me go check a good spot.
We might get him with the rod and reel and treble hook.
[Zak] Talking about the open lake?
Yup, yup. It's gonna be tough,
but it's the last tag.
And if we're gonna go, let's go out big.
-We'll get a big one. -We'll give it a shot, pop.
Let's go give it a shot over there, buddy.
[Zak] Running out of daylight, let's go.
[Narrator] Back in Pierre Part,
Jacob holds a narrow lead with eight sniped gators.
[Willie] Is that one with his head up over there,
Mr. Jacob?
[Jacob] Oh, yeah, baby.
[Narrator] Little Willie needs one more
to tie this treble vs. rifle showdown.
[Willie] Me and Jacob got a little competition going on
of treble hooking and sniping and all.
Right now, I'm a little iffy about it and all.
I got big standards to meet, you know.
So, we're gonna see if I can get it done.
[Jacob] I'm gonna try to push him a little closer
to the bank, where it's shallow, to treble hook.
Head just went down.
[Willie] He's right here.
Right on top of him.
-Feels good? -Yeah.
[Jacob] Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
[Jacob] Now we're talking, papa!
Come on, Willie! Come on, Willie!
Damn.
Hold him, hold him, Willie!
[gunshot]
[Jacob] Hell to the yeah.
Good job, Willie.
[Jacob] One, two, three.
All right, Willie, we tied up.
[Narrator] This 11-foot monster
evens the score with eight gators apiece.
[Jacob] That's it, my boy, that's it!
[Willie] Yes, sir.
[Narrator] And although the day ends in a draw,
the hunters accomplished their goal
of filling the boat.
We got 16 alligators, we tied.
Treble hooking and sniping is tit-for-tat.
We're the sniping and treble-hooking kings out here.
So that's all-- that's all that matters.
Good job, Willie.
Good job, Jacob.
[Jacob] Yes, indeed!
[Narrator] Back in cattle country,
Joey and Kallie need to fill one more tag
to finish their season early.
One left, Tootie.
-Look, Tootie. -Yeah.
[Joey] That beef lung,
the young ones are hitting it
as soon as you hang it.
-Right. -Look at him on the line.
[Joey] He's just holding on to the lung.
He's not-- he didn't swallow the hook yet.
[Joey] That beef lung's working.
I feel that the gods are shining light on us.
They like that lung.
[Joey] I'm telling you, that beef lung is getting them
and I'm excited to run the rest of the lines.
[Joey] Look, Tootie, they like that lung.
[Joey] Watch yourself.
[Joey] Look, look, look.
[Joey] It's a good one.
-[Joey] Biting the boat. -[Kallie] I know.
Tootie, whenever you can get a shot.
-[Joey] Whoa! -[Kallie] Whoa!
Give me a shot!
[Joey] You got to rock him.
Whoa!
-[Joey] Whoa! -[Kallie] Whoa!
-[Narrator] In cattle country... -[Kallie] Oh, my gosh!
Joey and Kallie are trying to bag
their final gator of the season.
-[Joey] Whoa! -[Kallie] Whoa!
[Joey] It's a good one.
Give me a shot, Daddy, give me a shot!
[Joey] I'm trying to!
[Joey] You got to rock him.
[Joey] Aah!
[gunshot]
-That's a good one, Dad. -Good job.
Good job. Let's put him on the table.
-[Kallie] Watch your leg. -[Joey] All right.
[Narrator] This 12-foot monster
ends the season on a high note,
and Joey is grateful to add a new bait to his arsenal.
[Joey] Our time this year was special,
we had fun, we killed some alligators.
This beef lung, I've never used it before,
but just like all fishermen, you're never too old to learn.
We filled the boat up. That's what we here to do,
kill alligators and load boats.
We got him, Dad.
[Narrator] Back in Salvation Bayou...
Come on, big gators!
[Narrator] Despite having one of their hardest days
of the year, Ronnie and Timmy are
one gator away from tagging out.
Boy, it'd be nice to be able to tag out
-if we got one. -Yeah, bro.
Let's tag it and stag it, baby, please!
You know, coming up on this last line,
one tag left, I am nervous.
I'm sweating bullets right now.
But that's just part of gator hunting.
It's what it's all about.
I wanna finish with a bang.
We ain't got much light left, couple hours.
-[Timmy] Yeah. -Boy, I'd like
to get the hell out of Dodge, bro.
Look, he's on the bank.
Dude, we about to tag out on a giant, son.
Heck, yeah!
Oh, T, look at the size of this dude, bro.
[Timmy] I know.
I think I oughta shoot him before he take off.
[Ronnie] Yeah, he might rip the hook out of his mouth.
Let's just creep up to him slow, slow, slow, all right?
Come straight in like you are.
Cool, T, try to shoot him in the ear, huh?
Yeah.
[gunshot]
-You shot over him. -No sights on this thing, bro.
Shoot him one more time, T!
Ooh, T!
Ooh, look at the size of him, T!
Whoo-hoo! This motherfreaker's
a giant, T!
[Ronnie] Man, that is a giant!
Go ahead, get it-- get it over with, T!
[gunshot]
-[Ronnie] That a baby! -[Timmy] Whoo!
Tagged out, baby!
[Timmy] Last one.
What a season!
[Ronnie] We have knocked them out, bro.
One, two, three.
All right, T.
Ooh, look at this giant, bro.
[Narrator] This 11-foot giant
is exactly what Ronnie and Timmy needed
to end their season.
One left, daddio.
And I'mma give you the honors, bro.
Last day of hunting, monster gator on the line,
probably one of the biggest all year.
It's just a great ending to a great season.
I cannot wait to hear the click, click.
Click, click!
We have never had a season like this before.
[Ronnie] We are finished!
[Narrator] Back in Charenton Landing,
Daniel and Zak have one tag left to fill for the year,
but with no lines left,
their fate depends on open water hunting.
[Daniel] One more.
[Zak] We're done working our way through the lines,
but we need one more alligator to tag out.
Luckily, I brought my rod and reel,
so let's throw one more in the boat.
[Zak] Look, look, look!
[Daniel] Oh, my goodness. That's a good one.
[Zak] A little bit more, a little bit more.
All right, good.
[Daniel] That's our tag out.
-[Daniel] That's it, that's it! -[Zak] Oh!
-[Daniel] Oh! -[Zak] I can't reach, dude...
-[Zak] Oh, my God. -[Daniel] Oh, he's going down.
[Zak] You might be able to get him on the move.
Okay.
[Zak] Go get him.
That might be right on top of him.
-[Daniel] He's still there, huh? -[Zak] Yeah, yeah.
-I got him, Zak! -Yeah, way to go!
You got him, D! Let's go!
Tighten the drag a little bit.
Don't give him anything!
-Take it, Zak. -Okay, hold on.
[Daniel] We don't wanna lose him!
[Zak] Yeah, we don't wanna lose him, dude.
Because if he turns, comes back on me.
[Zak] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Daniel] Okay, just...
all right, stop.
Oh, my God, this feels like a marlin, dude.
[Daniel] You have to turn just like you were doing.
Hard. Hard.
He's in trouble and he knows it, Zak.
-Okay, D, go ahead. -I'm telling you.
I'm fixing to let you look at him.
That's gonna do it, that's gonna do it.
I'm fixing to let you look at him, Zak!
You better lean, bro, you better lean!
Aah!
-[Zak] Oh, my... -[Daniel] There he is!
Zak, get the big gun!
-Oh! -Hold on, hold on!
Aah!
[Zak] Whoa!
[Narrator] On the second-to-last day
-of gator season... -[Zak] Hold on!
[Narrator] Daniel and Zak are fighting
to tag out with a monster.
-You wanna look at him? -Whup him!
-There he is! -Oh, my...
You wanna look at him, there he is, buddy!
[Zak] Hold on! Hold on!
Oh, he's big! Zak, get the big gun!
I'm getting it. Hold on, hold on!
Aah!
[Daniel] Shoot that thing!
Oh!
[Zak] You got him-- where's his head?
I don't know, hold on, I'm coming up with him.
[Zak] One more tag, baby, come on!
-Whoa! -[gunshot]
Hah! That one...
is every bit of 12, close to 13.
Tag out!
[Daniel] If you gotta tag out, tag out big.
Okay, get this over here.
All right.
[Daniel] Look how big around that monster is.
[Zak] Look at that! Boy, that's taller than us!
[Daniel] Yeah, from one side of the boat
all the way to the other side, more than six feet straight up.
[Narrator] This 13-foot leviathan
caps off a season full of monsters,
and they did it with a day to spare.
[Daniel] It's been a really good day for Zak and I.
We decide to go out in deep water,
and there's a bull.
But we also just finished early,
so we're smiling. It's been a good day.
What a season!
Hey, I think that was my best one yet with you.
Daniel, I love you, I appreciate you.
Thank you, Zak, thank you.
I had a wonderful time, buddy.
I wish I could be your blood grandson, brother.
Dream team.
[Daniel] I'm telling you.
[Narrator] Over in Lake Fausse Pointe,
Troy and Pickle are still running their shad lines
looking for Lucky.
[Peewee] You know he's right here somewhere.
[Troy] His days are numbered.
Lucky's luck is gonna run out.
[Narrator] But despite the fact they haven't caught him yet,
Pickle remains confident in her captain.
He knows so much about how to lure an alligator out
and especially, like, these old smart ones.
So today I'm learning something new, you know.
Like you can't always bait with chicken.
You gotta kinda break it up.
And they're used to smelling this chicken
for a month now, you know,
and finally, boom, we throw them a shad
and he's gonna bite.
What you see, Peewee?
[Peewee] Ooh.
Oh, look at him, up on the bank!
[Troy] Oh, now I see him, now I see him,
-hurry up. -That's a good one.
[Troy] This could be him. He's big!
[Peewee] Yeah, you think this is him?
[Troy] He's really big. It could be Lucky.
[Troy] Whoo!
Oh, whoa!
[Troy] It's a big one!
Shoot him.
[Troy] Shoot him.
Shoot him!
[gunshot]
[Troy] Whoa!
-Good shot, dude. -Whoo!
-He's dead, P? -He's dead.
That's a big old alligator.
[Peewee] We winching it?
Oh yeah, I don't have him hooked yet.
So don't move.
Okay, P.
Well, Peewee, Lucky's luck ran out.
He's been getting away from us for years and years,
the same alligator right here.
If we wouldn't have put fish,
I don't think we would've caught him on chicken.
[Narrator] At over 12 feet long,
there's no doubt they finally caught their monster.
-[Peewee] Ready? -[Troy] One, two, three.
Hold it, hold it, P.
-[Peewee] Oh... -[Troy] Right there.
He was lucky because he had took two or three pieces of shad
and didn't get caught.
But Lucky's luck finally ran out.
He couldn't resist that shad.
And I'll always, till the day I die,
I'll believe that's why we caught him.
I don't think we would've ever caught him with chicken.
Lucky ain't lucky no more.
[Peewee] Lucky ain't lucky no more.
[Narrator] Over in Franklin...
[Joey] Well, we had a decent alligator season.
[Kallie] We surely did.
[Narrator] The Edgar family enjoys a rare moment of peace
to celebrate the end of another successful hunt.
[Joey] It's times like this
that make the hard work worth it.
-[Kallie] You right. -Spending time together.
It's priceless because no one can touch it.
I just want the kids and the grandkids
to understand that
your strength... is in your family.
That's where your power is,
when you all look out for each other.
If you stand alone,
the wind or anyone can knock you over.
But when you've got your family, and all your support with you,
that tree's hard to knock over.
[Kallie] Pa, Dad let me drive the airboat.
[Daniel] My goodness.
Good job, Papa.
Yeah. The only bad thing
about driving the airboat is no reverse.
-There's no reverse. -[Kallie] Yeah.
And you have to remember it operates different
in deep water and shallow water.
Yeah. Dad was saying if you're heavy,
don't go down the middle, get by the bank a little bit.
And if you-- if you're wide open,
don't stop too fast, or the water
-will come over the back. -Yeah. [chuckles]
[Kallie] But I got pretty good at it.
You're doing real good.
[Joey] This year, Kallie and I,
this is our second year together.
Kallie's progressed as an alligator hunter,
and she did all that she could do.
I feel that our time this year was special,
we had fun, we killed some alligators,
and the future's so bright.
What a blessing.
Tootie, Daddy can't say it enough.
I'm so proud of you,
who you are as a person, and definitely a hunter.
Thanks, Dad.
-I appreciate that. -Love you.
-Love you, too. -I love you.
[Kallie laughs]