In the battle for the soul of the bayou...
Guess it's really time to put up or shut up.
A new captain embarks on a solo mission.
Get off of this boat!
Oh, my god.
Aggressive killers continue to multiply...
We so overrun with alligators now we need to target females.
And a swamp vet faces his most dangerous adversary yet.
See all these bite marks right here?
That other one gotta be big-big.
Whoa! That's a big gator. Whoa!
♪ ♪
as the morning sun spills over the horizon,
sharpshooter ashley jones
prepares for her first all-day solo hunt.
All right now, let's go.
I'm out here by myself today
because, you know, ronnie really has to take a break.
Doctor's orders, he can't come out.
Yesterday her partner ronnie
suffered from severe heat exhaustion
that sent him to the hospital.
I've never hunted by myself like this, not for gators.
Guess it's really time to put up or shut up.
Today I'm really just concerned
about being able to pull the gators in.
I'm not concerned
that I won't be able to hold them on the line or shoot.
I know I can do both of those things.
But to do them at the same time is concerning.
And that's really the easy part.
Then I'm gonna have to pull them in.
Oh, here's my first line right here.
I know one thing.
I'm not gonna be able to maneuver
and get up to these lines the way ronnie does.
It's down.
I can't see which way it's going.
All right.
Oh, there he is.
Oh, he's pissed.
I'm actually kind of wishing
that he was in the water at this point
because he's right here on the land.
They can jump up the length of their bodies,
so he can charge onto this boat if he wanted to.
I don't know how I'll get him over here
to get a shot in him
because I don't have ronnie here
to hold the stick on the other side.
Whoa! God!
That's not gonna work.
I think what I'm gonna do is just try to shoot him from here.
But also, I don't wanna piss him off enough
to get in the boat with me if I miss.
So we'll just try this out real quick.
He's locked up now.
Ashley handles this eight-foot, 250-pound gator
without any problems,
but she knows with ronnie gone,
bigger gators will be a real challenge.
I don't really realize how much I miss ronnie
until I'm out here hunting by myself.
You know, this is a two-man job,
and I'm out here as a female by myself.
One line down, just 74 more to go.
No big deal.
[clunk]
all right.
[engine starts] oh, here we go.
Easy peasy.
10 miles northwest, near bayou long,
king of the swamp troy landry and his deckhand pickle
are heading for a new hunting ground.
All right, shorty!
This is the area I got them new tags for this year.
Only got enough tags to hunt in here for one day,
but I could hunt here for a month, I promise you.
This is a hatchery.
A little nursery kind of thing here.
Nobody been hunting this for years,
and I think this is where all the females
we been catching are coming from.
This area is a breeding ground.
There's a lot of big females.
They know they're safe in there, so stop and think.
One mama alligator can lay 30 to 40 eggs. One.
We so overrun with alligators the last couple of years,
now we need to target females.
There's too many.
I keep seeing something pop up back there.
- A gator? - Yeah, yeah, it's a gator.
Following us?
That's what it looks like.
Looks like she's kind of stalking us.
Look, look, look, look, look.
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I just seen her go down.
That's her. She's getting a little close.
She's getting brave.
She's not brave, she's hungry.
She's starving.
It's kind of nerve-wracking
because she's not scared of the sound of the motor,
she's not scared of us talking or nothing like that.
And it's real scary this year
with them alligators being this aggressive.
If one of us falls over,
there ain't no telling what she's gonna do.
What we got?
I don't see the line. You see it?
- Oh, okay, I see it. - Oh, yeah, it looks tight.
What we got?
Bring him up.
Whoo-hoo! Lord, have mercy.
Whoa! Whoo!
Show him who's the boss. Aha!
- Oh, yeah. - Whoa!
- Whoo! - All right, you!
It's a big one, it's a big one. Whoo!
Take your shot.
Oh, he's gonna bite the gun.
- Shoot him! Go ahead! - Whoo!
[gunshot]
- whoo! - Whoo!
Good job, shorty.
Good job.
- That's what I'm talking about. - Good job, yeah.
Ready? One, two, three.
She was mean, huh?
That was an aggressive female.
Not often you see them that mean.
81 miles to the southeast,
swamp veteran bruce mitchell
is back hunting in one of his favorite honey holes,
the deep waters of myrtle grove,
and he's off to a quick start
with two gators already in the boat.
I've been here before, you know.
I mean, there's gators everywhere you look here.
You set a line, while you setting a line,
you look behind you, you got two gators watching that line.
So it's no doubt we gonna catch gators here.
Another line down. That's what I'm talking about.
Slow down, boat, slow down.
Oh, boy.
Ain't no telling what we have here.
I think we got a big one on here.
Feels pretty heavy.
Whoa!
Oh, golly.
Whoa!
He got some big sharp teeth, too. Whoa!
Oh, yeah.
He is pulling this thing tight.
Situations like this, you got to be real careful.
When he pulls that thing tight, it'll cut your fingers off.
That's all I can do is let him wear himself out.
Okay, I think I got him slowed down a little bit.
It's do or die.
Put the hurt on that one.
Ehh.
I guess I gotta get a winch or try to figure out a new system
to get him up here somehow or another.
Last week, bruce's winch broke...
Whoa! Whoa!
...Forcing him to improvise.
Can't go back to the hardware store and buy a gator winch.
This is something we make ourselves.
So I got to figure out something out here
to get these gators in my boat.
I keep a come-along in the front of the boat.
A come-along is a just a big ratchet winch,
and I use this in case I get stuck sometimes.
So I'm taking this and I'm gonna put it on my back pole.
And if I winch it from that way and the front,
I think I can get these gators in a lot faster.
It looks funny and looks bad,
but, hey, if it'll help me get these gators in the boat,
I'm all for it.
I can see where this gator's been chewed on.
Every time these hides are scarred or something like that,
they knock off money.
When they got punch holes in them from the teeth,
they knock off money.
See all these bite marks right here?
Apparently, they got a big gator here.
This an eight-, nine-foot gator.
Gator's chewing on this one,
that other one gotta be big-big.
I think I got a real big, aggressive gator out here.
So what I got to do is catch this gator
so he don't continue chewing on all my gators.
All right, time to go catch some more gators.
Gator time!
110 miles northwest in the atchafalaya basin,
veteran hunter daniel edgar
wants to make sure his grandson dorien
knows everything there is to know about the swamp.
These big, big ponds are full of wildlife.
These big alligators are in here trying to get something to eat.
Daniel hopes his grandson
will one day take over the family business.
Now is the time to pass on his decades of swamp knowledge.
See right there where the alligator passed?
Mm-hmm.
And turned? You can follow his trail.
Now that's not a really big alligator.
That's probably a seven-footer.
This alligator season, I have a responsibility
to fill all these tags.
That's number one.
Number two is I needed to spend time with dorien
to teach him some of the things and lessons of the swamp
to be successful in the catch.
Now, see here? This is a real big alligator.
See how he came through there. Look at this trail, pa.
Yeah, that trail's wide.
Now, this is a bull. That's a big one.
My grandpa is definitely
a jack of all trades in the swamp.
He knows a little bit about everything.
I'm fortunate to have a captain like that.
You got one right there.
Oh, it feels heavy.
- Feels heavy? - Oh, yeah.
Oh, my god.
Oh, he's burning me.
Try to give me a shot.
- There you go. - Whoa-ho-ho.
Give me a shot.
Don't let him get your rope.
That's a big alligator. Whoa!
Turn him, turn him, turn him!
Ohh! Ay!
Hold him, pa, hold him.
Don't let him whip you. Give me a shot.
- There he goes. - Whoa-ho-ho!
Get him before he hits that death roll.
Turn him.
Get me a shot. Turn him.
Can't get it cookies and cream. Right there!
[gunshot]
bring me now... Get that front leg.
- [bleep]. - He's rolling.
Come back this way.
- Okay, one... - One, two, go!
Got him, pa.
Okay, back out a little bit.
Let me get that, pa.
I got it, I got it, I got it.
Stand on his head. I'll show you.
This 10 1/2-foot, 450-pound gator
is a great catch.
Ahh!
Good job, pa.
Dorien is learning from the master.
And the important thing
about being able to make a living at anything,
you're gonna have to be very good at it.
Daniel: There's never a moment
that I'm not studying everything that's happening.
35 miles southeast,
with ronnie recovering from heatstroke,
ashley's hunting solo in the lake verret spillway.
I hope ronnie's all right.
Sure am ready for him to get back.
Even though I run these lines every day,
I just wanna make sure to not get lost.
I wanna, you know, stay on the right track.
And, if anything, I just wanna prove to myself
that I'm able to do this, you know.
It's a tough job and I've got full confidence in myself,
but it is still hard.
I'm gonna play ronnie.
[imitating ronnie] hey, ashley.
See you can see where that line is?
That didn't sound nothin' like him, but I tried.
Where you going, man?
Already dealing with enough issues alone,
ashley now has to keep from getting tangled in an old line.
Get down off this slippery deck.
I know that much.
You didn't even wanna eat your food?
Come up here.
Here we go.
Come on.
Come on, girl.
My god.
Oh, yeah, he's out.
He's out like a light.
He end up swallowing that chicken?
I guess he had one good last meal.
I'm having to take a lot more time
at these lines than typically,
so I'm just hoping
that I'm able to get finished in time.
It's extremely concerning.
Whew!
To the northwest
in the breeding grounds off bayou long,
troy and pickle have one day
to fill 20 tags in this new area,
and so far, they've bagged four aggressive females.
They mean back here, huh?
I really think it's because there's so many and they hungry.
Going in this area with all these mature females
on top of each other,
they already aggressive and aggravated.
They used to fighting them big males
away from their little ones,
and a hunter's no different.
They'll fight a hunter or whatever
just to protect them little ones.
We gonna have to be really careful.
Look. What's that up there on the bank?
That's a nest. That's a nest.
That looks like a nest, huh, yeah?
- I told you. - Uh-huh.
Go over there, go hit the bank.
Let me see if I can find them.
I'm gonna just jump out real quick.
Oh, believe me, the mama's there. Be careful.
I'm gonna just jump out real quick
and go see if I can grab the babies.
Just be careful. The mama's close.
All right.
You know, there's nothing more aggressive
than a female alligator.
Them big males, they only mean when you make them mean.
But them females with them little ones,
they always on their guard.
They never let their guard down.
Ooh,look all the little babies.
Look at them all, huh? Ooh, right here.
Yup, one day they gonna grow up
to be some big 10- and 12-, maybe 13-footers.
Let's get out of here before the mama comes.
His mama gonna come over here and scoop you up.
Oh, looks like we got something here.
I don't see nothin'. Looks loose, huh?
We got something?
- It's a decent one. - Bring him up.
Whoa! Whoa! Watch him.
Yeah, he's fighting.
Whoo!
Give me the shot.
Whoa.
Whoo! Watch him.
Show him who's the boss.
Give me a shot.
[gunshot]
- like that. - Good shot.
That sucker hurt my hand.
Ready?
In the past, the big alligators
was always the most aggressive ones.
But now the little ones
are just as aggressive as the big ones because they hungry.
That was a mean alligator.
Yeah, she was mean.
Even though they not as big, they can be just as aggressive.
Sometimes I think they more aggressive than the males.
I think they're a little meaner than the males, you know.
I think you're right.
That goes for everything, you know.
Not just alligators.
Yeah, I really believe that part.
Not just alligators.
Yeah, it ain't just alligators.
Back in myrtle grove,
bruce is hunting down a cannibal gator
that's ravaging his favorite honey hole.
I see a line.
These big gators are smart.
Once you get a gator 10-, 11-foot,
they know what to do to survive.
Hey, they do whatever they got to.
They eat their own, they don't care.
I mean, I gotta get rid of this gator.
He's costing me money.
What we got here?
Little grass buildup on here.
Whatever's on here ain't moved yet.
Don't know what we got here.
I mean, hooked on a big log.
Whoa! He almost come in the boat.
Whoa!
I never seen no gators this crazy.
They just wild over here.
Burning my hands.
Whoa! Come on, slow down.
I can't get him.
All he wants to do is fight.
Whoa!
Golly! That was close.
Whoa. There he goes, there he goes.
I don't know where he's bringing me.
He won't come around the front of this boat.
Come to daddy. He's a nice gator.
I was thinking this was the one
that got that other gator and chewed it up.
But now look at his head right there.
See, that's teeth marks from another gator.
Once I get him up, he's full of bite marks, too.
He's got teeth marks all over him.
He's been chewed up, too.
Problem is, with a gator like this that's eating other gators
and real aggressive like this, sooner or later
he's gonna come after cats and dogs and fishermen.
Whoever's out here in the swamp or he comes by humans,
he's gonna get one.
He's gonna bite somebody.
That big gator, I gotta catch that big gator.
He just ain't no good for this area.
I'm gonna get him.
One way or the other, I'm gonna get this gator.
110 miles northwest,
daniel edgar has spent a lifetime on the swamp,
and he hopes to teach his grandson dorien
all the secrets of hunting alligators.
This rise from the mississippi, all this water.
Look at the current. She's coming.
Look here how she's rising, pa.
I just want to teach him
about the tide, the weather, how to read nature.
How to do all of these things
that mentally when you get more confident about yourself
and your abilities, the more secure you are,
the better you will be.
What causes that rise?
These rains and melted snow,
everything from up north,
all of the water comes down here through louisiana.
Right now, obviously,
this hurricane that just passed, hurricane laura,
dumped a bunch of water up there,
and now we're starting to get the drain off from that.
I definitely think my grandpa senses
that, you know,
I'm willing to, you know, take time
and listen to him
and understand what he's trying to teach me.
It's almost like it's not even work.
And then you're learning,
and you're becoming someone new every day and better.
New and improved.
Line's down, pa.
I see his tail, pa.
Try to hold on. Hold on.
What're you thinking?
I think he's a pretty good alligator,
but he's under the boat.
You think he's a good one, pa?
I don't know.
- Whoa. - Whoa.
- Oh! - Whoa!
Be careful, pa.
He's a good one.
Let me get a shot on that big rascal.
Try to turn him.
Whoa.
Boy, he's mean.
[gunshot]
he's a good alligator.
- Goddog. - Ooh, yeah.
They are not playing either.
There you go. All right, give me that leg.
Let's try to get him on his stomach.
Give me that leg.
- Oh. Nope. - Okay, pull him up.
Let's go, one more time.
Hold on. All right.
With this 10-foot beast in the boat,
dorien's swamp knowledge keeps growing
and the hunt continues.
To the southeast on the lake verret spillway,
ashley is feeling the strain of hunting solo
and knows it will take everything she's got
to run the rest of her lines.
It's just dangerous when you're out here by yourself in general.
And when you're exhausted,
sometimes you wanna try to take shortcuts.
And in alligator hunting, that can be very dangerous.
Sometimes you make mistakes, and those can come at a cost.
Wait, is that the line? Let me see.
Oh, yeah, there's the line right there.
Oh, I hope he don't get up under there.
Okay, let's see.
It's down at least.
Doesn't mean anything.
I think it might be snagged.
Nothing's pulling back on the snag.
Dadgum it.
Probably about to pull up a dadgum log.
Okay, that's not a log.
Oh, my goodness.
Damn it!
Get off of my boat!
Whoa!
Oh, my god.
Ah! Oh, god, he's heavy.
Come on, just give me a half a turn.
[gunshot]
there we go. Freaking monster.
Oh, my god, now I gotta get him in the boat.
Oh...
I'm really missing you right now, ronnie.
Getting a 350-pound gator into the boat alone
is no simple task.
Okay.
What have I got myself into?
Okay, that makes it a little easier.
I knew it was a male...
Okay, easy enough.
I got this. All day!
Back in the atchafalaya basin,
patriarch daniel edgar
continues to share his vast knowledge and experience
with his grandson dorien.
But the question is: Is he learning?
You're in school. You're about to take a test.
Are you ready for your examination?
Yeah, let's go for it.
We were adjusting to something.
What were we adjusting to?
The water coming up, trying to focus more
on alligators coming out of the swamp.
So what you're saying is
the water's rising going into the swamp?
Yes, sir.
And we're setting ahead of the alligators?
Correct.
Okay. That's true.
You know, I'm starting to soak up
all this info and knowledge he's been showing me.
I'm really strongly believing
that I can factor all these things I've been learning
into my craft
and make me a successful fisherman one day.
Just to give you an example
of how much this river system changes,
here are the roots on this tree.
So water levels were up here,
and this is how much it's dropped.
Seven feet.
You can see where the roots are on all of these trees,
how much this river system, how much this water's gone down.
- Oh! - Oh, my god!
- Might be wrapped up. - Oh there's something on it?
We got a bull.
Get ready. Boy, he feels heavy.
- Bring him back here. - Trying to go in this hole.
Bring him back here. Get me a shot.
Get me a shot on him.
This one's aggressive. Watch him, pa!
Oh!
Okay, I'm gonna try to get a shot on him.
Okay.
He's gonna pop the line!
[gunshot]
got him that time. Okay, pa.
All right, gimme that front leg.
Okay. All right?
Tell me when you're ready.
One, two, go.
One more time.
Hold on. Let's roll him in.
At the end of the day,
we got a boatload of alligators.
And to share that and to teach dorien how to do that,
it's a very special time in my life.
It's a great day. We accomplished a lot.
He's a 10-footer all day.
Nice one, pa.
Oh, yeah.
98 miles away in the bayou long breeding grounds,
troy and pickle have 12 gators onboard
as they continue to keep up a breakneck pace.
We gotta fill all these tags in this area today.
Yeah, that's what you said.
Tomorrow we gotta move to a different area,
so be careful.
When you rush, that's when things usually happen.
I'm ready.
I thought we'd have done filled our tags by now,
but them old females are smarter than you think.
They're kind of like a barracuda or a piranha.
They eat the chicken off the hook and leave it there,
leave the hook.
They're very smart.
What we got here?
We got something, girl.
Let's see. Okay.
- Hung up? - Oh, no, we ain't hung up.
Do we got something?
Got something on here. Might have a big one.
- Under the boat? - Yeah.
Them big ones, dude. I told you.
You see it?
It wants to get under the boat.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Watch your hand, watch your hand.
All right, bring him up.
Whoo! Lord have mercy.
Oh, watch him, watch him.
Whoa.
Watch it, watch it, watch it.
Come on, shoot him. Put a hole in him.
All right, mr. Troy, shoot him.
Now the fun begins.
Oh, here we go.
Huh? Now the fun begins.
You and your big ideas.
You wanna catch the big ones, catch the big ones.
I was happy catching the little ones.
- Ready? - Ready.
One, two, three.
Okay.
You ready? On three.
One, two, three.
Okay.
That's a pretty one. That's a big alligator.
This giant 450-pound breeding female
is the biggest of the day,
but they have a way to go
if they hope to fill their quota before the day is done.
It's all right. As long as we get the job done.
17 miles away,
with 10 giant gators already loaded in her boat,
ashley approaches her last line of the day.
And it couldn't have come soon enough
for this exhausted solo hunter.
All right, here we go.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
This is gonna be a relief pulling up this last line.
I saw these bubbles, and I felt something pull back.
I'm gonna grab this gun.
Able to grab this thing.
Okay, good, good, good.
This is a big gator right here. This is heavy.
All right. He goes running with this line,
he's gonna yank my hand off.
Okay, come on.
Aah! Whoo!
Damn.
Dang it.
Whoo! Mm!
Oh, my god.
Jeez.
Oh!
Whoo-wee!
My gosh.
Man, that almost didn't happen for me.
I'm gonna get the bait hook in him now.
Getting him hooked.
If I can just get this gator in, I'm good.
All right, girl, last one. You can get it.
With her last line run,
ashley has to muster up the energy
to get this final 350-pound beast into the boat
before she can call it a day.
[grunting with effort]
ohh.
You know, I've proved a lot to myself
and, you know, I think everybody else today, too.
But at the same time, I'm ready to get ronnie back.
This is definitely not a one-man job.
Girl, you deserve a cold beer now.
You done worked.
Worked and got the job done!
In myrtle grove,
bruce has reached his last line of the day,
but the elusive cannibal gator he's been hunting
is still on the prowl.
Wow! I see the gator on land.
Oh, my goodness.
Look how big that gator is.
That's a big gator.
Whoa.
The very last line, he's on land.
I see him looking at me,
and he's growling at me, actually growling at me.
[growls]
I know this is him.
This is a big, mean-looking gator,
and he's just kind of scary.
Oh, crap.
Uh-oh, he's hung up.
He's gonna break that line.
Better hurry up and shoot him before he gets in the water.
Whoa!
Come on, buddy, stay, stay. [gator growls]
he's gonna pop the line. Let me shoot him. I gotta shoot him.
[gunshot] whoo!
I got him. This was a bad gator here, boy.
Whoo!
He ate up a lot of my gators over here.
Put scars on them.
I'll be happy to get him out of here.
I just don't know how I'm gonna get him in my boat.
I'm gonna have to use my broke-up winch one more time.
I mean, it's gonna be tough to do this,
but I got to do it.
I have no choice.
This is the cards I have out here,
so I'm gonna have to just deal with it.
Hope I've got enough line to do what I wanna do.
Get his head on the boat
and it should just pull everything straight back.
That big boy there.
My plan is get him right here,
and I should be able to suck him right over that pile there.
That's my plan.
I don't know if it's gonna work or not.
You're by yourself,
the only thing you have to help you out here
is what you got in the boat.
Oh, yeah.
Don't you fall out the boat.
Whew.
Look at that.
Now that probably happened years and years ago
when he was a baby.
Oh, gol, look at his tail.
Look at that.
This boy ain't nothin' but a fighter.
He ain't nothin' but a fighter.
I'm happy to get this gator out of here.
It feels good to get a big gator like this out of the swamp.
Golly. I got me a mountain of gators today.
Back in bayou long,
with the day almost over,
troy and pickle need to fill their final tag
in the area known as the breeding grounds.
Man, I've never seen so many aggressive alligators, huh?
Yeah, I'm wore out, man.
- What? - Them females fight hard.
I'm gonna be sore today, I get home.
They got me wore out.
We gotta put one more alligator in the boat,
and at this point, we tired and we exhausted.
With all of these females running around,
I just don't wanna overstay our welcome.
I'm ready to get out.
Looks like we got one.
Ooh. Yeah, that's a good one.
Looks like a nice one?
He's a big one.
He's a big old boy.
Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho.
He's heavy.
Whoo!
Whoa!
Don't pop that line.
Whoo!
Watch him, baby girl. Get the gun, get the gun!
Shoot him, pickle, shoot him! Whoa!
Get ready, get ready, get ready!
Shoot! Shoot him!
[gunshot]
oh! [laughs]
that one like to pull you overboard, huh?
Oh!
[both laugh]
I don't know where we're gonna put him.
I don't know. Let's put this gun down first.
Okay. Can you reach down and grab that little leg?
- You got him? - Yup.
- But we hanging up. - Okay.
On three, ready? One, two, three.
This massive 550-pound behemoth is not a breeding female,
but a prized catch nonetheless.
It leaves troy feeling a sense of accomplishment
after a long, exhausting day in this fertile hunting area.
- Oh! - [laughs]
we did good here.
We filled all our tags, and I'm glad we came.
It was a success.
And most important,
we took a lot of females out of this area,
which is gonna help.
Well, we did good.
I'm just hoping we can come back here next year.
It's the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, that's it.