As the season reaches its midway point,
alligators continue their reign of terror...
This is right where scott says the alligator killed his horse.
I promise you, he's gonna come back for more.
Don't let him pull you in. Watch him!
New generations step up...
Today I'm gonna just let you take the captain's seat.
Hey, throw the keys to the kingdom to me.
And old equipment breaks down.
That ain't good.
What's wrong with it?
All of a sudden the motor kills.
Are you serious?
[sighs]
oh, man. This [bleep] motor.
- ♪ ♪ ♪
it's midday on the bayou,
and vicious gators
are soaking up the louisiana sunshine.
While over in belle river...
King of the swamp troy landry and his deckhand pickle
have been called off the water for an emergency.
Mr. Settoon.
What you say there, troy? How's it going?
- What's happening, buddy? - Everything's going good.
This is my friend cheyenne. This is scott settoon.
Nice to meet you, cheyenne. Pleasure meeting you, ma'am.
Good friend of mine.
The only time I ever got in trouble
when I was young growing up was when I hung out with him.
[laughs]
don't believe everything troy tells you, doll.
Troy has spent years as a nuisance hunter
ridding the area of threatening gators.
So when his friend's horse was killed,
troy was the first call.
I came over here, me and my nephew.
We come through the gate, we got on top.
It was right down there, about 400 feet.
Seen them horses was in there drinking water.
They come on this side of the levee for the water.
I guess them alligators just sneaked up on him
and grabbed them by the nose.
I'm not gonna let the alligator
eat all of them, you know.
I mean, I need you to come get 'em and get rid of 'em.
Because we can't let 'em keep on eating horses, you know.
So that was a full-grown, about an 800-pound horse?
About 800, 900 pounds that horse weighed.
It was a year and half old.
It had to be a big alligator.
Now that this big alligator killed one horse,
I promise you he's gonna come back for more.
This is only the beginning.
If we don't get this alligator,
a lot worse could happen.
People are gonna be next, I promise you.
Looks like we got a big job to do.
Well, I sure appreciate if y'all could help me out with it.
Oh, we gonna catch him, I guarantee you.
Come on, let's get out of here.
With a new mission,
troy and pickle hit the water.
My plan is pickles and I
are gonna go right to the crime scene.
We're gonna go right where the gator killed the horse.
We're gonna try to catch whatever gators
we think is responsible for killing this horse,
but we gotta do it quick.
You see all this lush, green grass
growing right on the edge of the levee?
-Yeah, yeah. -That's why the horses come.
They come to drink, but they come to eat.
Look on the edge where they're getting in the water,
eating all that green, tender grass.
It's like a salad buffet.
Yeah, it's like a buffet for them,
and it's thin, the stuff.
It's growing in the edge of the water,
so it's real soft and thin.
And that's what they like, and it's very nutritious.
This is right where scott said the alligator killed his horse.
That's where he got him, huh?
You can see where the horse come eat all the grass.
You see all the leaves are missing?
And then look right here.
They got a slide, an alligator slide.
Yeah, look, going up right there.
I wanna set a line right here.
We're gonna tie it to that little branch.
Make sure you got a long enough line to reach out here.
Yeah, I got a good one ready right up here,
but I like this limb.
We're gonna set right here.
We're gonna put some right on top of slide right here.
Watch it while I back up.
All right.
I wanna set a few more lines right in this area,
but I really think this is where we're gonna catch him.
Yeah. I think he's gonna bite right here.
I think that's where we're gonna catch him. Right there.
Absolutely.
Pretty confident in that set right there.
27 miles south in the atchafalaya basin,
swamp legend daniel edgar and his grandson dorien
already have a pile of gators in their boat.
Yup.
You know, we're getting through the best part of the season,
and dorien's been doing exceptionally well all season.
I'm really proud of him.
- Hey, pa. - Yeah, I see it.
Oh, he's on the line.
Ay yi yi!
Pa, give me a shot, man.
- He's a good one. - Oh, great. Let me...
Whoa.
Aah.
It's a mean one.
Get down on this pile of alligators.
Don't let him beat you up, pa. Come on now.
Whoa.
Ooh.
Try to give me a shot.
Whoa.
Come on here, alligator.
Right there, right there.
- Ooh. Almost. - Oh, you missed your shot.
Right there.
[gunshot]
how you like that, son?
Good alligator.
Front of that boat's loaded.
Oh, yeah, he's a nine-footer every day.
Every bit of it.
With one last nine-footer for the day,
daniel has an idea
to see how much responsibility his grandson is ready for.
Dorien's working hard,
you know, and he's always doing really good.
But tomorrow, I'm gonna give dorien a test.
Real good, pa.
Real good.
12 miles east in old river,
chase landry is on a sniping mission.
The plan is to go down here a little bit further,
down this tree line,
and see if we can't find us a good spot to sturdy up.
They got a bunch of big alligators
swimming out from this side of the lake,
so we gonna see what we can do.
Earlier today, his father troy sent him to this area
knowing there were massive bull gators
patrolling the waters.
Oh, lord, that son of a gun had a head that big.
But that's why I wanted to send you there today.
Everybody knows I like to snipe alligators out on open water.
I feel like that's where
I'm the most productive or effective.
And they could use a little help.
Look out there. That thing looks like a log swimming out there.
Jeez louise, dude.
That is a monster. Goodness.
You can see his nose and just part of his eyes.
He's moving. Get ready.
[gunshot]
oh, I see film on the water.
He's right here somewhere.
See the oil from his head?
Hoping his shot hit its mark,
chase must now locate his catch in the murky water.
I may have to end up looking with the pole.
Too many stumps and stuff down on the bottom.
I'm having trouble throwing the treble hook,
so what I got here is the gaff pole.
I'm just trying to feel.
I got him.
This eight-foot gator
continues a successful day of sniping.
But what chase was also feeling underwater
may be just as promising.
We got a log right here.
Feels like a good one.
I was looking for that alligator that I shot,
but I just come across what feels like a good cypress log.
Oh, yeah.
Virgin growth ancient sinker cypress.
It's an old cutdown cypress tree
from back in the logging days
that they had put into a raft
and were towing back to the mill.
And for whatever reason,
something caused them to sink.
Those logs have been down there
since the 1800s, early 1900s at the latest.
You know, it's like treasure hunting.
That's the closest thing I would compare it to.
Then we for sure are gonna go back to the house
and get the log dog
and come back and pull it,
and sell it, make us an extra paycheck.
Chase's plan is to call it a day
and return tomorrow with his cypress pulling boat.
24 miles to the northwest in bayou sorrel,
after a morning of boat troubles,
willie edwards and his son little willie
are launching their backup boat.
When you got a motor running bad,
that's just so frustrating.
It took me at least an hour and a half,
two hours out the day
just to swap boats and everything.
And that's a lot of time when you're on a time limit.
But his backup boat
has a history of motor issues as well.
You got that motor running right?
I hope.
Can't be messing around today.
With no more lines to run,
willie plans to spend the rest of the day
hunting gators using his treble hook.
I see a big one.
Right there, right there, right there!
Right there. Throw it out there.
Too far behind him. That wind's blowing so hard.
I see him way over there.
Right there.
Got him!
Watch your hands, watch your hands, he's rolling up!
- Good lord! - Watch that thing!
- Good lord! Whoa! - Watch that thing, boy!
He ain't got no bottom tongue or nothin'.
Uh-uh.
We got a fighting one.
Get him up, get him up.
Let go, willie.
I mean, are you serious?
That's him.
- Ready? - Yeah.
This 8 1/2-foot gator
is a nice addition to the day's bounty.
Oh ho ho, boy.
Hey, boy.
[motor won't start]
ain't good at all.
Now their backup boat's motor is giving them trouble.
Oh ho ho!
Motor's acting up bad or something.
It's wanting to lock up or something. I don't know.
It's something to do
with either the starter or the solenoid.
And it's not rolling the starter over
to kick it up to hit the flywheel.
And that's not good,
so I just gotta go ahead and fix it.
Because that's just slowing us down big time.
[motor starts]
with this motor acting up,
willie decides to call it a day and head home.
And on the way, they'll set lines for tomorrow.
As the sun sets on the bayou, the hunters recharge.
But these vicious gators
will be there when the sun rises again.
In the atchafalaya basin,
daniel and dorien are ready to push off,
but mr. Daniel has something to say.
Pa, we've had a really good season.
I agree.
You know, and thanks again for helping me.
So today, I'm gonna just let you take the captain's seat.
Hey, throw the keys to the kingdom to me.
Strap your seatbelt tight.
Oh, strap my seatbelt? [laughs]
I'm super surprised
when I hear the words out of my grandpa's mouth
of him telling me that I'm gonna be a captain for the day.
I think he's just got
an overall different level of trust with me now.
This seat got a lot more butt cushion than mine.
[laughs]
he knows that I'm working hard.
He knows that I'm trying to learn,
and he knows it's genuine.
I got some traps down this slough, pa.
Except for my dad,
I've never been a deckhand, you know.
And in 1968, I bought my own boat,
and I've been a captain ever since.
So dorien, he's lucky.
His first day as captain,
he'll have the best deckhand in the country.
We got one on there, pa.
He's a bulldog.
All right, let's see what we can do with him right there.
Take a look at him, pa.
Oh, he got a little weight to him.
Let's take a shot at him.
Oh! Oh!
Oh!
Good alligator.
I don't like the way he's looking at me.
Like I owe him money or something.
You're in his territory.
- Give me a shot. - He's a thrasher.
- Okay... - Right there.
We're gonna have to take this shot.
Right there.
[gunshot]
good job, pa.
Good job.
He's a nine-footer every day, every bit of it.
This 350-pound beast is dorien's first as captain,
and he's eager to prove
he can take out more of these savage beasts.
Real good alligator to start off the day.
I'm happy, but let's keep it pushing.
- All right, let's roll. - We moving too slow.
Time is money.
To the east, chase found more than gators
on his sniping mission yesterday.
He located a valuable sinker cypress.
Today he's taking out his logging boat
to try and bring it home.
We got the battery, we got the remote,
we got the tongs,
we got tags, guns, bullets, binoculars, radio.
Good to go.
Logging is in my family, it's in my blood.
My great-grandpa did it.
I know that all the old-timers that did it,
you had to be a man.
This was a man's job.
This wasn't for the weakhearted
or, you know, the people
that just wanted it handed to them, you know.
They worked their ass off to do this stuff,
and it was dangerous and hard work.
And they did with an axe and a saw.
Luckily for chase,
he has top-of-the-line tech on his side.
His boat's equipped with sonar
that will help put him right on top of this old growth log.
Imagine, like, a bird's-eye view looking down at the bottom.
Right now, I'm coming back to get the log.
But I also brought my big rifle and binoculars with me.
I got a few tags in my box,
so we see a big alligator, we'll take him, too.
Just as chase approaches the log's location,
he spots a gator patrolling the area.
Bingo. Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, yeah, it's definitely a big bull alligator.
Fire in the hole.
Sent him for a loop for sure.
Oh, get ready.
You... Come on, you son of a...
Come on.
The gator seems to have slipped his grasp,
making logging in this area all the more dangerous.
Wanna make a pass with my boat real quick.
See if I can't see him.
It's your lucky day, mr. Alligator.
Nine miles south, in belle river,
troy and pickle are back on the water.
Yesterday they set lines
to catch a nuisance gator that killed a horse.
All right.
Let's go check them lines we put.
Let's see what we got.
Aw, no.
I can't believe the bait's still hanging.
I thought sure that alligator would've took that bait by now.
That's okay. I got a little something.
I talked to mr. Scott this morning,
and he gave me a little something to put on here.
He gave me some horse shavings from the feet.
- Oh, from the feet? - Yeah, boy, talk about stink.
No joke, he gave you some? Let me see.
Yeah, wait till you smell this.
I was talking to mr. Scott and I asked him
if he could get me some hoof shavings.
- Smell that. - Whoa! Whoo!
Whoo!
- That stink, huh? - What?
They real potent and they smell just like the livestock.
And I think if I put some of that on the chicken,
it's really gonna boost his appetite.
Had to have me a little backup plan, you know?
I tell you what, I got confidence.
I think that's gonna help us a lot.
I think so.
With the hoof trap set,
troy and pickle can continue checking
the rest of their lines.
Look on the bank.
Ooh! Ooh!
Bring him up slow, slow.
Whoa! Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Don't let him pull you in.
- Got him? - I got him.
Mm, oh, yeah. This one got some fight in him.
Bring him up, pickle, bring him up.
Give me a shot.
Shoot him, mr. Troy, shoot him!
Oh, he's fighting good.
Bring him up. Whoa!
Shoot him, mr. Troy, shoot him!
[gunshot]
he's definitely not the one that ate the horse,
I can tell you that.
One less in the population. He's not a giant.
That horse weighed between 800 and 1,000 pounds.
So for an alligator to take down an 800 or 900-pound horse,
you know that's a big alligator.
Mr. Troy, for an alligator to eat a horse like that,
he's gotta be real mean.
That tell ya how aggressive they get.
Up north in bayou sorrel...
Willie, see if they got a screwdriver or something
up there in the deck, son.
Willie's troubleshooting the motor
on his backup boat...
Flathead.
And hopes it will make it through the day.
What's wrong with it?
I got a hose too long right here and it's kinking.
The solenoid went out on it,
and I had to tap the starter just to get it to crank.
And it'll take you a while to get that motor back started.
Try that.
[motor starts] it's gonna work.
With their motor working again,
the boys head out to check the lines they set last night.
But they're always open to have a go at treble hooking
if the opportunity presents itself.
Aw, big one out there.
Get the treble hook, get the treble hook.
Right there. Throw it, throw it.
Got him!
Oh! Don't wrap it, don't wrap it.
Oh! He's coming back.
Watch your hands, watch your hands, he's rolling up.
You got him.
When he comes up, I'm gonna give it to him.
Pull it up, pull it up, hurry up!
Got him in the mouth.
That one put up a fight.
Yes, indeed.
Come on, let me get him up.
That's a good one right there.
Talking about.
[motor stops]
that ain't good.
All of a sudden, the motor kills.
I mean, got gas going to it and everything,
but it just kills.
[tapping] come on.
Are you serious?
[motor starts]
ain't one thing, it's another.
Back in the atchafalaya basin,
looking to prove he deserves to be captain,
dorien lays out his hunting plan for his grandfather.
Imma work the edge of these lilies
and try to flush whatever's sleeping or laying under it,
try to flush them out.
Hopefully it works. I see you do it a lot.
Then we'll wait and see if one pops up?
Yes, sir.
Good plan. That's a good plan.
Yes, sir. I am not nervous.
The trickiest parts about being a captain,
and especially in an airboat, is just positioning.
You know, in an airboat,
you don't have any brakes, you know.
So you can't come in too fast.
You can't come in too slow.
You gotta come in just right.
- Look at the bubbles. - Look, look, look, look.
Look at the bubbles!
Get your hook, get your hook ready!
Get your hook ready.
Get your hook. That's a good alligator.
Get your hook.
He's right there.
He's running in that shallow water.
Turn right, turn right, pa.
He's running in that shallow water.
Oh, I got him, I got him.
That's him. You got it?
I got it, I got it.
He's dragging the boat!
- Give me a shot! - Hold on.
Watch out, watch out.
Okay, pa, I got it. I got it.
Give me a shot!
He's gonna break.
He's gonna pop the line!
Oh, my--
I lost him. I don't know how.
He's right there.
One more-- ooh!
I got him! I got him, pa.
Shoot him!
Shoot him, pa.
Whew.
- We got him, son. - [laughs]
- good job. - We got him.
No, you good job, huh?
I just drove the boat. You hooked him.
One, two, go.
Okay, hold on, hold on. Let's go a little more.
All right. Go.
With this 450-pound leviathan in the boat,
daniel embraces his role as his grandson's deckhand.
All right, young man, I got something for you.
- Here you go. - A tag, huh?
- I'm the deckhand. - You earned that.
- You earned it. - I'm the deckhand.
- Time for me to tag, baby. - You earned it.
I've never known my grandpa to really take orders.
He was always the guy giving orders.
So I think that'll be something,
I know that's gonna be a hard pill
for him to swallow and fathom.
Okay, let's go get another one.
Let's do it.
Buckle up. Buckle up your seatbelt.
Meanwhile, in belle river,
troy and pickle are running lines
along the banks of a horse farm
where a massive gator killed one of his friend's horses.
Them gators are all piled up right here by these horses.
I can't even imagine that,
the size of that gator to eat a horse.
It's a big alligator that killed that horse, I guarantee you.
What we got, pickle wickles?
We got something on the line. I see it.
- Look, look, look. - Oh, yeah. He's moving.
Yeah.
He's wiggling.
Whoo-hoo!
Look at him.
Look how they play possum, like they ain't got nothin'.
I know I saw that line moving.
- Oh, yeah, he's on here. - You got one?
What we got, shorty? What we got?
Whoo! That's a nice one.
Whoo! He's a big boy, too.
Big one, big one.
Show him who's the boss.
Whoa!
Watch him, watch him, watch him! Big alligator.
Shoot him!
Give me a shot, give me a shot.
[gunshot]
- whoo-hoo! - Whoo!
What?
You saw that shot?
Oh, yeah, boy.
Huh? You seen that shot?
That was a good one. I think you're getting better.
It's a big gator,
but he's definitely not the horse killer.
Yup. Let's go, grab that leg.
Pull him up here a little bit.
Right there. Perfect.
Despite not being the horse killer they're looking for,
catching this 400-pound gator
will still help protect the horses in this area.
But pickle hasn't given up hope
that her hoof-trimming traps will work.
We caught a couple of alligators
in the area here by mr. Scott's place,
but none of them measure up
to the size that this alligator's got to be.
It would take a big alligator to kill that horse.
Back in bayou sorrel,
after a long day of hunting in their backup boat,
the edwards boys have only one line left to check.
But they've broken down again.
What a day.
[motor starts]
I had some bad luck today.
My motor broke down on me first off the bat this morning.
I worked on it yesterday, got the started fixed,
and something else breaks on it.
I mean, just one thing after another.
And that's time out of my day catching alligators.
And it's just been a rough day.
Might have to just run a straight line
from the fuel pump to the, uh...
See, ain't got but that much gas in the bottom of the filter,
and it ain't supposed to be like that.
You get the starter fixed and everything,
then it's something else.
Daddy's motor is acting up on him.
Gotta keep tapping the starter
to make it fire off and everything.
We just gotta work with what we got
until we get daddy's bigger boat fixed.
Oh, yeah, we got something.
Ooh, that's a bull.
Ohh, gol!
Yeah, he's big.
Pull it up, pull it up. Hurry up!
He's about to break it!
[gunshot]
whoo!
Oh, my lord.
This floor's slippery up here.
It's been a rough day
with the motor killing and stuff like that.
And the motor's very expensive.
I mean, when you start taking out of your pocket
and doing repairs on motors and stuff,
it can get real expensive, I mean, quick.
You're talking, if you tear up the gears in the foot.
That's $1,400, $1,500.
I just gotta work with what I got.
Gotta go home and just swap boats out
and keep on trucking.
We are done. We going to the house.
10 miles south in old river,
despite not killing the gator patrolling these waters,
chase has located the valuable sinker cypress.
Now he's ready to try and raise it.
Bingo.
Yeah.
Let's poke around.
Before I get in position to drop the tongs on the log,
I'm gonna take my cane poles
and I'm gonna basically just outline that log.
I'm gonna trace it.
That feels like a good one.
I'll be able to tell you what's the big end of the log,
what's the small end of the log, how long it is.
It's gonna be a good log.
The length is very crucial
because I have to know where to position my boat on the log
to where that I pull it up so that it doesn't hit my motor.
These are what we call logging tongs or log dogs.
I have a hole cut in my deck,
and I just drop the tongs directly over the log.
And I'll hear it when it hits the log.
If it's a good, solid log, it'll make a solid--
you can tell the density of it.
Then I'll take the cord
and tighten up so it hooks into the log.
And then I just come up with my winch.
I got all the weight in the back of my boat,
so it's all leveled off perfectly
and we just make it bubble up.
She's bubbling, baby, she's bubbling.
Here it comes, though.
A lot of times, you can tell what you got by the bubbles.
If it's a good cut log,
it's gonna look like a pipe almost
because the ends are cut.
It won't have all kinds of branches and stuff.
This is a cut end,
so this will tell us real quick
whether this is some cypress or some junk.
Ooh, look at that, baby.
That ain't no junk in the trunk.
That's a cypress stump.
Yeah!
Well, I get excited
when I pull up a good sinker cypress log,
because when it breaks out the surface
and you see that big axe cut end or that soft cut end,
you know you got something there.
As chase confirms the rare quality
of this 16-foot virgin-growth cypress...
Oh, yeah, baby.
...He can look forward to selling it for big money.
Gonna be some pretty stuff for sure.
Definitely worth the work.
Across the bayou in belle river,
troy and pickle are heading back to check a line
pickle baited with chicken and horse hoof trimmings,
hoping they'll finally capture this horse-killing monster.
That line's real tight. Looks like we got a big one on here.
This could be him. This might be him.
Aw, man. It's all around the tree.
He's wrapped up on something right here.
Sucker's strong. It's a good one.
It's a good one?
Oh, there you got it, there you got it.
It's a big one, it's a big one!
Oh, whoo-hoo-hoo!
Get your gun, get your gun!
Oh, boy.
Whoo! That thing is huge.
We got him!
Oh, lord have mercy.
There you go, there you go.
Bring him up, bring him up.
Watch him! Whoo!
Oh, watch him, watch him!
Bring him up, bring him up, bring him up.
- Give me a shot! - You ready?
[gunshot]
- hell, yeah. - Good shot on that one.
Put up a good fight there, huh?
- You got it? - Mm-hmm.
Let's see if we can get him up.
He's a freakin' giant.
He's a giant.
What? Whew!
You think he could eat a horse?
- I think he could. - Huh?
I don't know if he digested him yet.
Look at the belly on that thing.
Look at the size of that thing.
He still got a half a horse in there.
I feel like we trying to put a horse in the boat,
- to be honest with you. - I know.
All right, let's-- we gotta try to roll him.
Push down on that leg. Right there.
Oh!
This horse-eating gator
tops the scales at 13 feet and 700 pounds.
Troy is happy
because they've done a real service for the community.
You know, it's so important
to take a big aggressive alligator
like this out of the swamp,
much less around people or horses, people's pets.
Because I promise you
he would've killed another horse or even a person.
That's a big one.
He's what you call a horse eater.
That's him.
For pickle, this is more
than ridding the swamp of a nuisance gator.
It's proof that she's not only a skilled hunter,
but an inventive one as well.
He must've liked what he smelled.
He got a taste for them horses,
and I just knew that that's what he wanted,
and my idea worked.
He's as long as the boat. We need a bigger boat!
[laughs]
back in the atchafalaya basin,
dorien has shown that he's a competent captain,
but he's got one skill left to prove to his grandfather
that he's the complete package:
Sniping a gator.
Okay, take your earmuffs off.
All right, pa, might be some around here.
Oh, look, pa, a nice one right there.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Oh, my god.
Let's see what we got here.
Hold on, pa.
Try to make your shot count, pa.
Hold on.
Make your shot count. It's a good one.
Good shot!
Bring me to him, pa.
Oh, you put a good shot on him.
I mean, you killed him stone dead.
You popped his head wide open.
Let's do what we normally do.
You get your hook.
Hold on.
All right.
One, two, go.
- Okay. - One, two, go.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait. - All right.
Let's go again.
Wow. Good job.
Awesome, awesome.
He's a 12-footer all day.
Not too bad for my first time captain.
Look at that shot. Popped him right in the head.
Killed him dead. He didn't even move.
Landing this massive 500-pound 12-foot gator
is an unbelievable ending to dorien's day as captain.
You trying to take my job, pa?
No, I just make your job easier, that's all.
This day as captain, I feel like it's been a success.
We put some big alligators in the boat.
I did my job, and it was great seeing my grandpa as a deckhand,
just see how he reacts to taking orders.
It was beautiful. It was a special day.
You did a good job. I'm proud of you.
Thanks, pa.
His first day as a captain,
what impressed me the most,
he's studying the swamp more.
He's paying attention, he's rising to the occasion.
Every day he's doing better and better.
He's doing really good. I'm proud of him.
Pa, I might have to let you drive a little more often.
Hey, I'm all for it.
Because we're getting a boatload of alligators.
Mm-hmm. Giants.
[laughs]