With a full moon on the rise...
There’s something about this full moon.
I don’t know what it is.
These alligators are more aggressive.
Whoa! We have an alligator coming out the boat.
Watch out, watch out!
They’re acting crazy,
and that makes my job more harder.
Hunters turn to old swamp tricks...
I got some fish.
They got shiny scales on them,
and with that moonlight shining on ’em and everything,
the alligators can see a lot better.
That’s money right there.
...to cash in on a lunar feeding frenzy.
I really think we catch better on a full moon.
One seeks to settle an old score...
There he is, right there in the swamp,
growling back at me.
I wanna kill him.
Shoot him.
Oh, hurry up, grab it!
...while another lets superstition
get the best of her.
Get away, get away!
As day breaks at St. Mary’s,
Daniel Edgar and his grandson Dorien
prepare for another hunt.
But this is no ordinary day,
because the full moon has gators in a frenzy,
and Daniel sees an opportunity for revenge.
Pa, you see that full moon?
We’re gonna go and try to catch that alligator
that bit the end of my finger and pulled my thumbnail off.
What exactly happened
that caused that alligator to bite you?
Well, I was releasing my farm gators,
and I had this alligator with this hand
and I was taking the tape off of his mouth,
and he bit the tip of my thumb off,
pulled my thumbnail off.
I’ve got a grudge with this alligator.
Oh, yeah, we gonna get him.
Certainly alligators are more active during the full moon.
You’re gonna have a pretty good tidal surge, tide range.
They know that this water’s gonna be pushed into the swamp,
and a good strong tide is gonna pull a lot of water.
They’re gonna position themselves
right there at the mouth of these sloughs,
trying to catch a turtle, a fish,
whatever’s coming out with that strong tide.
So we’re gonna take advantage of that during the full moon,
and go fish some of these spots that are gonna be productive.
I’ve been trying to catch that alligator a long time,
and if we take advantage of the full moon,
I think we have a really good chance of catching him.
If he caused pain on you, we gotta cause pain on him.
-Payback, huh? -Payback.
How are we gonna identify this alligator?
I’m gonna know it’s him, pa.
I know exactly where I turned him loose.
With the full moon, I think we can catch him.
Let’s go kill that alligator.
You know, this is really personal.
I’ve wanted to get a lot of alligators,
but I think about this alligator all day,
every time I touch something with the end of that finger.
I wanna kill him.
I’m gonna call this alligator the Luna bull,
because I’m gonna catch him during this full moon.
It’s gonna be the last day he lives on this earth.
Look to your left, look to your left.
As they approach their first line,
Daniel sees something big in the water.
Look, look, he’s right there.
Uh-oh.
Hold on, look. He’s gonna be over here.
Right here, pa, right here.
I’m wondering if this is our Luna bull, pa.
-This might be him. -This might be him, pa.
Give me a shot.
Whoa.
Oh, oh, watch him.
Nice one.
This eight-footer is a good start,
but he’s not the Luna bull they’re looking for.
No, he’s gonna be bigger than that, pa.
You believe?
Oh, yeah, he’ll be bigger than this.
Today with the full moon,
I believe this alligator’s gonna present himself,
and we’re gonna take advantage of it.
We’re gonna find this alligator.
I can feel it in my bones and my fingernail.
81 miles northeast, in Bayou Sorrel,
Willie Edwards and his son Little Willie
head out to capitalize on the full moon.
Seen that moon last night? Beautiful.
And for once,
Willie plans on putting his treble hook away for the day.
A full moon, sometimes it helps you on the treble hooking,
but most of the time, they gonna bite better.
They out roaming around hunting for food and everything,
and they’ll bite the lines that’s hanging over the water.
Treble hooking, you ain’t out there at night.
You can’t hunt ’em at night.
I think we gonna do well on the lines.
I put out more hooks,
used different kind of bait than chicken,
and I think we gonna do good.
Yesterday the veteran hunter set lines with Asian carp,
hoping to take advantage of the full moon’s light.
Yeah, that moonlight gonna be super bright
and it’s just gonna reflect off the water and stuff
and that gator can see it a lot better.
Oh, yeah.
And that right there, that’s money right there.
I got some fish, jumping fish we call Asian carp.
They got shiny scales on ’em,
and with that moonlight shining on ’em and everything,
an alligator can see it a lot better.
It’s like a reflector over there against the bank.
He’s going straight to it.
And we gonna try that out and see if that help us out.
-What you got out there? -We about to find out.
Big one?
See what you got there.
Gonna pull it this way.
It’s a big one.
Watch, he’s right there.
He’s right there, Willie. Watch your hand.
Whoa.
Oh, that’s a big gator.
Yeah, that’s a big gator.
Pull him up, pull him up.
-Talking about a big one. -There we go.
That’s how it’s done.
This leviathan measures in at 11 feet long.
That fish is paying off.
That goes to show you right there.
I mean, the hooks is gonna be better over the water
than going try to chase ’em down with a treble hook.
With so many years under my belt and everything, I see it.
Like, when you got a full moon
and when they out at night and everything,
you might as well put your hooks over the water.
It’s really better ’cause
you ain’t gotta go hunt that alligator down all day
or hunt all night for it, looking for it.
That hook found him for you.
That moon, boy.
It’s pointing straight in front now.
We gotta follow that moon.
I hope we got an alligator on every hook.
61 miles away, in Franklin,
Joey Edgar and his deckhand Zak Catchem
are preparing to hunt under the eerie glow
of this morning’s full moon.
I think that full moon’s gonna mean big alligators, man.
Hopefully they on the move, son.
I’m not gonna lie. I’m kind of excited.
-All that extra light. -Yeah.
We always catch big ones, always with a full moon.
Yeah. Everything works on the moon:
crab, deer,
crawfish, alligator.
Aow-ow-owww!
-Come on, baby. -That’s right.
-We gonna get him for sure. -That’s right.
Let’s get outta here.
The moon is special.
You know, you have lunar tides.
Your tides work harder during a full moon.
Definitely the animals are affected,
and alligators do most of their hunting and eating at night.
And when you have a full moon, that creates a unique bite.
And I think today’s gonna be really good day.
I think we’re gonna have alligators on the line,
and I think it’s gonna be awesome.
Line’s down, pop.
We got him.
All we have to do is just come around the tree.
-Don’t give him too much slack, -Yeah.
and I’ll just pass it.
-Whoa! -Oh!
Oh, my God.
Oh, yeah. Whoa.
That was crazy.
-Whoa. -Not bad.
Joey and Zak pulled in this eight-footer,
but it was harder than it should’ve been.
There’s something about this full moon.
I don’t know what it is.
These alligators are more aggressive.
They acting crazy,
and that makes my job more harder.
I’m not a superstitious person,
but things happen sometimes that we can’t explain.
And we have a full moon, and it is what it is.
I mean, we gonna try to get these alligators killed.
Run and gun, baby.
Let’s find another one.
43 miles northeast, in Pierre Part...
All right, boss, let’s go.
King of the Swamp Troy Landry and his deckhand Pickle Wheat
have very different feelings about the full moon.
All right, Pee-wee, you ready?
Yeah, I’m ready.
I’m a little worried about today, though,
I’ll tell you that.
I done hear some crazy things happen with this full moon.
I can tell already you’re not yourself this morning.
Uh-uh, I’m a little off.
It’s that moon, man, it’s the moon.
Well, I been knowing you was a little off.
Well, yeah, but, you know, today’s a different day.
-I think the moon...
the moon has definitely got you shook up.
Yeah. Yeah, I don’t like it.
Spooky, spooky feeling.
I don’t believe in all of that,
but I think it affects people
because I think they let it affect them.
They think, oh, it’s a full moon,
I’m gonna do something stupid today.
I feel the same when the moon is full or when it’s not full.
But some people, it affects them more than others.
And some, I think they just use that for excuse.
Just don’t even focus on the full moon.
Do your normal thing, do your job,
just maybe be a little more careful than normal,
’cause you’re worried about it. I’m not worried about it.
You know, when the moon’s full,
it look like the gators bite a little better
and they smell real good.
They can smell a dead fish or something
15 feet under the water.
And I think when the moon is full,
they smell that bait, so they come in that area.
And I think they can see and pinpoint the bait.
It helps them.
I really think we catch better on full moons
because they can see the bait better.
Oh, yeah, they got a line right there.
See the line’s right above the water?
Yeah, I see it.
Okay, let’s put it down right here.
-You got one? -Yeah.
He’s right there.
The line’s touching the boat.
-Oh! -Get away, get away!
He’s gonna bite you!
Whoo-hoo.
Whoo! Lord have mercy!
Show him who’s the boss.
Shoot him, shoot him.
Watch him, watch him, watch him!
Shoot him! Shoot!
That wasn’t my fault!
It’s that moon, man, it’s the moon.
Whew!
-You all right, Pee-wee? -Yeah.
With his deckhand safely in the boat,
Troy’s starting to worry about Pickle’s superstition.
I don’t think the moon had nothin’ to do with it.
But in her mind, she’s freaked out today
because the moon is full.
She’s usually like a squirrel.
She’s usually running all around the boat.
So if you’re not paying attention to your job
and you’re worrying about the moon,
yeah, you gonna-- accidents gonna happen.
You all right? You okay?
Across the swamp...
Make like some ducks and get the flock outta here.
Chase Landry’s embarking on a full moon hunt of his own.
But it’s not gators he’s after, it’s sinker cypress,
and he’s relying on clues from swamp history to find them.
I’m gonna go try to pull us up some more cypress boards.
Found where they had an old sawmill in the swamp.
They used to mill some logs out there,
and they took all the drops, the outer edges of the log
when they would cut the skins off,
and they would just toss ’em overboard.
So there’s tons and tons of old cypress boards
in this particular spot.
But it’s down in the mud four or five foot deep,
so there’s some work involved.
One night I happened to be down this old slough,
and I saw a board sticking up out the mud, okay?
And it was all overgrown with algae and slime and stuff.
Well, once I got it out the mud,
I saw that it was a cypress board.
I could see the circular sawcut marks on it.
So I figured, well, got to be they had a sawmill on a barge.
And I figure if there’s one, there might be another one,
so let me check it out.
On his way to the historic sawmill location,
Chase comes across an old logging canal.
You are now inside of a pull boat road.
Let’s see what we got.
Hmm.
I don’t know what this is, but that feels rather peculiar.
Get the pole with the hook on it
and see if I can pull up whatever that is.
Yeah, here it comes.
What the hell is that?
A computer.
You’ve got mail.
It’s a computer from back in the logging days.
That’s how they’d keep a log of their logs.
They’d log in and log out.
I gotta tell you, that takes the cake
for interesting things that I found out in the swamp
and on the water.
I’ve found piles of stuff down there
that I don’t know what it was.
You hit metal, you hit wood, you hit all kinds of stuff.
And you can kill yourself working your ass off
and then get some trash up, you know.
But if you’re lucky, sometimes I pull up cypress.
This isn’t exactly the treasure Chase was looking for.
He’ll move on to the site of the old mill,
hoping he has better luck.
You know, there was a lot of activity happening in this area.
It’s only a matter of time
before we find something, I think.
63 miles southwest, in Franklin,
Daniel’s out for revenge
with his sights set on the gator that bit his finger,
and he believes he knows where he is.
This is where I turned him loose.
This is where he’s staying, right here.
It’s time for some revenge, and it’s time to inflict pain.
Listen at him.
-That’s him, pa. -That’s a bull.
Pa, you hear him?
-Great bull.
You see?
This is exactly where I turned him loose.
And he remembers the sound of this airboat.
He’s pissed.
I know you’re here.
You hear him, pa?
The instant I shut the boat off,
this alligator just starts...
Because when I released him, he rode in this airboat.
And when the airboat stopped, there he is,
right there in the swamp growling back at me.
I guess he’s pissed.
Now it’s my turn. It’s on.
Come here, big boy.
I see a line right there.
Yeah, that’s ours.
We got an alligator right here, too, though.
Bring him over here. Give me a shot.
Whoa, be careful.
Give me a shot on this thing.
Give me a shot.
Whoa.
Whup, whup, whup, whup.
Oh it’s a bad dude.
Give me a shot on this thing.
Yeah.
I can’t believe that.
Big one pulled the front leg off,
broke his tail all up.
Might be that Luna bull.
Could be. Oh, he chewed him all up.
Knowing Luna bull’s in the area,
Daniel hatches a plan.
I’m thinking he’s gonna come back right here.
Maybe we’ll give him some of this meat
of the alligator that he killed.
Put this on the hook, pa.
He’s gonna be back here wanting to eat this alligator.
If that’s what he’s looking for, it’ll be here waiting on him.
Some alligators are really mean.
Some really have bad attitudes, really aggressive,
and this alligator’s one of them.
We have this small alligator
that’s all busted up, torn to pieces.
I’m sure it’s the Luna bull that did it,
but I’m not done here.
I’m gonna reset this line and get him.
Man, he’s a mean sucker, pa.
81 miles northeast, in Bayou Sorrel...
Got the moon out and the sun out.
How you like that?
The sun’s over there, the moon’s over here.
Feels like a good day already.
Willie’s pleased with the lines he set with fish,
but Little Willie sees it differently.
See where them bubbles is at over there?
Right over there by that grass over there.
Yeah, that’s a big one.
We can’t just pass him up.
We’re going this way first. Can’t play around.
Yeah, to me it’s kind of crazy
when my dad passes up opportunities
with the treble hook,
’cause alligators on the lines, they not going nowhere.
So why pass all these opportunities
to catch a big alligator just because you wanna run a line?
That’s not no excitement.
I don’t know how big he is, but I seen a big old swell
right there nearby that log.
Yeah, I see the rope going out.
They got a monster back here.
Pretty good size.
We have to wait a little while longer on that treble hooking.
This monster is their second 11-footer of the day.
Willie is happy with their progress
and wants to make sure his son understands why.
Willie, he wants to do everything with the treble hook.
Just like me, he wants that adrenaline rush,
that big old gator pulling you.
Yeah, he gotta understand that certain time of year,
you gotta do what you gotta do to fill these tags. He’ll learn.
Yeah, that moon’s just helping us out big time.
We’re already getting a load on.
61 miles south, in Franklin,
after landing a nice pile of gators,
Joey and Zak are noticing a disturbing pattern.
These gators are crazy today.
Some spooky stuff happening today.
I don’t know what’s going on, bubba.
Something ain’t right.
With this full moon,
these alligators are more aggressive.
I don’t know what it is.
It’s like this moon has charged their batteries.
Damn, Zak, the line’s down, buddy.
Pop, look, he’s right here.
They fighting harder than they usually fight.
And I can’t wait for this day to be over with.
I got a bad feeling.
That’s a big alligator.
Zak, you gotta be careful.
Try not to walk where it’s soft.
-Try to walk where it’s hard. -Yeah.
That water behind his tail, don’t go that way.
Watch him, buddy. You gotta put a shot on him.
You hear that thing, pop?
Can you see his eyes? Oh, yeah.
Zak, be careful.
Oh, my God.
-Oh! -Watch yourself.
-Whoa! -Watch out, watch out!
I’m gonna take the shot.
Take a shot. Get him!
Oh!
He ate that right to the brain.
Look, he just opened his eyes at you.
This doesn’t make any sense.
You better hit him again.
-I think that one did it. -Whoa.
Dude, how about the size of this one, huh?
It’s an old dinosaur right there, son.
I’m gonna tie his mouth shut really quick.
Looks like his eyes are open.
-Let me see if he-- -Be careful, Zak.
The hunters bagged this 11-footer...
Here we go.
...but Joey’s superstitions
are getting the best of him.
Zak took a chance going to get this alligator.
It really came close. He almost got his butt eaten.
And he probably should’ve
shot the alligator a little further away
than trying to get that close to him.
I don’t know what’s going on,
but you shouldn’t have to shoot an alligator
that many times to kill him,
and I think the full moon may have something to do with it.
Freakin’ zombie gator.
Thing has more holes in his head than Swiss cheese.
Back in Bayou Sorrel,
the Edwards are having a good day
thanks to Willie’s full moon fish bait.
But Little Willie’s itching to use the treble hook.
Them lines you gotta take what you get.
Yeah, but them lines been sitting there all night.
Might have an alligator on every hook. I hope so.
We still gonna treble hook.
You wanna treble hook so bad. Playing around too much.
Try to learn what I’m trying to teach you.
I learned already.
No, I learn stuff new every day, buddy.
You ain’t learned that and everything new already.
-I’m not a greenhorn no more.
I mean, Little Willie, he been on me
about throwing that treble hook.
And we doing awesome with the hooks,
I mean, the ones that’s baited over the water.
And I don’t see why
he would want to hook with a treble hook
when you got ’em already on lines
and all you gotta do is pull up there
and grab the rope and go to fighting.
But I’m still hearing
about wanting to throw that treble hook.
Look at him, stirred up.
-Right here, huh? -No, he’s right over here.
Uh-uh.
Yeah, right there.
Back it down a little bit, Willie.
Pull it.
-Yeah, a big one. -Eight foot.
We’ll take him.
A little feisty.
Here you go, here you go.
Aw, man.
Get him up there.
Gotta get bigger than that
before we can hang with the treble.
I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay doing that treble hooking.
We gotta put some more lines out and get catching good gators.
This seven-footer is their smallest catch today,
and with daylight burning,
Willie isn’t wasting any more time
throwing the treble hook.
Look, this is the size I’m catching on lines
versus a treble hook.
Yeah, but that’s something that comes settled down.
I mean, that’s an alligator, but still it filled a tag,
but we gotta keep our size up.
Look at my alligators and look at his alligators.
It ain’t no comparison.
I just have to put in his head
there’s times you use that treble hook
and there’s times you don’t.
And I’m the captain of the ship, and that’s how it’s gonna go.
I mean, we’re running lines
and we gotta be back in at a certain time.
And we’re worried about if the alligators
are gonna get too hot and rot and all that.
So we’re gonna be running lines and gone.
When them lines stop biting,
you’re gonna be begging for that hook.
That’s pretty dirty right there.
28 miles southwest, in Pierre Part...
Today I’m bringing you to a special little spot.
Chase finally arrives
at the location of the old sawmill,
ready to pull up some rare drop-cut cypress boards.
At one time, they had a sawmill on a barge in here.
The drops, or the outside edges of the logs that they cut,
they just push the drops off the side of the barge.
We’re talking old circular saw cut cypress boards
from the late 1800s, early 1900s.
They’ve been sitting down here in the mud and the water
just getting pretty for us.
Once I do my homework and I feel confident about an area,
I’ll go out there
and I’ll just start poking around
and trying to see what’s out there.
I might be getting in the water and the mud
and just walk it.
You know, who knows?
It all depends on the amount of water
and the amount of sediment and silt in that area.
Mud time.
Look at all this area, I mean, you gotta think,
this was before the levee was built.
So they built that levee,
you cut off all flow of water in this area,
what happens?
All your sediment and silt sets in,
and as far down as you can get, there’s cypress boards.
There’s one after another, and I can tell it’s not good.
They all crumbling in my hands.
As far down as I can go
and dig through the mud with my hands and my legs,
I still feel boards down there.
I mean, this old logging slough in the middle of the swamp,
I would be willing to bet
that 15 foot down there, there’s still boards.
It’s a big old friggin’ board.
It’s easily, easily over 100 pounds.
Might be a good cypress board underneath it,
but until you move it, you can’t tell.
These cypress boards
aren’t the pristine drop-cut planks he’s after,
but they’ve clearly been milled,
leading Chase to believe he’s on the right track.
If I set my mind to it and it’s something I wanna do,
it don’t matter how hard the work is, I’m gonna do it.
Junk that junk stuff.
Heavy.
42 miles away, in Franklin,
Daniel and Dorien are still after the Luna bull,
but the elusive gator seems to be one step ahead of ’em.
See, pa, he’s already killed this alligator.
He’s dominant.
That’s how aggressive he is.
We have to kill him.
We’re trying to take advantage of the full moon,
but I don’t know if he’s gonna bite on the line.
As bad as we want this alligator,
we know he’s not gonna be easy to catch.
And he’s somewhat of a lunatic.
He actually bit my grandpa’s thumb years and years ago.
Line’s down, pa.
Okay, pa, bring him around.
Let’s see if we can look at this thing.
Hold on, he’s a bull.
-Whoa! -He’s boiling the water.
Whoa, it’s a nice one, huh, pa?
Gimme-- Gimme a look at him.
-Might be that Luna bull. -Might be him, huh, pa?
I think that’s him.
Okay, let me get a shot on him.
Whoa, give me a shot, pa.
That Luna bull’s a bad dude.
Get a shot on him.
Got him.
We’re catching ’em, pa.
Oh, we’re loaded.
This nine-footer is another tag filled,
but it’s not the Luna bull.
Right now with this full moon, we’re filling a lot of tags,
but we still haven’t found that Luna bull.
And after what my grandpa went through, I take it personal.
We gotta get this alligator
and take him out for putting pain on my grandpa.
I don’t like anyone messing with my family.
This is personal. We gonna get him.
Back in Pierre Part,
Troy and Pickle have been loading up their boat
during the full moon,
but Pickle’s convinced the day is cursed.
I feel like I’m gonna have some bad luck today.
-I don’t know. -Hey.
I got a funny feeling.
We not crazy, so it don’t affect us.
I think that’s the first time
you ever said that I’m not crazy,
but watch, you’re gonna see.
Don’t take no chance that you don’t normally would take.
This full moon, it’s just a spooky time of the month for me.
It really-- It just kinda throws me off,
throws me off balance.
I don’t feel like anything works out right.
It’s been, like, a theory, I guess, in my family
that the full moon is a wicked time, you know,
so I’m a little nervous.
I just gotta keep my head straight
and not focus on that superstitious stuff
and just really keep my head in the game.
What we got, Pee-wee?
Definitely got something on the end of it, though.
I hate to cut it.
It could have a 10- or 12-footer on the end of it.
But I don’t see no sign of a struggle.
-Still heavy? -Yeah.
Probably got a 40-foot tree.
It could have an alligator on it.
Can you find where the line leaves the log?
I know. Oh, you got him?
Yeah, get the gun.
See if we had gave up on this son of a bitch.
Whoo! It’s a big one! Shoot him!
Aah!
Shoot him, Pee-wee!
Whoo!
Popped the line.
I should’ve gave him slack.
I was trying to hold him tight so you could shoot.
Not only we wasted a half hour, we lost a big one.
It is what it is.
I don’t think Mr. Troy has any superstition at all.
I think he thinks that we make our own luck.
Okay, Pee-wee, we’re gonna reset.
We might luck up and catch him.
Now we lost an alligator.
When there’s full moons like this,
he’s just not getting it.
Come on, Troy Landry.
It’s this full moon. I’m telling you.
40 miles away, in Franklin,
the full moon gators are biting the lines,
but something just isn’t right.
Today’s starting to feel kinda like, uh, I don’t know,
I don’t know if a horror movie would be right.
I don’t know, it just some weird,
supernatural...something.
There’s something I can’t explain
about what’s happening today.
Don’t underestimate the power of the moon, son.
What’s going on right here?
Lord have mercy.
Oh-ohh.
Look at him pushing the boat.
Oh, yeah.
Come up.
You shoot that thing.
Shoot, pop, shoot!
I’ve been hunting alligators over 30 years.
I’ve never seen an alligator spin like a dolphin.
I guess we can blame it on the moon. I don’t know.
These alligators are charged up,
fighting harder than they usually fight,
and it’s a different day.
-Oh! -That’s a big boy.
This 10-footer fought like a lunatic,
and Zak and Joey are not out of danger yet.
Oh, oh, that alligator’s coming out the boat!
-Oh! -Whoa!
Pop, he’s alive!
-Shoot this alligator. -What the hell?
-Don’t let him come up. -Wait, wait!
Don’t shoot the gas tank.
No, no, no.
Back up, back up.
What the hell?
Hell, no.
That scared the living crap out of me.
Unbelievable.
I can’t explain why these alligators
are coming back to life in the boat.
But with this full moon, I don’t know what it is.
It’s like this moon has charged their batteries
and they fighting harder.
They biting the boat, they coming to life in the boat.
I don’t know what’s going on.
I thought the full moon made werewolves, not zombies.
Aow-ow-owww!
Over in Bayou Sorrel,
despite their success with Willie’s fish bait,
Little Willie thinks he has a better plan.
Your hooks ain’t gonna catch like that forever.
We’ll see.
I make them bite with that treble hook.
No, nerd.
-Let it go. -He called me a nerd.
Just now?
You said nerd.
No, I didn’t. I said we’ll see.
No, you called me a nerd.
Not at the last sentence,
but you did right before that.
Now you’re gonna start correcting my speech now?
I kinda feel where Daddy’s coming from.
I’m anxious and everything.
I wanna catch a big bull alligator.
We’ve got a certain amount of tags to fill and everything,
but running lines, you ain’t gonna catch the big ones
like you would a treble hook.
Got another one right here.
This one got an alligator on it. Hold on.
Good eight-footer.
Watch your hand, boy.
Don’t force him, don’t force him, don’t force him.
Come on.
Seven-foot.
This seven-footer isn’t a prime gator,
but the veteran hunter isn’t discouraged.
We’ll take it.
You gotta take some of them little ones to fill your tags.
I mean, you’re not just gonna come along,
10-footer on every hook or 10-footer out of 160 tags
you’re gonna have a 10-foot average.
I mean, that’s very rare to hear.
Yup.
And, I mean, you ain’t seeing as many in the bayou,
in the day, like, daytime swimming,
but you catching ’em on hooks and that’s all that counts.
That gloves is nasty. You wiping all that right there...
-These are fresh. -...your face be breaking out.
-That ain’t fresh. -I ain’t touching my face.
-Look at the color of them. -I’m touching the hair.
They was pearly white, Mickey Mouse.
Back up, back up, dude, I’m gonna knock you out.
I’m gonna whop you.
43 miles southwest, in Franklin,
Daniel and Dorien are out for revenge,
seeking the notorious Luna bull.
And the veteran hunter’s confident
he’ll know him when he sees him.
We have to catch this alligator.
Pa, how are we gonna identify him?
Pa, I still know the tag number.
That’s the tag number I use on my debit card.
-Is that right?
I wanna see that number.
Then I’ll know your bank account information.
Whoa.
You’re gonna have to have a lapse in memory or something.
The way it works, Wildlife and Fisheries,
they work together with these hatcheries.
When it’s a farm-raised alligator,
they notch the tails
and they also tag the alligator on the foot.
And he knows what number it is on that tag.
He’s using that tag number as his ATM pin code.
This alligator must mean something to him.
We’ll just tie on that small tree.
Don’t think you gotta tie above your string.
You might be able to pull it.
See how big he is, see if he’ll come.
Oh, yeah, he’ll come.
This ain’t big enough to be him.
Not a monster?
Give me a shot on that monster, pa.
-Whoa. -That’s a mean dude.
Watch him.
Oh, give me a shot on that monster.
He’s a bad dude.
The Edgars are filling the boat,
but they’re still missing the one gator they’re after.
Pa, I hope you brought your lifejacket.
Yes, sir. We’re gonna need it.
This boat’s getting pretty loaded.
You know, this alligator that’s in the boat
certainly is not Luna bull.
I’m gonna recognize this alligator
’cause I’ve got a toe tag in him,
and I know the number of that toe tag.
I know I made a good call,
I know I have some lines set, but not yet.
He’s being patient and he’s watching me.
But I’m gonna be patient, too.
Look at the alligators in the boat.
That full moon is messing them up, pa.
Back in Pierre Part,
Pickle’s superstitions about the full moon
might be coming true after a string of bad luck.
I don’t like it. Spooky, spooky feeling.
That’s like Friday the 13th, you know, that’s in your mind.
If something bad happens, you blame it on that.
Focus on your job and not the full moon,
and you’re gonna be all right.
I’m not superstitious.
I say my prayers at night,
and I don’t worry about the full moon.
I don’t worry about the gris-gris
and the groo groo and the Rougarou.
I don’t worry about none of that.
I’m in the good Lord’s hands,
and he’s gonna do what he wants with me.
I don’t see no bait hanging, so we must have one here.
Oh, dude!
What we got, Pee-wee?
Oh, I see him up on the bank.
-It’s a nice one? -He is big.
-He’s big? -Mm-hmm.
Okay, good enough.
Just be careful.
Grab your gun. Make sure it’s loaded.
Don’t get down without checking it.
I just loaded it.
Now listen, sneak up behind him
and put a good shot in him.
When he starts fighting, if he starts fighting,
you’re gonna pop him.
You want me to go? You scared?
No.
Shoot him, Pee-wee.
Put another one in him.
-Another one. -The gun jammed.
Oh, no.
Hurry up! Come on!
-Fix it! -I can’t!
Come on! Shoot!
Okay, good shot.
We’ll pull him right over this log and he’ll just slide in.
All right.
This 12-foot colossus
could’ve had Pickle for lunch.
On three. One, two, three. Mm!
Man, I should’ve listened to my mom and stayed in school.
And she knows exactly what’s to blame.
I’m on land with this live alligator staring me down
and my gun jams on me.
This gun never jams.
Like, come on, what is going on right now?
It’s gotta be the full moon.
Right there. Perfect.
It’s a old gun, old and wore out.
You gotta eject the shell real fast.
If you try to go slow with it, it’s gonna jam every time.
It don’t have nothin’ to do with the full moon.
That’s a monster, dude.
I’m pumped, I’m pumped.
We got him, though, Cinderella.
-We got him. -We got him, baby.
Boy, they all crumbling in my hands.
A few miles away, Chase has spent hours
searching for 100-year-old cypress boards
at the sawmill site.
Got a bunch of junk.
But so far,
he doesn’t have anything to show for the effort.
Oh.
I start poking around with my push pole and I hit one.
Whoa, that sounds like one. That sounds good.
I go straight down there in the bottom.
I wanna see what’s going on.
I got a few right here.
They feel like they gonna be good.
What have I stumbled upon here?
This makes it all worthwhile right here.
Sure enough, another circular saw-cut cypress board.
This is one of a kind right here, boys.
This is that special kind of cypress called mine.
That’s mine.
Look at that, huh?
If that ain’t gorgeous.
Can you imagine when they was cutting that, you know?
Looking at that, throwing that overboard, you know what I mean?
It’s like finding buried treasure.
It’s the equivalent of buried treasure to me.
Man, that is-- it don’t get prettier than that.
Look at the color of that, man. It just...
Board after board after board,
they’re all circular saw-cut and it’s all live edge on one side.
I mean, There’s not much board footage in them.
You don’t find very many that are very big.
But they don’t make any more stuff like this.
You’re talking about circular saw-cut,
virgin growth cypress boards that’s been down in the mud
and the water for over a hundred years.
After some time of poking down there
and pulling up whatever I could find,
I had a boatfull before you knew it.
If that ain’t pretty, huh, bro?
It took some luck,
a good helping of swamp knowledge,
and a whole lot of hard work,
but Chase has finally hit the mother lode.
His efforts will fetch him over $1,000.
Beautiful stuff, man. One of a kind.
Back in Franklin,
Daniel and Dorien are still on the hunt for the Luna bull,
a vicious gator
that bit off a piece of Daniel’s thumb years ago.
We gonna get him.
We know this alligator’s in this area.
My grandpa claims that, you know,
that alligator knows this airboat,
he knows the sound of it, he knows what he looks like.
So it’s real challenging to focus and target this alligator.
But in time, we’re gonna make this alligator pay
and get him for all the pain he’s caused my grandpa.
All right, let’s take a look at this thing.
He’s a bull.
This might be the Luna bull, huh?
This might be him.
Bring him back over here.
Give me a shot. Hold him, pa.
Don’t let him beat you up.
Bring him over here. Give me a shot.
Okay, I’m gonna shoot him, pa.
-He’s a thrasher. -That’s him, pa.
Watch him. Wow!
Hope he doesn’t break that line.
Ooh, look at the head.
Good shot. Luna bull is down.
-That’s him, pa. -Luna bull’s down.
Daniel and Dorien are confident
this monster is the Luna bull...
All right. Good, pa.
...but there’s only one way to know for sure.
Go.
We’re gonna have to check that tag, pa.
-Okay. -That’s him, pa.
-We got him.
Catching this Luna bull,
this is one of the most satisfying moments of my life.
This alligator has haunted me,
and I’ve had to live with that, you know, for all these years.
That S.O.B., I’m glad to kill him.
Glad to kill him. It’s over, big boy.
The Luna bull, he bit the end of my finger off.
If I had a beer, you’d hear psssh.
I’d be drinking a beer on this one.
He had to bite the dust today.
Oh, he bit it.
Five miles away, Joey and Zak have been catching well,
but Joey’s ready to put an end to this eerie day.
What you think about it, papi? Not too bad, huh?
-We got a little handful. -Mm-hmm.
I think before the day is over with,
we’ll have our 10 alligators, 10 or 15 alligators.
We caught some alligators.
The gators are just jumping in the boat pretty much.
Every line we’re pulling one up, pulling one up.
But there’s been some weird, spooky stuff going on today.
So I wanna fill every tag we can
so we can get done with it and go back home.
See that one on the right.
You got to go meet him, pop. He’s on the bank.
We got to go meet him.
Oh, he’s pulling on the bank, too.
-Yeah. -Just saw his tail, I think.
Oh, he just went in the water.
Oh?
Ooh, he coming to meet you.
He’s decent.
Whoa!
Come on.
Oh.
Whoa! Oh!
Ooh!
All right, boy. Keep coming.
That’ll work.
Joey and Zak have a stack of gators...
There you go.
...but Joey’s just relieved
they made it to the end of the hunt in one piece.
I’m happy that we made it through this day,
nobody got hurt.
Alligators bit on the line,
we caught a load of alligators,
and I’m just glad we got today over with.
That’s enough.
They’re decent gators.
Pass me that burlap.
-Oh, no! -He’s moving.
Hold on. Is that thing alive?
What?
-I don’t know what’s going on. -Zombies.
What the--
That’s the third time.
We back at St. Mary’s
and we’re fixing to measure alligators,
gotta shoot another one in the boat.
He’s fixing to crawl out the boat.
I can’t believe that happened again.
Meanwhile, in Bayou Sorrel,
the Edwards are still running lines baited with fish.
Right in the boat.
Got a fish in the boat, huh?
And even though
he’s been itching to throw the treble hook,
Little Willie has to admit his dad’s strategy is paying off.
I see a rope stretched, look like.
I do gotta admit
we been catching a lot of alligators on Daddy’s lines.
The alligators could see a lot better,
and with the moon reflecting off the fish and everything,
maybe it was a good strategy to switch up.
Got something big on here.
Pull it back up.
-I see the hook. -Oh, the hook, he got off.
He got off. He just twisted off.
Right here, front of the boat, front of the boat.
Right there.
Hold him tight.
Watch him right here.
Wham!
You didn’t think he was gonna be that big?
No, indeed.
I didn’t think he was gonna be that big myself.
This 12-foot giant is their biggest catch of the season,
and at the end of the day, Willie’s proud of his son.
I was kind of on Willie
about hooking with the treble hook and everything,
and, I mean, running hooks over the water
and everything.
But, I don’t know, I’d give him his shot and everything,
and we just caught a big one, a 12-footer on the hook
like that, treble hooking.
I’m gonna let him go ahead and take that little win.
I mean, he did catch a 12-footer
and didn’t get off and we got a shot on him
and killed him and put a tag on him.
And I couldn’t be more happy doing it with my son.
And that’s what it’s all about,
being out there, spending time in the basin
and getting things done and making a living.
-Beautiful day. -It’s a good day.
Can’t ask for no better.
Thank the good Lord above with the good sun coming out
and that good old moon at night.
Over in Pierre Part, Pickle’s on the edge
over her bad luck under the full moon.
I’m telling you, this full moon has got me off.
But Troy’s growing tired of her worries.
Listen to me for a change, okay? -What?
You’re making stuff happen to you
because of you so worried.
For the rest of the day today,
pay attention to what you’re doing, okay?
We’re gonna go a little slower.
I’m gonna take my time a little more.
Just pay more attention, be more careful.
The full moon didn’t hurt us today, it helped us.
We catching better than normal.
We filling up the boat with gators
and we working hard.
We trying to hurry to get ’em out this heat.
And I really think Pee-wee’s struggling today.
She’s having all kind of issues.
Her mind is she’s not focused on her job today.
She’s focused on the full moon, and what’s gonna happen next?
You see something?
I see the line goes way over there, way over there.
Here. Got that? Oh. Huh?
Get the gun, get the gun.
Get the gun, Pee-wee. Shoot him.
Do it! Shoot him!
Oh, hurry up, grab it.
Why you dropped the gun?
-Find it, hurry up. -I don’t feel it.
Get down, get in the water.
I’m gonna keep the gator over here.
Oh, look, she found it.
All right, bring him up. I’m shooting.
Bring him up, bring him up, bring him up!
Whoo!
Shoot!
Even though they had one of their best days of the season,
Pickle’s not sure it was worth it.
That moon’s got me so messed up.
My equilibrium’s off.
All right, another dilemma.
You know how to spell dilemma?
P-E-E-W-E-E.
I’m done with this day.
This full moon has got me so thrown off.
I’m ready to get out the boat.
I’m rocking like crazy, I fell out too many times.
Too many things have happened to me.
I’m ready to go home.
And I hope I never have to hunt under a full moon again.
Come on, I don’t do this every day.
Put it this way: You did have more incidents today
than you normally have, okay?
Thank you, thank you.
Back at St. Mary’s...
Pick up one at a time.
I’d like to pick up all three, but you can’t.
He’s too big.
Daniel and Dorien are excited to unload
their prized Luna bull.
Pull up, raise up.
Come on, Dad. Raise up some more.
You’re dragging his tail. Come on up.
Hey, pa, lookie there.
-Lookie here. -Yeah.
Last four digits.
That’s why I know it’s him, because of that number.
Well, we caught a lot of alligators during the full moon,
and we caught the Luna bull.
I think we made a good call.
Our plan came together right there,
especially... killing this alligator
that I’ve been after for so many years.
Yeah, that’s him. Got a notch.
See, that’s him. Got a notch in his tail.
You think that full moon had something to do with it?
Well, the full moon sure made him bite.
And I went right where I turned him loose,
we put all those lines, and we got him.
Good alligator.
Been looking for him a long time, pa.
I’m ecstatic to finally catch this alligator
that my grandpa’s been talking about for years and years now.
And I can just look at him in his eyes
and see how happy he is.
This alligator’s chapter has been closed today,
and we came out on top.
And we worked hard and we didn’t give up
and it paid off in the long run.
Payback is hell. I got him.
That was his day when he bit me.
Today is my day.
You need to keep that tag.
You know what? That’s a good idea.
I’m gonna keep that tag. Yeah.