Deep in the bowels of the florida eve the florid.
Ferocious beasts are on a mission to kill.
Hordes of marauding burmese pythons
Have conquered north america's largest wetland
And eradicated much of its native wildlife.
-Watch it. -Aah!
-Voracious... -Aah!
-And nearly invincible... -Oh, my god!
The pythons are taking over.
These snakes are terrible.
They're made to hunt and eat. That's what they do.
As the state of florida
Struggles to stop the invading serpents...
Hyah!
Some of the toughest python hunters in the country
Are mobilizing...
-Watch your hand! -Aah!
The goal for this season
Is to split the teams up.
...To protect the everglades,
Get off of there!
...And wipe out the killers.
These things are out of control.
Aah!
-Oh, watch it, p! -Aah!
Aah! Watch him, watch him.
Gotcha, you big scary trash basket.
After years of breeding at breakneck speed,
The population of burmese pythons
In the everglades has exploded.
We got millions of acres to look for snakes.
Them snakes are spread out all over.
To regain the upper hand,
The hunters have devised a daring plan:
To split into four separate units
And bring in more help.
We got more people involved.
The goal is catch as many snakes as we can.
It's a risky new strategy
To divide and conquer.
With alligator season still months away,
King of the swamp troy landry is back in florida.
We've been coming here for a few years.
The snake problem is way worse than people realize.
We need to hunt the snakes and hunt 'em hard.
We plan on spending a lot of time here.
This is our home for the next month.
Troy has secured a remote camp deep in the everglades
To serve as his base of operations.
My new camp I got for us is real old.
I kind of feel like it's my home away from home.
To help him in the battle against the invasive serpents,
Troy has summoned his right hand
From the bayous of louisiana, pickle wheat.
Working with pee-wee the last couple of years
In my boat hunting alligators,
I see how she works.
She's quick. She's like a little squirrel in the boat.
And really and truly, to catch these snakes,
That's what you need.
I just gotta groom her,
Tell her what to watch for.
Make sure she don't get hurt.
Pickle: Looks like home.
I've been around snakes before,
But have I really handled them or wrestled them?
Absolutely not.
That's a scary thing, man.
It's nothing like alligators.
Pee-wee, get your behind ready,
Because this ain't gonna be nothing like at home.
For pickle's crash course in python hunting,
Troy has established an ambitious goal.
By the end of her first day,
She needs to catch six snakes.
There's no mud here.
The bottom is all rocks.
You feel how the buggy's always bouncing?
Whoa. You're gonna get a whiplash
Before we get where we need to go, huh?
I've never seen anything like this before.
This thing's eight times the size of me, you know,
And that's just what they use to get around down here.
So this vehicle in itself is intimidating to me,
Much less these snakes we fixing to catch.
-Listen, this is a hot spot. -Okay.
Always have your eyes looking.
We wanna catch snakes,
But I don't wanna get you hurt, okay?
If you can't catch 'em, wait for me, okay?
I'm more used to catching them than you are.
Wait for me.
-Yes, sir. -Yes, sir?
Whoa. Say that again.
-Yes, sir, mr. Landry. -Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
Oh, look, look, look. What's that? What's that?
Oh, be careful.
Go, go, go, hurry. It's gonna get away.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, watch it, pee-wee.
Don't grab it by yourself.
-No, no. -Go in, go in.
Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!
Ooh, look at the size of this sucker.
-Oh, my god. -Whoo!
Oh, no. Uh-uh. This one's feisty, dude.
Get around. Get around.
-Eew! -Watch him, pee-wee!
That might be your chance. When he strike at me,
Run in there and grab him.
Grab the tail.
Mm-mm. No, uh-uh.
-Huh? Huh? -Uh-uh, uh-uh.
-Aah! -Watch that head.
Ooh, you crazy, old man.
We can't let him get away.
Aah!
Ay-yi-yi. [bleep] oh, no. Uh-uh.
-You all right? -Damn, I'm getting old and slow.
That sucker bit the [bleep] out of me.
Aah!
Now, you get the tail. Whatever.
Whatever. I don't know.
-Aah! Uh! -There's your chance.
Grab the tail and run with it.
Watch him, pee-wee. Watch him.
Soon as you grab it,
Get away where he can't reach you.
-Grab it and run. -Unh!
All right, good job, good job.
-Don't let him get away. -Aah!
Keep him between us.
You ready?
All right, pee-wee, watch him.
Aah!
You out of your mind.
Whoo!
-You all right, dude? -Oh, yeah, I'm all right.
Let me get that sack.
See what happen when you get too close?
Yeah.
Ready? One, two, three.
All right, all right.
This 10-foot python will bring $325
And gives pickle a preview of the dangers ahead.
Seeing him lose blood like that,
I'm watching his face
And I'm waiting for him to, like, change color,
You know, because he's losing so much blood so fast.
I'm just waiting for him to pass out on me, honestly.
Burmese pythons are notorious for their vicious bite.
They use two rows of up to 100 razor-sharp
Rear-pointing teeth to secure their prey.
Although they are not venomous,
Their bite can transmit a slew of bacteria,
Including the potentially fatal salmonella.
All right. You need to get something on that.
I'm more worried about pee-wee,
Trying to make sure she don't get bit,
And I took my eyes off the snake
And I just felt him grab my hand.
I mean, he grabbed me like he wanted to eat me alive.
We got blood everywhere.
They're gonna think we killed a deer back here or something.
Further west...
There he is.
Everglades python hunter dusty crum
Starts the season with his own everglades tradition...
[gunshot] got him!
Invasive species for breakfast.
You know, florida,
Anybody thinks they're gonna starve in here...
You know what I mean?
This is a grocery store out here.
We got all kind of stuff to eat.
You starve down here in the everglades in florida,
You're an idiot.
This is another problem we got in florida.
These iguanas are fricking everywhere.
But good breakfast.
I can't stand going into town,
So I kind of retreated back out here
To the farthest place I could find in the swamp,
And that's where I've been living, you know.
There ain't no traffic lights.
There ain't no cars honking.
Paradise.
You know, everybody sees me living out here by myself
Out here in the woods, they think, he's crazy.
He's lost his mind living out there by himself.
I'm not by myself, man. I got my team.
I got my dogs. My dogs are with me, man.
What did you roll in?
You stink, murphy.
If you're gonna be a snake hunter and hunting snakes,
You gotta live right in the middle of the action.
And I be catching snakes right out my front door, man.
This is the most unique income-producing property
You'll ever see.
While the state of florida offers a bounty
For each removed python,
Hunters can also earn income
By utilizing the skin and skeleton.
My mission's been and is fixing to always be,
You know, getting these snakes out of here.
Because I'm not real good at typing on a keyboard
Or punching a computer or them time clock thingies.
But I like being out here in the woods catching snakes.
Look at that. Right there, boy.
Whew. See that? Mmm.
I'm gonna go get a little bit of salt.
11 miles north...
You ready for this?
-Let's do it. -[laughs]
To fight the runaway python population,
Veteran snake hunter bill booth has brought in reinforcements,
Experienced outdoorswoman
And fifth generation florida native tes lee.
Tes is a friend of mine.
She's got a background of catching snakes.
She came out and hunted with me a few times.
She proved herself.
She's good at spotting snakes
And not afraid of 'em.
Well, look, you lead the way again,
And, uh, I'll follow suit.
I've been hunting since I can ever remember.
Snakes have always been a huge part of my life,
And the combination just became too perfect
To start getting the pythons out of the everglades.
Living in florida, it's kind of upsetting
To see what's happened and how they've taken over.
It kind of hurts us
To see everything go out of balance.
Any time that I get the opportunity to be out here,
I'm gonna take it.
There's two million acres out here to cover,
And it's endless.
We're in the dry season right now.
The rain is not far away.
I've got a few spots that over the years I've learned
That I know that there's gonna be pythons there
In the dry season.
Once the rains come and we get two or three feet of water,
It's nearly impossible to get to them.
Looks like we got a little obstacle up here.
Oh, man, that's not gonna do us any good.
No, I don't think so. [both laugh]
All right, I'll help you.
That's why I got ya.
You get that one.
There's a snake right here.
-What? -Right here!
-Where, where? -Right here.
Oh, my god.
-See him? -Holy crap.
Oh, look at him.
God, they are truly everywhere out here.
Uh-oh. Can you get him away from me?
Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna go grab his tail.
-That's a big one. -Oh, shoot, shoot.
Get him, bill, get him, bill, get him, get him.
He's wanting to run.
That is freaking nuts.
I've never seen them climb a tree like that.
Adult pythons such as this one
Tend to move on the ground or in water.
It takes immense strength
For an adult python of this size to climb a tree.
All right, I've got his tail, bill.
-Oh, you dirty bastard. -Oh!
[bleep] all over me.
God, he's still going.
Aah!
All right, we gotta make a move.
All right.
We gotta get this bastard.
He'll be up in the top of that tree.
Who would've thought we'd be pulling a snake out of a tree?
Here he comes!
He's out of control.
Watch your hand, watch your hand!
Got him. Got him.
All right. Good lord. Here he comes.
Did you ever think you'd see a python
Climbing a tree like that?
They are insane out here.
This tree-climbing monster will net $375,
But the eye-level capture is a cause of concern.
You know, to see a python in a tree is pretty uncommon.
He swings down, he's right in your face,
And it's a little intimidating.
When they're on the ground,
They just kind of reach up and strike out.
Now they can strike down, over here.
It's just a different ballgame when they're up in the tree.
That's a good snake.
We're putting some money in the bank today, girl.
Yes! This now changes the game for us.
We have to look up high and down below.
When you see these things,
It's beautiful how strong they are,
But at the same time it's scary.
It makes one think
That maybe they're searching for food up high
Because they've cleared everything out down low.
I mean, are they going after the squirrels and the birds now?
-Whoo-hoo! -Yeah!
Bringing the heat, baby, bringing the heat.
Good job, man.
27 miles south...
Just take our time.
Not get too tired before we have to grab some snakes.
With the pythons on the offensive,
Hunter zak catchem has brought in some muscle,
His childhood friend and hunting buddy aaron crum.
It's really good to come out here with a friend,
Especially someone you can trust.
He's a modern master of ingenuity
When it comes to being outdoors altogether.
He's been hunting a lot,
So this guy knows what he's doing.
I've been catching snakes probably for about 25 years.
I used to snake hunt in the everglades.
Way back in the nineties is when I started.
Zak asked me to come back down,
And I'm more than happy to help him out.
Zak is launching their python season
Deep in the mangrove marsh.
You can tell no one's been back here in forever.
Aaron and I are heading down trails
That haven't been touched for years and years.
These trails are ancient,
Absolutely untouched in god knows how long,
And these animals are the only thing that's been back here.
These invasive snakes have such an advantage
Out here in these mangroves.
But they're really not used to human contact,
Which is a good thing for us
Because we might have a little bit of a jump on them.
As far back as 750 a.D.,
Indigenous people in the everglades
Cut networks of canals to create passage
Through the impenetrable mangrove forests.
These ancient canoe trails
Allowed them to travel across the region
Without the dangers of entering the open seas.
There's not that much dry ground,
So the little bit of dry ground that is back here
They breed on.
All right? Ready? There we go.
Okay. Here we go.
There we go. All right.
Man hasn't been back here for years,
I can tell you that much.
Watch the sawgrass, zak.
Don't let it cut your arms.
It's everywhere.
Keep your arms up, though.
It'll cut you so fast.
Hey, zak, I see one right here!
Right here, right here, right here!
Put your hand on it.
I'm right behind you, dude!
Oh! It's muddy.
Right here, zak.
Grab his tail before he gets away!
I got him. He's almost in that grass.
Pull, pull! Pull as hard as you can.
Pull as hard as you can! He's coming at you!
Pull it out. Here we go.
Don't get cut in that grass.
I'm just stopping it from getting to the grass.
-Watch yourself. -Aah!
This stuff will cut you bad.
This mud is holding me down.
-There you go. -Aah!
-I got him, I got him. -Coming back your way.
Oh! Oh.
Oh!
-What? -Aaron, careful!
Aaron, get him away from me, dude!
Pull this thing away from me, dude, I'm stuck!
-Oh, my god. -Aah!
-Come on, zak, get in here. -I'm trying.
There's a sinkhole in there.
There's a bunch of 'em.
There you go. There you go.
-Aah! -Heads up!
-Just hold on, dude. I'm stuck.
There you go.
Aah!
Don't let him get you, don't let him get you.
I got him. I got him, I got him, I got him.
-Oh, my gosh. -I got him.
Look at the size of that thing, dude.
That's a big one.
You ready to put him in the bag?
Yeah, let's get it.
There it goes.
-Tail first? -Yup.
This python will bring them $325,
But its location deep in the marshes
Is proof of the explosive spread of the serpents.
The snakes this far deep down the ancient canals
Have a lot more forage.
If we just focus,
I know we're gonna come out with a lot of big snakes.
Yeah, man, that was a good one.
This is why we came here, aaron.
Gotta go deeper to get the bigger ones, right?
Yes, sir.
35 miles away...
Listen, there's a big ridge,
And we can't get through it with the buggy.
There's no trail.
Pickle has witnessed firsthand the dangers of python hunting,
But she still needs to catch her first snake
Out of the six troy wants her to get today.
Great. Now we're on the land with them.
Yup. Come on, come on. Come on, baby girl.
Over here is totally different than at home.
She's used to being in a boat and around water,
But over here we walk a lot, so it's totally different
And you might walk right by something
That could eat you alive.
Pay attention to everything going on around you.
At this point in the game,
I don't have too much confidence in myself.
With these snakes, I have no idea what I'm doing,
So I'm really--I'm all ears, and he's my sensei.
When we in the everglades, he's the man,
So there's no back and forth and I'm not arguing too much.
I'm just, "whatever you say goes, old man."
Pee-wee, pee-wee, pee-wee, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!
Where? Where?
Look right here, look right here.
Oh, my god, watch this thing.
Why's his eyes look like that?
Listen, he's shedding.
Look, he's shedding his skin, okay?
-Oh, yeah. -He can't see right now.
That's why he's balled up like this. Be careful.
Burmese pythons shed their skin multiple times a year.
The process generates fluid,
Which secretes under the old skin.
The serpent's eyelids have evolved
To let the fluid run under them,
Causing the eye to appear cloudy
And impairing the python's vision.
A shedding python attacks
By striking in random directions with vicious force.
Aah!
Oh!
Aah! Ay-yi-yi!
He don't know what the hell he's striking at,
So just come behind him.
Isn't that kind of dangerous, though, the way he's going?
-Come over here. -Nuh-uh!
Come do what I'm telling you. Hurry up.
Do what I'm telling you.
Aah!
[bleep].
-He's behind you. -Nuh-uh.
He's looking right at me.
He can't see. He's blind.
All right, that's your chance, that's your chance.
I'm scared.
Get his head.
Grab it, grab it. Go!
[laughs]
Hold what you got, hold what you got.
-I got him! -Hold what you got.
Don't let him go, don't let him go.
Holy crap, that's a big snake.
Yes, he is.
I've never seen anything like this before.
They just opening that white mouth
And you see them teeth in there, that's very intimidating.
-Hey. -Hey.
I got him. Oh, my goodness.
Totally different than hunting alligators, huh?
Oh, yeah, you wouldn't think, you know.
I ain't scared of alligators like that.
Totally different.
From an alligator hunter to a snake hunter.
I'm very proud of myself for getting the job done.
I mean, I just reached in and grabbed this snake,
And it all worked out in my favor.
We're gonna make some money. Alligator season's over.
Hopefully, we can make money with these things now.
Nine miles away,
With just one python bagged,
Bill and tes need to up their game,
But the dry conditions they were hoping to find
Have changed.
There's a lot of dry area out here,
But then you'll encounter some waterholes.
And you may have a strategy in mind,
But then you gotta go out there and adapt
And change that strategy,
Depending on what you run into out there.
The area they've chosen is unexpectedly flooded.
This means the pythons can move faster and escape easier.
Staying in your footsteps.
Yeah.
We need to get right over there.
There's, like, a piece of high ground,
A trail that goes back in here.
I mean, like, what kind of stuff might we run into out here?
Oh, there's all kinds. We've caught nile monitors...
-Ow! -...Chameleons.
Watch out for those vines.
They'll rip a hole in you.
There's more right here.
Went right through my pants.
All this stuff grows up overnight.
It's nasty.
Hey, bill, there's one right here.
-Bill, it's right under these! -Get him get him.
-There he is! -Go get him.
You see the tail? Wait.
Don't let him get away. He's in that thick stuff.
Yeah, I just saw his tail.
Hold on, hold on.
He was right here. Where'd he go?
You see him?
Oh, [bleep], there's a hole right here.
That's where he went.
Did you see his tail?
Be careful in there, please.
It goes way back that way.
That makes me mad.
I don't like missing those.
I'm pretty competitive, and I like to be good at my job.
I like to be good at things that I'm doing,
Especially if someone's called me out here
To be the professional.
And seeing the snake and allowing it to get away
Or just not being quick enough to react, that sucks.
It's not--it's not how I wanna be doing business.
Yeah, he went right in that hole.
This missed opportunity leaves bill and tes
With a single python well into their first day of hunting.
But they cannot allow frustration to take over.
We lost a snake, and it's gonna happen.
We just gotta learn to work together as a team
And know what each other's thinking,
And that just takes time.
All right, let's go.
Man, that's upsetting.
I don't like missing those.
Oh, I don't either.
Meanwhile, deep in the mangroves
Along an ancient canal system,
Zak and aaron navigate to dry ground
They believe may hide a python honey hole.
We finally come to some dry ground
And hopefully we get our hands on some big snakes.
Because usually when there's not much chirping,
There's something out there slithering.
It's getting wet back here. We must be going downhill.
Probably good. Might be able to find a little bit of water.
Right here, zak. Zak, right here!
Look, look, look. He's up the tree!
Get up there. Grab his tail, grab his tail, dude!
Grab his tail!
Get up there, man. Can you reach him?
Hold him. I've got him.
Hold him, hold him, hold him!
We gotta get up there. Hold on.
-Ready? -Yup. Go ahead, go ahead.
Keep going.
Dang it, that's a big snake, too, dude.
He doesn't like that movement, dude.
No, he doesn't.
Every time I shake him, he starts moving a lot.
I think we'll have a chance on him, but if he comes down there,
You gotta put your hands on him because this thing is fast.
If he gets his head on that branch he's about to touch,
He's gonna be stuck there.
There you go.
It's unstable for him.
Let go, buddy.
Oh, god.
-You all right? -Yeah.
I think he's wrapped around it so tight now, zak.
Aaron, back there behind you like 15 feet is a downed tree.
See if you can grab it, maybe hand it to me.
Maybe I can tickle this thing out, dude.
Worth a shot if I strip it down.
Tie it up with the snake bag here.
With the sun setting,
They must use swamp ingenuity to capture this snake.
-Just enough to tickle it. -Thanks, dude.
You're gonna have to swing it around.
Come on, money.
Yeah, there you go. Oh, yeah, there you go.
Aah.
Yup, there you go.
Oh, heads up, heads up, heads up, heads up!
-My bad, aaron. -It's all good.
Well, that ain't gonna work no more.
I'm not gonna let this thing just go back to the everglades
And do what it does best, kill all of our native wildlife.
So we have to remove it from the everglades
As best as we can.
We need a different strategy.
Yeah.
Back at dusty's camp, after a morning of distractions,
Dusty's eager to make up for lost time.
Well, I'm on a scouting mission,
So I'm gonna leave right at the house
And take a little quick look around.
That's the hardest part of snake hunting
Is finding them, you know.
Man, if this swamp right here gets some rain,
It's gonna push these snakes up.
Holy cow!
Solo hunters like dusty are at greater risk of being bitten,
-Whew. -...Because they have to watch
The python's head and tail simultaneously.
It's game time.
Whoa! That's a big one.
Come here, girl.
Oh!
Give me a shot at your head.
Ain't nowhere to grab it.
Aah!
Got me good, boy.
Mm.
Where you at?
Uh!
I got you.
I got you. I got you.
Boy, she's aggressive. Look at her.
Finding a python this fast and this close to home
Is a surprise even for dusty.
The snakes, man, they're right here knocking on my door.
I gotta get this place under control fast.
Whoo!
It's on like donkey kong.
Back at bill's swamp cabin...
Oh, this is gonna be so good.
This is a treat.
Everglades shrimp on the barbie.
Midway through a frustrating day
With only one python so far,
Bill and tes use the hours until their night hunt
To foster team spirit.
Come on, boil.
Grandma used to say,
"don't watch that pot. It'll never boil,"
And I'm impatient like that.
The best hunting is yet to come.
Bill's hungry, I'm kinda hungry.
It's hot. Let's take a break.
Who's the genius who came up with this idea?
You would've thought
Maybe we would've had this set up under the shade.
It's our way here. Yeah, it sucks.
It's 100 degrees out, and we got smoke and fire.
When you're out here going through the swamps all day,
It's hot and buggy and nasty,
You gotta have fun with the bad times,
And it just makes it go a lot easier.
-Are you double dipping? -No.
Okay, you know to flip it to the other side, right?
Oh, my god, you're in the woods, girl.
You just can't put the part that was in your mouth back in.
Says who? You're in the swamp.
That is the universal rule.
No, it's not. Those rules don't apply out here.
I've eaten so much dirt and nasty stuff.
Okay, I'll go your way.
I'm sorry about your personal struggles, but...
It's not a struggle. Are you double dipping?
I flipped it. I am, yes, but I flipped it.
11 miles east...
Troy and pickle have captured four pythons...
The reason I like to whisper
Is because if they hear you coming, they're gonna take off.
Okay.
But there's plenty more tips
That troy wants to pass on to pickle.
I think fishing alligators and catching snakes with mr. Troy
Is two totally different games here.
He's a lot more cautious and wary.
He's dealt with alligators for many, many years
Since he was a little kid and so have I,
So that's our comfort zone.
And being out here in the everglades,
We definitely stepping outside of that.
You just don't know, pee-wee. They everywhere.
Look, look, right there. See that little tunnel?
-Yeah. -See right there?
Little bitty tunnel. That's a snake trail.
Oh, look, look! A snake!
-Snake, snake! Snake! -Huh? What?
Oh, yeah.
Look, look, look, look.
In the grass, in the grass!
Who! Look at the size of that thing.
Oh, [bleep].
Aah!
You getting this one or me? What we doing?
I don't care. Just stretch him out.
Stretch him out. Watch it.
Be careful.
Whoa.
Okay, I got him, I got him.
I'm gonna stretch him out, okay?
You watch for your chance.
Troy and pickle battle their biggest snake of the day.
Ooh, lord have mercy.
You grabbing him or am I grabbing this one?
What we doing?
Whoever gets the chance.
Oh!
Yeah, you're right!
There you got him, pee-wee!
Whoo-hoo-hoo! That's what I'm talking about.
-Watch him, watch him. -Ooh, hoo-hoo!
-Oh! He's tight. -What?
He's tightening up on you? That's what they do.
Hold on.
As it constricts, the average adult burmese python
Can exert up to eight pounds of pressure
For each square inch it's wrapped around.
They just steadily get tighter and tighter
Until they cut your breath.
You gonna hold the snake, I'm gonna open the bag.
I got him. Open the sack.
-Okay, right here. -He's heavy.
Right here. Right here.
This 11-footer
Is troy and pickle's biggest pay of the day...
Strong, huh?
It's unreal how strong they are.
...And with it, pickle is starting to hit her stride.
-Hold it. Go! -Four more to go.
What?
Got him, dude.
Yeah, you did awesome.
When they start rolling up on you like that,
Ain't nothin' you can do.
They are so much stronger than I was expecting.
He started curling up on me and everything,
And they so heavy.
But I managed to do what I was supposed to do,
And I was very proud of myself for doing that.
-Come on. -Yeah, I know, I know.
You did good, though. You did awesome.
Well, thank you, thank you.
As the sun begins to set in the glades...
Don't let that pole go.
After hours of trying to capture a python
Cornered in a treetop,
Zak and aaron are not giving up.
They will try using a push pole from their canoe.
If a snake gets into a tree,
It is definitely an added complication
Because it's not as easy as being on the ground
Where you can pull it out into the open,
Where you can get a better grip on it.
Once it gets into the tree,
Wraps around the branches, starts to tighten up on itself,
You don't know where the head is,
And that makes it really difficult.
There you go. Snatch him. He's out.
He's coming forward. There we go.
Aah! Grab him, aaron!
I got him.
Oh!
Come on, zak.
This is all you, aaron. Come on!
All right, I got him, I got him, I got him.
Oh! Whew!
He's fast, man.
Aah! Watch yourself, zak!
We got too many trees around us, dude.
We're gonna have to go in for this grab.
If you've got it, you've got it.
-Got him. -Come on!
Got him. Look at that.
Look how beautiful that snake is.
Removing this nine-foot escape artist
Will save countless native animals.
-Throw that bad boy down. -Ready?
That was a lot longer catch than we anticipated.
Yeah, but it was worth it, man.
But the almost two-hour struggle
Means they'll need to start the long paddle home
With only three bagged pythons.
It's a reminder of how much effort it will take
To win the war against the serpents.
These snakes are so unbelievably strong
That until you get your hands on them,
You really don't understand their power.
You have to draw a line and know when to say, hey, I'm too tired,
Need to take a break.
You can't go on forever.
That was a good haul, but a close call, buddy.
To the west,
Dusty has already captured four snakes on his property
And his scout continues into the night.
Full session out here on the land, man.
We're overrun, son.
No more laying in bed being sorry.
That's all I gotta say.
I mean, it's time to get to work.
Let's hunt 'em up, ri. Hunt 'em up.
Riley is trained to sniff out the snakes,
But knows to avoid their bites.
Where they at, ri? You're smelling something, boy.
What you got, ri? Where they at?
[riley barks]
What you got, ri?
Where you at? Oh, crap, riley!
Two of them, ri. They're mating.
One for you and one for me.
Coming upon this breeding pair
Is a rare find and daunting challenge
Even for an experienced hunter like dusty.
Watch it, ri.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Watch it, watch it, watch it, ri.
Watch 'em, ri.
Get back, ri, get back! Get back, riley.
[barks]
Get their attention, ri. I got 'em.
Ready?
Aah! Got 'em!
God. Good girl, ri.
Daddy's got 'em.
Whoo! Caught a snake, ri. Good girl.
Man, it's wrapping me up tight.
Uh! Get off me!
Gotta bag these suckers fast.
These two mating pythons combine for a cool $600.
Get in there. Uh!
The capture marks the end of a long and successful day.
We just busted down their love shack, son,
And interrupted their little thing they got going on, son.
But you know what that means?
There ain't gonna be no eggs
Laid by them two this year, is there?
Whoo! I'm here!
I'm here to stay! This is my land!
Keep that nose to the ground, girl. Let's go.
19 miles away...
Do you get turned around out here? Has that happened often?
Oh, yeah. When I was a kid, I got bad lost out here.
After a slow start, bill and tes
Have found their groove and captured four pythons.
But tes is still looking for her first snake.
Out here in the everglades,
Every one of these cypress trees looks the same.
It's easy to get turned around out here.
I'm just focusing on what I'm doing.
Hunting at night is a completely different ballgame
Than hunting during the day.
The snakes move differently.
It's a little bit more dangerous.
Bill, do you hear that?
I think it's over here.
-Yeah, right there. -Yeah, yeah.
I think there's--bill, bill, bill, it's right here!
-Oh, that's a good one! -Oh, my gosh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I got it, I got it, I got it.
Whoa, shoot. Sorry.
Grab that tail.
You get his attention, and I'll grab him.
Okay, I got your tail, buddy. I got your tail.
-Aah! [bleep]. -Oh, bill!
God. Get him, get him, get him, get him!
I'm gonna get him.
Aah! [bleep].
-He got you. -[bleep].
All right, we gotta get this [bleep] under control.
That startled me so bad.
Oh, yeah, lookit, you're leaking bad.
I'm gonna get him, though.
All right, he's looking at me. Come in from behind.
Ready?
Get him. You got him.
[laughs]
Damn, what, did he get your fingers?
He got multiple fingers.
He got you.
I let out a yelp on that one.
It startles you, that's for sure.
What were you saying? "I hadn't gotten bit yet."
I talked a lot of smack, didn't I?
Oh, yeah, you did.
I'd have to say I got a little bit cocky,
And that might've been why I ended up getting bit.
After subduing this firecracker,
Bill and tes's haul comes to $1,500,
A respectable start to the season
And a good sign they're ready for the battles to come.
Oh, he got you here, too.
Yeah, he hit this hand, too.
Oh, man.
And I'm supposed to be a professional. All right.
That was quite disrespectful of him.
You know, day one, we're just kind of getting the feeling
And working together
And getting the machine freakin' oiled up the right way.
And by the end of the day it's just--we're starting to jive.
We're starting to read each other,
And it's working out great.
-Whoo. -Let's go home.
I'm ready.
It's a good first day, that's for sure.
Oh, no doubt.
14 miles south,
Deep into an exhausting and bloody
First day of python hunting,
Pickle is still looking for the last of the six snakes
Troy wants her to catch today.
Everything comes out at night.
There's [bleep] that bite you out here, stings you.
-It's spooky at night, huh? -Yeah, it's spooky.
I'm just being real wary and real cautious.
And I'm pretty much holding on
To mr. Troy's belt loop at this point and staying real close.
Gotta be more careful. You gotta look close.
They're harder to even see at night.
Okay.
They come out more, but they harder to see.
-Okay. -I just heard something.
You heard something?
I heard something right in the front.
Whoa, whoa, right there, pee-wee, right here, right here!
Hurry, hurry!
-Watch him, watch him. -Oh, dude!
-It's a big one! -Oh!
-Oh, my god! -They got two of them!
Wait, I got this one over here!
Oh, [bleep]. What we gonna do with this?
I don't know. You tell me! I ain't never done this before.
Oh, I can't hold two at one time.
-Don't panic, don't panic. -Don't panic?
Throw your light down. You got your headlamp on?
Give me that snake. Oh, lord.
Aah!
Pay attention to what I tell you.
We gotta catch one at a time, okay?
You wanna try this one first?
I don't think it matters.
You see his head?
-Yeah. -Okay, try to get him first.
That one's so close, though.
Be careful.
I'm scared.
-You wanna hold him? -No, uh-uh.
I'm gonna grab him.
-You got him? -I got him.
Whoo-hoo-hoo. [laughs]
I got this one.
Let this one go. Go get me the sack.
-Okay. Dang it. -Aah!
Hurry up. Put him in. Hurry up.
Put that one in.
Hurry up so I can catch the other one.
Wait, wait, wait. Don't let it go.
-His tail's not in. -Hurry up.
Watch that one. Don't let him get away.
Okay, your turn. Aah!
He's trying to go back by his girlfriend.
Come towards me over here.
Let him think he's getting away.
I'm gonna give him some slack.
I'm gonna let him think he's getting away, okay?
Okay.
There you go, there you go.
-This is your chance. -Are you ready?
That's your chance right there!
Ay-yi-yi! Now you're right!
-Whoo! -[laughs]
Gonna put him in here.
[both laugh]
Was that awesome or what, huh?
You did good, baby girl.
-You're becoming a professional. -Holy crap.
My first day catching pythons,
The only thing I could say is I have one hell of a teacher.
I got troy landry by my side.
I don't think I'm doing too great at it so far,
But from what he's telling me, I'm doing all right,
And I think we're doing pretty good.
-Awoo! -[laughs]
Capturing this breeding pair is icing on the cake
For pickle's first day of snake hunting,
But it's just the beginning.
You catch a lot more at night.
-That's awesome. -What did I tell you?
We need to hunt more at night then.
Pee-wee's been doing good. She surprised me.
I thought she was gonna be
More scared of the snakes than she is.
And, you know, and I want her to be scared
Because you're more careful when you're scared.
But I was worried she was gonna be too scared, and she's not.
I kind of felt like I was panicking more than her.
She's doing better than I expected her to do.
-I don't know. -All right, let's go this way.
Let's get out of this jungle.
I think we did all right for the first day, huh?
-You pumped? You pumped? -I'm pumped, I'm pumped.
-Hello? -Why'd you have to pick
The creepiest spot in the whole swamp?
This season on swamp people serpent invasion...
Aah!
Everything's gone out here.
They've eaten all the wildlife.
-Oh, watch it, p! -Aah!
This is why we come down here.
Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Whoa!
I know that there is something massive out there.
-What is that? -Two eyes.
You got panthers, you got bears, alligators.
It's a massive monitor lizard. Grab him, grab him!
I can see why it's a haven for snakes.
I got two of them over here!
-Hey, mr. Troy! -Pee-wee?
Man, I don't know if this was a good idea.
Some breeding facility.
They didn't want something in or something getting out.
Oh!
Whoa!
Oh!
You big, scary trash basket.
Oh!
-Did he get you? -Yeah, he did.