As python season roars ahead...
-Look, the trails. -Ooh.
They are moving back here.
Swampers charge through the Everglades...
Right here, right here! Aah!
Kaylyn, that's a good snake.
Crash into old honey holes...
Come on! No! No, no, no, no, no!
Draft unexpected new hunters...
-She's got no eyeballs. -Oh, for real?
Let's get cooking, baby. [laughs]
And attack the serpent invaders head on.
Get her! There you go!
-Aah! -Whoa! Aah!
Aah!
At the edge of the Everglades sawgrass prairies...
-Hey, Cowboy. Good morning. -Hey.
Ashley and Kaylyn have enlisted the help
of fellow python hunter Mike "Python Cowboy" Kimmel.
Mike, known him forever.
He is one of the most trusted python hunters out here,
right next to Dusty.
He's got a lot of really good dogs
that he breeds for python hunting,
and so I'm really excited to see what we can find.
Known for revolutionizing python hunting
with the use of dogs,
Mike has brought in a special weapon.
-Who do we have here? -This is our new
secret weapon in training.
Her name is Helen. She's got no eyeballs.
-Oh, for real? -Yeah.
She was actually born totally blind,
-partially deaf. -Oh, my gosh.
But, you know, that nose is definitely developed.
She's had to use that to get around, and I think
it's really gonna make all the difference for us today.
-Wow. -I've heard about that
happening for even people; when they lose
one of their senses, the other heightens
and is ten times stronger.
Yes, ma'am, that's her right there.
She's got a super nose.
According to scientists, dogs have a sense of smell
that can be 100,000 times sharper than that of a human's.
Dogs possess 50 times
more olfactory receptors.
And the portion of their brain
devoted to analyzing smell
is up to 40 times larger.
-All right, Helen. -Heck yeah.
Go get us some snakes.
-Yes! Head off. -Let's do it.
Helen is a smaller size cur dog puppy.
Most people wouldn't want her as a pet,
and I figured what better than to give her a home,
rescue her, and see if I can't give her purpose
at the same time.
Got a good feeling about today.
-Feel like we got a good team. -Yup.
Mike has secured special entry to a barely accessible location
that Kaylyn suspects
may be sheltering giant nesting pythons.
We are headed towards Crazy Mule Ranch.
This is a ranch that was abandoned.
It's super thick, super dense.
We'll be looking for their holes of where they potentially
created a nest or are looking to lay a nest.
I think using our super nose dog over here
will really kind of help us pinpoint those holes.
I've been hunting for a while now,
and I've never seen a blind hunting dog.
I can't imagine how hard that would be,
but it does make sense for her senses
just pick up heavier in her smell,
so it may benefit us a lot.
This is the first time me bringing her out in the field
and really testing her on a real snake hunt.
But don't let that discourage you,
because we've done a lot of training with her,
and she's proven to me that that nose is on point,
especially for pythons.
I think she's gonna be a game changer.
I'm a little wary on how well
she'll be able to find these pythons.
I've seen other dogs that are fully sense alert struggle,
so it's gonna be a real test.
This is it right here.
Hold on, baby girl.
I'll rope off the boat.
All right, Helen, girl, you ready?
She ain't got her sea legs yet.
She don't like walking around on the boat.
Twenty-three miles west,
Florida Gladesman Dusty Crum
is heading to one of his favorite old honey holes.
I'm headed up to this place called the Python Palace.
When you walk in there, it's kind of like
walking into, like, a cathedral, man.
It's like there's a lot of food source.
Raccoons and birds, man.
It's teeming with wildlife,
and there's plenty of pythons in there to catch.
Whoa.
What was that?
Oh, yeah, baby.
Just hiding in the bushes.
Holy crap, it's in this tree.
Whoa!
Uh-uh.
Dang it, son.
Whoa!
Aah!
Aah.
Oh!
Whoa!
Oh...whoa!
Aah!
Dang it!
I got him, I got him.
I got him.
Ahh.
Whoo!
Golly.
This mean seven-footer is a nice first capture,
but Dusty expects to find much bigger snakes in Python Palace.
This is one of them isolated little areas, man,
that's still full of wildlife.
I know this place has got pythons in it, man.
They live around in there.
They got all you can eat buffets.
I mean, it's a high-end place for pythons.
Yeah, ain't nobody come back here in a long time.
It's real tight, though.
[sighing]
[thud]
Son.
[thud]
Come on.
[thud]
Dang it.
I'm jammed on this side, too.
It's like the trail got pinched up tight, man.
I ain't been here in a couple years.
Eh, I don't think I can thread the needle, man.
I'll have to figure something else out, shoot.
You know, it's like trying to parallel park
a fricking school bus.
It's just kind of got me in a jam.
The one tree's right there,
and I'm pinned on the left side of another.
This thing won't turn on a dime like a sports car, man.
If I was over halfway there,
I'd probably just walk in the rest of the way, man,
but I still got four or five miles to go,
so I'm gonna have to try to figure something else out.
I ain't giving up on that Python Palace yet.
I think I know of a buddy that can help me out.
Further east, Troy has identified
a potential python hotspot
with some bizarre history.
This lady's camp we going to,
after her husband passed away,
-she stayed out here. -Yeah.
She didn't go back in.
And feeding the raccoons and the possums
and all that just to draw them to her house for the snakes.
I've heard a story in the past and I heard it again this year
about a couple that used to live out at a camp
in the middle of the Everglades,
and we heard when she passed away
a couple of years ago that she had a bunch of snakes
living underneath her old house
or the old camp, whatever you wanna call it.
It's like she was happy to have the snakes was her pets.
What I'm hearing is the old camp is starting to fall apart now,
which is better for us.
That means nobody's using it.
So the snakes are most probably
gonna be hiding underneath the camp.
-Okay. -Maybe even in the camp.
These snakes are creatures of habit,
and if they found a comfort zone that they could stay in,
I mean, they might be coming back to this territory
regardless of what the house looks like.
Yes indeed, this is it, girl.
Okay, we gotta go straight this way, Tes.
Yup.
Straight this way.
Yeah, we'll just cut through right here.
Whoo, this is a rough trail.
Man, it's nasty in here, huh?
Yeah, it's thick.
Troy, I think I see a snake!
What? What?
Be careful.
They're definitely moving out here right now.
Yeah, we call that a little garden snake at home.
Yeah, it's just a little rat snake, yeah.
Look at his little tail going.
It's a great sign to find any snake action
in that area; it means that they're moving out here,
and we're in the right spot.
We gonna find some snakes here.
Let's head to those cypress trees.
In the western Glades...
This place makes me feel so small.
With his partner Bruce Mitchell out for the day,
Florida native Zak Catchem
is hunting solo in a brand new area.
Come on, where you at?
And not a damn snake in sight.
But despite the challenge,
he's determined to catch an egg-carrying monster.
My plan is to just go slowly,
prove to myself that I can get back there by myself
and still help the team all alone, you know.
But the stuff on the edge of the cypress forest
is unbelievably thick.
Usually there's a little game trail
or a path you can go around,
but nothing my size can get back there.
It's a little thicker.
Come on, big girl, where you at? I need you.
I have really high hopes for this area,
but I'm not seeing anything yet,
and I've been out here for hours.
It's much harder to hunt solo, but I'm very determined.
I'm gonna make it happen.
Oh, what do we have here?
Little game trail, huh?
That looks pretty fresh.
Oh, yeah, where are you?
Yes!
Come here! Come here.
Aah!
No, no, no, no, no, no!
Come on!
Agh! No!
No!
Agh! Damn it!
Hunting alone...
Come here!
Zak pursues a fleeing python.
Come on!
Ugh! Come on, come on.
No! No! No!
No, no, no, no, no!
Damn it!
Aah! It's feeling like the forest
is literally throwing me back. I can't get back there,
and I can see it just go off into the distance
and there's nothing I could do about it.
It's just too thick.
Damn it. Ugh!
I do have an idea to get back through that thick stuff,
and I'm just gonna need to head back to my truck.
But I have a good idea.
That's a walk and a half.
In Crazy Mule Ranch,
Ashley and Kaylyn employ the help
of a blind snake-hunting dog to look for pythons.
All right, Helen, girl, you ready?
Helen is blind and she is deaf,
so that makes her nose supposedly
way stronger than the average hunting dog
that's getting trained to look for pythons out here.
There's a lot of challenge here
for any kind of hunting dog
because of all the mixed smells
that are out around an old ranch,
and so I'm really excited to see what Helen can do out here.
While I'm working with her, fan out.
Cover as much ground as we can.
You see a hole, call us over.
We'll do the same if we find something.
Okay. And I'll just try to stay close enough
where we can all just holler back and forth at each other.
-Yup. -Okay, all right,
-good luck, y'all. -Yup, you, too.
Find it. Find it.
Where's it at, girl?
Good girl, find it.
There's been a lot of training involved with Helen,
and not every dog works out.
Certain dogs just have better traits,
and I'm really hoping that she can come out here
on these islands and find these nesting pythons.
Where's it at, girl?
What you got, Helen?
I think she's getting on something, y'all.
Okay, we'll come your way.
Good girl, Helen.
Come on over here, guys.
Oh, don't go in there.
It's a pretty good hole.
-Oh, my gosh. -You found a hole?
I don't think it's a snake, but there's something in there.
-What is that? -I don't know.
Oh, it's a big softshell turtle.
It looks like he fell down in.
Is it alive?
-Yeah, it's moving its leg. -I just saw his leg move.
All right, we should be able to help her then. Good girl.
Poor thing, I bet you she came in here
to lay her eggs,
and she couldn't get herself out of the hole.
Yeah.
The Florida softshell turtle
is the largest of the softshell turtles,
growing up to 12 inches wide.
It's called softshell because it has skin covering its shell.
While its diet consists of mostly snails and fish,
it's also known to eat ducks and small herons.
Cowboy, we got a problem.
You can't really grip that turtle
-because of the soft shell. -Mm-hm.
And so I'm scared I'm hurting it.
I believe that this end right here is its head.
Okay. Let me loosen some of that up with my knife maybe.
Okay, break up the rock a bit.
Break up some of that rock.
Yeah, pulled a couple of those
-heavier rocks out. -Don't wanna hurt
the little guy.
I hope he hasn't been sitting here for too long.
I know it.
-Okay. -Got her?
Yup.
-I'm gonna... -His legs are kicking.
...grab this one leg, y'all grab that other leg.
Ready? One, two, three. Watch that head.
-Yup. -Now we just set her down.
-All right. -Good job.
There we go.
How was that, old girl? You had a rough morning, huh?
-We'll go ahead and... -Beautiful.
...get her down to the water,
let her wash herself off and go on her way.
There's a good area right down here, Ashley.
-You got one? -Yup.
All right, Cowboy, coming to you.
Just slip her off in there.
All right.
There we go.
It's your lucky day.
All right, old girl.
Stay out of trouble. Nice work.
You, too.
Saving them one way or another, right?
Hey, that's it, you know, doing what we can.
It feels really good.
-Good job, Helen. -Nice work, Helen.
If not for Helen, she would've been stuck
down there, and she would've died.
You are the MVP.
As long as we're saving the native wildlife,
-that's all we care about. -Yes, exactly.
Let's let her keep doing her magic,
see what else she can find.
That's it, that's it.
Forty miles away,
Troy and Tes are closing in on the remote camp
rumored to be a python refuge.
-Look, look, look. -Ooh.
Look, that's it.
Can you imagine living out here?
How long as this been out here?
Oh, for years and years. Her and her husband
lived out here for, like, 20 years,
and she lived by herself
for about 15 years after he passed away.
Tes and I, we been walking for three or four hours now
and we found what we think is the Snake Lady's cabin
and it don't look that bad from the outside.
But they said the floor's all rotten,
that you can't walk in it.
But we gonna hunt close around it,
because if the floors are that bad,
that means the snakes are most probably
living underneath that old cabin.
They coming out of here, we finding them.
Oh, we're getting them out.
Oh, Tes, look, look.
Look, the trail.
Shoot.
-[whistles] -They are moving back here.
And big trails, big.
There's trails all over the woods in this area.
These snakes probably have some great shelter
in and around this home.
I'm excited to hunt it.
There's probably gonna be a lot of movement
and a lot of options out here.
Be careful, this stuff's really thick,
and they can get away in here without us seeing them.
Yeah, oh, yeah. You could step on them and not see it.
Hey, Troy, right here, Troy!
-What? What? What? -Troy, Troy, Troy!
He's in all this, right here,
he's down in here. I got his tail.
-You got him? You got him? -Yeah, you gotta hold
this tail, I'm gonna dive in there, okay?
Be careful, Tes. Don't let him turn on you.
Be careful.
Oh! Can you pull him a little bit?
No, I can't. He's stuck. Come on, you gotta get him, Tes.
All right, I see him, I see him, I see him.
He's looking right at me. Aah!
In a python hotspot...
Be careful, Tes. Don't let him turn on you.
Troy maintains an iron grip.
All right, I see him, I see him, I see him.
He's looking right at me.
-Aah! -Watch it.
He almost got you.
I don't wanna get too close to the head.
Hold on. You want me to go get him?
Look, grab the stomach
-right there. -Okay, yeah.
-You got him? -Yeah.
Reach through and just grab his head.
He's not even looking at you.
-Aah! [laughs] -Yes!
You brought that bag, right?
I got the bag.
Oh, man. Look at this thing.
Huh?
This nine-footer proves
Troy's hunch that the area
around this camp is a hotbed for pythons.
This is a big snake.
Boy, I'm glad we taking this thing out.
We know we in the right spot. If there's any movement around,
it's gonna be right here close to this cabin.
And we seeing trails,
we seeing a lot of snake trails right in this area.
We'll hunt real close to it and all around it.
All right, let's bring him. Let's go.
Nine miles south...
There he is right there.
What's up, bud?
To access the Python Palace hunting grounds,
Dusty has called on his friend Matt for reinforcements.
I don't have a buggy that's gonna fit through here,
but if there's a will, son, there's a way,
and I got a friend that hopefully,
he's gonna be able to help me out.
How you been?
Son, man, that thing look like
it's straight out of the 1940s.
What's in there, that flathead 4-cylinder?
Actually 1930, my late pickup.
Two transmissions, slow you down on that cap rock.
-And that's the original motor? -Yes, sir.
Wow. Man, I can't believe that sucker lasted.
Yes, sir, but she'll get you where you wanna go.
Yeah, man. She looks like she's compact and tight, boy.
She can thread the needle.
They were made to run the Glades in the 20s and 30s.
-Like a time capsule, boy. -Yes, sir.
Looking at this thing, I can straight up tell
it's put some miles down in the Everglades, man.
That thing's been around for almost 100 years.
Swamp buggies were invented in south Florida in the 1920s
using parts and technologies
from decommissioned World War I vehicles.
Four-wheel drive, elevated suspension,
and sturdy transmissions
felt right at home in the Everglades.
She's still sturdy and runs good, man.
You remember that one trail that heads off to the west
and it gets real tight and narrow in there, man?
-Yup. -I tried to make it through,
and my big buggy just ain't fitting, man.
Yeah. She'll bounce off them cypress trees.
I'm gonna try to fill her up with some python.
She probably ain't never had no pythons in her.
Um, no. [laughs]
The pythons wasn't even here when this thing was made.
Securing this 1930s buggy
may help Dusty finally get to his legendary hunting grounds.
I'll see you later, bud.
Well, Matt came through big time for me, son.
It looks like it's small enough to fit through the trail,
but there's only one way to find out.
I'm fixing to put this baby down in second gear
and creepy crawl my way into the Python Palace.
Meanwhile, Ashley and Kaylyn continue to follow the trail
blazed by blind hunting dog Helen.
Find them. Good girl.
It takes a really special dog to be able
to decipher between the smells.
There's been an entire ranch ran out here,
which can mean manure, sewer lines.
I mean, we need a dog that's focused,
has her eyes on the prize, and can get us
a python without being distracted.
Where's he at? Where's that stinking snake?
What's she got?
She's on something. I'm not sure yet.
Looks like she's following a trail.
-Yeah, she definitely is. -Yeah.
She's working it hard.
What you got, girl?
From what we've seen out here today,
I would say our suspicions of Helen's nose being overdeveloped
is definitely true.
This is the first time I've had her out here,
and her nose immediately picked up a scent,
following that nose to whatever was at the end of that trail.
Hey, Mike!
-What you got? -Hey, she's got a hole.
All right, I'm coming.
She's really interested in this.
Good girl, let's see what she got.
-Oh, yeah, this looks great. -Oh, wow.
Definitely looks promising. I mean, to me it looks like
something's been going in and out of it
and very well might be a python.
Look at this hole, Kaylyn.
-You have that shovel? -Did she find this?
She did. She was all over it.
Oh, my gosh, good job, Helen.
-That's it. -Gosh, what a good spot, too.
This one's tucked away. I wouldn't have even seen this.
I guess that's the perks of having her out here.
She can smell what we can't see.
Let me see if I can get down in here and see anything.
-Come on. -Oh, y'all, we got a python.
In Crazy Mule Ranch...
Oh, y'all, we got a python.
There's a python?
Helen's nose led the team to a python.
We're definitely gonna have to dig.
I'm just worried.
I don't want her to push any further back there.
We're gonna have to do this thing quick, guys.
Absolutely amazing.
This was the right dog for the right place,
I'm so happy we had her out there with us.
I'm gonna go take her down, get some water, cool her off.
-All right. -All right.
-Come on, Helen, come on, Helen. -Good job, Helen.
-Go take your break, baby. -You earned it.
Do you wanna dig from the entrance,
or do we wanna go on the top? That way we can reach into
where it looks like it opens up into in there.
You wanna see how deep that hole is back
and we can start.
Helen's powerful sense of smell pinpointed the python.
Now the human challenge is to break into its lair.
Where do you think I need to start? I'm thinking right here.
Looks like it ends pretty quickly right here.
Digging through limestone takes blood, sweat and tears.
It can take from an hour to four hours.
We have to have patience and just stay the course.
Watch your face. I don't wanna sling any rocks at you.
Let me know when you wanna swap out, too,
because I know it's not easy to cut through this limestone.
Okay.
On the boundary between dry savannah
and the cypress woods...
Come on, baby.
Oiled up, ready to go?
Uh-huh, okay.
After a giant python
escaped into the impenetrable brush,
Zak brings a secret weapon back from his truck.
This cypress forest is so thick,
I'm gonna use my drone as my eyes in the sky
to try figure out where exactly this snake was headed.
Let's get cooking, baby.
Come on.
[chuckles]
Yeah, go get 'em.
Using this drone is the only way I can get my own eyes,
with no extra help out here,
over that ridgeline, over the forest,
to get some type of idea
of how I could get into this thick stuff.
Me walking is just not good enough right now.
Find me the snake.
That stuff is so damn thick.
Dang, look at that.
Okay, let's see what we got back here.
I found this big open area.
That's gotta be where the snakes are.
They're going to the grazers, the deer,
the smaller animals along the wood line.
I think that's where that snake is.
I found what looks like a little bit of an opening
and a game trail to get back there,
so I'm gonna throw the drone back
and see if I can make it back there
to catch that snake.
Good girl. [laughs]
I don't care if it takes me two or three hours,
I'm gonna push through this forest
and prove to myself that I can get back there
by myself and still help the team.
All right.
Thirteen miles west...
Oh, yeah, baby.
Armed with a smaller buggy from the 1930s,
Dusty works his way towards Python Palace.
Oh, yeah, this is where it gets tight right here.
I ain't been back in the Palace
for a few years now, and that's why
it's more important than ever to get in there
and try to get these females out of there
before this whole Python Palace explodes
with another python invasion,
and it'll decimate all the wildlife in the area.
That's bad news for Florida.
Come on, baby, turn, turn.
Oh, yeah.
She's gonna make it through right here.
We're good.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, baby.
Made it through there, baby.
This is the middle of Python Palace.
Yeah, this is it.
This big open meadow,
they come out here to get their sun,
and they live all throughout these woods right here.
This is ground zero for Python Palace.
Oh, wow, wow, wow. Look, look, look.
Whoa!
Oh, he's in there.
Deep in the python palace...
Whoa!
Dusty slams into a python.
You just got evicted, boy!
Sucker's trying to get away, boy.
Oh!
Aah!
He's trying to get back in here.
I got him.
Get out of there. I gotcha.
Whoo-hoo!
Yeah!
Aah! Mm!
Golly.
I'm beating myself up, boy.
This seven foot male is not the breeder
Dusty journeyed to the Python Palace for,
but with two bagged pythons, this day's already a success.
It's a ton of work to get back in this Python Palace like that,
but it's worth it. Getting these pythons out,
that's a huge win for the Everglades.
Oh, yeah, baby.
This old buggy probably never had
a python in it before.
Whoo! Python Palace paying off.
Forty-five miles east...
Yup, it's all hard ground now.
Ashley and Kaylyn have been digging for an hour
to gain access to the nesting python
sniffed by their blind snake hunting dog Helen.
There's another little rock right here I need to get to.
I'm just hoping that there's not another tunnel
for this snake to run off in,
because if she has even a tiny little hole,
she could get away from us and be gone.
Oh, there's her head.
Her head's right there.
So this is our plan. We're gonna get the tail
and try to pull her out, okay?
All right.
Aah!
-You okay? -Yeah.
That's a mean snake.
Uh-oh, here she comes.
-She's moving out. -Whoa.
-Oh... -Kaylyn, that's a good snake!
Fricking big.
You got her? She's coming right to you.
She's in the trees. You got it?
I can't reach her underneath here.
I hate these trees.
Whoa! She's coming your way.
-She's coming your way! -Coming my way.
She's moving somewhere.
Whoo!
There's a hole right here.
Don't go for that hole.
No! Got her.
Not going in there, little lady.
You wanna grab her?
Yeah, I'm pulling her back for you.
Got her?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoo! She's feisty.
Get her. There you go!
There you go. You got her.
-Good job! -Check that out.
Good job. Look at this thing, Kaylyn.
Man, I can't believe this.
This is huge.
This ten-foot breeder will bring in close to $1,000.
It's a big win for the hunters
and for blind tracking dog Helen
on her first wilderness hunt.
Caught a snake, saved a turtle.
It don't get no better than that, guys.
For her first day out there, that's phenomenal.
The lesson I learned is
don't judge a book by its cover.
If it doesn't have eyes,
don't assume she can't do the job.
This was the right dog for the right place.
Mike knew what he was doing, and I'm so happy
we had her out there with us.
-Good day. -Good job.
Good job, Helen. I'm proud of her for sure.
-MVP. -Yup.
That is it.
Thirty miles east...
Come on, Tes.
After hunting all day
around the Snake Lady's camp,
Troy wants to look for pythons inside.
-Hey, where you going? -Come in here.
-I wanna explore. -In? In it?
Like, gotta have some screws loose to be doing this.
Look like she had animals living in there with her.
Oh, come on.
Tes didn't seem too excited at all
to be inside the Snake Lady's house.
I guess she was just scared
of, you know, the history of the place.
Just being around it, I think she was worried.
But an old abandoned camp is a haven for rats and mice,
and that's feed for snakes.
Look at the spiders.
Look at that big thing right there.
That's a brown recluse.
That's poisonous. That'll put you in the hospital.
Brown recluse spiders
are found mostly in the Midwest and southern United States.
Their bodies can grow up to three quarters of an inch,
making them larger than the average spider.
They tend to avoid humans, but if cornered, they can bite,
releasing powerful venom that can cause
dangerous infections and extreme pain.
Yeah, this is just like a death trap.
I don't know, something about just having
a bunch of animals around
so you can have a bunch of snakes around
kind of weirds me out.
This is no conditions
in which you would find me,
and I'm just ready to go.
Yeah, I think I've had enough of this.
Let's keep looking. Let's explore.
Yeah, um, I'm good.
Wow.
Look at this. That's solid.
Troy, I think I see a snake!
-What? -I think I see one! I see one!
-I see one, I see one! -A snake? A snake?
Yeah, I think he's over here. There's one right here.
-No way. -Yeah-yeah, look-look-look.
He's right over here. Do you see him?
Where? No, I don't see him.
I can't see anything in here.
Goddog it. You don't see nothing?
No.
I can't even get into this stuff.
Don't tell me we're gonna lose it.
Oh, man.
This thing could be anywhere now.
If it just wasn't dark,
we'd be able to probably see it still.
Tes, Tes, Tes!
Tes, lookie here, lookie here.
-Where, where? -Here. Oh, my.
-You don't have the tail? -No, I lost the tail
-and I don't even see the head. -Where is it?
Be careful. Oh, the head's over here,
the head's over here. Let's get it out the grass.
Get it out the grass.
Aah! Watch it, Troy!
I can't even see his head.
-I don't see it. -Oh!
By the Snake Lady's camp...
Whoa!
Troy has a python by the tail.
Okay, I got the tail, I got the tail. That's it.
-Oh! -Whoa! Watch it.
Yeah, this thing is pissed.
Goddog it, he almost got me.
You got him, Troy? Don't let him get me.
-Don't let him get me. -Don't panic.
-That's your chance. -Watch it.
-That's your chance. -Watch it, watch it, Watch it.
-Oh! -[laughs]
You all right? You all right?
Oh, man, this guy gave us a fight, dude.
This is a young one. This is probably
the youngest one, the smallest one we caught
-so far, huh? -Oh, shoot.
What's this, about a six, seven footer?
And he's full of piss and vinegar. Jeez!
The younger they are, I mean, he's like a teenager.
This seven-footer, the second of the day,
makes their trip to the Snake Lady's cabin a success.
I mean, this place was a pain in the butt to get to,
but the trouble to get back here was really worth it.
Normally we been taking three to four days to find one snake.
-Whoo! -[laughs]
-My man. -That's what I'm talking about.
Oh, man, what a night.
Further west,
Zak has spent hours bushwhacking
to a clearing he spotted on his drone,
suspecting it may be sheltering giant pythons.
Aah.
There's my clearing. Come on.
I've been hiking through these woods for hours.
My body is just beat to shreds.
It took me literally twice as long as I thought
it was gonna take to get back here, and I'm just hoping
I find something for the team and didn't waste
my whole day just chasing nothing.
Ugh.
Not a single python through that trail. Damn.
Flying the drone in broad daylight,
I saw a couple trails and some evidence of snakes,
but now at night,
really finding it hard to see anything.
It's hard to spot the things I saw on the drone,
and things just are not looking familiar.
It's hard to connect the dots.
I know that big girl's in here somewhere.
I really took a risk coming out here.
But I got my hands on that snake.
I almost had it.
So I'm very determined to get my hands on it again.
Oh, that's a hole for sure.
That's a nice trail. Come on.
It's so thick, though. Dang it.
Where are you leading me to?
Oh, oh!
Come here!
Ah, damn.
Oh, damn. Damn, too late.
Looks like we're going this way--aah!
Damn it.
Come on, come on.
Nope, nope, nope, not that way.
Whoa!
Damn.
Whoa! That reach.
That's gotta be a 12-foot snake.
Aah! Oh, he bit me-- no, not my skin.
No, come here, come here. Aah!
Come on, come on, stretch out, stretch out.
This egg-laden 12-footer will bring in
close to $1,200 and justifies
the enormous effort it took to get there.
I couldn't be happier with this capture.
And to do it by myself,
especially after the day that I had,
I mean, I was right on the cusp of giving up.
Now I know my boys are gonna be super happy about it.
Daddy's coming home with a big girl.
Hard work pays off, baby.
Over at Dusty's...
Let's go see what's up.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
She's kind of fat in the tail.
-Yeah. -Think she's got some eggs.
There's only one way to find out.
Ashley and Kaylyn bring in the female breeder
they caught with the help of their blind guide dog Helen.
I think everybody's gonna have a new pair of boots
by the end of this one.
-Yeah, oh, there we go. -Look at that.
Look, there it is.
So it begins.
-I can't believe it. -She was ready.
Dang.
Start the count.
-Wow. -Oh, my gosh.
Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12.
Still more.
-That's it. -That's it.
Dang, son.
Man.
-Eighteen eggs. -Eighteen.
-Wow. -Wow.
Yeah, I'm so proud of y'all, man, this is...
the Everglades is thanking y'all right now.
This is, I mean, this is why we do it, you know.
You guys, we need the young whippersnappers
to come in here and step up to the plate
like y'all did, man.
I'm so proud of y'all, honestly.
-Yes. -It ain't easy,
-but someone's gotta do it. -Phew!
Ashley and Kaylyn are doing a great job
for the Everglades. You really gotta go
the extra mile to get the big snakes
up out of there, man. You gotta be willing
to take that chance, man. You gotta be prepared.
Think about how much wildlife
y'all just saved.
Man, y'all killing it, son!
Whoo!
-We're learning from the best. -Yup.
-Thank you. -All right.
Instead of a five, it'll be a triple.
Yes, exactly.
It feels good.