Aah!
Aw, T!
Shoot him, Jacob, shoot him!
As a historic heat wave roasts the swamp...
Oh, man.
You get heat stroke, that's the end of your season.
Swampers battle boiling temperatures in the air...
Oh, my God.
When it's hot like this, everything's pissed off.
-And in the water. -Look at the slime.
The water temperature's about four or five degrees hotter
than it's ever been.
They try bold new strategies...
Look right there.
We going in open water. There's no lines to run.
To combat a new and relentless foe.
With this heat wave, we're heading out to No Man's Land.
It's the only option left.
Watch him, T, watch him!
The beasts also try new tricks...
There he is, there he is.
Help, I'mma lose my pole!
As the battle between man, gator,
and Mother Nature continues.
Got behind me, Jacob! Aah!
I can't get a good set.
I got him. I just can't--no, no!
[gunshots]
At daybreak on day four of gator season...
Come on back with it.
Swampers gear up for a scorching hunt.
Zak, catch me a water out that box.
With the forecast predicting 98 degrees
and a nation-leading humidity of 65%,
the heat index will hit a blistering 126 degrees today.
In Four Mile Bayou,
Jacob Landry has a plan to beat the heat.
It's gonna take some strategies
to try to run the lines in certain ways
to get the boat back in as quickly as possible.
My strategy is to run them backwards.
Go on the other end and run and fill the boat as we get closer.
That way we don't have but a short trek
to come back to the launch with a full boat.
Alligator hides require moisture to keep their shine.
If they're exposed to constant sun and heat,
the hides will dry out and peel in a process called slipping.
Once this occurs, the hides lose all value,
making them unsellable to a buyer.
Despite that, Jacob's deckhand Don Brewer's
got a different and more immediate concern.
Got a line down, Jacob.
Check that line right there. Look.
We're gonna check them on the way back.
Dude, come on now.
If we load the boat down,
we gonna have to idle all the way back from on that end.
We gonna run them backwards.
It's going up and over the bank.
What if we catch a 12 foot alligator?
Then we gotta drag that around all day long.
I wanna start running lines.
We just started, we got a line down,
I see the tree moving a little bit.
I want to run this gator.
I wanna put the gators in the boat.
Don't panic.
Dude, I'm telling you, it's gonna be a good one on it.
I got the feeling this morning.
Uh-uh, no.
We ain't put a gator in the boat yet.
I wanna see the first gator.
I don't wanna go by 150 lines, then turn around
and come run them all the way back
when I've gotta watch all these damn gators
all the way down through there.
I wanna start putting gators in the boat now.
They finally arrive at their furthest line,
one four miles from the boat launch.
Jacob wants to start catching gators as they head back.
Line down, Jacob, line down.
-It still alive? -Oh, yeah, he's alive.
He's playing possum, boss.
-Oh, yeah, he's alive, Jacob. -Oh, yeah.
I'm trying to put him in the boat.
Take him quick, boy.
Come on, Don, come on, Don.
Oh, he scratched the boat, boss.
Oh! Oh!
Damn, look at him go, boy.
Shoot him, Jacob, shoot him!
Coming up, boss.
Good job, Don Brewer.
That's what I'm talking about, baby.
Good shot, Jacob Landry.
Imagine that.
An eight footer on their first line is a good start,
but with many more lines to run in this oppressive heat,
they need to move fast.
It's gonna be tough. It's gonna be extremely hot.
We just doing what we have to do.
We running our lines backwards,
running from the furthest end coming in
to try to get these alligators in as quickly as possible
and survive the heat.
Just trying to get in, save the alligators,
and save ourselves for the next day.
We're gonna stack them in deep today, boy.
-It's gonna get hot, too. -Yeah.
It's already hot.
In Bayou Rangar,
Joey Edgar and his deckhand Zak Catchem
are taking a big gamble.
Instead of setting lines,
they'll use the sweltering heat to their advantage,
tracking gators as the beasts search for cooler waters.
The heat this year is unreal, but I really think
it's gonna present an opportunity in this open water
to get some of these big alligators.
I think they're gonna be out moving.
We just going out to treble hook, snipe,
rod and reel, whatever, where there's no lines to run.
Hug this side. Hug this side like 30 feet.
Maybe we'll see something.
Look right there.
Kill it, kill it, kill it.
[shuts off engine]
It's deep?
Yeah, it's so deep.
Oh, my God, it's deep.
We might have to pass him up.
You got it?
No, I can't get a good set.
I'm telling you--oh!
Oh, Lord.
I can't get a good set in him.
I got him. I just can't--no, no!
You lost him?
Wow.
He shook that hook, you probably won't see him again ever.
The gators are on the move as they predicted,
but the extreme heat and humidity
bring an unexpected challenge.
[spits]
This heat makes you sweat,
and sweaty hands are not good
when you need to grip on things
while fighting giant dinosaurs.
Oh, we got him.
See that?
Look like a decent one.
You could try right there, but see all those weeds?
-I don't wanna cast in it. -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Try right in front of the boat, like straight ahead.
All right, Zak, I got him.
That's him right here.
Come on.
Oh, I lost him.
Are you kidding me?
Oh, my God, he come untied.
Damn.
That ain't never happened.
Losing these two gators
is a tough way to start the day,
and the hunters worry the heat might get the best of them.
Zak and I having the same problem.
Zak is having a hard time holding on to the rod and reel,
and I'm having a hard time holding on to the throw line.
We gotta come up with some ideas
to figure out what we gonna do and overcome this heat.
Over in Grossbeck Bayou,
King of the Swamp Troy Landry and his deckhand Pickle Wheat
have their own unique strategy
for dealing with the brutal heat.
They've set a few test lines in different spots
to try to find cooler waters.
Hey, I checked the water temperature yesterday evening.
One spot it was 88 degrees, another spot it was 90 degrees.
That's crazy.
It is.
Record heat this year.
The shallower the water is,
the hotter it's gonna become.
It's been real hot,
and the water temperature's hotter than normal.
That's gonna affect the alligators a lot
because when it's cool in the spring, gators need sun.
They come out and they like to sun themselves.
But when it gets real hot like it is right now,
they don't like the heat.
It gets too hot for them.
Two days this pole been in the water. Look.
-Slime. -Look at the slime already.
Two days, look.
It's just because of the temperature of the water.
When the temperature of surface water
reaches 75 degrees Fahrenheit,
it creates the ideal conditions for algae to grow.
As the blooms increase, algae absorbs sunlight,
making the water even warmer,
often leading to an explosion of algae growth.
It's starting out slow, Peewee.
But we know why.
We got alligators dying and algae everywhere.
Tells you how hot that water is.
Tight line. I see some action.
What we got, P?
Well, that pole's turned different
than it was when we set it, so...
It looks good.
-Go straight back in the water. -Straight in the lilies.
What you got?
-Got something? -Uh...
Talk to me.
Got something heavy on it.
Whoa, watch him, Peewee. Yeah, hell, yeah.
Whoo! Come here!
Watch him, Peewee, watch him.
Come on, Peewee, bring him up.
Whoo! Be careful.
Don't let him pull you in.
Oh, Lord, oh, Lord. Oh!
Whoa!
Get him, get him, shoot!
[gunshot]
-Whoo! -Whoo-hoo!
Good job.
-Good job, Peewee. -He got me, already you.
Gol, look at the slime.
I ain't never seen so much slime on alligators. Never.
That's because the temperature of the water's hotter than ever.
This slime-covered gator
means the water here is too warm,
and the hunters will need to keep looking for a cooler area
to set the bulk of their lines.
What this is telling me is
the hot temperature, the hot water
is affecting the gators.
They got slime on them worse than I ever seen.
And I think most of the gators moved out of here
because of the temperature of the water.
They looking for cooler water.
-Party. -Are you ready?
I'm ready.
In Shell Beach,
after striking out
in their usual hunting grounds around Violet,
veteran hunter Ronnie Adams
and his deckhand Timmy Aucoin
are changing tactics.
We heading out to No Man's Land.
Yeah, we got a long ride.
We gotta make it happen here, bro.
Last year we definitely overfished
all the area around my camp.
I feel like we not gonna fill our tags there.
Right now we got no other option
to go to the outskirts of my property,
what we call No Man's Land.
It's just a journey.
I mean, it's an hour and half hike.
I feel like I'm taking a huge risk
going out there with this heat wave,
but I feel right now it's the only option left.
Yeah, I think there's a heat wave going on today, Ronnie.
Nah, you think it's a heat wave, brother.
It's actually a hurt wave. You heard me?
All right, legend, we're down here, brother.
Oh, there he is.
Yeah, I see the string going to the back. It's tight.
T, I think he's dead.
That's a big, big gator.
You think you can walk that?
Yeah, so far it's all right.
He's dead.
He's swollen.
In No Man's Land,
Timmy has woken a beast.
Watch him, T, watch him, T!
Lord, I can't believe that dude
was playing possum like that, son.
Dude, he almost grabbed me.
Lord have mercy, son.
He almost ate my ass for lunch.
You better watch him, T.
Grab that line and we'll pull her off the bank.
All right.
There you go, T.
Get that gun ready.
We got him now.
T, don't let him in the boat.
Watch him!
Aw, T.
Come on, big boy, give him to me, papa.
This motherhumper's a whirlpool, baby.
Oh, he's mad, bro.
Yeah, golly, that is a monster, T.
Come on, dude.
Show me what you're working with.
Lord have mercy, that's a big dude.
Motherhumper.
He's a big one, papa.
Come on out, dude.
T, we got us a hammer, legend.
Get out of there.
He's wrapping up. He's gonna pop the line.
T, T, take him out, take him out.
Atta boy.
He was stubborn, huh, bro?
He got me wore the hell out.
He done played so many games with us,
he got me dazed, bro.
One, two, three.
Grab that leg. Roll him in, T.
Roll him, baby.
Yeah, I'm gonna take a little break, bro,
because, man, I'm feeling real, real weak.
Although the hunters are excited
about their first catch in these remote waters,
they've been on the water for almost two hours
in the blistering treeless marsh,
and Ronnie's feeling the effects.
After catching this first big gator,
man, I feel like the risk is paying off.
But, boy, I'm kind of feeling worn down.
This one gator, man.
Now I gotta be careful, because you just never know.
This heat and sweating like I am,
this gator put a number on me.
I mean, I hope the rest of the lines
ain't full with them this size, because I could be in a jam.
Man, it's hot, huh, bro?
-Yeah, it's hot. Whoo! - Come on, bro.
Across the bayou,
Joey and Zak have no lines out
and are gambling on open water hunting
with their treble hook,
but the heat is making it tough
to keep a grip on their gear.
Oh, it's hot.
Yeah, the seats are hot to sit on.
It's real.
It's tough. You're out there
and you're expending so much energy,
your brain feels like it's gonna explode.
But the gators are everywhere.
This is an amazing opportunity
to catch some really big bull gators.
Pop, I can't afford to lose another hook.
I got an idea.
Look what I'm gonna do.
My experience with bulldogs,
you put some knots in the rope so you can hold on.
Nice.
-About every five, six foot. -Yeah.
Just a little extra
so it don't run through my hands.
Yeah, I got you.
-It's hot, I'm sweaty, -Yeah.
and I can't afford to lose this hook.
I think these knots are gonna help me
just to hold on.
That's good. That's a good idea.
I have an idea, too, after you doing that.
Look at this, Joey.
Don't make it too tight.
Turn loose the rod.
It might drag you overboard.
That's all it needs.
Look at that. I can't slide past that.
Yeah. Okay, pop, let's get out of here.
We gonna keep it moving.
I'm not losing another hook. I promise you.
It's not long until Joey's strategy is put to the test.
That's an alligator.
Yeah, right there.
He should be right there.
Get him, pop.
He might've moved.
Oh, he's come off.
Dang.
He's straight up the bayou. Look, he's going.
Yeah, I see him. He was little.
-He was little? -For sure.
-You sure? -Positive.
Look at the--gol!
He bubbled big for a little guy.
I think he's bigger than you think.
We're gonna find out.
There he is, there he is, there he is.
-There he is. -There he is.
There he is. That's what I'm talking about.
Whoo! That ain't no dink.
No, it's not.
That ain't no dink.
Holy crap.
Yeah, he's bigger than you think!
Dang.
Still got the gator on, dude.
All right, all right.
All right.
Let me just touch him.
Bring it up faster.
Oh! Oh!
He's huge!
Get the gun. Oh, my God!
Hold on, pop, hold on.
You got this.
Here we go.
Right there, right there, pop, right there.
All right, shoot him, pop, shoot him!
Hold on to that thing!
[laughs]
That's a bigger alligator than I thought.
-I told you. I told you. -Yeah.
That thing almost took off your damn arm.
They don't bubble in white water unless they big.
You got that experience on me,
'cause I didn't even wanna hook that thing
I thought it was so small.
All right, I got his head. Move your hook first.
Look, your little hook right here.
All we gonna do, I'm gonna catch this front leg,
and then you catch the back leg.
Okay.
All right.
Hold that. Hold that.
Oh, yeah.
-Let's roll him. -Oh, yeah, pop.
-Let's roll him. -I got his leg.
We're good. I got him.
Joey's swamp knowledge pays off,
and the hunters land themselves a giant.
But their hard work's taken a toll.
Cut that and then let pop take a break.
-That heat got me. -I'll try to untangle this.
Yeah, let me take a break.
I'm a little older than you.
This is the first year
that I ever felt dizzy loading alligators.
You know, after we get him in the boat,
I'm kind of like I gotta get in the shade.
Give me a minute.
This is becoming--
You know, I'm 54 years old.
It's real.
Oh, my God.
Pop, when it's hot like this, everything's pissed off.
Let's go.
In Bayou Grossbeck,
Troy and Pickle have set out test lines
to find cooler waters where big gators hide.
That sun's mid-up.
-There's no shade over here. -Uh-uh.
Louisiana heat is unreal.
We're so close to the Gulf
that it's not just hot, but it's humid.
This year we breaking all kinds of records.
It's almost too hot.
The water temperature's 90 degrees.
Can you believe that?
That's unheard of, dude.
It is.
Is that a line tied around the bottom?
Yeah, there's a line there.
It's heavy.
Oh, my goodness.
In Bayou Grossbeck,
a monster has snagged Pickle's pole.
Oh, he let it go. Thank goodness.
Bring him up, bring him up!
This a man here, bro.
And he's all wrapped up.
Yeah. Fight him, Peewee, fight him.
Oh, watch it. He's gonna pop the line.
You can't let it go like that.
He don't wanna come up.
Ease him up real slow.
-You got the head? -No.
-Get the line. -He's on his back though.
That don't matter. Bring him up.
Oh, I got him, I got him, I got him.
Bring him in, bring him in. Hurry up. Bring him close.
Shoot him, shoot him!
Whoo!
[laughs] Look at you.
One, two, three. Okay.
All right, move your tarp.
-We got him now. -Yeah.
Look-a here, he's coming from deep water.
Look, no slime at all.
See how he's clean and cool? He's not hot.
Yeah.
We gonna put about 15 or 20 lines
right now in this area.
You know, every alligator we've caught so far today
was covered with slime.
This one is clean as a whistle.
I mean, there's no slime at all on it.
So this big alligator's telling me
that there's deep water somewhere close by
that's not as hot.
And we gonna set some lines
where the water's deeper,
and I think they're gonna have more gators there,
the cooler the water.
Good alligator, Peewee.
Back in No Man's Land,
Ronnie and Timmy are bringing in
their fourth gator of the day,
but the heat has Ronnie on the ropes.
Oh, yeah. Hell, yeah.
Roll him in, T.
My goodness.
Man, T, that thing wore me out, bro.
Take a little break, man.
Why don't you come sit down for a minute.
Want something to drink? One of these waters?
Yeah, hand me my water right there.
I'm gonna tell you what.
This motherhumper done put a beating on me.
He was a fighter. I couldn't believe it.
But he has battled me to the end right now,
and I literally lost a lot of fluid
trying to handle this gator.
But I know myself, I know my body.
I feel like I can push through this.
Heat exhaustion and sun stroke
kill more than 700 people in the United States each year.
Heat exhaustion can be treated with cold water and rest,
but heat stroke causes a total shutdown of internal organs.
Boy, these gators got me wore out, boy.
It's not just that, though, the gators.
It's this heat, bro.
It's gotta be pushing 100 today, huh?
You need to take a break, bro,
because you're gonna get overheated.
Maybe we oughta go back to the camp for a few hours.
And then who's gonna run the rest of these lines?
Well, we can come back out today.
Just you need to get out of the sun, I was thinking.
I done committed to this, bro.
We gotta finish out strong.
Let's just see how the rest of these lines go.
We're gonna take a good break in between them, though.
-We got to. -Yeah, all right.
We gotta finish out strong.
All right, let's do it.
In Four Mile Bayou,
Jacob and Don are running their lines backwards
towards the boat launch,
but in the record heat,
leaving gators in the boiling water
is as risky as having them sitting in the boat.
He's bloated, Jacob.
Damn. This is what's bad about not having no shade.
-Whew! -Oh, man.
Oh, he's eight foot, seven, eight foot.
He was a tagger.
He's already split.
-Damn. -What a waste, huh?
It's hotter than bathwater it feels like.
By law, the hunters are required
to tag any gator caught on their lines,
including gators that may not be accepted by the buyer.
You know, unless he's rotten or chewed up,
you're supposed to tag every alligator you catch,
big or small.
It's hard to keep your spirits up.
It's also easy to make mistakes.
Right there, see it?
It's a good one.
Oh, yeah, we got an eight to 10 footer.
Watch out.
Like them fresh. There he is, right there.
Right there.
I can't hold his head up!
-Jacob, he's got behind me. -Oh.
Jacob! Jacob! Aah!
In Four Mile Bayou...
-Jacob, he's got behind me. -Oh.
Jacob!
Don's where no hunter wants to be:
in the water with an angry monster.
Aah! Shoot him, Jacob, shoot him!
Hold on, Don.
Shoot him, Jacob, shoot him, shoot him, shoot him.
[gunshot]
Need help getting in?
Aah!
The line got behind my legs.
You all right?
This 10 footer luckily ends up in the boat,
but the incident leaves Don shaking.
Damn.
Look at those chill bumps running down my arms.
This alligator's mad and he's scared.
A lot of times you put an alligator in a corner,
he's gonna come out ahead.
Don's very lucky.
He could've got hurt right there big time.
He could've got hurt falling in the water,
much less with a 10 foot alligator
in the water next to him.
Oh, that was bad.
In Bayou Rangar,
Joey and Zak gambled on hunting gators
solely by using their rod and reel and treble hook.
After an early hiccup with their gear,
they're hoping this strategy
produces more than the single gator in their boat.
We have a lot of tags to fill,
and there's nothing we can do to combat this heat.
So we're gonna try to catch as many as we can
as fast as we can,
get this job done so we can make it back home
before we just exhaust ourselves and turn into a fried pancakes.
We need to find open water
or deep water where you can use this thing.
I'll find them.
It's like shooting fish in a barrel
if they just stay away from these lilies.
Go to the corner.
Stop, stop. Cut it, cut it, cut it.
Oh, dang, our wake is spinning us out right now.
I tried to come around him so he didn't get in the lilies.
We usually don't approach like that,
but just so to stop him.
It's hard.
His bubbles were clear as day.
Yeah, but if I came slow,
he would've went straight to the lilies.
Damn, that wake, man, threw us.
-Oh, crap. -He's gonna look at you.
-He's still right there, though. -Did you see that?
Dang it, he's right here I think.
I'm passing him up.
There he is-- Yeah, he turned.
Oh, that's him, huh?
I think so. I just don't know
if I'll be able to catch him to be honest.
Yup, yup, yup, I was able to catch him.
Got that big boy. Oh, that's a big one.
Whoa, look how fast that thing is. Whoa.
Whoa!
Look at him. He's pulling the boat around.
Oh, my God, he's spinning around like--
Oh, there he is. Oh, my God.
Boy, this thing has so much power.
You might get to shoot this thing right here.
Ready? I'mma bring him up.
[laughs]
That's how you fill the boat up.
That was a nice shot, Joey. [laughs]
Nice shooting, Joey.
Give me some skin on that one, dude.
That'll help us out.
Although this gator's not a giant,
the team is starting to gain confidence.
Their strategy to combat the hottest day of the year
may indeed pay off.
We got a couple of good gators in the boat,
but I know before the day's over
we're gonna get something big, and I'm just hoping
that we can get these alligators killed
before the heat kills one of us.
-Let's roll out. -Good job.
In No Man's Land,
Ronnie and Timmy have traveled far from their dock
as they search for big gators in the killer heat.
Yeah, they got a lot of dead fish out here, bro.
I'm not liking this, T.
There another big one on this side.
I'm certainly not liking this, brother.
To see all these fish killed,
it's obviously this heat wave is putting a number on this land.
And I'm kind of really worried about myself,
because we out at the farthest edges of my property,
and I know I gotta stay on top of myself drinking fluids.
That's the main thing I'm worried about this year
is the heat wave.
You been drinking enough water today?
Yeah, I've been staying on top of it.
All right, legend, we down here, brother.
Look like I see an alligator in the water there.
Uh-huh.
Hold on, T.
He's over here.
What we got? See it?
Whoo, T, that thing is tight.
Oh, yeah, get the gun, get the gun...
I'm thinking it's a good one.
Whoo-whoo, legend!
What a hammer, son.
Look at the size of that son of a gun.
Ay-yi!
Golly.
Motherhumper.
Oh, no, no, no, no. We got biting!
Ooh! He's wearing me out, son.
Pulling the skin off my hands.
Hammer time, baby. Drop the hammer.
Come on, legend, get the shot.
Gonna pop the line, legend, he's gonna pop the line!
Get a shot, T! Get a shot!
Whoo! T, let me get the thing, boy.
-Oh, my goodness. -Oh, yeah.
Man, I am tired.
Let's make it happen on one time, bro,
because this is about all I got.
-All right. -One, two, three.
Whew! My goodness.
-Lord. -Hey, you all right, dude?
-Huh? -Oh, man.
I'm burnt out, dude.
Give me one of them towels, could you please?
Wet it in the water for me.
The hunters haul in another monstrous 10 footer,
but it may just be the final straw for Ronnie.
[exhales]
Oh, man.
Ooh, man, I'm nauseous, T.
Boy, I'm not feeling good at all, T.
Lord have mercy.
I feel like I'm about to puke.
You feeling that bad, bro, I think we need to go.
Nah, bro, we got lines to run, T.
I can't just leave these lines sit out here.
They're full of alligators.
You need to take a good break, man,
because if you get overheated, heat stroke,
that's the end of your season.
I'm gonna bring you in.
I'm gonna come run these lines by myself.
There ain't nothing you can say about it.
I'm doing it.
You gotta get cooled off.
All right, dude, all right. Let's roll then, come on.
Just make sure you tag that gator.
All right.
Ronnie was down, overheated real bad,
and I had to put my foot down.
And, you know, I know I'm the deckhand on this boat,
but, you know, when Ronnie's got that tunnel vision
and he wants to get things done,
you gotta get in front of him
and tell him, bro, you know, we gotta take a break.
So I'd rather bring him in now and let him cool down
instead of him getting a real heat stroke.
How you feeling, man, after this boat ride?
I'm just gonna go sit in the truck
and get some air condition.
Yeah. All right.
-You gonna be all right? -Yeah.
I'll go get the last couple lines done,
and I'll be back in a few minutes.
-All right, man. -All right.
In Bayou Grossbeck,
Troy and Pickle set new lines in an area of deep, cool water
they believe will attract big gators.
This a good place back here.
It's a deep swamp.
We figured out where the deep water's at,
and the deeper the water, the cooler it is.
Peewee and I, we found us a little hole, a deep spot,
and we gonna stay here now till we finished.
And I think we gonna do good here.
They soon get confirmation
that they're in the right spot.
Ooh, P, you see them little bubbles?
Yeah. Wanna go try to treble him?
Oh, yeah.
Now, remember, there's a lot of current here.
Throw right there. Hurry up.
That's a good throw.
-You on the bottom? -Now I am.
Oh, look, he's in front of us.
He's in front of us.
What do I do?
You think I could snipe one with a .22?
Yeah.
In a cool, deep honey hole,
Pickle has a monster in her sights.
You think I could snipe one with a .22?
[gunshot] You got him, you got him.
Throw. Hurry up.
We can't lose him here in this river.
Oh, no, you gotta be kidding me.
He hung up?
-Yeah. -God dang it.
This river's so deep.
We're gonna lose him if we're not careful.
Get your big pole.
Aah!
Oh, no, I had him.
-Bumped him? -Yeah.
I got him, I got him, I got him. I got him.
Bring him up.
Look where you hooked him. Wow.
There's no slime at all on it.
Nice alligator.
[both laugh]
Oh, Lord.
Ooh, that's a big one!
This nine foot beast
is proof that Troy's strategy is working.
That's a pretty nine footer.
-Huh? -Uh-huh.
-He wasn't getting away. -Oh, no, not this one.
Now it's time to run the lines they've set up here.
This alligator, he has no slime on him at all.
And so we are in the right spot,
and I like where we're at.
Another one on the treble.
That's a pretty gator.
Good job, Peewee, good job.
In Four Mile Bayou,
after running their lines backwards
to avoid having gators spoil in the boat,
Jacob and Don reach the first line
they passed this morning.
Make it count. Last line.
Last line was the first line.
Oh, yeah, look there.
Where the hell is it even at?
You see it?
Oh, no, look, it's going over the backside.
-Oh, it's going over it? -Yeah.
We must've had something once upon a time.
Got something on it?
Yup.
-Need a pole? -Need more than a pole.
-He about 12 feet long. -No way.
Probably about 400 pounds
and it's about give foot straight up, but he's dead.
But he's good, but he is dead.
That presents a whole new challenge.
The damn thing's dead.
So, I mean, this thing ain't nothing but dead weight.
If we can just get it past that lip,
the boat will pull it up.
Oh, if we can get it up there, yeah.
We can put your strap up here,
we'll run the line through here,
run it down to that,
so that way we can get at least some type of leverage.
This big alligator that we just caught
is gonna be a hell of a time trying to get him in the boat.
We put straps in the trees,
we tried to get some type of leverage
to lift him up to where he comes over the levee.
You think that's gonna pick it up, though?
I don't know. Ready to try?
Yeah, give her hell.
-Tell me when you're ready. -Come on with it.
Is it close to going over that lip?
No. That string ain't gonna hold that much.
No.
I can give it one more whirl.
One, two, three, go!
Come on with it.
Come on, do it again.
Never mind.
You think you can tie the bow rope on him
or pass it around his jaw
where you got him at right there?
Just gonna do it. Get it over with.
-Okay, D, you ready? -Yup.
-Here we go. -Go!
No go?
Well, that would've worked perfect
if that thing hadn't been dead.
The head ain't over that lip a little bit? No?
No, you had two feet farther to go with the other rope.
I know I got a boat full of alligators in this heat,
but at the same time, I know we can't leave him out here.
He's dead. We gotta get him to the cooler
because he's gonna spoil, too.
I don't know what the hell we gonna do.
This day just keeps on giving.
90 miles south in No Man's Land...
Timmy's hunting solo.
Felled by the heat,
his partner Ronnie's back at the dock.
It's been a few years since I been by myself,
but I gotta get it done.
Ronnie's counting on me to finish these lines for the day,
so I'm pretty confident
that I'm gonna be able to get this done
and get the gators that we got left.
All right, the line's down.
Oh, look, that's a big crime scene.
Might be a big ass alligator.
I hope he's not too big.
Let's see if we got something.
Oh, my God, he's huge.
I got him.
Whoo!
Oh, Lord.
Whoo!
Come on, boy.
Oh, he's stuck under the boat now.
Come on, boy.
There you go.
I wish Ronnie was here.
Whoo!
All right.
Bastard.
[gunshot]
Man, that's a huge gator.
Gonna try to get this big boy in here.
Oh, man, can't even move him.
I hope I can get this big dinosaur in the boat.
Oh, man.
In No Man's Land...
Man, no way.
Timmy's struggling to load a giant.
He's heavy.
Need something to tie that rope to keep the head up.
If I get overheated and Ronnie's out for right now,
ain't never gonna finish.
Gonna keep rolling.
If you keep rolling, he's coming.
Come on, boy.
Whoo!
Man.
I didn't think I'd ever get that thing in the boat.
Whoo! All right! Whoo!
Have to high five myself.
It was really hard to get him in the boat by myself.
I had to tie him off a couple of times and roll him in,
but I finally got him in.
I got a real big gator to show Ronnie, you know.
Hey, look, got that by myself, man.
All right, we got that big gator in the boat.
It's hot, but the gators sure are biting.
In Bayou Grossbeck,
Troy and Pickle have started running the new lines
they set in cool water,
and their hunch that big gators
will migrate here due to the heat
has been paying off so far.
Alligators is a reptile,
and their bodies function according to the temperature.
If it gets too hot, then they gotta find shade.
They'll get overheated.
They gotta stay warm when it's cool,
and when it's hot, they gotta stay cool.
There's a hole.
There's stuff afloat.
Right there.
Oh, you big sucker.
Oh, yeah, nice alligator.
It's a big one, it's a big one.
Whoo, whoo, watch it, Peewee.
Whatch him.
Ooh, it's a big one.
Oh, no!
Oh, so shot him, when he's out, all right?
Ooh. [laughs]
I don't know where to put them no more.
Right on top, right on top.
We could put him right here.
Okay.
Okay, P.
Let's make way.
Hold it, hold it. Don't move.
We gotta put the head on the right side.
All right, P, come on down.
Pulling a beast big enough to need a winch
is further validation of their strategy.
To Pickle, it's proof of just how vital it is
to be able to read and understand their environment.
Being able to adapt as an alligator fisherman
is I would say 80% of the job, you know?
Like, you have to have willpower
and you have to have physical power
to get these alligators in the boat.
But to have the know how
to be able to adapt to whatever Mother Nature throws at you
is, I would say, 80% of the job.
You cover the front half with yours,
and I'm gonna cover the back half with this.
That's what I'm doing.
Take two tarps to cover that big stack.
18.
Awoo!
In Four Mile Bayou,
after nearly an hour working in the blazing heat,
Jacob and Don haven't made any progress
moving the quarter-ton gator that's stuck behind a levee.
I'm exhausted. It's been a long ass day,
and now we're screwing with a damn 500 pound gator,
trying to pick it up six feet in the damn air by hand.
Making things worse,
a huge pile of gators has been sitting in the sun
while they figure out how to extract the behemoth.
You know, the levee that this alligator crawled over
on the backside is really steep.
So there's no such thing as it just coming up
and sliding over the levee into the boat.
We put straps in the trees.
We tried to get some type of leverage to lift him up
to where he comes over the levee.
There's no way to get down there
and really get some good leverage and pull him up.
He's so big that me and Don can't handle him on our own.
I just don't know how the hell
we're gonna get him over this levee
and get him into the boat.
How in the hell we get in a situation like this?
I don't know.
Damn.
A frustrated Jacob
tries some clever swamp engineering.
Don, take this bucket,
put it on the backside right there,
run your rope over it.
It's gonna roll and lift up at the same time.
Got it. Good idea.
Try to get him up.
Put it as close to the gator over there as you can.
Throw it here, Jacob.
Hey, boss, I got it.
All right, bow rope, you ready?
You got the strap over the bucket good?
All right.
-Ready? -Yeah.
All right.
Come on with it.
Watch that bucket, now. Don't let it hurt you.
Here we go.
We got it, Don?
Oh, my goodness.
Way to go, Jacob! You got it.
What a cluster.
I've seen where people use tires
to pull stumps out of the ground
as, you know, kind of like a cantilever basically.
You pull and it pulls straight up
instead of to the side.
And it clicked, you know.
I had a little light bulb go off in my head.
Hey, put the line over the bait bucket
so when we back the boat up,
it's not pulling the alligator into the bank.
It's actually lifting it up and it comes over the bucket.
One, two, three.
There we go. Now we got him licked.
One, two, three.
He's good right there.
Whew! Can I go home now?
Yes, sir, we can.
It be like that sometimes.
Oh, Lord.
What a day.
Further east,
after making adjustments to their gear,
Joey and Zak are rushing
to make up for the giants they lost earlier.
Zak and I, we needed to regroup.
We lost some good ones, but we catching pretty good now
and I got a good feeling we gonna get a monster.
Pop, he's straight in the front the boat.
Yeah, he's right there.
He's right in the front of you.
Whew.
Yeah, he's right here.
God.
-That's him? -Yup.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
-This is a big alligator. -Yeah.
I'm gonna have to hit him with the big hook.
Okay, I got him.
You got him, huh?
Right there, where that bubble just came out.
-Again. -Got him.
-You still have him? -Yeah.
-For real? -Yup.
Oh, my God, it's so much bigger than I thought!
Pop, hold on. That's a giant. Holy hell.
In Bayou Rangar,
Joey and Zak have two hooks into a behemoth.
Oh, my God, it's so much bigger than I thought!
I'm putting the rod down and getting the rifle.
That's all you. Pop, hold on.
That's a giant.
Hold on.
Holy hell.
Flip him up, flip him up, baby.
Kill this thing.
Shoot him, pop.
Shoot!
[laughs]
My God.
That's a monster.
Pop, you got us a 12 footer.
-Oh, my God. -He's over 12.
-He's 12. -Oh, my God.
-He's 12.
Oh, my God, I am not comfortable.
Oh, my God, he's getting bigger.
Holy crap.
-We got it. -Ready?
Okay, pop, pull.
Pull. Pull.
-Pull. -Oh, my God.
We got him.
We got him, leave him, leave him, we got him.
We got him.
Aided by their own swamp ingenuity,
Joey and Zak finish the day
with their biggest gator of the season so far.
You never give up.
In the swamp you keep it moving,
you adapt and overcome.
Hell, yeah, Joey.
We did great today.
It didn't come without hard work.
Dinosaurs.
Back in Shell Beach,
Ronnie's finally recovered after the sun stroke scare.
How you do?
Oh, man, it was rough.
-Got a big one, though. -It was rough?
Big monster.
I think he's close to 12 foot.
-Oh, yeah? -Think I got a 12 footer.
Got him in the boat, I see.
How you feeling?
Oh, much better, dude.
Oh, yeah? That's good, good.
Oh, yeah, bro, much better.
I'm feeling a lot better.
I've been soaking up the AC
and I've been drinking plenty fluids
and I haven't been back out in this brutal heat.
Timmy's coming in with some good gators,
and I'm stoked about it.
I'm feeling good now, though. I'm ready to go.
Yeah, well, that's good.
You ready to load the boat up?
Yeah, let's load it up.
-I'll back the truck up for you.
-Yeah, you back the truck up. -All right.
Although Ronnie's happy with their pile of gators,
the swamp veteran still has doubts
about hunting in the remote No Man's Land
for the rest of the season.
I don't know if we can keep hunting this area.
It's just so far out.
If something goes wrong, you talking life or death.
And truthfully, with this heat wave,
I'm worried about my future in there.
T, I don't know what I'd do without you today, baby.
In Bayou Grossbeck,
Troy and Pickle are on a hot streak
thanks to scouting cooler waters.
We catching good, we catching good.
Cooler water. Smart.
We been trying to find cool water,
cool places to hunt and set our lines.
And I think Peewee and I, we found us a little hole,
a deep spot.
You can feel the difference
in the temperature of the water,
and I think we found us a honey hole.
Whoa, tree shaker!
Tree shaker, baby!
Watch them branches.
This could be good. The whole branch was shaking.
Oh, yeah.
Big alligator.
Yeah, big alligator, right here.
Whoo! Good alligator, Peewee.
Capping off a great day of hunting,
Troy and Pickle have a tree shaker on the line.
Oh, yeah.
Big alligator.
Big, big alligator right here.
Whoo! Bring him up, Peewee, bring him up.
Got it?
Aah! Shoot him, Troy!
Show him who's the boss, Peewee.
Show him who's the boss.
All right?
Come on, shoot!
Bring him up, bring him up! Ugh!
[gunshot]
Ooh, good job, Peewee.
Good job, baby girl.
Ooh, that's a good one, eh?
Try to go on top of the others.
Right there.
Right--
Oh, we got a mountain.
What's new, huh?
Catching this 11 footer proves once again
that the King of the Swamp
truly is the master of his domain.
You know, when you fish for years in an area,
you learn what to look for, what not to look for.
You have to pay attention to what's going on all around you.
And I find it's very important
to adapt on the fly.
Sometimes you got a game plan,
but, hey, you gotta move to plan B.
It's not always gonna go the way you think it's gonna go.
Bro, look how tall I am.
I'm like Captain Morgan up here.
[laughs]
We do, we got a mountain.
That's a good problem.
Over at St. Mary's...
Come around, Will.
Just keep coming.
That's a big alligator, Joey.
Yeah. That's good.
Joey and Zak celebrate bringing home a boatload of gators
on this blistering hot day.
This guy's got the right idea.
[laughs]
They bit today.
It was hot.
Yeah, it was hot. It's still hot.
My eyeballs feel like they're bleeding.
Think the whites are sunburnt.
It was a lot. It's a lot to do when it's hot.
Hell, yeah, dude. We crushed it today, baby.
Yes, sir.
Oh, yeah.
[snap] Whoo!
Oh, Lord, it's gonna break.
Don't stand under it.
Seeing these big alligators hang up
and just looking at the size of what we put in the boat,
Zak and I, just us, it's unbelievable.
That's why you don't never give up.
That's why you adapt and overcome.
You're always paying attention
and trying to do what's best for that day,
for that particular moment.
We did good, pop.
Hell, yeah, we did.
We work hard.
Yeah, and we get to do it again tomorrow.
Yeah, it ain't over.
It ain't over.