With gator season going full throttle...
Whoa!
Everyone's trying something new...
and old.
Golly!
Catching alligators out the pirogue's challenging.
Oh!
To be at their level, at the water level,
fighting them and literally the head's right there.
He's gonna sink the boat. He's gonna sink the boat!
One hunter gets her first shot at captain...
[thud] I told you!
-Huh? -It's a disaster.
Slow down and back up.
It's an accident waiting to happen.
Come on, you gotta grab the chicken. [laughs]
...while another initiates a new generation.
The very first line
that Ridge had to hang a chicken on that hook,
you could see he wasn't loving it.
I expect some labor out of you.
And nothing will stand in their way.
He can do whatever he wants with that thing.
No one's ever hunted here.
How exciting is that?
[laughs]
Made it, buddy.
[blues guitar plays]
As a new day dawns
over the swamps and bayous of Louisiana,
hunters are looking to shake things up.
In Pierre Part,
King of the Swamp Troy Landry and his deckhand Pickle Wheat
are getting ready to hit the water,
but they're moving at different speeds.
Augh!
Always waiting on this dude.
[humming]
[honk] Come on, Troy! Let's go!
Let's go, Troy!
Every morning.
Hey, there he is.
Every morning I have to sit here and wait for this man
to drink coffee for two hours.
He tells me to be here at 6:00 in the morning,
5:30 sometimes,
and then I sit here and wait forever.
You got me wore out, Pee-wee.
I gotta do everything in the boat.
You got me wore out.
You wanna be the captain?
I'm gonna make you drive the boat.
Yeah? You want me to drive today?
All right, let's try it out today.
-I drive, I drive. -No.
-Get your behind in the truck. -Yeah, come on.
-I'll do all the work. -Get your behind in the truck.
-I'll do all the work today. -Let's go.
I'm leaving without you. I'm leaving without you.
Get in the truck.
She say I'm too slow. She wanna be the captain.
So, okay, I said you wanna be the captain, be my guest.
I don't think she knows what she's getting herself into.
Pa, this is nice!
I'm in control.
Can do what I want.
[laughs] That thing don't fit, dude.
That thing ain't even gonna hold your head up.
Please protect me today.
He gives me an opportunity to be captain,
I'm gonna run with that because I wanna prove myself
and show him that I can be a good captain.
And maybe one day I can run my own boat.
Back out, back out to the middle.
Turn hard the other way, back the other way.
To the middle, I told you.
You back into the bank. Now turn.
What side of the tree?
A-a-any side.
♪ Any, any side ♪♪
Okay, turn the motor off.
I feel safer with the motor off.
Show him who's the boss.
Whoo! It's a big one, it's a big one.
Whoo! Lord have mercy.
Hold him, Pee-wee, hold him.
A-dub, a-dub, a-dub dub.
Give me a shot.
Whoo, it's a big one.
-Yeow! -Too big whoo!
Ooh, he's pulling the boat, he's pulling the boat.
Watch him, watch him, watch him! Don't let the line go.
Shoot him, shoot him!
On three. One, two, three.
With an 11-foot giant in the boat,
Pickle is off to a strong start as captain.
Nice alligator!
But she isn't convinced
Troy is up to snuff as her deckhand.
All right, hold on, let me get him tagged.
He's barely passing on this deckhand grade.
All right, you ready?
I would give him a D
'cause he knows what he's doing,
but he's so anxious up there,
because he's not driving the boat
and he's not behind the motor,
so that he's not really paying attention.
Pay attention to the boat! Where you going?
I'm paying attention.
Is that a teal? No, it's a woodpecker.
Don't worry about the teal. Look at the bayou.
[thud] I told you!
I'm sorry!
Five miles away, in Pierre Part,
Jacob Landry and Don Brewer
are heading out for another day of hunting,
but today, they're gonna have some extra manpower.
What you think you're getting? Doughnut holes? Chocolate?
Ooh, that smells good.
-Good morning. -Good morning again.
-Good morning. We're back. -I see.
Well, today I have Ridge coming in the boat with me and Don,
and, uh, I can't be more excited.
Thank you, Betty. Y'all have a good one.
Thank you. Y'all have a wonderful day.
You, too. I'm anxious to get him out there and see what he does
and have him out there on his first gator hunt with me.
To me that's a special moment.
You know, I remember my first day with my dad,
so I think he's gonna have a good time.
And we're going in a great area
for him to catch some good alligators.
Mr. Ridge gonna be in here
fighting, shooting, driving, baiting.
Ready, bruh?
To me, it's really important
to pass on the gator tradition that we do.
Because you never know in 10 years
or five years or 20 years
what they gonna be capable of doing
as far as hunting alligators out there in the wild.
Because I have a feeling the way the population's changing,
the way the environment's changing,
I really think 10 years from now
it's gonna be a totally different ballgame.
So I really want him to get the full experience
of the way we do it.
Because, you know, when he's my age,
he might not be able to do it the same way the way we do it.
Tight tight?
Ooh, look on the bank how tore up it is.
What we got, Rascal?
Just never wrap that line in your hand.
Don't wrap that line.
Oh, he's on the move!
Oh, big boy.
Should have ate some Wheaties this morning
instead of a doughnut.
Got him? You got him?
Don't fall in the chicken.
Whatever you do, don't fall in the chicken.
All right, Ridge, come on.
Come on, boy!
Oh! Ooh!
Ooh-hoo-hoo!
Come on, Rascal. Whoa!
I don't know. I don't know about that.
Come on, boy!
There he is.
[gunshot] Boom!
Ooh, them hands red! [laughs]
Help. Come on, grab him.
Help me up. Got him?
Put your foot on the side.
-One, two... -Gotta lift up when you pull in.
-Three. Good job. -There you go.
Ridge is off to a great start wrestling his very first gator,
but Dad knows he has a long way to go
before he becomes a real gator hunter.
You know, Ridge did good on his first alligator.
You know, he had a fight on his hands.
The gator was full of energy.
It fought him real good,
and that's what I want him to experience
and kind of wake him up
and realize just what we deal with every day.
For Ridge to have more confidence
is just gonna take catching more alligators.
You got this, Ridge.
You got this!
96 miles east, in Violet,
Ronnie Adams and Ashley "Deadeye" Jones
are heading out to run their lines.
Let's do it to it, though, my baby.
And the plan for today is anything but normal.
We dropping this off somewhere or what?
Oh, no. Uh-uh. I loaded that this morning.
I know. What are we doing with it?
Oh, we're gonna hunt.
We're gonna both be in this?
Oh, yeah, we're both gonna be in that joker there, papa.
-Hunting alligators? -Yes.
Ronnie.
That's how they used to do it the old way.
While visiting his 95-year-old grandpa,
Ronnie heard about a honey hole
that can only be reached by pirogue.
You had to be a tougher man to be out there to do that.
You better believe it.
You used to tell me about this canal
back here behind the house.
You think I could get in there?
Right.
Oh, yeah, I know, Pa. I know.
I'm gonna try to make you proud.
I wanna go try to get in there with the pirogue
and catch a couple alligators.
I just wanna put a smile on your face
and say, yeah, my grandson did what I did.
Yes, sir.
Ralph Payne, my papaw,
man, he's just a cool dude, dude.
He's 95 years old, he gets around.
Man, if he still could right now,
he'd be in that boat with me
catching them alligators right now.
So what we're gonna do is we tie off on that tree.
Okay.
And then we're gonna paddle right into this slough here.
Look, we're already kicking up mud.
This is as far as we can go.
Goodness.
Yup.
Pull it up on land right here.
Last night, Ronnie used the pirogue
to set their lines in the remote slough.
All right, we need the gun,
-the hook. -Yeah.
The hunters will have to travel by pirogue
to reach their lines.
-You in? -I'm in.
All right, let me get situated here.
I wanna go hunt gators out the pirogue
like my grandpa used to do just to make him proud of me,
to show him that I could do what they did back in their days
and not use the new technology that we got this day and age.
Big gators on the horizon, baby.
Imagine how he's gonna run us
all around the bayou in this thing.
Oh, especially we get a big one?
150 miles northwest, in St. Martinville,
Daniel Edgar and his grandson Dorien
are holding tags for a swamp that's never been fished.
But accessing the remote canal
will require a little help from a family friend.
There's a canal in here.
I just acquired some tags
for an area that's never been fished.
The landowner wants us to come in there,
but there are no boat ramps.
There's absolutely no way, no roads to get to that swamp.
Wanting to get in, I mean, you're kinda desperate.
You're just trying to do whatever you can to get there.
I can hear his machine.
Let's go talk to him.
Lord have mercy.
What? Goddog, buddy.
-How you doing? -Oh, my God.
-I'm always glad to see you. -Yeah.
A little bit more, a lot more this time.
-All right. -That canal...
We got some alligator tags for it,
and we need to get in it.
There's no boat ramp.
Cody Fortier, he owns Rigid Construction,
big, probably one of the biggest
contracting companies in the South.
Oh, you want me to cut you a trail
-and get your boat in here? -Yeah.
He's got a lot of big toys.
He likes big, big equipment.
He's a dear friend, and he's like family.
When I need help, immediately he'll help me.
Same thing, we help each other no matter what, no matter where.
Look at the blade on this thing.
The blade's about two and a half inches wide.
Synchronized arms grab it, saw cuts it.
So if I was the tree, you'd just grab me.
Yup.
Goddog.
Wouldn't even notice you were there.
[laughs] Just squish me to nothing.
Well, if you could cut me about a 200-yard trail to this canal,
buddy, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, yeah, I can cut anything with this machine.
He can do whatever he wants with that thing.
-Made it. -Made it, buddy.
Thanks to Cody,
the airboat's got a clear path to virgin territory.
-Told you I'd get you in. -[laughs]
You got me, buddy.
I got lucky today.
He just made it happen like he always does.
-Thank you, buddy. -No problem.
Thanks a lot.
Okay, pa, let's go get 'em.
Now I'm in this area. No one's ever hunted here.
How exciting is that?
Virgin territory.
Thank you, Cody.
He made that look easy.
78 miles southeast, in Pierre Part,
Chase Landry's piloting his barge
toward an old fishing hole he believes could be hiding
a big old sinker cypress log.
We got a little hotspot
that we like to fish right there by the house,
and I'm always getting snagged in this one spot.
There's some wood down there I'm assuming is cypress.
I got a good feeling we're gonna find something right there.
Chase is hoping for a big payday.
You know, this could be a log
that was cut down way before the logging boom.
Because there was settlers here since the 1700s, late 1700s.
This could've been something
that they cut down over a hundred years ago, you know.
Pierre Part was originally settled in the 1700s
by Acadian French fishermen.
But around the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s,
local residents took part in the cypress logging boom.
And up until the 1950s,
Pierre Part was surrounded by water
with no roads connecting it to the rest of Louisiana.
During that time, almost every part of logging,
from cutting down the massive trees to milling the lumber,
took place on boats.
Right up here it's about to turn really shallow really quick.
I got poke poles that I poke down in the mud
to try and find logs.
I got them from 4 foot to 14 foot.
I park right there and poke around until I find it.
And sometimes I pull up junk logs,
something that's not cypress,
and then sometimes I pull up cypress.
There she blows.
I just felt it.
[grunting]
Look at this.
This was part of a cypress log at one time.
They had an old sawmill somewhere around here.
And this would've been the outside edge of the log,
so this was trash, they'd just discard it.
Chase will have to keep searching
for the sinker cypress he's after,
but this board is a treasure of its own.
A little bonus.
Across the swamp,
Jacob and Don are running lines
with Jacob's 10-year-old son Ridge for the first time,
and the young Landry is quickly learning
that alligator hunting isn't all fun and games.
I didn't buy them doughnuts for nothing,
I expect some labor out of you. [chuckles]
Ridge is allergic to chicken. [laughs]
Come on, bait it up.
That ain't how you hook it.
You gotta grab the chicken. Come on.
Just grab it, like that. There you go.
Now turn it around. Now push the hook down in it.
Now you're gonna turn it and hook it.
-Yeah, that's good. -Good job.
Can't be crying about the chicken.
The very first line
that Ridge had to hang a chicken on that hook,
you could see he wasn't loving it.
I mean, who wants to grab rotten chicken?
But, you know, I want him to really do
everything that Don does in the front of the boat.
I want him to bait the lines, I want him to touch the chicken.
But I really want him to take on the role of deckhand
and just see what he can do and what he's capable of doing.
We got a tree shaker.
What's it look like, brother?
Get it, boy.
-How big is he? -Is it a log or is it a gator?
Coming up. Coming up.
[Don laughs]
Whoa!
Whoa! Come on, boy.
Come on, Ridge. Hold him, hold him, Ridge.
Come on, Ridge.
Whoo!
Keep fighting.
Ooh! Come on, Rascal.
Whoa.
Drag him in.
One, two, three.
With a 10-footer onboard,
Jacob can't help but be impressed
by his son's performance.
Good job, Rascal.
You know, when Ridge caught this big one,
he realized real quickly there's a big difference
from catching a six- and seven-footer
to catching a 10-foot alligator.
I wanted him to feel that experience
because there's nothing out there
that feels like a big alligator pulling.
At the same time, I wanted him to be safe and not get hurt,
and he did pretty good.
You know, being 60 pounds soaking wet,
he managed way better than I expected him to.
I was pretty proud at that moment.
Filling the boat pretty quick this morning, Ridge.
78 miles northwest, in St. Martinville,
after a family friend cleared a path
to a never-before-hunted canal,
Daniel and Dorien are excited to find out
what's waiting for 'em.
Let's go get 'em.
Anytime someone tells you I've got some big alligators
and it's never been fished,
then your brain just kinda gets away from you.
It's never been hunted, you know. [laughs]
That's exciting.
Look, one's right there to your right, pa.
Oh, oh, oh, he moved.
What's that?
He's right there.
You get your gun ready.
It's an absolute giant. It's a monster.
Set your hook.
It's a good one.
Whoa, whoa.
-Only got one shot at this. -Let him roll up.
Let him drag the boat.
Can't mess with him too long. He'll come off.
He's pulling the boat.
Hold that so I can shoot him.
Good one. Good job.
That's it. We got him.
Let's go with him, son. Good job.
This 11-foot behemoth is a promising sign
they've arrived in the gator paradise they were hoping for.
This is the kind of alligator that you're gonna get
when you fish a place like this.
You don't get these opportunities.
What a monster.
It's good to be in this spot.
We're just getting started.
Back in Pierre Part,
Pickle's trying to prove she's got what it takes
to captain a Landry boat.
[coughs] I think I just ate a bug.
-Oh, right here. -Huh?
Slow down and back up.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You gotta let the boat come to a stop
before you throw it in reverse.
No, you was fixing to throw it in reverse
-if I wouldn't have told you. -No, I was not.
Now back up.
I mean, I tell her to turn right, she turns left.
I tell her to turn left, she turns right.
I tell her to back up, she pulls up.
She's the worst boat driver I ever seen in my life.
Ray Charles could drive my boat better than Pee-wee,
I promise you.
I think we put one over here.
I didn't say underneath it. On top of the line, I said.
Oh, my God.
Look, look, you got the line hooked.
I told you to get on the side of it.
Mad because you gotta grab a line.
No, I'm not mad because--
You're on top of the line. Back up.
All right, right there, hold.
Hold it.
[grunting]
Why me, Lord?
Whoo. Get the gun, get the gun.
-No, grab your line. -Get the gun, get the gun.
-Ooh, it felt heavy. -Yeah?
It was pulling like a big one.
Ooh! [laughs]
Show him who's the boss. Go ahead. Fight him!
Ooh, it's a big one, it's a big one.
Whoo!
Watch it. Don't wrap that rope.
-Whoo-hoo! -Whoo!
Whoo!
Give me a shot. You gotta give me a shot.
What are you doing?
Shoot him!
Whoo, good job.
-Let's go. -Ready?
On three. One, two, three.
[both grunting]
I wish he was straight on his belly.
The hunters landed another 11-footer,
but Pickle's starting to feel the pressure
of wearing the captain's hat.
There's a lot of work that goes into being a deckhand.
But being a captain, you have to pay attention to every single thing.
I forget when me and Mr. Troy get into these scuffles
and I think I know better.
And I forget that he does a lot of work
throughout the entire boat and not just on the deck.
I'm trying to teach you, but, God, it's hard.
Huh!
78 miles away,
in St. Martinville,
Daniel and Dorien are catching nonstop in virgin territory.
Oh, they got freakin' bubbles everywhere.
These alligators, they're not afraid.
No one's been here.
This honey hole that we're in in St. Martinville,
it hasn't been hunted in decades,
and right now we're stacking up the alligators.
It's definitely paying off. I'm so happy right now.
If it wasn't for Cody,
we wouldn't have been able to make it back here.
After trebling their first couple gators,
they circle back to the lines they set.
We get it untangled, and then we'll come out
in the water with him.
There you go.
Whoa.
-Whoa. -Whoa. Good one, pa.
Whoa. Give me a shot.
Whoa.
Whoa! Give me a shot.
Here's your shot, right here.
[gunshot]
That'll slow him down anyway.
The Edgars landed another 10-footer,
and Dorien's thankful for the help they got getting here.
Tell me when you're ready.
It's a real common value in South Louisiana
to help your neighbor.
It's one thing that's believed in our culture
and instilled at a young age.
No matter who you are,
no matter how rich you are or how poor you are,
if someone needs your help,
give them the time of the day and help them.
I like to be in a place where no one else can get to.
Thank you, Cody, for getting us in here.
150 miles east, in Violet,
Ronnie and Ashley are hunting in a remote bayou
only accessible by pirogue,
just the way Ronnie's grandfather used to do.
Let's go through here, che.
I caught, like, a six-pound bass out of one, one time,
and I like to never got that thing in the boat.
I'm gonna tell you what.
My grandpa and them back in them days,
that's all they fished out of was these things, dude,
and it'd be like, golly.
To be able to hunt an area that my grandpa's hunted
and keep a tradition flowing and keep it alive,
it's important, especially to Louisiana folks.
Tradition is a big thing,
and to keep passing it on from one family to another,
and I'm blessed to have the opportunity
to be able to pass this tradition on.
So I'm gonna take it, I'm gonna run with it,
and I'm gonna pass this son of a gun on to my kids.
I will not let hunting alligators in my family die out.
It's a strong tradition,
and we're gonna keep it flowing, my baby.
This is what we gotta do to get deeper, huh?
The bigger--the deeper you go, the bigger they get.
-I can't tell if he's down. -He's down.
Oh, yeah, he's down.
Oh, yeah, baby.
Let's see what we got here.
I don't know what we got here, but he's feeling kinda heavy.
-Golly, che. -Oh.
Put the hammer on him, girl. Come on.
Golly!
You're so close to that water.
I know, babe, I know.
And if we flip this pirogue over,
we're both in the water with him.
-With him! -Oh, he's barely hooked.
Come on, get the shot soon as you can.
Pull him up slowly.
Come on, baby. You got to hammer his butt.
Come on, che, he's right there.
He's bigger than the pirogue.
Whoo!
That's what I'm talking about, baby.
Hoo! Thank you, Jesus.
Give me some love on that one, che.
Ronnie, I ain't scared of much, but that scared me.
This six-footer
might not be the longest they've ever caught,
but in a pirogue, it's plenty big.
Oops, don't do that. Don't lean that way.
Just grab him, grab his leg.
God, the challenges is unreal: to be at their level,
at the water level fighting them,
and literally the head's right there.
What a challenging experience.
I've never done it before. It's a first time for me.
I think this is crazy going through my mind.
I can only imagine what Ashley's thinking.
This poor girl, she's probably thinking
she ain't never coming back here with this swampman.
All right, che, let's head back to the boat,
dump this one off, and go run the next one.
-Click-click! -Click-click, baby.
I'm gonna give you an air five.
Yeah, don't be trying to move too much.
-No. -Slow and easy.
96 miles west, in Pierre Part,
Jacob's son Ridge may have the day off from school,
but today the bayou is his classroom.
Look at this, Ridge.
Look at the trail.
Look how much they been climbing up on the bank.
Look, look, look, look, look, look, look.
Oh, look at the little babies.
Yup.
I saw this trail, I wanted to put a line on it.
But now that we see this,
we know it's just the mama going up and down to her nest.
We not gonna put a line on it. Look at that.
Boy, they just hatched, too, huh?
Look at that, huh?
It's hard to imagine that grows up to be 12 foot long.
You know, riding around
and finding that baby alligator nest with Ridge,
it was a very good comparison of Ridge
from when he was a baby to what he is now.
Comparing him to the baby alligator
to what that 10-footer was in the boat.
They grow like crazy and before you know it,
they just as big as you and they can whup up on you.
Say we'll see you in about eight, nine years.
Hopefully, we'll catch you.
These baby alligators are off the hook for now,
but Jacob, Don, and Ridge still have lines to run.
It looks tight.
Check it out.
Feel like you got one, dude?
-Oh, yeah. -Oh, yeah?
"Oh, yeah," the man says.
Ooh, there he's rolling.
Oh, he's a good'un. Don't let him go!
Bring him up, bring him up.
Hoo! Hoo! Ooh-hoo!
I'll shoot him as soon as he comes up.
Coming up.
Oh! Ooh!
Almost, almost!
Pull him up, boss, pull him up. Ready?
I'll get this one.
After battling it out with this seven-footer,
it's clear Jacob's son is a chip off the old block.
You know, having Ridge in the boat
and hooping and hollering
about me getting a shot and "Shoot him, Jacob,"
you can tell he's been hanging around with his Pa Troy,
that's for sure.
You could see he was enjoying himself.
You know, he wasn't scared and not having fun.
He was getting into it. He was getting into the moment.
And it brought back a lot of memories
of when I used to fish with my old man, that's for sure.
Good job, Mr. Ridge.
It's looking like it. Good job.
[Ridge laughs]
Meanwhile, Chase is searching the bayou
for a possible sinker cypress log
that's been snagging his fishing lures.
I just felt it.
I think that's it, though.
[thwack]
Solid.
All right.
You hit metal, you hit wood,
you hit all kinds of stuff,
and you can't pull any of it up.
And what little bit you can, if you're lucky,
you can kill yourself working your ass off,
and then get some trash up,
and every time it's different.
[winch motor whirring]
Well, I can't give you a quality rating just yet.
I gotta get in the water and inspect it.
Until you trace out that log or feel around it,
you don't know what you got.
You think, well, damn, I feel the cut end of that log.
That must be a good one.
And then you go to pull it up,
and it might be hollow throughout the whole thing.
Might be still good enough
to get something out of it on this end.
It's bigger than I thought.
Although it's not the perfect log he was hoping for,
Chase decides it's worth salvaging.
Sometimes all that homework
and that extra work definitely pays off.
And then sometimes it doesn't lead to crap
other than a sore back and a wore-out behind.
Oh, this right here, that's your heart.
That's the good stuff.
We'll yank it out of the water
and stick it in the pond with the rest of the good ones.
I try to think of it
as always a learning experience, you know.
At least I'm learning,
whether it be fruitful or not.
97 miles east, in Violet...
Watch this stump right here.
Navigating this remote slough in a pirogue
is giving Ronnie a new respect for his papaw's generation.
Boy, this is a tight squeeze to get to this line, Ash.
My grandpa, give or take 60 years ago,
he used to go out catching these alligators in a pirogue,
pull 'em out with a hook,
and then whop them right between the eyes with a damn hatchet.
It's just unreal.
You literally had to have some big monster kahunas
to even attempt to do something like this.
Because if you missed, Lord, you was in trouble.
All right, we got a line right up here.
Just feel something tugging back.
Oh, yeah, whoo-ooh.
He's feeling heavy on here.
I don't want him to be flipping us over.
He is gonna be, like, right here on me.
There ain't no getting away from him.
Dude, if he comes in this boat,
I don't know who's gonna be quicker getting out, me or you.
Me. I can promise you.
-Whoa! Here we go. -Here.
Don't let him get back in them roots.
Come on, girl!
Whoo, boy, he's right there by me, Ashley.
Pull him up.
Come on, bubba.
[gunshot]
That a girl! That a girl, baby.
Let me put this dude in the boat here real quick.
Roll him on in.
I never knew how hard this would be.
Imagine what a bigger gator would be like, Ronnie.
This isn't even that big of a gator,
and he still gave us a run.
After struggling to load this seven-footer,
Ronnie and Ashley are starting to worry
they might be biting off more than they can chew.
We catching a lot of smaller-sized gators,
which, right now, I'm happy with it.
These little ones are pulling the pirogue all over the bayou,
and he ain't but a little bitty lizard.
Gee, Lord have mercy. I can only imagine
if something eight-foot or bigger is on the line.
It's like you're going to the amusement park
and you pay your 75 cents for a ride.
Just hold on, 'cause it's gonna be a ride of your lifetime.
I can promise you that much.
I don't think I bought tickets for this ride.
Let's rock and roll. On to the next one.
On to the next one, my baby.
Back in St. Martinville...
Daniel and Dorien are stacking up gators
in this virgin hunting ground.
Man, we catching 'em, pa.
Man, there's some giants back here.
Well, I tell you what. Cody got us in here,
and, boy, is it paying off.
We're filling the boat up with these alligators.
No one's ever hunted here.
Virgin territory. Thank you, Cody.
It might be a giant on there.
-You see him? -It feels heavy.
Bring him around. No, he ain't gonna pinch us.
Ooh, good one.
I told you it's a bull.
Give me a little fight.
Bring him back.
-Whoa. -Give me a shot.
Pa, give me a shot.
Whoa.
Hold on. We only got one shot at this.
Don't let him beat you up.
Come on, pa. Take him.
[gunshot]
God bless!
With their boat full of bulls...
Let me go raise up.
Daniel and Dorien are having one of their best days ever,
and Daniel takes a moment
to appreciate the man who got 'em there.
Having a day like this and having a friend like Cody,
you know, it's really good.
You can do things that's impossible
if you have a team.
And Cody always comes through for me.
Can't wait to show him, let him see what we got.
95 miles west, in Pierre Part,
although they're catching some giants,
Troy's still not sold on his new captain.
Oh, my God, she's on the bank instead of staying in the middle
like I told her a thousand times.
Where you want me to go?
Right in the middle to that tree over there.
-I'll remember. -No, you don't remember.
I tell you the same thing 20 times a day,
and you don't remember.
Lord have mercy.
Pee-wee wanted to drive my boat.
She insists she could be a better boat driver than me.
Back up!
I am.
I'm gonna snap one of these days.
One of these days, you're gonna go in the water.
It's a disaster.
It's an accident waiting to happen.
She just don't know how to drive. Period.
Oh, we got something.
Yeah, we got something. What we got?
I don't know. Slow down. We gotta find the line
and figure out how we're gonna approach.
Back up.
All right, neutral.
-Good? -Turn the motor off.
Okay.
Whoa! Watch it.
Whoa.
Pull it in faster, Pee-wee. Pull it in a little faster.
Whoo, watch him, watch him.
-Ready? -Shoot him, shoot him!
Good shot.
All right, Pee-wee, let's bring him up.
Even with this nine-footer,
Troy and Pickle still aren't working in perfect harmony.
Dude, you are not a good deckhand.
I need another tag.
I'm a bad deckhand? You're a terrible driver!
I tell you to go right, you go left.
I tell you to pull up, you back up.
And Pickle thinks she knows why.
If it ain't Troy Landry's way, it ain't right.
Grab that back leg. We gotta back these up.
I think today Mr. Troy's definitely
being more of a pain than he usually is.
Because he's trying to push me enough to quit today.
She's the worst boat driver I ever seen in my life.
And he knows better than that.
I don't know what he's trying to do.
This is like a nightmare.
I'm hoping to wake up and it's not gonna be true.
[laughs]
Down the bayou,
it's been a good day for Jacob and Don
as the veteran hunters
show 10-year-old Ridge how it's done.
Me and Don starting to kind of enjoy this.
You're not enjoying it?
You need to work out some kind of sweet deal with Mr. Don.
Try to get him back in the bait bucket.
-Huh? -Huh?
[both laugh]
I thought you couldn't hear.
[all laugh]
Stop it now.
Got him!
You know, the first time I went gator hunting with Dad,
I had a blast.
it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
And I hope that Ridge has that same experience.
You know, you see alligators everywhere
as we go in the boats around here.
But to go and catch one and have one on the line
is a different experience like no other.
And there's a lot of people that grew up here, around here,
that's never done that before.
So I know it's something special to him
just like it was something special to me.
What we got, Rascal?
Got a tree shaker!
Whoa, good eight-footer.
Come on, Ridge Adam.
Come on, get him up.
I'll shoot him as soon as he comes up.
Biggest one yet, Ridge.
Come on, buddy.
Show him who's boss.
Ooh, that's a good one, brother.
There you go. Keep fighting.
-Ooh -Uh!
Almost, almost!
-What? -Shoot him!
-Shoot him? -There you go, reel it.
Shoot him!
Grab that.
This eight-footer adds to an already impressive pile,
and Jacob couldn't be more proud of his son.
You know, he's strong,
he's real energetic, and he's into it.
He loves it. I mean, he can do it all.
And, you know, just seeing him grow up and do things
that so many other kids his age doesn't get the chance to,
you know, I think he's gonna be
a really, really good alligator hunter
in not too many years from now.
He's gonna be at it by himself.
Boat just got a lot heavier on my side.
Ridge, you're a little bit too much good luck today.
Back in Violet, Ronnie and Ashley
have been filling up their pirogue with gators.
And with one last line to check,
they can't afford any mistakes.
Just as we're going through,
take our time so we don't go too fast.
Okay.
I'm looking for a big mamou.
Big Boy McCoy! Big Bertha!
Catching alligators out the pirogue is challenging.
Worst case scenario, you flip that pirogue over,
now you in the water with a gator.
You on their turf.
And it's gonna get serious here real soon.
Whoa, oh, oh, we got something good here, Ashley.
Yeah, buddy. Here we go.
Che, this looks like something serious here, papa.
I think this is a good, good gator, che-che.
-Look at the bubbles, dude. -Ooh, I see his mouth.
He's big.
Oh, my God, hold on.
Wait up, Ashley, wait up, Ashley.
This dude's gonna pull us over.
-Good God! -Whoa, Ronnie!
Lord, that's a big boy there, papa.
Come on, Ashley.
He's gonna sink the boat, he's gonna sink the boat!
-He's rolling, Ashley. -Oh, my God.
Whoo! He's all wrapped up, che.
-Watch where your rope's at. -Gotcha.
-He's in the roll. -Oh, he's rolling.
He's going into the roll.
[bleep], Ashley.
Is there any way to bring him up?
I'm trying, baby, I'm trying.
That's a Big Boy McCoy there, baby.
Look at that shot, look at that shot.
Look at that shot.
[gunshot]
-Whoo! -Oh, my gosh!
We just dropped a big boy in a pirogue!
-Whoa! -Whoo-hoo!
Yes!
Whoo! That's a big son of a gun!
Don't stand up, though. We're still in the water.
Oh, my God, that is a monster.
Lord, look how big this dude is.
He's big as the pirogue.
He ain't getting in the boat, not in the water.
We'll flip us both over trying to pull this big boy in.
Well, why don't you just drop him down in there?
We'll park the boat, then pull him up on the land from land.
Yeah, that's what we're gonna do.
But I wanna get out the boat without tipping us over, okay?
Come walk to me. I got the boat sturdy.
Just come on with it. That a girl, che.
All right.
Let's just do this.
God, look how big he is.
We gonna sink with all this weight?
No, we good.
Catching this final eight-footer was no easy task,
but it gives Ronnie and Ashley a sense of pride
knowing they were able to do it the way Ronnie's grandpa did.
This dude had us up on plane.
He was dragging the damn pirogue around
like we were skiing behind a motorboat.
It was unreal.
It's a challenging experience,
and Imma tell you, my hat's off to my grandpa
for the way they caught alligators back in their days,
and how challenging it is today.
Reckon this is the hardest we've ever worked for a gator?
Yeah.
My grandpa's gonna be so proud.
Back at home in Pierre Part,
Chase fired up his sawmill,
and he's ready to turn this cypress log into a work of art.
Yeah, that sawdust smells good.
Just to see that grain and that wood
when you cut that sucker open.
Some of that stuff, man,
is just as pretty as you could ever ask for.
These logs have been down there in the bottom of the rivers
and the lakes and everything
down in the mud for over a hundred years or more.
Minerals if you will, in the water and stuff like that,
it all plays a part on determining what the color
of that log or those boards are gonna be.
I always said that cutting boards and milling logs
wasn't something I was really interested in,
to be honest with you.
I always said that I'd much rather
go out there on the water and pull the logs, you know.
Save the milling for somebody else, you know.
That wasn't my thing.
Then I got a taste of what cutting one of those logs was,
that was it, man.
Then I started thinking, man, that's some gorgeous stuff.
Look at the colors in that.
Boards like this can fetch hundreds of dollars apiece,
but for Chase, the reward is bigger than money.
Whether or not I make a living from it
or just pull logs for myself,
I'm gonna do this as long as I can.
You know how they say,
they talk about getting bit by a bug
and catching the fever of it, you know?
Just diving off head first into it and loving it?
That's it for me.
If that don't make you feel good seeing something like that,
something's wrong with you.
On the water, Jacob's son Ridge
has turned out to be a capable deckhand.
Ridge, what're we gonna do if we get any more gators?
We're gonna sink the boat.
And judging by the pile of gators in the boat,
he's also a good luck charm.
You know how to swim?
Not with alligators in the water?
You know how you swim with alligators in the water?
-Fast. -[laughs]
You know, so far, I'd be willing to say
this is our best day of the season.
You know, I was kind of skeptical
having Ridge with us today
because I wasn't sure how well these lines were gonna produce,
and I knew we only had one day with him.
Boy, he must've been our good luck charm,
because we just filled the boat with gator after gator,
and good quality alligators at that.
Oh, yeah, he live. Look, look. He's all wadded up, too.
-Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho, baby. -And might be a swamp donkey!
We got a tree shaker, Ridge.
Don't let him slap you now.
That's a big sucker, boy.
-Ooh! -Whoo!
Oh, we don't have no slack either.
Watch, he's rolling, he's rolling.
Yeah, he's gonna pop it bad here.
We gonna sink the boat.
[laughs]
There he is. Come on, pull it.
-Get him. Go, Ridge! -Come on, Ridge!
Ooh! Don't let him go!
-Watch him! -Don't let him go, Ridge.
Aah!
He's gonna pop the line on us.
Oh, dang!
There he is. Come on, pull it. Get him. Don't let him go.
-Watch him, Ridge, watch him. -Don't let him go, Ridge!
[laughs] That's something!
Augh! Shoot something! Done popped!
Aah!
-Watch for him. -Aah!
In Pierre Part, Jacob's son Ridge
is learning what it's like to lose a 12-foot monster.
-He's gonna pop up. -Damn!
He's gonna need air quick.
You know, we had this big alligator on the line,
and he popped it straight in front of our face,
which was heartbreaking.
One up here, Jacob.
Don't know how big he is. Don't know if that'd be him.
That's a good one.
That could very well be him.
Let's see if we can get close to him.
To me, it was a really good learning point
for Ridge to understand that if you're persistent
and you stay at it, there's a good chance
that you can catch up to this alligator and catch him again.
He's not gone forever.
So we wanna go after him
and try to finish him off and get him in the boat.
Boat's pointed straight at him right now.
Yeah. I'm gonna shoot.
[gunshot]
Give him the treble hook.
I got him, too.
Oh, yeah. [laughs]
You big sucker, you got away once,
but you ain't getting away twice.
Not this time he not.
The hunters' persistence pays off.
This 12 1/2-foot gator is their biggest of the year,
and Jacob couldn't be prouder
of Ridge's first day of alligator hunting.
You know, to watch Ridge,
and for his first time gator hunting,
it made me proud, because he took on to things
a lot quicker than I expected him.
Bam!
You know, he jumped in head first
and he never questioned.
He never whined about one little thing all day long,
so I was mighty proud at the end of the day.
Down the bayou, Pickle's first day as captain
brought in a big load of gators,
but it hasn't been easy.
Yes, I did. Yes, I'm paying attention.
Yeah, okay, all right.
With my eyes closed, but I'm paying attention.
You know, I can tell she don't like driving the boat,
but I don't think she's woman enough to admit it.
But I can tell she's miserable.
And she's got too much pride
to admit that that motor's eating her lunch back there.
See the line's right above the water.
Back up, back up, back up.
All right, hold it, hold it, hold it.
Oh, oh, right there.
I got it.
-You got it? -I got it, yeah.
I don't know what it is, but I got it.
Yeah.
Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him.
Shoot him!
Whoo!
Shoot him, shoot him!
-Yeah. -You don't realize.
I didn't think we'd do that good, but we're doing good.
-I'm done. -Huh?
I'm done. I'm done, dude.
-You're done what? -Driving. [chuckles]
You're too much of an ass on the front of the boat.
Your anxiety and your old age gets to you.
-Damn old-timers' disease. -[laughs]
I'm done.
Okay, well, I'm still alive, so...
You made it, Captain.
Congratulations.
With Troy and Pickle back in their roles,
it's finally business as usual.
You know, I gotta tell you, you really did terrible.
[laughing] I know, I know.
Finally she throws in the towel, okay,
and she wants back her old job. Okay.
Now I guarantee it's gonna be a long time
before she asks me to run that motor again.
All right, let's go.
That's why it's called teamwork.
Back in St. Martinville, Daniel and Dorien
piled up a massive heap of gators
in this untouched territory.
But without a proper boat ramp,
they've got a problem.
I don't think so.
Now we've got all these alligators in the boat.
You know, getting in here was tough,
but I still have to get out of here.
Oh, I tell you what, pa, talk about a challenge.
It's probably a 14-foot drop down into the canal.
This is gonna be a challenge.
Luckily, their friend Cody is still at the worksite
and he might have a way out.
Oh, what?
That machine's a monster, huh, pa?
[backing up alert beeping]
Oh, what?
Man. He made that look easy.
With their airboat out of the swamp,
the Edgars are in for a big payday.
But for Daniel, the real treasure
is a friend he can count on.
Cody Fortier is a man that makes things happen.
He's got the right attitude
and always the right equipment,
and he never says no.
He's a yes man.
What's next? That's his attitude.
We got some big ones, buddy, I'm telling you.
Wow. Unbelievable.
That's it. Thank you, buddy.
All right.
-Y'all be safe. -Thanks, thanks.
Back in Violet,
after a hard day fishing from a pirogue,
Ronnie can't wait to show his grandpa the catch.
Go show Pa these gators. I hope he's home.
Gonna be so excited.
Oh, yeah, look at him.
I see him out there. Look at him.
Just relaxing.
Hey, Pa, what you say, my baby?
[dog barks]
After running all these lines in the pirogue
and catching some nice gators,
I cannot wait to get back to the camp
and show Pa what we did.
Very rarely does he tell me how proud he is of me,
but I just feel like this is our opportunity
for me to shine in my grandpa's eyes.
I'm excited to show him these gators.
I can't wait to see what he's gonna tell me.
How you doing?
Good. I got something to show you.
Pa, I did good today, my baby. Check this out, Pa.
Me and Deadeye caught every one of these out the pirogue, Pa.
Check them out, my baby.
Yeah, that's beautiful.
We did good.
It's just like you used to do back in the day, Pa.
We killed them out the pirogue, my baby.
Yup, I'll tell you,
you always was a hard worker, but that's hard.
Yes, sir.
I'm sure glad for you
that you could catch 'em like that.
Yup. Well, thank you, Pa.
It's not easy catching big gators.
No, it's not.
So my hat's off to you
for what y'all used to do back in the day.
Way easier, huh, Pa?
But I wanted to prove to you I could do it,
make you proud, my baby.
I'd say you did a real good job.
All right, Pa.
I'm really proud of you.
With all your energy,
it takes someone strong to do what you do.
Thank you, Pa. That means a lot to me, it really does, Pa.
Makes me feel good in the heart.
When I come back with them alligators,
my grandpa was so proud of me.
And that's the first time I heard him in a long time
tell me, boy, I'm proud of you.
Boy, you did a good job today.
I got to show a man who taught me everything
that I could go out and do it on my own
and do it the way they did it back in their times.
It just made me so proud to make my grandpa proud.
I'm hoping and praying
that I have several more years out of him
and get him in the pirogue with me maybe one day.
Pa, I'll see you later.
I'm gonna bring the bait and I'm gonna bring some beer.
We're gonna fish this season. I'll see you in a little while.
I don't have to drive out here if I drink too much.
-No, you good to go. -[laughs]
Blessed to still have your granddaddy.
Oh, yeah, babe. 95 years old, still stroking.
-In Pierre Part... -All right.
After a long day on the water, three generations of Landrys
gather at Duffy's to unload their catch.
Oh, my God.
I don't want no success
if I can't share it with my family
and my kids and my grandkids.
To me, there's nothing more important than your family.
Nothing better in life.
Think you can skip the rest of the school year
and come with us, you good luck charm?
Coming back to Duffy's it was great.
Happy to fill a bunch of tags,
but to have three generations there,
me, Ridge and my dad,
and Ridge was there to actually take part in hunting,
it doesn't get any better than that.
Straighten his head out, bubba.
12-foot-4.
We had good gators, we had a big one.
Come on, D. Come on, Rascal. Get in the middle right there.
Come on, Ridge, get in the middle, brother.
And that night when we was going to bed,
he was still just telling stories to my wife
and just telling his mama how he did this and how he did that.
And you could just tell he learned a lot that day,
a lot more than I expected.
I was pretty proud at that moment.