Swamp People: Troy’s Gamble

Swamp People Season 1 Episode 3

Look at that alligator. I bet those swamp people want a piece of that.

Alligator hunting during the day time is dangerous, but when the swamp people need to locate a possible hunting spot some of them check out a place at night in order to estimate how good the new place may be.

Troy Landry, one of many swamp people who lives in the Atchafalay Basin and earns most of his yearly income by hunting alligators is one of the people who checks a new spot out at night. Alligators feed mostly at night so that is the best time to find out if a spot has got enough alligators to make it worth investing money in to be able to hunt the area.

He heads into an area about thirty miles from his home to check a spot that is up for bids in Swamp People Season 1 episode 3. It is after midnight and although it is more dangerous he feels the risk are worth it if the area is as good as he hopes. Troy has still got 180 tags to fill out of the 240 he started the season with. As he goes deeper into the canals he sees beavers which is something alligators like to feed on and several large alligators moving around in the canal. After seeing what he considers to be good signs for the spot he decides to buy the rights to hunt this new area and sets his bait lines the next day.

One thing that makes it hard to find their way around in the swamp is that roughly ninety-five per cent of the boundaries are not marked. So the swamp people have to learn to recognize various land marks in order to know where they are.

Troy and his hired gun Clint start for the canal that Troy scouted the night before. But as they reach the canals they will be setting lines in, they realize that the water level is dropping the further they go into the canal. Rather than risk getting his boat stuck in an area thirty miles from where his truck is parked, Troy decides to back out of the canal and he does have to back out because the water level is to low for him to get his boat turned around.

He begins to start thinking that maybe he has made a bad choice in doing an alligator hunt in the new spot. On their way back to where they have parked the truck Troy notices that an alligator has hit one of the lines him and Clint had baited on their way to the canal. It is unusual for an alligator to take the bait during the day time since they are mostly night feeders. They had decided to set their bait at the mouth of the canals and hope for the best. As it turns out their idea works and they notice that they are doing very good at catching alligators in the day time.

In Myrtle Grove, Joe and Tommy are getting their boat ready for the day of hunting alligators. Joe has been hunting alligators for thirty years and teaching Tommy how to hunt alligators for the past twenty years.

This time as Joe and Tommy set out for their daily alligator hunt they will be taking a friend along. Bud is a deer hunter and although he has helped Joe and Tommy in the past he has not had the chance to actually shoot an alligator. Tommy thinks Bud will have trouble shooting an alligator but Joe is still going to give him a chance. Bud’s main job is to help pull the line in and get the alligator as close to the boat as he can then let Tommy take the shot. He knows that when the alligator starts to fight that the risk of being pulled overboard is extremely high. There has been at least one person killed by alligators every year since 2005.

When they come up on their first alligator for the day, Bud gets it as close as he can while Tommy gets ready for the kill shot. Bud starts to wrap the line around his hand and Tommy warns him not to because if the alligator does a sudden roll which is likely it could pull Bud into the water which could be disastrous for Bud. Tommy makes the kill shot and they have their first alligator for the day.

To find out more about swamp people click here.