SWAMP PEOPLE SEASON 3 EPISODE 4: Monster Marsh

Debuting on August 22, 2010, Swamp People is an American reality television series showing in the History channel. With record breaking ratings, the reality series was initially broadcasted on Sunday nights at 10PM ET/PT. Favorable ratings prompted the people in the History channel to move it to Thursday nights at 10PM ET/PT in its second season. It was even more a great success, gaining a record breaking viewer rating for the channel. The schedule for Swamp People Season 3 was moved an hour earlier at 9PM ET/PT, still on Thursday nights.

The Swamp People reality television series chronicles the day-to-day activities of the Cajuns who are living in the Atchafalaya River Basin swamp and in and around the state of Louisiana and are participating in alligator hunts.

The series focuses on teams comprised of Cajun alligator hunters. Each season is set during the thirty-day or month-long alligator season in the swamps of Louisiana that usually begins on the first Wednesday in September. Alligator hunters follow the long-time bayou tradition that dates back 300 years in the past in capitalizing on alligator season to earn their yearly income.

Extremely high risk, alligator hunts are only for the experienced hunters. Seasoned alligator hunters consider alligator season the most exciting and riskiest time of the year for them. So, for thirty days, these hunters make the most out of the season.

Twenty-two Cajuns from in and around the state of Louisiana (Slidell, Houma, Hammond, Morgan City, Ascension Parish, Pierre Part, Pecan Island, Bayou Pigeon, Bayou Sorrel and Port Sulphur), divided into teams that had participated and are still participating in the reality television series. Some of the seasoned alligator hunters started in Swamp People season 1 and became mainstays while others are newcomers to the reality television series. The Atchfalaya River Basin swamp is the premise of the alligator hunts.

More than a million acre stretch of wetlands and marches, the Atchafalaya River Basin swamp is located in southern Louisiana and considered to be the largest swamp in the United States. The bayous as well as the marches are home to 300 bird species, 90 species of fishes and 54 species of different reptiles and amphibians. Among these species of reptiles are the great American alligator. Today, Cajuns hunt alligators in the murky waters to earn a living. The mercurial environment, where water levels fluctuate depending on the season, contributes to the tough and harsh situation the alligator hunters are subjected to in Swamp People.

Three or four teams are featured in each episode of Swamp People while they hunt for alligators and would have to endure the whims of the unfavorable weather and the ferociousness of the alligators. In some episodes of Swamp People, the hunters would also be featured doing other things like socializing with the swamp natives, hunting other animals, fishing, and other sporting activities common in the swamps.

The alligator hunters are given a number of tags, which they have to attach to their kills. The season is over for them once they “tag out” or run out of tags. When this happens, they can no longer kill any alligators for the duration of the season. The utmost goal of alligator hunters is to get “tagged out” before the season ends. But, there are some who would save their last tag for the ultimate catch – the fiercest and largest alligator they can find even through the most adverse weather and strictly regulated wildlife laws in the swamps.

Swamp People season 3 kick-started another alligator season in the bayou with a promise of big bucks for winners and other prizes that are thirty percent higher than the previous seasons of the hit reality television series.

Troy Landry, one of the alligator hunters, is back for another season. He has a strategic plan to cash in the prize money and to prove that he’s still on the top. Reuniting with his long-time (20 years) hunting partner Clint Landry, Troy runs a second boat with his son Jacob manning the helm. They were given four hundred and thirty tags for the duration of the alligator season.

In Pecan Island, Liz Cavalier, Troy Landry’s helper from Swamp People season 2, runs her own boat with Kristi Broussard, a born and bred Cajun woman who is eager to show how capable she is in hunting gators. Liz was given two hundred and sixty tags to fill sets out to prove that they can get tagged out in this alligator season.

R.J. Molinere, a two-time world arm wrestling champion and his son R.J. are down in Houma and are back for another alligator hunt in Swamp People Season 3. With five hundred tags to his name, R.J. wanted to prove to everyone that he is still the king of the swamp.
Swamp legend Bruce Mitchell is joined by his secret weapon – Ron Methvin, a former military sharpshooter – for another alligator season in Swamp People season 3.

In Swamp People season 3, episode 4 titled “Monster Marsh” (premiered on March 1, 2012), it is the first time in his career that Tommy Chauvin will hunt gators alone. Last episode (episode 3: Divide to Conquer) showed his stepfather Joe LaFont sustaining a back injury after wrangling with an alligator. In this episode, he’s going to stay away and mend. Tommy met a mishap when his propeller struck something underwater, possibly a pipeline, which rendered it bent in the impact.

Down in the remote bog known as the Stinky Bayou (aptly named because of the methane gas that bubbles on the surface and emits and unsavory, rotten and pungent smell), alligator hunting veteran Bruce Mitchell, sharpshooter Ron Methvin and Bruce’s dog Tyler hoped for a better day. However, they found the bog to be too thick to pass. Then, Tyler jumped out of the boat when a large alligator appeared in the water nearby.

Meanwhile, hoping for another impressive payday, Liz Cavalier and Kristi Broussard went on to Monster Marsh, home to the most territorial and alpha male alligators in Pecan Island. It is also where Liz had a close call and almost died ten years ago. There, they caught a ten-foot alligator, where one of its legs was chewed off by another alligator, probably bigger than the one they caught.

Over in Bayou Pigeon, rookie alligator hunters Austyn and Blake got one tag from a buyer to use against an alligator lurking around the man’s property that has proven to be a nuisance. The alligator, which is a landlocked pond, was easily caught by the boys using a pirogue.