Swamp People is back on History and lower prices are not deterring our core cast or newcomers from “getting them tags” and heading out for thirty days.
The gist of the new season is “too many gators too close to humans” as “the war between man and beast begins.”
Oh it’s on.
Welcome back to the Swamp as the new season kicked off tonight with familiar faces in the show opener like our favorite… Willie Edwards, but we got some new blood y’all.
The dawn of a new hunting season sees a sense of urgency across the Bayou.
Gator prices have dropped and the lack of culling means the native gator population is out of control.
Troy Landry sounded the alarm. “We in a crisis right now,” he said.
The King of the Swamp has 1000 tags this season and he has hired a few swamp legends.
Three groups in three Landry-owned boats are featured on this run, as Chase and Holden are paired in a boat, Jacob and newcomer/snake expert Dusty is in a boat and Terral Evans is paired with Mr. Troy.
Terral Evans is all man. He told us pretty much all his manly dimensions.
He said: “I got a little power to me.” Terral described himself as “six foot four [and] 275 of twisted steel and sex appeal.” Duly noted.
His rep as a gator hunter is nothing short of legendary. The two big men kicked off their venture as they hunted a swarm of gators lurking near a swimming hole.
Landry recalled how two little boys were being hunted by a large gator in that area. One child got bit and the gator took the boy’s arm. Despite that horrific injury, Troy said: “It saved his life.”
Cajun baiting and cagey tactics are employed as Terral and Troy are in pursuit. Rotten meat? Check. Hanging just above the water? Check. Lucky donuts? We hoped they had them. But it did appear that Troy was at least wearing a belt.
Dusty is paired up with Jacob. Troy met him when they did that Everglades special with Holden. But there was a problem with Dusty. He wasn’t wearing shoes and then slipped on a pair of plastic Crocs after Jacob got on him. You know trouble is coming.
Cut to their first alligator. Dusty was unprepared for the velocity of the pull, The force of the rolling from the gator ripped his hand open and had to use Cajun Band-Aids aka duct tape to repair his injury. Duct tape is amazing.
Next up in the premiere, the producers took us to Bell River as veteran swamper Ronnie Adams – who has the most intense eye-locking stare in the history of TV stares – is fighting back and has enlisted a married mother of three, Ashley Dead Eye Jones.
She can nail anything and hails from a long line of snipers.
Keeping it under wraps (much to Ashley’s dismay) Ronnie took us to a spooky spot called the cemetery, a dangerous place few know about and where stories are told that “will make you poop your pants” according to Ronnie. That was good enough for me. I will stick to Cafe du Monde when in Rome.
A macabre misty moor was where we found ourselves. There were grave markers of gator hunters who actually died in the waters there. And loads of engine-choking vegetation in the water.
The remote locale is reportedly a haven for gators over 13 feet and contains way too much Salvinia, an invasive plant species that nearly stranded Dead Eye and Ronnie.
The hidden away locale is also a haven for gators over 13 feet long.
Meanwhile, Troy and Terral tore it up with gator carcasses out of the gate. “They starving to death!” said Troy as he noted the cannibalistic nature of gators is present now.
The scorecard ended up with Troy and Terral taking the most kills. “They was coming over the side of the boat,” said Terral.
Also, Dusty is likely rethinking his no shoe policy after being
I think Ronnie said “Oh yeah baby” about 30 times in this episode. So we will be keeping a season score on his “baby” tally. It’s a lot, baby. We have a sneaking suspicion his “baby” go-to catch phrase is heard in places other than the swamp as well.
Also, note to Troy, please… there is only one Big T and he rides with Mr. Daniel who was also teased in the opener.
So no calling Terral “Big T.”
Y’all are confusing enough to understand without subtitles!
Alright, so excited to tease you all that Willie is shown getting a thousand pounder in the boat by himself… natch. And something terrible is going to happen to Ronnie’s arm and Troy looks like he loses control of a boat!
See y’all next week.
Swamp People airs Thursdays on History.