Tonight we felt the burn of our beloved Swamp People coming to a close, as next week is the finale, y’all!
Our penultimate episode opens with Daniel Edgar telling us his work ethos — he never thinks about time.
He says: “When I’m after something, I get upset when the sun goes down, ’cause then I have to stop.” This statement will have profound meaning as you read on.
Last week Frenchy Crochet and Gee Singleton closed out. Day 29 is now here and there are 48 hours left to get those tags filled.
Willie is facing a gator hunter’s worst nightmare, as he stands to lose big money on the 10 tags he prepaid.
But now a huge alligator is on the line and Willie is psyched. “It’s a good one,” he says. A nine footer is in the boat and nine tags left to fill.
Over to Pierre Part, the Landrys are in for it as they have 40 tags to fill. Troy gives the lowdown. Chase tells him it’s “under control”.
Troy is pessimistic. “It’s a race against the clock,” says the King of the Swamp. They bag a small 8-footer and move along.
Over in Bayou Benoit, Daniel tells us about a road cut through their property, as tells Dwaine they are under the gun.
Then, oddly, hook after hook sees the bait missing. Daniel thinks it’s very strange. Foul play is now suspected. “There’s something going on…and that’s money right out of our pocket.”
In Houma, Jay Paul Molinere and Tommy Chauvin are in Jay’s backyard, where he has to fill tags too.
They roll up on a 10-footer barely hooked in his mouth. This monster puts up a hellacious fight. They realize they are fortunate he didn’t eat through the hook. On to the next line.
Now Jacob and Troy need to get with it as Troy has three beasts and they need tag out. Losing money isn’t something he’s keen on.
Nearly losing his pants, Troy bags a 10-footer with Jacob and they move along.
Daniel and Dwaine are sucking wind. Someone is cutting their bait and stealing their alligators.
“It’s not right…it’s a bad deal, hard workers don’t steal from each other…it’s lazy people who steal, workers don’t steal,” he says.
Dwaine says they need to pray for the offenders. Daniel is not feeling the charity and says: “Well I’m not praying for a thief.”
If this were Willie talking he’d be plotting the poacher’s death.
Finally, over on the Atchafalaya river, our hardworking Willie has a fighter but it turns out to “not be worth a crap” as a small female missing a tail is pulled up.
Over in Houma, Jay Paul is kicking tail. He and Tommy are stacking carcasses in their backyard honey hole as their next beastie is under a float of vegetation.
Jay Paul gets OUT of the boat and into the swamp. The gator pops and sends Jay scrambling. It’s a paltry five-footer that will earn $25.
Some 55 miles away in Pierre Part, Troy and Jacob are frantically pulling lines and have only four gators after yanking 35 lines. “This could be very ugly, time is running out,” says Troy.
Then, a miracle. A gator was up on the bank. Thinking it was dead, Jacob goes up to the gator but it comes alive and rushes into the water. They hook and bag and tag him. Scary moment.
Now Chase and Ho need some serious gator numbers. Ho misses and in the frantic kill he cuts his finger then falls in the swamp with this 11-foot goliath still right there and very much alive despite them thinking he was dead.
Holden was in real danger and is very thankful he is alive, after Chase fishes him out.
After four shots, the gator plays like he’s dead again and then… whammo, this possum gator comes alive on Chase who thought he was dead too.
This 11-footer loved life, hated Chase and Holden and did not want to die.
Now Daniel is in trouble. Hearing a bad noise, Dwaine and Daniel stop the boat and see they must fix an alternator on the fly.
The belts nearly slipped off the alternator putting them beyond repair. They hope they don’t sleep in the swamp. Dwaine says: “We’ll get eaten alive dad.” To be continued…
Back with Jacob and Troy who are “chooting” and filling tags.
Further north, Willie is working it too. He has run out of lines and now must treble hook to fill the five tags left.
Bubbles are spotted. Treble hook is thrown. Willie hooked a big 9ft gator. Freestyle.
Now in Houma, Jay Paul meets up with Uncle Al. They bag a feisty 10-footer and have a healthy number of gators.
Meanwhile, Troy is talking about his disappointing lines and tags still left to fill.
A huge “tree shaker” is making a fuss. They bag an 11-footer and still Troy thinks this season is his last.
Now we are back with Willie, as he reels in a big boy freehand again. He is nearly pulled in the drink as a big gator is determined to not be caught. Willie perseveres and gets a nine-footer to close out the season.
Now we finish with Daniel and Dwaine trying to fix their alternator. These two are dead in the water as sunlight is fading.
Deep in the swamp, there’s no roadside service and you can’t walk or swim out.
They fashion a “cajun come-along” which is a specifically tied rope wench to fix the motor so they can get the hell out of the swamp as its nightfall. It works!
Having suffered motor and poacher problems, they did not catch one gator. What a day.
“I hope Joey and Dorien had a good day,” says Daniel, who must weld his motor when back home then get back up to hit the swamp at 5am.
The finale teaser is brutal, as we see the race to fill the tags have some REALLY close calls and one gator that makes Tommy Chauvin scream like a little girl!
See y’all next week!
Swamp People airs Thursdays at 9/8c on History.