On day 19 of the 30-day alligator season, the Swamp People stars are frantically trying to fill their tags. Much of the stars’ income depends on how much they get for their game. But there’s also another pressing reason that the hunters have to fill their tags – next year’s count depends on how many gators they can bag this season. Hunters that max out their allotted amount are likely to get a higher tag count next season, while those that fail to fill them all tend to get a smaller count. Essentially, their future success rides on what they do now, so every moment of the month-long gator season matters.
In an effort to hype up his two sons for the final days of gator hunting, Swamp People star Troy Landry delivered a motivational speech before heading out into the Louisiana waters.
“We got our work cut out for us. We got more tags than I’m comfortable with,” Landry told his sons, Jacob and Chase. “So let’s try to be as productive as we can.”
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The Swamp People father then deligated directions to the two teams, sending Chase’s boat into the thicket of the swamp grasses with his “four-wheel-drive” type of boat.
But that wasn’t all. Landry also decided to add a bit of competition to the mix, encouraging his sons to catch a bigger gator than the other. The winner gets the title of “Favorite Son.”
“And whoever comes in with the smallest alligator’s gonna be out my will,” he said with a chuckle.
‘Swamp People’ Star Chase Landry Takes Down Huge Gator
Landry might have been joking about the consequence of losing the competition, but fellow Swamp People star and son Chase took the challenge seriously. After heading out onto Bell River, the seasoned gator hunter lay in wait along the treeline. Sure enough, a huge bull swam through his line of sight, and without hesitation, Chase pulled the trigger.
“I hit him solid,” he said excitedly as he advanced towards his game.
Already, Chase had pulled in two big gators and there was plenty of light left in the day. He then spotted another “humongous” gator poking its head out of the water. He fired another shot, wounding the monster gator, and then attempted to bring him closer with a treble hook. Unfortunately, the creature got away. Hunting by himself, the Swamp People star had time to reflect on what the experience meant to him.
“When I’m out there hunting alligators by myself, it always brings me back to when I was a young child at our camp in the Spillway. My dad would give us a little boat and would let us run free,” Chase explained. “We could explore. We could get into whatever we wanted.”
“I learned who I was out there.”
