Swamp People
David Bruder
May 24, 2012
Filed under Arts and Culture
Swamp People is a reality TV about several Cajuns living in the Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp in Louisiana who hunt Alligators for a living. The show follows five different teams of alligator hunters who are allowed to hunt for only 30 days out every year by law. These teams are issued a set amount of tags to fill each season. Once all there tags have been filled up, they are not allowed to hunt any more alligators, and their season is over. Because the season is so short, the fishermen go out rain or shine and fill their tags with the biggest gators they can catch, which makes for good reality TV in my opinion. The bigger the gator, the more money they make! Catching an alligator is easier than one would think. All you would need is a large hook, and a piece of raw chicken, or anything dead that an alligator would find appealing. If the line is pulled tight, that means that a gator has been hooked. Then one of the hunters on the boat has to pick up the line and pull the alligator to the surface, where the second hunter gets ready to shoot the gator in its “kill spot”. Once the gator is shot and killed, it’s pulled aboard and “tagged” with one of tags the government gave out to the fisherman. That is the whole premise of the show, but there’s so much more to it than just that. If that were all the show was about, it wouldn’t be on its third season. It’s the people on the show that make it so entertaining. When a man with a ZZ Top beard, wearing nothing but a tank-top and cut-off jean shorts goes squirrel hunting, it’s going to be funny. This is the only show I can think of where a man who barley speaks understandable English will tell you how to cook “gator nuggets”. Everyone on the show is given subtitles because it’s hard to understand their thick Cajun accents. Everyone carries a gun, and no one owns a pair of shorts that’s a normal length. A lot of the show is build up, but if you record an episode and fast-forward through the ads, I guarantee it will have you laughing. I know everyone saw a bit of this show in collection a while ago, but to get the true effect you really need to watch an episode. You won’t regret it. If you already watch this show, here are some other TV jems you won’t want to miss out on: Ax Men, Bearing Sea Gold, and Gold Rush Alaska.