Swamp People

The intrepid Swampers battle through the wrath of Hurricane Isaac which robs them of five precious days of their short alligator season. In the storm aftermath, they must face down massive fish kills, flooded hunting grounds and gators that just refuse to take their bait. And if that's not enough, there are new predators on the bayou - in the human form. There are Texas interlopers in Pierre Part, a wide-spread epidemic of poaching in Louisiana and a plague of new hunting partner challenges as they attempt to tag out in their most difficult season yet.

After last year's storm shortened the culling season, big gators are back with a vengeance and have become more brash than ever - boldly encroaching on residents of the bayou. But hunters have drawn a line in the swamp, vowing to stop their deadly march - no matter the cost. With human lives on the line and the highest gator prices in years, swampers are pulling out all the stops to cash in during the 30-day hunting season. They will have to resort to all new strategies and expand into unfamiliar territories in order to track down the biggest and most vicious beasts in the bayou.

The Swampers are back with a big incentive to hunt down the biggest beasts: a local gator buyer is offering a $10,000 bounty to the team who brings in the longest gator. That means hunters will need to push themselves to the limit to reel in the big ones if they want to win the prize... and those ever-important bragging rights. The contest sparks some good-natured trash-talking around the swamp, bringing the hunters together in the spirit of competition.

The Swamp People featured in this History series are the proud descendants of French Canadian refugees who settled in the swamp region of Louisiana in the 18th century. Cameras follow members of this fiercely independent group as they struggle to preserve their way of life in the Atchafalaya Basin during the most important time of the year for them: alligator-hunting season.