Swamp People on the history channel.

[Oceans]

Best overall weapon for hunting the swamps is the 20 gauge pump shotgun, 24 inch barrel, or under, vent rib, modified choke with shells ranging from slugs to 7 1/2. Many a time I carried one in southwest, central Fl. Kills anything you find there.

 

[Blue Brick]

Just saw it-Nice show.......

 

[jaybirdjtski]

Love the show. My one and only wife of 37 years is from Louisiana and has a big family down there. Love the place. The people are great and the culture is amazing. The food.....hard to keep from gaining weight whenever I go there. Everyone should take a road trip sometime through south Louisiana, go on a swamp tour, etc. My deceased father-in-law used to hunt for snapping turtles by walking shoeless in the swamp feeling for the shell. I have a pic of me holding a 100# turtle...big fella.

Yeah, the gun safety is pathetic. What is with the unloaded revolver!? I believe they hunt gators with 22lr mostly. I inherited a Winchester Model 06 pump 22lr that has probably put more meals on the table than I could count!

Geaux Saints!

 

[JoeMal]

I've seen some of the poor handling and it's a little crazy...although I've also seen the 'hired' shooter for Troy engage the safety before setting the gun down...so kudos to that I guess

 

[hardluk1]

Its interesting reading peoples response. A 22 is just about perfect for gators and some of the old timers I have been around and hunted with have passed on some of the better info when you handle them. Never let go of the mouth. And cut the spinal cord as soon as there head is over the side of the boat. Then they don't come alive again after a slight miss with that 22. I know guys that use to swim down to there caves and slip a loop over there heads so they could then pull them up and get on to the next one. Also the bit about the wrestlers haveing no gun,, If a desent sized gator grabs your hand or lower arm it will roll and buy the time someone clears a gun the target is going to be hard to hit and the gator may allready have your arm twirled off at the elbow or shoulder joint. Thats the reason those guys jump onto the gator to try to control the damage from keeping it from rolling. No need then for the gun. He may have his dinner and your probably not bleeding to baddly from the twirling. Bottom line, limb gone. If you fish in the south around gators you can throw a go sized surface lure and they will follow it right to the boat. And if you see a gator walking to find water or his own new territory don't get out to site see. A good size gator, can for a short distance run as fast as a horse and go over a 4' fence.

 

[george d dennis]

i enjoy the show and give the people a lot of credit to have to live in the
swamps. they have a heck of a heritage under there belt.

 

[CSA 357]

how do any of the gaters live to adult size when they kill so many?the season must be short

 

[PT1911]

it is a 30ish day season per year... still plenty of gators.

 

[hardluk1]

There are millions of them gators and most are in places you have a real hard time gett'n to. Go to mapguest and look at all the little ponds and swampy areas that have no access or only a limited access. If you kill one in those tight spots you can't get them out in time to sell. Or take an airboat that can only handle a couple gators and then you can't afford to get them.

 

[Silent Sam]

"I'd be far more careful, being that far out in the boonies, away from hospitals."

"Boonies" to one is home to another. Perhaps you are missing a point. These folks seem to depend on themselves, each other, and the country they choose to live in. They seem quite happy without all the trappings of and dependence on, "modern society".

 

[ED1943]

I saw a bottom ejecting Rem. 24(1?) or was it a Browning SA22? These guns are pretty rough- lock stock and barrel, but what kind of accuracy do you need at 1-4 feet? It just has to fire. In some cases they malfunction. Not too surprising. I wonder if they have shot holes through the bottoms of their boats. Stored muzzle down! LOL

 

[hardluk1]

Could also been a norinco. I had one 20 years ago and a get little shooter. and low priced

 

[c919]

Well.... I don't know about the reality of this program.

I watched an episode the other night, and it left me wondering. In this episode the one guy and his stepson were out checking their bait spots, and every gator that they pulled out had been chewed up by another bigger gator. So they decide to hunt down this big cannibal gator and kill him.

They spot the gator swimming out in swamp, and the stepson decides to take a shot at it. He raises what looks like an old Model 70 with a Leupold and takes aim. Then, as he shoots, the shot changes to a close-up and he's holding a Marlin levergun without a scope. Then it goes back to the other angle and he's holding the scoped bolt action. It's ridiculous.

I know lot's of movies and TV shows do the old switcheroo, but I didn't expect it out of Swamp People. So now I wonder exactly how much of it is real. I just don't see any reason for that maneuver.

 

[oneounceload]

Here in FL, most folks use a bang stick in either 357 or 44 for the coup d'grace once the gator is roped and brought alongside the boat - as mentioned, shot placement is critical, which is why folks always tape the mouth shot and secure the tail - just in case the gator was only stunned and decides to wake up in the boat.

The hide and meat from a decent size gator will bring several thousand dollars

 

[hardluk1]

How many folks say the news report on a lady in SC that caught a 13' foot gator wiegh'n around 800+ pounds with a head bout 20" wide. Shot him 5 or 6 times and then finally cot the spinal cord . Just goes to show how you don't have to be a big person or male or country sounding to bring in a really large gator.
Oneonce Your right about FL and the bang stick. Takes some help to reload if the gator is at the boat and you don't get a good hit. Never did like them buy it leeps the bullets from skipping off the water when you miss at a distance. And i know people don't shoot them at a distance with high powered rifles's.

 

[Motodeficient]

I have seen a few episodes. I saw a couple ruger 10/22s. In the opening sequence you can see a ruger 10/22 with a clear 25 or 30 round magazine. Didn't see it in any of the actual episodes that I watched though.

 

[oldbanjo]

ONEOUNCELOAD: I used to use a 12 ga band stick when diving, for sharks. There is all kind of rules on using bang sticks today. Most any pistol will kill a gator. In the boat I carried my Md36 for sharks and huge sting rays.

 

[Dave P]

My Grandfather used 38 revolvers on the big muskies he caught in Wisconsin.

 

[hardluk1]

Moto Some of those guys carry 3 or 4 different 22's with them. The 10/22 might be a favorate BUT if you noiticed they all look very rusty so it may not be as dependable anymore and the bolt guns will still go bang..

 

[[email protected]]

I think, all this show and the bad gun handling is going to do is add fuel to the anti fire.
I also don't like all the hunting shows on TV showing everyone hunting over baited areas.
You can't use bait where I hunt and I truley think it's a good thing, use harvested corn fields and natural baits to get your deer. I think you'll enjoy it more.

 

[chas08]

You can't use bait where I hunt and I truley think it's a good thing, use harvested corn fields and natural baits to get your deer.

Thats still "BAIT" and it's OK!!! Killing critters where they eat has been OK for thousands of years. If you have reservatrions about killing critters over bait then hunt them a Mile or more on the trails leading them to FOOD. At least you'll feel better.

 

[hardluk1]

ebeam Don't watch the hunting or animal killing shows shows. That may also make you feel better about how you do your thang. I love to also hunt over those larger planted a i mean baited farmers fields. Old equipment to harvest with leaves so much corn on the ground its like dumping a thousand pounds of corn out. These oll boys on tv were born live'n off the country. It's there normal life and there still probably safer to be around than most folks that only hunt is entertanment or as a hobby.

 

[mokin]

Last night was the first time I had that show on. Made me think a lot of some of the guys I knew while in the Marine Corps. There was a guy in my unit from "The Bayou" who used to talk about hunting 'gators. He said he liked to use .22s as they were easy/inexpensive to replace. Evidently it wasn't uncommen for them to get lost overboard.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Swamp People: most-watched History Chan. debut episode

I have watched episodes 5 and 6 and set to record episodes 1, 2, 3 on rerun.

This is a show about people making their living hunting gators for hide to sell, with meat to eat as a side benefit. You may notice they tag their gators' tails, but I have heard no discussion of the bag limits or game laws they obviously are following.

Guns I think I have identified in eps 5 & 6:
o Single action .22 revolver
o Remington pump action .22
o Marlin .22 Magnum bolt action, stainless, with what Marlin calls a "4-shot clip" (ducking)
o Marlin .22 Magnum bolt action, blue, walnut stock, tube magazine
o Browning-design .22 Auto, rust brown finish, (looked like my uncle's Remington Model 24)
o Marlin .22 Magnum lever action.
o A bolt action centerfir e with scope.
o Marlin Model 60 .22, stainless, 19" barrel
o Marlin Model 60 .22, blue, 22" barrel.

The guns look like they are used as tools by working men. I think I saw duct tape around the barrel and stock of one of the Model 60s. Some of the guns look like they only get maintenance if they malfunction after the users have to go a back-up gun. The Marlin .22 Mag bolt type repeater looked better than some of the others. Some of the others looked like they would be no great loss if they fell overboard, and easy to replace at a pawn shop or trading meet.

The instant kill spot on the gators brain is very vulnerable and a .22 does not damage the hide, the source of these folks' income. Anything bigger than a .22 magnum (shotgun or centerfire rifle) and you are looking at hide damage (or boat damage or serious foot injury). Gator meat for food is secondary. The hunters obviously have tags and seasonal bag limits, so the hunters are state regulated to control the population of a dangerous animal without endangering the animals' population. Yeah, one could use some of the footage for gun safety training as in "Don't do this".
Some of it is you need to think ahead: I believe the guy with the revolver actually fired, but missed, but later flubbed a shot with a Remington pumpaction .22 (loaded magazine but no round in the chamber).

In the course of one episode, we have a long shot of a guy on boat with scope sighted rifle, close up of guy firing a leveration, and long shot of guy on boat with scope sighted rifle. It is easy to imagine the editor in the cutting room, "Hey Joe, I need a closeup of the guy shooting a gun for this sequence." So they plop in the only close up shot they have of that guy firing...a different rifle. At least once, the narrator also talks about one type of gun while the footage shows another. Over at IMDb (International Movie Database) folks love to spot goofs like that in movies and TV shows. Between the narrator and the film editor there should be a continuity person.

I am waiting for the self-righteous enviro-freaks to show up to interfere with these guys trying to earn a living....and getting eaten by the cuddly gators they are "saving" (Whale Wars meets Grizzly Man).

 

[seal]

you boys seem to be missing the point in why they harvest. they SELL them no one wants a hide with big holes and exit wounds in it. the tight pattern under the head and neck is popular for wallets and lady's hand bags. little bullet works just fine. they shoot long rifles most of the time and mags on occasion.