We hunt for the meat, it was totally different. We’d go out and hunt two or three gators at a time, to bring them and eat. It’s not something that one day I decided, “I want to be an alligator hunter.” When I was growing up, it was different – you didn’t go out and catch a boat load of alligators like we do now. People ask me, “How you got into that?” I didn’t get into it, I was raised in it. Troy Landry: Yeah, gator hunting is something I grew up. The Post: Is hunting alligators the kind of thing that’s handed down from generation to generation? We have to make sure that our cameraman gets that one every time. I’m not a photographer, but I’m sure you can take 1,000 pictures and there might be one that really stands out. We went outta our way to make sure our camera man was able to get what he needed to get and get the good shots. I think we’re going to have the best footage we ever had. But, now that we realize how well the show is doing and how important it is for him to get the good footage, we slow down a little bit. Troy Landry: The first couple of years, we would just do our thing and didn’t worry about our cameraman. The Post: Since “Swamp People” has gotten so popular, have you changed the way you hunt gators? It was scary, but we caught some big ones back there, that’s why I did it. I did the jump by myself and then picked them up after.

I told my kids when I finished that, “Don’t you all ever try this at home.” I left them on the bank, I was scared they were going to get hurt. Getting in light was one thing, but coming out with a boat load of alligators was another. Once I got in and caught all them alligators, guess what? I had trouble to get out.

I knew I wanted to catch some big alligators this year to top what we done last year and I knew a couple of holes where they had some big ones, but we couldn’t normally get in there with a boat, ok? I told my boys, “This year, we’re going to get in there, one way or another we’re going to get in.” And I got in.

I jumped my whole boat – it came ‘bout five foot out of the water – like Evel Knievel. Troy Landry: We went after some big alligators that we hadn’t caught in a few years – we were able to catch some of them, some of them we didn’t catch. The Post: What have we got to look forward to this season? The man, the myth, the gator hunting legend: Troy Landry

Troy landry boat who makes it