NARRATOR: Halfway into the 30-day alligator season,
the swampers face a new threat--
a powerful storm brewing in the Gulf.
Troy's run 24 of this 32 lines, but Mother Nature
is breathing down his neck.
Look at that tree.
Where?
Right there.
Woo.
Look at that, dude.
Man, if we'd have been sitting here when the lightning
struck that tree, oh.
Thank God we wasn't parked underneath that thing, eh?
Oh, man.
That just happened.
Oh, we'd have felt that.
Oh, this is gonna be like a big one.
See?
Oh, Troy, that is a good alligator here.
Oh, doggie.
Oh.
Oh, no.
All right, bro.
In trying to hurry, I wasn't careful.
I just grabbed the end of the gun and broke the gun in half.
NARRATOR: The gun may be split in two,
but since the barrel and firing mechanism are still intact,
Troy may still be able to use it.
OK.
You'll just have to hold it.
I'm gonna hold it.
I'm gonna have to be careful.
So far from the boat ramp, we don't have no choice.
We've gotta use it.
He's coming up, Troy.
Bring him up.
Hold up. Coming up.
Coming up.
Right there, Troy.
The gun didn't shoot.
Man.
I pulled the trigger.
I hope he don't pull that tree up.
Don't move. Don't move.
Don't touch him.
Don't move.
[gunshot]
Look at that.
The gun shot, dude.
Man.
He's pulling the tree out.
That's a big alligator.
It's broke.
That's what's wrong with that son-of-a-bitch.
Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: As his boat fills up, Troy's decision
to hunt in the rain is validated,
but with a broken gun, the day is far from over.
It'd been easy.
There's a lot of dangers when you go out
in a boat in bad weather, so you always
got to be thinking ahead and staying on top of your game.
But, you know, it's just something where
you gotta learn to deal with.
And it'd be easier to say, oh, I got enough of this.
I'm going to quit.
I'm gonna give it up, but this is how we make our living
year after year after year.
So you can't throw in the towel.
You just got to fight against the elements
and overcome them and make the best of them.