Blood Is Thicker Than Water

What an episode last night of Swamp People! I hope you all got to see it and if you didn't, skip on over to History.com and watch the full episode real quick, you'll be glad you did.
The Guist brothers found their meal right off their back porch and made squirrel and dumplings which was their fathers recipe. Sounds delicious doesn't it? Okay, okay... Maybe it isn't for everyone (especially me), but the Guist brothers seem to love it. I still kind felt bad for the one squirrel they shot out of a tree who was eating starting to eat a nut when he met his maker.

We also got to see and alligator rip a gun right from Joe's temporary helper Tim. When will these gators learn... Don't bite the hand that feeds you, or in their case, don't bite the gun that kills you. Poor Tim had to take one for the team and get in the murky waters of the swamp to retrieves Joe's fathers gun.

Troy started out thinking it may be a bad day with water lilies over running his sweet spot but it proved to be untrue and his day turned around quickly and he ended the day with a boat full of gators and if you saw most of the gators he had weren't babies one topped out at 12 foot 7 inches. What a gator! It must have been that lucky blue shirt he is always wearing. Keep up the momentum for this season Troy!

Tommy learned being the captain of his own boat and being left to catch alligators alone was no easy task. After the motor in his boat over heated he admitted defeat to Joe and Joe gladly accepted him back in the boat with him. I hope Tommy can become fully dedicated to the task, in return he will become a better alligator hunter if he does.

All in all it was a very eventful episode. I know it's ending soon but you know they will be filming for next season here shortly. The September alligator season is closely approaching!

Tonight on Swamp People

Two Captains, One Family

After starting the season with more tags than anyone, Troy's ahead of the game, and on pace to tag out by season's end. But as Troy's crew approaches today's hot spot, things don't look promising. The landscape has changed drastically and water lilies are now clogging the entire area. Across the bayou, Joe's hunting with his new helper, and so far, the team is working well. Timmy is a pistol marksman, and his work ethic is steadily impressing Joe. Only a few miles away, Tommy is again captaining his own boat, trying to fill Joe's tags and prove he's an elite hunter. Today Tommy is intent to get down to business. But soon, engine troubles threaten to derail the day and Tommy's tenure as captain could be in jeopardy. Deep in the swamp, Glenn and Mitchell have a little time on their hands. For these brothers, that means one thing--they're ready to hunt. They're intent to cook up their Dad's Famous Squirrel and Dumplings, so they'll need to bag a mess for their pot.

Swamp People At It's Core Guist Brothers Glenn and Mitchell

Glenn and Mitchell Guist have more fun than all of the Swamp People cast put together. While everyone else is pushing to fill their tags before the end of the one month September alligator season in Louisiana, the Guist Brothers are fishing for gar, hunting for rabbit, throwing back a cold one, and cracking jokes. Or is it giggling? Chortling? Whatever they are doing, it is pretty humorous and they sure make it a true joy to watch. Is it possible to have as much fun as they do and being siblings at that?
You might not guess it by looking at them, but the Guists have been in the swamp all their lives, never mind I'm sure by looking at them you could tell that already. They live in the house on Conway Bayou that used to be their grandparent’s place, right on the spot where their father taught them to live off the land, literally. All of the alligator hunters on Swamp People talk about living off the land, but Glenn and Mitchell take that to a whole new level.

While segments of Swamp People are devoted to other alligator hunters like Troy Landry, Junior, or RJ Molinere are often framed by sequences featuring normal looking homes or a local bar that they might stop by after a long day on the swamp, that is not at all how the Guist brothers are portrayed. Instead, we see them digging through an old freezer, finding that it is practically empty, and deciding to wander the woods all afternoon looking for a rabbit or whatever pops up, to shoot for their dinner.

In another episode, they go fishing for alligator gar when they get hungry, and then show us how to cook up gar patties for a perfect swamp people approved meal.
On the latest episode we see them catching 100 pounds of catfish (yeah you read that right) for a dinner they plan to cook up for family and friends. In the same episode we also see their engine on their boat die 4 miles from home so they are stuck rowing home with one paddle, but that never seemed to dampen their spirits, they just go about being themselves and giggle and go about getting home the old fashioned way, with hard labor and determination.

So, the Guist daily schedule looks a little something like this : lounge about, get hungry, go kill something, cook it, eat it, drink a beer, lounge some more. If we are to take the History Channels word for it, the other alligator hunters might make a living off the land, but the Guist brothers really LIVE off it in every way they possibly can.

In some of their photos, Glenn and Mitchell can be seen wearing “Alexander Concrete” work shirts, so we guess they must go into town for work every now and then, but we don’t mind the show focusing on their life in the woods. We like the Guists in their natural habitat. And we like to think about them rambling into the concrete company every now and then just because they’re in the mood.

After all, Guists just want to have fun! True brothers to the end and even truer Swamp People!

The New People of Swamp People

There are a new bunch of swamp people appearing on the show and all of them are not just out to shoot a gator. One in particular Terral Evans is all about trapping alligators that become a nuisance to nearby residents.If you saw tonights episode he was after a cannibal gator that was eating up the other gators, which doesn't seem to be totally uncommon aft Troy Landry caught his cannibal gator last season.

So who have we seen new to the season and who is to come?

First up we have Terral Evans, as I mentioned earlier he isn't in this to kill the gator, he is more of a gator wrestling guru. Amazing how he just reaches into that murky swamp water and pulls out a gator like its nothing. He does this all in Slidell, LA
(where I lived if you didn't know *wink*). On tonights episode they just about got pulled in the water by one angry gator but thankfully Terral was there to save the day, catch the gator and later release him in a more remote part of the swamp land.

Heres Terral Evans biography courtesy of History Channel....

Terral Evans stands 6'4" and weighs in at around 240 pounds. Terral is a swamper in every way—a man who loves the area around Pearl River. While the other swampers are busy hunting gators, Terral is busy moving them. Terral is a gator tagger working with Mississippi Fisheries and Wildlife to track and tag gators. If a gator is causing problems, everyone around knows to call Terral. He does his work at night, snatching gators barehanded, right out of the water.

Another Alligator hunter is RJ and his son Jay Paul.

R.J. Molinere Jr. is a Native American, and he is powerful in both body and spirit. Like his Houmas ancestors, he makes a living off the land, hunting with his son, Jay Paul. R.J. raised Jay Paul to follow in his footsteps—both on and off the swamp. They are a formidable new team on the bayou and they're ready to give anyone a run for their money.

Still to see is Glenn and Mitchell Guist. If you were to picture a swamp man in your head I am pretty confident it would look like these two guys.

Brothers Glenn and Mitchell Guist were born, raised and still live in their grandparents' house on Conway Bayou. They're master hunters, taught to live off the land by their father and so close neighbors call them by one name: "glenmitchell." If the fish in Conway Bayou aren't biting, the Guists aren't bothered—any bush meat will do, and that means squirrel to nutria to wild boar could be on the menu.

Also to see is Liz Cavalier, the only female alligator hunter on Swamp People. She is a modern day Calamity Jane for sure.

There aren't many Cajun lady gator hunters on the swamp. Taught by her father, Liz has been hunting gator since she was a little girl, using the same type of gun fired by Annie Oakley. An ace shot, Liz prides herself on being "one of the boys." She baits the hooks, pulls the lines and throws a knife with the best of them.

With the new hunters along with the old this is sure to be a great season!