<\/p>\n
Troy Landry signs the hat of Quinton Forgey, 11, at Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply in Pierre Part, La., during a day of \u201cSwamp People\u201d production and alligator hunting.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Landry, 65, backed his boat into the dock behind the gas station in this small, Cajun city that still has no stoplight but still has his heart.<\/p>\n
Sweaty and red-faced, he and his son Chase began roping gators so big they had to be transported by forklift, hanging from their jaws and set in a row before onlookers to be measured from tooth to tail. As a cameraman captured the line-up, Landry furrowed and frowned, a look \u201cSwamp People\u201d turns to during the height of a hunt, when the water is low or the bait is unclaimed.<\/p>\n
Then his face broke into a boyish grin.<\/p>\n
That grin draws fans worldwide to Pierre Part, La., pop. 2,300, where his family has been hunting and fishing and running the bait shops and working the restaurants for so long there\u2019s a self-published book at the gas station mapping their Louisiana history back to the 18th century. (\u201cThe Landry Families of Pierre Part\u201d will cost you $29.99.)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the Obi-Wan Kenobi,\u201d said Colton Cuculich, 28, who drove 17 hours with his mom from northern Missouri. He left with autographs on his legs that he had an artist transform into tattoos. \u201cHe’s number one. He started it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The day after Colton Cuculich nabbed autographs from the \u201cSwamp People\u201d stars in Pierre Part, La., he had them turned into tattoos.<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy Colton Cuculich<\/p>\n
Each September, during filming, the fans fill the cabins and book the swamp tours.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unreal what it does for this little community,\u201d said state Sen. Eddie Lambert, whose own cabin rentals and personal houseboat were booked solid for the month. \u201cTroy put it on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catch Landry outside Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply, the hub of it all, and he will give you an autograph, sure. But he\u2019ll also offer his take on the conditions that season. A tale about the gator that gave him the biggest fight that morning. A beer, once filming\u2019s wrapped.<\/p>\n
If he\u2019s met you before, he\u2019ll ask about your \u201cbetter half.\u201d How Arkansas is treating you.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The long-running History Channel reality show \u201cSwamp People\u201d has filmed in Pierre Part, La., since 2010. This welcome sign next to Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply greets visitors, including the show\u2019s ardent fans.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
In my case, he razzed me about the time in his truck a few weeks earlier, when we got a flat tire.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t listen when she says, \u2018Oh, I know the way,\u2019\u201d Landry said, raising his eyebrows, grinning. \u201cShe\u2019ll get you a flat tire!<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will, she will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018An instant hit\u2019<\/p>\n
At some point during our day together, before the flat, Landry figured he ought to find me an alligator.<\/p>\n
Gators were, after all, how he became famous.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alligator hunters head for a boat launch on Lake Verret for the first week of filming History Channel\u2019s \u201cSwamp People\u201d on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
We hadn\u2019t planned a hunt, weren\u2019t pulling a boat. But Landry had a gun wedged between the cushion and the console of the front seat of his pickup, just in case, and a specific alligator in mind: \u201cMarshmallow,\u201d named for the treats his grandkids give him.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d ended up an hour into the woods because Landry had got to talking about his land.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m going to therapy,\u201d he said of his ventures into the woods. \u201cNobody can come. I’m going to my happy place.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 500 acres of land Landry plans to put in a trust \u201cfor the grandbabies.\u201d Land filled with old oak trees whose branches brush the ground. With fruit trees, long abandoned but still blooming. With crab traps, piled high and covered with honeysuckle, for the deer.<\/p>\n
\u201cSwamp People\u201d made it possible.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An alligator is measured during filming of a new \u201cSwamp People\u201d season.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Landry was the first character named in the first episode of the first season of \u201cSwamp People\u201d in 2010. The show, which tracks swampers through bayous and cypress groves over an intense, monthlong hunting season, treads similar territory as fellow cable reality hits such as \u201cDuck Dynasty,\u201d \u201cGold Rush\u201d and \u201cDeadliest Catch.\u201d The kind of shows that, at first, seem to be about a hyper-specific culture in a hyper-specific place but always end up being about people and family and how we relate to one another.<\/p>\n
And in the case of \u201cSwamp People,\u201d an ode to a disappearing way of life.<\/p>\n
The show was \u201can instant hit,\u201d said Mary Donahue, a senior vice president at the History Channel. \u201cIt was so beautiful and so unusual and the characters were so admirable \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Troy was an immediate standout.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Troy Landry prepares to head out to a morning of alligator hunting on the first day of filming \u201cSwamp People\u2019s\u201d latest season in Pierre Part, La.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Donahue, one the early executives on the series, spent time with Landry and his family and still counts their crawfish boil among her career highlights. She has a master\u2019s degree in American Studies and sees in the Atchafalaya swamp one of the country\u2019s last frontiers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndependence, self-reliance, all these wonderful qualities,\u201d she said, \u201cand that\u2019s what I saw in the characters that were part of \u2018Swamp People.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply in Pierre Part, La., sells gator heads and other items that might entice fans of \u201cSwamp People,\u201d who come each year to meet the stars of the reality series.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
The show has been airing for so many seasons that even Donahue was surprised when she looked up just how long. \u201cSeason 18?\u201d she said. \u201cJeepers!\u201d Cast members can\u2019t remember how many seasons they\u2019ve filmed. (Dozens have appeared for a season, or three, then retreated back into anonymity.)<\/p>\n
By the time \u201cSwamp People\u201d found him, Landry was in his late 40s.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d been working hard since he was 10. Lifting, pulling, loading. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have no forklifts.\u201d His father started his bait business with a cooler the size of a pickup. His parents took their honeymoon in a borrowed car.<\/p>\n
Landry brought the same daylight-to-darkness ethic to the show.<\/p>\n
Early on, at one Cabela\u2019s opening or another, Landry was suddenly encountering lines of people who\u2019d been waiting hours to meet him. He and his sons, who also star on the show, sat and signed and snapped photos until the line got down to zero.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Spectators and fans of \u201cSwamp People\u201d gather to watch alligator hunters arrive at Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply during the show\u2019s the first week of filming on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Pierre Part, La.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the star of another buckshot-littered reality series \u201cwent and locked himself in the truck,\u201d Landry said. \u201cWe sat there for three hours and took pictures. You sat in an air-conditioned truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why, when folks say that Landry got lucky, he acknowledges the bit of luck that led a team of TV producers to Pierre Part. But he also points out the work involved. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky. We\u2019re lucky, man. But we always went out of our way. We always took care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s lasted so long \u2014 because we took the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I can touch it\u2019<\/p>\n
Out of the woods and onto the road, it became clear: the back tire was flat. Landry pulled over, made a couple calls. A second truck was on its way.<\/p>\n
Then, as we sat chatting, his mom called: His father, who is in poor health, had fallen, again.<\/p>\n
Their rambler was close, and Landry drove quickly. By the time we arrived, his father was upright, his mother was smoking a cigarette, and his cousin was sitting at the kitchen table with the two of them.<\/p>\n
They hugged, they kissed, they shouted to one another in Cajun French, loud enough so his father could hear.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cameraman Blair Madigan films Jacob and Troy Landry during \u201cSwamp People\u201d production in Pierre Part, La., on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
At first, \u201cSwamp People\u201d fans probably tuned in for the gator hunts. But they stayed for this: Landry caring for his aging parents. Teaching his grandkids \u2014 \u201cmy little gang,\u201d as he put it. Jacob\u2019s sons Ridge and Moose are hunters, as evidenced by an episode in which the boys pulled in a few gators on their own, testing out their own catchphrases.<\/p>\n
But when Landry goes into the woods with one of his granddaughters, he has a different focus. \u201cI say, \u2018You want to bring the gun this time? You want to try to shoot \u2018em?\u2019 And she says, \u2018Let \u2019em live, Paw.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He kept chuckling, wiping a tear from his eye. \u201c\u2018Let \u2018em live, Paw.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lyndsi Landry records alligators with Austin Alleman at Duffy\u2019s in Pierre Part, La., on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Cheyenne Wheat, better known to viewers as Landry\u2019s deckhand, \u201cPickle,\u201d thought he was a tyrant when she first got in his boat. The two hunters were generations apart but \u201cabout the same person,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are both going to push and shove.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quickly, though, Landry opened up with Wheat, whom he calls the daughter he never had. He shared his prostate cancer diagnosis, the loss of a close friend. He hosted her wedding on his land, officiating the ceremony. Then, when Wheat had another baby and had to balance filming with breastfeeding, pumping on the boat, Landry eased his own pace, tapping his watch when it hit 9 a.m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tony \u201cTet Tony\u201d Hebert, Jacob Landry, Troy Landry and cameraman Blair Madigan leave from Lake Verret for a morning of alligator hunting during \u201cSwamp People\u201d filming.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Landry does not, typically, ease up. (He ranks past deckhands and camera operators on their speed, or lack of it.)<\/p>\n
But really, he could have slowed his own pace sooner. Should have eased his own pace sooner.<\/p>\n
After the show\u2019s first episode, way back when, Landry happened to chat with a lawyer friend in town. She told him he ought to trademark some of his goofy sayings \u2014 \u201ctree shaker\u201d and \u201cmudda freaka\u201d among them.<\/p>\n
So he did, subbing the \u201cs\u201d for a \u201cc\u201d to make \u201cChoot \u2018em,\u201d which is now emblazoned on stacks of hats at Duffy\u2019s.<\/p>\n
What little he knew about money, he\u2019d learned before the show began. His father had been bugging him for years to invest. So after a crawfish season, Landry put $40,000 into stocks. Months later, the Sept. 11 attacks tanked the market.<\/p>\n
From then on, he bought property instead of stocks. Houses rather than bonds. (His great-grandmother\u2019s house among them.) And land, above all.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Spectators gather to see \u201cSwamp People\u201d hunters and gators arrive at Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see it,\u201d he said, \u201cI can touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he kept crawfish farming, daylight to darkness, missing weekends and weddings. Finally, two years ago, he sold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to work this much,\u201d he said, stretching wide his hands, which are thick as gator tails, \u201cfor this much money,\u201d he said, bringing them close. \u201cNow we work this much,\u201d he said, extending them a bit, \u201cfor this much money.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he pulled his hands wide.<\/p>\n
\u2018Just regular folk\u2019<\/p>\n
It was 6 a.m. and the sky was still pink as Landry and his son Chase set off on Lake Verret, past a single, stately cypress tree.<\/p>\n
Trailing them was an old friend, Tony Hebert, aka Tet Tony.<\/p>\n
But other than one cameraman, no crew, no lights. No crowd.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d be gone for five hours, the crowd forming behind Duffy\u2019s, getting word about whether the hunting had been good (it had) or they\u2019d gotten a big one (they had).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Adalyn Alleman, 2, checks out an alligator brought to Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply during a day of \u201cSwamp People\u201d filming in Pierre Part, La.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n
Ken Fox and his wife, Lisa, had driven down from Michigan, thinking they\u2019d get an autograph or two, a moment or two. But Fox tried not to expect too much. He\u2019d helped a friend with his security business, so he\u2019d met celebrities before. For the most part, he wishes he hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
But the Landry crew proved him wrong. As they chatted with Chase earlier in the week, Jacob cleaned around the station with a leaf blower.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think they\u2019d have people doing that kind of stuff, but they\u2019re just regular folk, working their business like anybody else.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were just as genuine guys as you\u2019ll ever want to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
A key part of each episode is when the tape measure comes out. It\u2019s not just theater, it determines how much the hunters get paid. They used to hunt for gator skins but that market has dried. Now they hunt for meat. But even that doesn\u2019t make them much, these days. The show has made a difficult market slightly more profitable.<\/p>\n
On this day, Hebert stuck a silver rod in the biggest alligator\u2019s mouth. 11-foot, 7-inches.<\/p>\n
But an invoice took note of \u2014 and calculated payment for \u2014 all 15 gators they\u2019d brought in.<\/p>\n
After the cameraman had set down his equipment and the crew had put away the tape measurer, Landry grabbed a wide bucket and a long knife and headed toward the alley, where several 10-pound bags of chicken legs had been laying in the sun. Each day, after the gators are measured and weighed, Landry goes back on the water, setting the bait for the next morning.<\/p>\n
He sliced through the plastic, released the stench and dumped the rotting meat into the bucket.<\/p>\n
It was then that two fans approached, phones in selfie mode. He protested, at first, gesturing to the chicken. But then he wiped his hand on his pants, put the knife around her arm and smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an honor to meet you,\u201d said Hannah Lawson, 22, in town from South Carolina.<\/p>\n
Landry gave fist bump after fist bump, never stopping to move into the shade, never stopping to wash his hands. A smile for each fan, a joke for each friend.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fans gather around Troy Landry at Duffy\u2019s Sportsmen\u2019s Supply on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PIERRE PART, La. \u2014 They\u2019d driven from Arkansas and flown from New Zealand. They\u2019d bought \u201cChoot \u2018em\u201d hats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,8803,92],"class_list":["post-855413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-hardwall","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}