Posted on 08/22/2010 5:58:11 PM PDT by Scythian
Swamp People on History Channel
Sprawling over a million-acre swath of southern Louisiana, the Atchafalaya River Basin is the largest swamp in the United States and one of the country's most ecologically varied regions. Its wetlands, bayous and marshes are home to 300 species of birds, 90 species of fish and shellfish and 54 species of reptiles and amphibians, including the great American alligator. It owes much of its haunting and mysterious beauty to the towering, moss-draped bald cypress trees that thrive in its swamp waters.
For hundreds of years, the Basin's human dwellers—from the Native Americans who harvested its timber to the present-day Cajuns who hunt alligators in its murky depths—have subsisted on its many bountiful resources. In the second half of the 18th century, the region became a refuge for several thousand French colonists who had been expelled from Acadie, part of present-day Nova Scotia, for refusing to swear allegiance to the British crown and church. Known as the Acadians, the settlers adapted their way of life to the changeable nature of the Basin's wetland environment, where water levels fluctuate depending on the season, by favoring houseboats and campsites to more permanent homes. Many began growing sugarcane and other crops in the fertile bayou soil, while others made a living as loggers, hunters, trappers or fishermen.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
I have never seen a quiet type Cajun in my life. :)
Oh my. Frogging.
My husband used to love that.
Thanks.
First Sargent Boudreaux asked me, “You know da difference between a coon ass and a jackass? Da Sabine river.”
Hard to tell if one of those southern cockroaches gets in there with the dark ones; eh?
I remember that movie. I remember it because I was in NO for my first and only Mardi Gras in 1983, and we had returned from Bourbon Street, and the guy we were visiting did not have cable, and we were looking for something to watch, and ThAT movie was on, and I just looked at them and said “What ARE you people?”
You got REARED in NW Floydada?
Ewww.
Watched episode 1&2, it’s a hit. Is a .22 the only legal weapon to make the kill or is it to preserve the skin? Way more testosterone needed than back when I was jugging for Snappers. WooHoo!
Even Mrs S watched it with me, sorta...
I’ll give it a watch later. What skin are you talking about saving with a .22?
Alley Gator Skin.
They hunt them but only sell them for only $150 an unskinned hide. Some foo-foo European fashion designer came on the hunt and said an alligator jacket sells for $40,000 retail. Being formally in that business that even shocking to me.
The fact that they are shooting alligators with a .22 blows my mind. And it’s legal for that large of game? I didn’t think you could hunt anything with a .22 except squirrels maybe, which I don’t, so what do I know?
I found an awesome blog that covers the show week to week and also has other odds and ends about the show like the red tape you have to go through to become an alligator hunter and about the “swamp men” themselves and some other things you might find amusing. I love the show and thought I would share.
http://www.swamp-people.blogspot.com
Awesome, thanks, I’ll check it out, DVR’d tonights episode, will watch with the family on Tuesday, Monday nights are boy scouts for us ...
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