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This guy gets paid to wrestle gators

Paul Phillips has spent three decades dealing with alligators. While most people living on the swamps of Lafitte, La., see alligators swimming by every day, they do so from the safety of porches or boat decks.

Paul’s version of “dealing” means jumping in the water and swimming with them. He’s an alligator wrestler. Alligator wrestling – a combination of sport and hunting developed by Southeastern Native American tribes – dates back to the late 1800s. Paul’s family is Shawnee and the men in his family have been wrestlin’ gators for more than 150 years.

Paul and his friends also hunt them as a food and revenue source. Alligator, it turns out, is not only high in protein, but also delicious. His 97-year-old grandmother makes a mean plate of gator, stuffed with cayenne peppers and onions. We sat down with Paul to get at the heart of swamp life and gator hunting.

How long have you worked as a tour guide for Airboat Adventures?
April of last year. I was a commercial fisherman my whole life until the BP oil spill.

This is my first job working for someone else.

When was the first time you ever got in the water with an alligator?
I’ve been around them my whole life. Everyone here eats alligator and the average person knows about them just from growing up down here, but the men in my family are all alligator wrestlers going way, way back. My dad taught me. My grandfather taught him. When we are 10, that’s the first time we learn to work with them. When I say “work,” I mean swim with them. We also hunt them. We process them all here and eat everything from the back of the head to the tail.

What do you use to hunt them?
I use a 3-inch hickory knife. That’s really all you need. And calm. Stayin’ calm is the most important thing. You don’t sneak up. You approach them face-to-face. You hit them in the brain, right behind the big hard spot on the top of their heads. It’s very quick and very humane. And it’s a hell of a lot safer than a gun.

Do they try to attack you?
Yes. They are alligators. They are very aggressive. No such thing as tame alligators. Alligators eat once a week, and they eat about half their body weight. They will also attack and eat each other. They are very cannibalistic.

Wait … so how do you avoid being bitten when they try to attack you?
There are certain ways to control alligators. Under his bottom jaw … if you can get your hand there, you can control him.

Have you ever been bitten?
No. But I have been taken down in a death roll. I was on a fishing trip one day … not hunting or nothin’ … and had my feet hanging over the water. Alligator popped up. He spooked and thrashed his head around and caught my pant leg. He yanked me into the water, pulled me under and started to roll. My pants ripped and I broke away. His tail broke my right arm but that was the only injury.

They don’t hunt alligators in Florida, but they do in Louisiana. Can you talk about that?
We have a full-fledged hunting season, which is the month of September. Florida doesn’t. We still survive off the land here. That makes a difference. Back in the ‘70s, they say that the alligators were almost extinct. I don’t really believe that. But now we have a Marsh to Market program. They go out in helicopters in nesting season, spot the nests. Then we go by boat and raid the nest and raise them in farms. Then re-release. Louisiana has the largest swamp in the nation, with over 300,000 square miles. Trust me, we have to hunt gators to maintain a balance.

When you swim with the gators, what are some of the things you do?
Depends on size of the gator. A big gator … 12 feet or more … you can do a lot. I do somethin’ I call the Cajun Lawn Chair. That’s where I lay on the gator with my back against his back and put my arms behind my head, like I’m relaxing. Then there’s the Death Head, where I open his mouth and stick my head in. My dad says that’s crazy. He’s too old to get in the water with them now. This is an old sport. A dying sport.

If we encounter an alligator, what should normal people like us do?
Run!

In a zig zag, right?
No. That’s an old wives tale. They can run up to 27 mph for 30 yards on land, and then can swim 30 mph. Just run. Or, at least outrun the person that’s with you!

If you’d like to book a swamp tour with Airboat Adventures, visit their site. You can request Paul Phillips as your tour guide. You can also book a hunting expedition through the company as well, for a more up-close (and death-defying) experience.