In the eerie backwater bayous of southern Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin, Marty Stouffer poles a traditional pirogue to track the South's largest animal, a honey-loving legend. Clues lead to a Bobcat, Alligator, Snapping Turtle, and other animals which share this mysterious realm with an elusive phantom -- the Black Bear. Though large, it is now rare in these hardwood bottomlands.

Continuing to search the wild heart of bayou country, Marty finds and follows more clues, meeting creatures both friendly and deadly, before locating the Bear's feeding ground: a pool of Catfish, a surprisingly tricky meal. When an aggressive Alligator moves in during the night, the two legends compete and clash to reveal which will be king of the Catfish pool and the swamp.

By viewer request, we look at a Bird whose story is woven into our culture. Yet this creature, the Pilgrim's choice for the first Thanksgiving meal, soon became a rarity. Our largest gamebird, with its flamboyant courtship, is a strong flier that prefers to run. We meet the shy Gobblers of our eastern woodlands and their lanky western kin -- forebearers of all domestically raised stock.

This species is one of game management's greatest success stories. Our traditional symbol of Nature's abundance was once feared to be gone as a gamebird due to overhunting by humans and a loss of their habitat. But today, the Wild Turkey is one of game management's greatest success stories. The many who worked so hard for this comeback were perhaps too successful, for some states now worry about having an over-abundance of these birds.

Managing wildlife most often means managing humans -- the primary predator in virtually all our ecosystems. Through this complex, but vital, process, we constantly try to balance our own conflicting interests with those of our native wild creatures. This thought-provoking program examines some of the most innovative and controversial plans currently operating across the country.