I'm a pregnant female alligator hunter who started hunting at 6 - I almost died when I fell into swamp on top of gator

PICKLE Wheat has one of the most terrifying jobs in the world - but she loves every moment.

Pickle, who is one of the stars of the hit show Swamp People, has been chasing massive gators in her native Louisiana since the age of six and says it will be a dream come true if her kids follow suit.

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But her little ones - she's expecting her second child next month - perhaps won't want to hear too much about the time their momma was dragged into the water by a fearsome, seven-foot beast and miraculously survived.

Riding up and down gator-infested swamps isn't for the faint-hearted and comes with a severe danger warning.

Pickle and her fellow co-stars are, of course, experts in their field and have turned catching alligators to help with conservation into an art form.

That's not to say there aren't a few scares along the way.

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Getting bitten, according to Pickle, is a regular occurrence.

Being pulled into the murky waters and having a huge gator swimming and thrashing right underneath you, however, doesn't happen too often.,

Yet when it does, it's pretty scary - even for seasoned pros like Pickle and her pals.

A couple of years ago, disaster almost struck. Pickle was pulled in when trying to lift a gator onto the boat.

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She was unarmed - and in big trouble.

"I fell on top of him and he was swimming in between my legs," she told The U.S. Sun.

"That was a pretty scary experience. He was on the line, and we were trying to pull him up but because I was already leaning over the front of the boat, when we hit a cypress stump, I went straight in the water.

"The alligator was attached to the tree and the line and wrapping me up. I'd say that was one of the scariest experiences."

At the time, she was working with the legendary catcher Troy Landry - aka Mr. Troy, a true veteran of the swamp who's seen it all over the years.

When he started to look worried, Pickle knew she was in trouble.

"I wasn't nervous until I saw how scared Mr. Troy was," she recalled.

"And if the legendary King of the Swamp is scared, that kind of makes you a little nervous. I was scared when I saw his face, but I knew if we kept it together and managed to get the job done it would be ok."

The situation appeared grave - yet Pickle and Mr. Troy were able to stay incredibly calm.

In a flash, Pickle was thrown a gun, and the gator was stopped in its deadly tracks.

"It happened so fast," she added. "Things happen daily, but it's nothing you can really prepare for.

"I've gotten wrapped up by ropes and pulled in before. It doesn't put me off though."

Pickle, now 26, started off riding the swamps at the tender age of six, which may sound crazy, but when you are brought up in a family who's specialized in catching gators, it's just a way of life.

Her great-grandpa was one of the first alligator fishermen and handed down all his experience and know-how.

"Where I'm from, everybody does it," she said. "In my part of the world, it's normal."

The reality series, which was first broadcast in August 2010, follows the lives and day-to-day activities of alligator hunters living in the swamps of the Atchafalya River Basin.

Mr. Troy brought her into the fold after a recommendation from her uncle, and the rest is history.

Despite never working in the trade full-time, her experience just watching her friends and family was enough to give her a head start.

Pickle knows nothing else - and hopes her children follow her lead.

"There's really no reason to be scared," she said. " We are around it our whole lives so I hope to raise them in the same way that I was brought up.

"That would be amazing, a dream come true."

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Swamp People airs on Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT on The HISTORY Channel followed by new episodes of Swamp People: Serpent Invasion.

Viewers can also stream episodes the next day on the HISTORY App.

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