It’s hard to believe it’s possible to craft a television show about guys who cut logs that more than just their relatives will actually watch, but the great minds at the History Channel are apparently up to the challenge. And the literally dozens of viewers that tuned into a recent installment of Ax Men were treated to plenty of the usual, um, action. The episode also included a display of what happens when you make one of these backwoods loggers really happy. And it wasn’t a pretty sight. . .
As our story begins, Louisiana logger Shelby Stanga, a.k.a. The Swamp Man, is having hard times and needs to sell some wood. Baby needs a new pair of shoes. Or something. Anyway, as so often conveniently happens when the cameras just happen to be around, wood buyer Keith Dufour arrives just in the nick of time with a $10,000 order.
Alas, history.com won’t allow us to embed their video, but click the link above and skip to the 4:00 mark to catch the ensuing hijinks. Then duck. Because when Stanga gets the good news of his imminent windfall, he celebrates in the only way he can think of: and that’s by yanking a Smith 500 from his cut-offs (and some people say they can’t adequately conceal a full size 1911…pshaw!) and squeezing off four or five wild shots in all directions, one of which nearly takes his own foot off.
They even stick the gun barrel in one of the crater-size holes in the ground to show what the roaring revolver’s capable of. Yes, it’s nice that Dufour made Stanga’s day with some new business, but for wildly letting .50 cal rounds fly through the south Louisiana countryside, we’re going to add to his big take with a freshly felled IGOTD award. As Dufour says with a forced chuckle after the shooting spree was over, “you’re a crazy son of a bitch.” As happy as he’d made The Swamp Man, he should probably be glad Stanga didn’t make him squeal like a pig.
[h/t Ian Moore]