An aluminum boat carrying federal biologists roars down Canal C-9, a 20-mile-long waterway that passes a stone's throw from Pro Player Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins.

Here in south Louisiana, turduckens are flying off the butchers' shelves. "We just can't keep up with orders," says Mr. Hebert, using a four-foot steel spoon to stir a 150-gallon cauldron of crawfish tails, which along with 20 trays of cornbread will be turned into turducken stuffing.

In early summer in the Mississippi Delta, when the corn and beans are waist high, an odd lot of fishermen set out looking for what amounts to an underwater wrestling match: to catch big cats without rods, reels or bait — no gear except their bare hands.