Python Drop Off Station

Florida Python Hunters have been hanging out at the Drop Off Station quite a lot this past week. They have been getting up close and personal, helping perform necropsies, and obtaining official measurements of their catches. The UF researchers have been awesome to work with.  

Another Good Day of Hunting

Photo by: Steven Featherstone

This is what we are looking for, but it's not always this easy.

With the overcast skies and rain Saturday morning it did not look like a hopeful day for the Python Hunters. But determined to use our day off out in the Everglades we headed out early for a hunt. Ruben and George in one car, Blake and Devin in another, in order to cover as much ground as possible. Most of the morning went with no success. The morning started out with little hope until about 9:30am when the clouds separated and gave us some sun. By 10:30am the sun was beating down hard and warming up the ground. Both groups had covered several miles of canal by this point. At 11:54 AM I (Blake) and Devin spotted the first python of the day. She was half way sticking out of the weeds on the edge of the canal heading back into the brush. I quickly ran and grabbed the tail and began the fight. Feeling that the snake was stronger than me, I yelled for Devin's help. The snake was inching forward out of my hands but together we were able to remove the snake and bag it. 

Not 5 minutes later Ruben calls to tell us, him and George had got one too. 

We met up and took a few group shots with our catches of the day. 

Three Big Ones

All four boys went out last night with no luck. George and Ruben were up bright and early this Sunday morning and came out on top. They not only caught one but THREE pythons while out with a New York Times videographer. It is always stressful taking people out hunting, you just never know what you'll find. So ending the day with three in the bag was amazing! Not bad for the second day of the Python Challenge.

Jan. 4th Catch

There was already a truck parked where I planned to start my hunt, which usually meant another hunter there. Turned out to be a hiker. He was a short, old man with a scraggly beard who had the shakes real bad, no teeth, and a huge fear of snakes. He wished me luck and I began my hunt at about 12:30pm. I only walked about 15 yards before the familiar pattern and sheen of python skin caught my eye in the grass just off the trail. Burmese Pythons in the Florida Everglades are healthy and well fed. This one was nice & fat. I could also make out scars he had acquired from eating things that fight back, like gators, bobcats and coons. It was an awesome sight! I imagine the feeling you get from spotting a wild Burmese Python must be a bit like finding a unicorn. I took some pictures before snatching it from the weeds. The snake immediately shot musk and got me on the arm and chest. Musk smells like a dead, wet dog but it means success! Meanwhile, the old hiker happened to see it all and came as fast as he could, while keeping his distance. His shakes were twice as bad as when I first met him! I had the python by the tail with its body facing left while I handed my camera to the old hiker on my right. Just then, the snake decided to change directions. The old man backed up as fast as he could but without his cane it didn't work so well and he fell flat on his back! Cigarettes flew from his chest pocket but he shot back up like lightning! I wore the snake out and grabbed him behind the head. He wrapped around my arm and sqeezed it hard enough to put a pretty good hickey between where two of the coils had been! The old hiker was scared to death but digging this! My boy helped me get measurements (it was an 8'7" male), and bag the snake. He later told me it was the most exciting thing to ever happen to him.

Giant Python in the Florida Everglades!!

As promised here is some footage of the 16'8" python Ruben and George caught on Nov. 26th. 

16'8" PYTHON!!!!

While out hunting yesterday Nov. 26th Ruben and George came across a giant 16'18" python.  You don't come across these bad boys everyday. The news of their BIG catch spread like wild fire landing a spot on TV, radio and web across the country. Check out this news clip HERE. Ruben caught the whole thing on his GoPro. More video coming soon.

Thankful for Pythons

Temperatures are dropping and the results were good for the Python Hunters. 

Wednesday morning right before Blake took off to Central Florida for the long Thanksgiving weekend, he took his scooter out for a quick python hunt. Good news, he did not come home empty handed.

Then on Thanksgiving Day, Ruben went out and came home with this one. Who needs turkey when you have a wild burmese python?

Nov. 12th Catch

This python was caught while I (Devin) was with a friend from work. He had heard many if my stories and seen pictures, so he wanted to have a python hunting experience for himself. We went out on Monday November 12 since we had the day off for Veterans Day.

I was just telling him how nice it is to get one in the bag in the beginning of the hunt so the rest of the time is bonus hunting. Not more than 5 minutes after this he tells out "there's one!" I thought there was no way this could be. We had just started, and he was a beginner so how could he spot one before me.

Sure enough it was a python so I jumped out of the car with my adrenaline pumping and grabbed it. It was wet and slipped out of my hands and almost went into the canal. I couldn't live with myself if that happened so I dove in the bushes after it and got a good grip, and was able to rip it out. As you can see I almost got bit, but in the end I came out on top.