Stimw
Elite Member
Everglades python hunt draws hundreds
At least they aren't after live capture. The only good python is a dead python!
At least they aren't after live capture. The only good python is a dead python!
Snake Round Up in Florida
- Thread starter Stimw
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creekbend
Super Star Member
It's about time. On Lake Okeechobee, you can't even cast a balloon with a Shiner hooked on the end anymore. It won't be long until a Python attacks the balloon. They're everywhere.
dmccarty
Super Star Member
I left FLA literally as Andrew came ashore. The first rain bands were causing sprinkles when I finished loading up the rental truck and started driving. For a few years prior to Andrew, I spent a fair amount of time out in the Everglades and never saw a python. I was out at all hours in air boats, driving the levee roads, and in regular boats and never saw one. The theory that the pythons escaped from Andrew damaged/destroyed homes and businesses makes quite a bit of sense to me.
Glad to here they are killing them things. So much of FLA is being taken over by non natives. Pepper bushes, walking catfish, pythons, Melaleuca trees, Oscar fish, and worst of all, Yankees! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
I know there is/was an active program to get ride of Brazilian Pepper bushes and Melaleuca trees. Good luck removing the peppers bushes but I drove across Alligator Alley about five years after I left FLA and I was happily surprised to see how many of the Melalueca trees had been cut down. I saw an old news reel showing a man tossing box loads of Melalueca seeds over Dade or Broward county. The tree soaks up large amounts of water so it was hopped that it would drain the swamps...
Later,
Dan
Glad to here they are killing them things. So much of FLA is being taken over by non natives. Pepper bushes, walking catfish, pythons, Melaleuca trees, Oscar fish, and worst of all, Yankees! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
I know there is/was an active program to get ride of Brazilian Pepper bushes and Melaleuca trees. Good luck removing the peppers bushes but I drove across Alligator Alley about five years after I left FLA and I was happily surprised to see how many of the Melalueca trees had been cut down. I saw an old news reel showing a man tossing box loads of Melalueca seeds over Dade or Broward county. The tree soaks up large amounts of water so it was hopped that it would drain the swamps...
Later,
Dan
The last that I heard they were poisoning the Melaleuca trees. Cut them down and they grow back!!
There have been a couple shows on Animal Planet about the pythons and Wild Life Officers were just capturing them. They claimed they would euthenize them. To me a bullet in the head and leave them for the gators would be just fine.
There have been a couple shows on Animal Planet about the pythons and Wild Life Officers were just capturing them. They claimed they would euthenize them. To me a bullet in the head and leave them for the gators would be just fine.
Video of python eating an alligator- Python eats Alligator 02, Time Lapse Speed x6 - YouTube
First time I have ever felt sorry for an allagator!
First time I have ever felt sorry for an allagator!
bullbreaker
Elite Member
In 55 years messing around down here only seen one python. It was at least 15' long and at thickest part of body was fatter /widder than a 9 " auger (3 pt pto type). Totally agree with DMCarty. Most of those snakes, iguanas etc got loose after Hurricane Andrew. Even though I did fight a komodo dragon with a lariet before Andrew and he won.
Boone
This ain't one I came across that day many years ago but so you get general idea.
Boone
This ain't one I came across that day many years ago but so you get general idea.
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ustmd
Platinum Member
I think this is a great idea..the hunt. When I first heard about the issue, I thought they should offer $50/snake and then turn a bunch of 13 year boys loose :laughing::laughing::laughing:
dave1949
Super Star Member
Hmmm. You could be on to something there. What has more will power and stamina than a 13 year-old with a mission?
They would skip school to get the chance.dmccarty
Super Star Member
I used to work with the GFC and one of the things I did was kill non native plants. We would mix a plant killer chemical with diesel, remove the bark all around the tree/bush and then spray. This would kill the plant. Melaleuca trees are like vampires, you have to kill just so, otherwise they don't die. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: If you try to burn them out, you just spread them, since part of their life cycle includes fire. When the burn, or feel heat, they drop seeds. If the tree is cut down, the stump will sprout. If the trunk is left on the ground, the trunk will sprout! :shocked: The most cost effective way to kill them was plant killer.
Walking catfish are hard to kill too. Those things should be called vampire fish. I have seen them baking in the hot summer sun on the bottom of a metal Jon boat for hours yet they still lived. This was after they had been stunned with electric power from an generator. Then they had their backs broken and tossed into the weeds. After a few moments, you could here them crawling to the water.... Don't know how those things will ever be removed from FLA.
The WLO might have to give the snakes to biologist to ID and measure. They could be tracking snake types, size, gender and location found.
Later,
Dan