More than 400 hunters sign up to find-kill Burmese Pythons in the Everglades. Surely nothing will go wrong!!!

Feel better if they used ropes and chains, clubs, spears, and my favorite an ax?

Take less brains to become a politician then it does to learn how to shoot.

I think a machete might be more appropriate …Last thing we need is people shooting up at a 45degree angle in to trees.

What could possibly go wrong, indeed.

Python Swallows Alligator Whole

oh well as the great turkey god says "gobble gobble gobble" 400 less drunk rednecks.

Nothing wrong with this. Better than one of the snakes getting ahold of your child.

Dudes handle firearms just find. I hold the title of your thread in contempt since it insinuates hunters are not professional.

If you don't mind Op, why don't you list the reasons you are such an expert and why you feel you have the experience to pass such broad judgement about people that most likely are far more qualified than you.

No Kidding. What a closed redicky statement.

Far more things are going wrong in the Glades because of the snakes. They are killing and eating everything. All the NATURAL preditors. Birds and nesting birds. Storks. Pelicans including the browns that are endangered.

Its about time they wenr after the snakes. They say there are over 100000 of them.

They are eating peoples pets too and starting to move out of the glades into residential neiborhoods because there's no food for all of them.

Anybody willing to go hunting these huge snakes is BRAVE. Your the COWARD for condeming them.

I am not qualified, didnt say I was!

It seems unnerving to me. I mean they have to be caught, its just scary dangerous....

They can kill the alligators while they're at it, as far as I'm concerned.

Its gonna end badly if Barry bans auto weapons
Seriously what a money making opertunity

Participants have signed up from 17 states. Among them is Tyler Newbolt, of Lake Worth, who is having a friend fly down from Michigan for a week of python hunting. Newbolt, 27, an experienced hunter of hog and deer, is looking forward to the chance to go after an unusual species with his .22 caliber rifle.

"It's just something fun to do," he said. "I'm definitely interested in the Everglades and the ecosystem. I'm a big advocate for the Everglades."

Bruce Moore, of Pembroke Pines, plans to bring a pistol loaded with snake shot, pellet-filled cartridges that allow a pistol or rifle to function as a mini-shotgun.

"I love the Everglades," said Moore, 47. "I think the Everglades is very important. I want to do something to make a difference. I'm not going to be reckless about it. If you run into a 15-foot python, that's a powerful animal."

The FWC's recommended killing method is a bullet or shotgun blast to the head, or the use of captive bolt, a device used in slaughterhouses that drives a metal shaft into the brain. Decapitation is considered inhumane, unless the brain is immediately destroyed, because consciousness in snakes can persist long after the head is separated from the body.

Burmese pythons, native to southern Asia, became established in the Everglades through the exotic pet trade. They consume small mammals, wading birds, alligators and full-grown deer. The largest one caught so far stretched 17 feet, seven inches and contained 87 eggs.

The Python Challenge starts Saturday at 10 a.m. with a kick-off event of training and talks on identifying and handling pythons at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center in Davie. The hunt itself starts at 1 p.m. Saturday and ends at midnight Feb. 10. An awards ceremony will be held Feb. 16 at Zoo Miami.

At least there will be an awards ceremony!

I can explain, I’ll use the Waurika rattlesnake hunt as the best example. 51 years in a row they clean out the rattle snakes, makes the town a LOT of money. They average 200 hunters who up collect well over 1000 rattlers in a very short period of time, all captured alive and properly butchered so they can sell the meat and the skins. Over 2000 pounds of meat a year collected in a few short days. It is a carnival style festival, no guns allowed. It is after all a snake, it is not going to out run anyone.

Florida could capitalize on this a lot better than just saying sign up and go shooting. The skins are worth money, the meat is worth money and getting rid of the invasive species is a big deal. Not only would doing this different promote education about the issue with local residents and tourists, it would lessen fears and make municipalities money!


Better ways to promote this and yes it has to be done, make it in to a win win money maker though.

Be vewwwwy quiet. I'm hunting scrwuwee Pythons.




Last Edited by Useless Cookie Eater on 01/06/2013 08:01 PM

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