Florida takes another baby step toward dealing with the pythons

Bren · 12-07-2012, 07:28

Florida tackling python problem with hunting contest

Wish I was down there.

Quote:

A grand prize of $1,500 will be awarded to the person who kills the most pythons, and $1,000 will go to the person who bags the longest one.

I wonder if you get to keep the hides.

But seriously:

Quote:

"We want to make sure this is done in a humane way," Segelson said. The competition's website lists several ways to kill a python "in a humane manner that results in immediate loss of consciousness and destruction of the brain."

What?

John Rambo · 12-07-2012, 07:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bren

But seriously:

What?

Shoot it in the head, lop its head off, or crush its head.

Same thing as with any other animal. The goal is to kill it quickly and minimize its suffering.

Atlas · 12-07-2012, 07:39

"What?" indeed...

"The most humane way..."
When did Florida become California?
Those snakes are a rapidly-growing environmental disaster.

12-gauge at close range. Preferably a semi-auto 12-gauge at close range.
BANG! BANG! BANG! <reload> "Next?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Rambo

..
Same thing as with any other animal. The goal is to kill it quickly and minimize its suffering.

I admire your humane sensibilities, but this ain't Bambi we're talking about here.

Dennis in MA · 12-07-2012, 07:44

I'm stayin out of FL. I've been told I've got a pretty big python. I don't need someone taking me out for a $1000 bounty.

Atlas · 12-07-2012, 07:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis in MA

I'm stayin out of FL. I've been told I've got a pretty big python. I don't need someone taking me out for a $1000 bounty.

Those Colt revolvers are pretty...

Wish I had one.

cowboywannabe · 12-07-2012, 08:28

bout time, ive gotten so tired of those b.s. dog and pony animal control officer shows where they bag pythons and take them away instead of killing them and letting the gators eat them.

anybody, ANYBODY, should be able to kill a python in the wild on sight without the inept government harassing them.

Atlas · 12-07-2012, 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowboywannabe

...

anybody, ANYBODY, should be able to kill a python in the wild on sight without the inept government harassing them.

Anyone/everyone should be encouraged to kill the damn things while there remains some small, minuscule possibility to eradicate them.

Bren · 12-07-2012, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlas

Anyone/everyone should be encouraged to kill the damn things while there remains some small, minuscule possibility to eradicate them.

That's what I've been saying. They should put a bounty on them or, at least, encourage killing them to sell the hides. Here iin KY we have the rule for coyotes that you can kill all you want any time you want (during daylight).

RichJ · 12-07-2012, 09:17

Too little, too late. That horse has already fled the barn.

The Pythons have already established a healthy breeding population and they are in an optimal habitat where they can thrive. There is no way you can kill them faster than they can reproduce and the vast glades are inacccessible to the average Joe snake hunter.

Atlas · 12-07-2012, 09:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichJ

Too little, too late. That horse has already fled the barn.

The Pythons have already established a healthy breeding population and they are in an optimal habitat where they can thrive. There is no way you can kill them faster than they can reproduce and the vast glades are inacccessible to the average Joe snake hunter.

I would tend to believe you are correct.
Even so, why the hell has the state of Florida been dragging their feet on this?

As developed as Florida is today, as much as it is now full of wealthy transplants from the northeast, from Russia and Europe, etc, there remain many native ol' boys who love nothing better than to get out in airboats and hunt.

As Bren said, let the market get it's hands on the hides and in today's economy you might have hunting tourists visit en masse to hunt and harvest them.

RichJ · 12-07-2012, 09:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlas

I would tend to believe you are correct.
Even so, why the hell has the state of Florida been dragging their feet on this?

As developed as Florida is today, as much as it is now full of wealthy transplants from the northeast, from Russia and Europe, etc, there remain many native ol' boys who love nothing better than to get out in airboats and hunt.

As Bren said, let the market get it's hands on the hides and in today's economy you might have hunting tourists visit en masse to hunt and harvest them.

You still couldn't eradicate them. An army of 100,000 rednecks with shotguns and vouchers for free beer would hardly put a dent in the population at this point. The habitat is too vast and there aren't enough airboats in the world to cover that kind of area.

Bruce M · 12-07-2012, 09:48

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/fea...e-horizon.html

Bob Hill as the legend goes had been a Water Management employee for a long time and some time back one of his bosses called him in rather a panic as he had a huge snake. Mr. Hill responded to the canal and dispatched the snake. Now he apparently his full time job is hutning pythons for the SFWMD. To whatever extent a job can be fun, that has to be high on the list.

Bobby Hill with two of over 300 pythons that he has removed from the Everglades \| Flickr - Photo Sharing!

(sorry I guess the photo doesn't show but the title appears to be a link to it)

tantrix · 12-07-2012, 09:52

If they'd hire us gator trappers from LA their snakes would be extinct in short time.

But, I have a feeling Florida isn't really looking for a solution anyway...or this would have been over as soon as it started.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichJ

You still couldn't eradicate them. An army of 100,000 rednecks with shotguns and vouchers for free beer would hardly put a dent in the population at this point. The habitat is too vast and there aren't enough airboats in the world to cover that kind of area.

Please tell me you aren't serious... You've never hunted with a Coonass have you?

The Atchafalaya Basin, where I've been trapping my entire life, is over 1,000,000 acres...it makes the Everglades look like a mudhole in your driveway, and we still managed to put alligators on the endangered species list at one point.

***Jack_Pine*** · 12-07-2012, 09:54

It will be a History Channel Show for sure.....Burmada or something like that........................

vart · 12-07-2012, 09:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack_Pine

It will be a History Channel Show for sure.....Burmada or something like that........................

Python Hunters, the reality show, will be on Discovery next year... I'm willing to bet...

Atlas · 12-07-2012, 09:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by vart

Python Hunters, the reality show, will be on Discovery next year... I'm willing to bet...

If it inspires enough interest in hunting and exterminating the damned things, then great.

RichJ · 12-07-2012, 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by tantrix

The Atchafalaya Basin, where I've been trapping my entire life, is over 1,000,000 sq miles...it makes the Everglades look like a mudhole in your driveway, and we still managed to put alligators on the endangered species list at one point.

Alligators can be easily baited and they tend to hang out at the surface a lot.

Finding a snake in flooded grass is a whole differnent kind of hunting.

ray9898 · 12-07-2012, 10:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichJ

Too little, too late. That horse has already fled the barn.

The Pythons have already established a healthy breeding population and they are in an optimal habitat where they can thrive. There is no way you can kill them faster than they can reproduce and the vast glades are inacccessible to the average Joe snake hunter.

I agree.

Rabid Rabbit · 12-07-2012, 10:28

next stop python cook off and the official FL state python cookbook.

ColdSteelNail · 12-07-2012, 10:28

From everything I've read it is not going to be possible to eradicate them. The only thing they can do now is try to control the population. This is a terrible situation for many native species.

tantrix · 12-07-2012, 11:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichJ

Alligators can be easily baited and they tend to hang out at the surface a lot.

Finding a snake in flooded grass is a whole differnent kind of hunting.

You do realize we shoot them open water too, right? You ever shot an alligator in the head at 50yds standing in a boat? You have no room for error.

And, those snakes also have much more fragile heads and have to surface just like a gator does...a 5" snake head wouldn't be a problem.

captainstormy · 12-07-2012, 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColdSteelNail

From everything I've read it is not going to be possible to eradicate them. The only thing they can do now is try to control the population. This is a terrible situation for many native species.

Yea, I don't think the goal is to eradicate them. Just to keep them out of people's way. Which I would imagine this would do.

***Glockdude1*** · 12-07-2012, 11:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis in MA

I'm stayin out of FL. I've been told I've got a pretty big python. I don't need someone taking me out for a $1000 bounty.

Is his name "Johnson"?

tantrix · 12-07-2012, 11:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainstormy

Yea, I don't think the goal is to eradicate them. Just to keep them out of people's way. Which I would imagine this would do.

You're right...they're not trying to eradicate them, but that's exactly what they should be doing. As ColdSteelNail said, those snakes are going to wipe out many native species of animals that have been there long before those exotic snakes.

This should have been taken far more seriously by the state of FL than it was when they first found out they were in the wild...breeding was inevitable.

TK-421 · 12-07-2012, 11:30

It sure would be a lot easier if they let people start using hand grenades on those suckers.