Florida pythons: Wanted dead, not alive, right?

[hawkman71]

I don't research this topic and have seen only various and occasional YouTube videos regarding hunting pythons in Florida. In all the videos I've seen, it seems like the snakes are caught by hand and kept alive.

What on Earth could the reasoning be behind even letting such a snake live more than 5 seconds after it was seen?

Can't be too hard to prove that you have a python if you bring one in and it's missing a head because of a shotgun blast. It's not like we're proving sex in a deer in some states.

In contrast, in the case of Florida iguanas, I've seen a lot more videos about shooting them as opposed to capturing.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

I have seen multiple different reasons for why they don't kill them.
1) They usually do kill them, most of what you see on TV is viewer friendly and they can't kill them on air otherwise they'd have all the animal rights group up the networks a$$
2) They don't shoot them because it would ruin the skin and the bounties placed on them according to the length & weight. Pristine skins garner larger bounties because they are sold & used in boots, belts, pocketbooks, jackets, furniture, etc.....

 

[FLATHEAD]

Florida has some weird/ridiculous hunting rules.

 

[hawkman71]

Maybe I'd feel different if I was a bounty hunter but I think I'd want to ensure death of the snake.

This is coming from someone that loves snakes - native ones, anyway. Most people think I'm crazy. But geez, a python? I'd be pretty satisfied with banning all exotic pets.

 

[FLATHEAD]

See the snake - shoot the snake.
Real Simple.
None of that made for TV stuff.

 

[semasko]

Shooting at snakes is generally a bad idea and not necessary to kill them. I cringe every time I hear about someone unloading a .357 on a snake not even a few feet long. Even a big python can be taken out with a machete or a good shovel, as they aren't very fast. The FL regs say firearms can't be used on most public lands for pythons, and the reason is because they're usually near water or close ground shots so they don't want bullets ricocheting all over the place.

Here's about the worst thing that could possibly happen:

Police officer shooting at snake apparently kills boy fishing with granddad in Oklahoma

NOBLE, Okla. (AP) - A police officer shooting at a snake apparently killed a 5-year-old boy who was fishing at a nearby pond, officials said. Austin Haley was fishing with his grandfather, Jack Tracy,

www.actionnews5.com

 

[homebru.trout]

Some time ago while I was living in TX, I was leaving a church meeting at night and spotted a rattlesnake on the children's playground. A short while later someone else spotted it and proceeded to unload a Glock 43 at said snake, putting a hole in it about 1/3 of the body length up from the tail and really getting it riled up. Picture all that in your head for just a minute...two guys leave the kind of meeting churches open their doors for at night and the OK Corral proceeds to unfold at a snake in the kids facility. When that little performance ended, I walked over with a shovel, removed the head, problem solved. Glocks are for bad guys...a shovel or machete are probably the most efficient snake dispatchers.

As for Florida? "Don't say snake" LOL.

 

[semasko]

Some time ago while I was living in TX, I was leaving a church meeting at night and spotted a rattlesnake on the children's playground. A short while later someone else spotted it and proceeded to unload a Glock 43 at said snake, putting a hole in it about 1/3 of the body length up from the tail and really getting it riled up. Picture all that in your head for just a minute...two guys leave the kind of meeting churches open their doors for at night and the OK Corral proceeds to unfold at a snake in the kids facility. When that little performance ended, I walked over with a shovel, removed the head, problem solved. Glocks are for bad guys...a shovel or machete are probably the most efficient snake dispatchers.

As for Florida? "Don't say snake" LOL.

I unfortunately hear stories like this a lot working with snakes. The reasoning is almost always to "protect" a family or a dog and usually end up putting them at more risk. Even worse is that most of the time the snake is non-venomous, and instills fear into kids instead of respect. Kids are generally much smarter and more observant (especially of little things) than we give them credit for and can quickly learn how to avoid a lot of the dangers of outdoors.

 

[hawkman71]

I've only killed two snakes on purpose. One was a giant rat snake that showed up in our laundry room. My wife was getting the clothes out of the dryer, looked up, and peering over the top of the dryer was a rat snake. It was about as long as they get. Five feet or so.

The only pit viper I killed was a large Timber Rattler. I had been in the front yard playing with our first child - maybe two years old - and we went inside. I picked up the phone to call someone and wandered past the bay window looking outside. There in the front yard was a big, thick, timber - right where I'd been playing with my toddler just two minutes prior. I called my wife as it was the first live rattler I'd seen since moving from Canada to the US.

I said, "I'm getting my camera!".
She said, "you grab a hoe."

 

[FLATHEAD]

Most of those Pythons are in the Everglades with minimal human presence.

 

[Loper]

Ive was down in south Florida when the state put on one of the python round ups or hunts several years ago.

The guy who either won the event or came in second was staying at my camp site. He showed me all that he caught that day. If I recall it was about nine pythons he had in coolers and all of them had a .22 placed in the top of the head.

In the winter time they don’t move as fast and can be grabbed much easier then dispatched.

 

[Like2hunt]

I was taught from a young age to kill every snake ya can especially rattlers (most come snake around here). I think it’s because that’s what my grandpappy taught my pappy and what my pappy taught me. It’s got to be because the snakes could the bite the cows and get them sick or leave big sores on them. The cows = $$ so the simple solution was to kill the snakes. That’s the reason my dad said his dad gave him and that’s the reason he gave me. Sounded like a good enough to kill them to me so that’s what I do. Prolly not as big of a deal today as it used to be but that’s what I’ve always been taught.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Eastern Diamondbacks, Cottonmouths, Pygmy rattlers, and Coral snakes here. I've had those Cottonmouths try to get in the boat with me more than once. And I've literally
had them come at me. All Cottonmouths die.

 

[11boo]

They would start to stink and rot pretty fast on a multi day summer hunt, unless they were kept alive.

 

[hawkman71]

Most of those Pythons are in the Everglades with minimal human presence.

Right,

Eastern Diamondbacks, Cottonmouths, Pygmy rattlers, and Coral snakes here. I've had those Cottonmouths try to get in the boat with me more than once. And I've literally
had them come at me. All Cottonmouths die.

You're a little south of me as Corals are also a few hours south. Same with D-backs. We have Timbers, (red) Pygmys, Cottonmouth, Copperheads.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I'm a Hillbilly transplant living on the Gulf now.
Where I'm from we have those big Timbers. Back in
the day I killed one while Dove hunting that was 6'2".
And got bit by a dang Copperhead in Sept of 07.

 

[Trapperkid]

I researched this as I used to live in Florida and couldn’t figure it out for the life of me the reason that they have a season on them is so people don’t start raising them for the bounty money.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

How to treat handbands 101.

 

[Bratch]

They are capturing males and putting GPS trackers on them to lead them back to the big females.

Florida conservationists capture 215 pound python, the heaviest found in the state

She's massive, invasive and covered in scales: A record breaking 215-pound, 18-foot-long Burmese python has been captured in Florida.

amp.cnn.com

 

[Loper]

They are capturing males and putting GPS trackers on them to lead them back to the big females.

Florida conservationists capture 215 pound python, the heaviest found in the state

She's massive, invasive and covered in scales: A record breaking 215-pound, 18-foot-long Burmese python has been captured in Florida.

amp.cnn.com

You are correct. I listened to a webinar on this a few months back put on by Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. One thing to note though is that they are sterilizing the males before releasing them back into the wild.

It was amazing to hear about the size of animals even the smaller pythons can consume.