Update on python hunting....

It may take some years but wait till these big snakes get up into georgia ,alabama and over to LA . It will happen if not allready there but people dumping them . Does any ont remember the heavy rains and deer starve'n in the everglades some decades back??? Maybe 25 years ago. Tree huggers wanted to stop a control hunt to reduce the deer herds to a controlable size that could th F&G could feed and the state finally got them huggers were they would try to save deer on the north side on gator alley and the hunt would go under way on the south side. All the deer caught on the north side died from shock and the hunter deduced herd on the south side made it tell dry season came around.Damd treehugger/peta types....
 
They get to be 17 feet?! Hmmmmm..... Let's see - " say honey, how'd you like to vacation in the Everglades next summer? "Go over and pet that nice snake!!!":D:D:D
 
hogdogs:

Might be I was misunderstood. Not supporting the extreamist at HSUS only making the point that even those crazies said it would not work.

We need a open season, much as with gators and the licence fees will pay for a lot of the costs associated with running it.
 
Almost fogot. Someone mentioned traps and that has me thinking.

A number of years back we would hunt Cumberland Island. At some point the Univ. Of Ga. had released a number of bobcats on the island. The had a ongoing monitoring program with many of the cats tagged and collored.

Part of the program required them to trap the animals, measure, weigh and the like and then replace the batteries in the collars. We would sometimes stumble across the traps while hunting.

As I understand it a bobcat is a tough animal to live trap. The UG folks got around this by using a trap that had a live chicken in it as bait. The chicken was in a small cage inside the trap. They seemed to work good.

Seems like with a little American ingenuity a trap that will capture a BIG snake can be devised.
 
BSWIV, the trap condition you are thinking of probably wouldn't work for snakes. Bobcats hunt by moving until they find something edible. Snakes tend to be ambushers that wait for prey to walk by them.

The most talked about trapping mechanism so far has been using sex pheremones. During breeding, one snake will follow the scent of another. If you could bottle that up and make a trail for them to follow into a trap, you might have something.
 
Doyle:

You made my point well: that there are a lot of knowledgable folks out there that if allowed would come up with some great ideas........

Pharamones......now there is a idea.......
 
Actually snake trapping is a common method for many species. I have seen documentaries that show them using box traps baited with various items.

When junior was a young teen he worked unofficially for his favorite reptile shop. When the occasional escape occurred, they had a box with a hole small enuff for the snake to enter but once it ate the bait rat it couldn't fit to leave...
Brent
 
bswiv, I wasn't trying to imply you were on there side... Simply that they are not correct about it not working. They are simply trying to ban the importation to further their no pets agenda not to protect the eco system.
Brent
 
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/environment/story/1166725.html?storylink=mirelated

20090731_python.jpg



Staff at the Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital routinely handle large animals. Along with pet dogs and cats, they treat hogs, horses, cows and bulls.

But the enormous critter that slithered uninvited onto the hospital grounds Thursday stunned everyone. It turned out to be one of the biggest Burmese pythons found roaming free in Florida.

The constrictor stretched 17 feet, two inches and measured 26 inches around at its thickest point. It weighed in at a staggering 207 pounds -- four pounds more than the Miami Dolphins' brawny No. 1 draft pick, Vontae Davis.

``It was a complete shock,'' said Patty Harvey, a technician at the hospital, which is just north of Lake Okeechobee. ``We see huge gators all the time being in Okeechobee, but you would never expect to see a snake this size.''

SNAKES SPREADING

Florida wildlife managers pointed to the find as the latest, and largest, evidence that the exotic snake, which has settled into the Everglades, is spreading across the state.

``The capture of this large python shows us how well these snakes can thrive in the wild and create a dangerous situation after illegal release or escape,'' said Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. ``It also illustrates why the FWC is partnering with other agencies to implement python control measures in South Florida.''

Two weeks ago, the FWC began an experimental permit program that allows reptile experts to euthanize Burmese pythons on state-managed lands around the Everglades, where the population is now estimated to number in the tens of thousands.

But the python patrol didn't bag the giant snake that made its way onto the hospital's 20-acre compound.

It was spotted Thursday afternoon by Corey Surls, 11, whose uncle, veterinarian Jim Harvey, owns the hospital.

The boy spends a lot of time on the grounds and overheard construction workers, who are building an addition to the hospital, talk about a large snake they had seen in a ditch, Harvey said. ``He runs over there and looks into the ditch and, lo and behold.''

Corey told WPBF in West Palm Beach that he was scared at first but, pointing to a cousin who went along, said ``I was on the other side of the fence, so I knew it was going to get him first.''

He alerted his uncle. The veterinarian killed the snake with head shots from a .22 caliber rifle, Harvey said.

Though it is illegal to shoot pythons in state wildlife management areas or federal lands, the FWC says the snakes can be legally shot on private property if local laws allow gunuse.

Afterward, the staff, still in hospital attire, posed for what Harvey called a ``once-in-a-lifetime'' photo.

It took eight of them to hold the snake. Harvey is third from left, grimacing.

``I am petrified of snakes,'' she said. ``It was still moving. I guess their muscles move for a while even after they're dead.''

As one of the largest snakes in the world, sometimes topping 20 feet, Burmese pythons are considered a serious threat to native species. Everything from deer hooves to endangered rats has been pulled from their bellies.

Nothing discernible was found in this python's stomach, and Harvey said none of the animals on the hospital's sprawling grounds were missing.

NO MICROCHIP

Wildlife officers scanned for a microchip, required for pets under state law since 2007, but found nothing.

Harvey said the meat was donated to a nearby wildlife rehabilitation facility, a fitting turn of the table that will let natives fatten up on an invader.

The future of the skin remains uncertain, though Harvey admitted female staffers were joking it would make a lot of nice purses.
Click to expand...
Anyone care to take a guess why it was near a vet clinic?:D
I wouldn't wanna srap with that by myself!
Brent
 
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