Anyhow, I just found this article on Drudge and found some of it to be amazing:
The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot one captured earlier this month.That's a ton of snakes! More than I would have ever thought, but it makes sense considering the environment those suckers are living in. The article goes on to note the dramatic decline in small mammals around the everglades. I wonder why!
There's an alarmist theme to these everglades/constricting snake articles, and I get why, but this isn't the first time in the history of the world an animal from another continent has been introduced here and thrived. Horses and wild hogs are just two critters that come to mind. Since the Burmese Python and other huge snakes are doing so well here, it's only a matter of time before their names end up a paper tag on the end of a hunting license. And honestly, who wouldn't want one stuffed on their wall with a tall, fictional tale of taking down such a beast?
So that brings me to the question of the day: What gun for a massive python? Colt Python? Will there be an archery season? Chris Brackett will sure be excited. Will it be added to the Super Slam? Someone will have to call Jim Shockey and tell him to bring his smokepole. Personally, I would forgo the treestand and take after a trophy constrictor with a spear and loincloth. More sporting that way.
I wonder what a Boone & Crocket score would look like:
Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.There's a picture of one of them coiled around a good sized alligator, and you've all by now seen the picture of the one that died while eating a huge gator. It's like Jurassic Park down there!
4 comments:
yeah this has been a growing problem for years. i can speak from exp that a .45 slug WILL NOT puncture a gator's skull it will only crack it and piss it off. i also know that when your wading pecker deep in swamp water the only thing that makes you feel better about "finding it with your feet" is a 12 ga with 00 buck in it. and since a snake is a slimmer target i would recommend something that sprays a little bit more than a handgun or high powered rifle.
Put a bounty on the damn things... There are plenty of good ol' boys that would love to make a little spare change...
. . . and make some nice boots!
Drew - I'll have to keep that in mind in case I'm ever in Florida. I've never seen a gator outside of a zoo, so I'd be the guy with the 9mm thinking I'm safe!
i've wondered whether or not 9mm would work better for penetration than a 45 on a gators skull. problem is when we went to go kill the thing the old man i went with insisted on the 45. the gator was every bit of 10 feet so the skull was fairly big and tough. the trick is shooting it around the neck area really. i hear dudes do it with 22 lr's sometimes.
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