Conservationist Mike Elfenbein was at Big Cypress National Preserve in FLorida with his teen son hunting for pythons when they both spotted the largest snake they had ever seen slithering across the gravel road.

"It was more than a snake, it was a monster," Elfenbein told CBS News. Elfenbein said he occasionally hunts Burmese pythons in the 729,000-acre preserve but had never seen a snake that large.

Three other hunters – Trey Barber, Carter Gavlock and Holden Hunter – saw the snake at the same time. There was no way to miss the snake, which Elfenbein said stretched out almost the length of the road.



"We were strangers," said Elfenbein, 45. "But the five of us knew we had to capture this thing."

Gavlock was the first to grab the snake by the tail, Elfenbein said. Then his son Cole, 17, and Gavlock grabbed the head, and all five men tried to wrestle the python to the ground.

Elfenbein said the python quickly went from "flight to fight" and was a "formidable opponent." The five men sat on the python's back and wrestled with her for more than 45 minutes. The python kept lifting her body off the ground "trying to constrict" her captors and "continue to move us out of the way."

The python had "zero fear" of her captors, Elfenbein said.

When her cellphone rang around 10 p.m. on Friday with a call from Elfenbein, professional python hunter Amy Siewe knew something big was happening.



"If Mike is calling me right now, it has to be a python," Siewe said. She jumped in her truck and hightailed it over to Big Cypress. She pulled her truck up behind the others and then spotted "the fattest python I had ever seen."


Siewe, who said she has caught 530 pythons since becoming a professional hunter in 2019, told CBS News that "it was hard to comprehend the size." Using a captive bolt gun, which is the method of euthanasia approved by the American Veterinary Association, she killed the python.

She then took the python home to weigh it and called the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to register the python's measurements. The female Burmese python was 17 feet, 2 inches long and weighed 198 pounds – the second heaviest python captured to date in Florida, Ian Bartoszek, a research manager at the conservancy, confirmed to CBS News.

One of the largest snake species in the world, pythons were brought from Southeast Asia to Florida in the 1970s through the pet trade. The invasive predators quickly spread throughout the Everglades ecosystem and are thought to be responsible for a 90% decline in the native mammal population.

Biologists, volunteers and conservationists have been working to reduce the Burmese python population in the region.



The heaviest python, captured by biologists in Picayune Strand State Forest, weighed 215 pounds and had a length of 18 feet. The longest python captured in Florida measured 19 feet and weighed 125 pounds, Bartoszek said.

Remains of white-tailed deer hooves were found in the python's stomach, a reminder, Bartoszek said, that these snakes "are big game hunters."

"We often see the remains of deer inside pythons. Their impact throughout the food web of the Greater Everglades ecosystem cannot be understated," Bartoszek said.

If they are going to kill them anyway, why torment and wrestle the snake? Just shoot it in the head with a shotgun and go look for another one.

If you like snake there alot of meat there.

I don't think can shot it according to law.

I understand that. According to the article " Using a captive bolt gun, which is the method of euthanasia approved by the American Veterinary Association, she killed the python." My point is, if they are going to kill the invasive species anyway, the method of dispatch could be liberalized.

A few possible reasons.

A 198lb snake can take alot of punishment and survive.

These are controlled hunts often with multiple hunters not of the same group.

PR

Bubba riding the roads at night with a gun what could go wrong.

Most importantly they want the bodies for study, ideally not shot all to pieces.

If they really wanted to put the hurt on an invasive species . Probably get more people interested in taking them out if allowed them to kill on sight

Sounds a lot like hogs yet they are shot at night with thermals, trapped and even shot and chased with aircraft. I am not arguing, just trying to understand. If they want them eradicated, then take the gloves off and do it. If you only want to take a few lives ones for research, then you tell it like it is.

Well if I ever see one turkey hunting down there I can tell you with 100% certainty that it will not be taken alive. It will lay right next to its head and feed whatever eats dead snakes. There are some laws I just ignore, ban me if you want.
I am sorta curious how they’re driving trucks though. Where we hunted it’s NO vehicles and only certain areas allow buggy’s or UTV’s and that’s with approved permit only.

A giant snake on the road and you have a truck, clearly the best way to kill it is to wrestle it...

There’s gotta be stories of these things getting into 330s.

You better have 37 swivels on it!

My understanding is they can be killed on sight. Just by regulated means on lands under state control. Private property knock yourself out.

More of a safety/liability thing than anything else.

Besides half the thrill of it is actual laying on of hands in the capture and kill. I would not try that with one hand juggling a firearm, not with a critter that can literally squeeze the crap out of me.

They are not serious about eradication apparently. Its run by a Federal agency where the people in charge have soft hands from counting money. The type of people who, when in the field doing work, fight for the clipboard so as not to get their hands dirty.

12 gauge

Truth

Exactly. That's the gov't for ye. STUPID
Rickey

yup

I wouldn't even mind using steel cause it is on a preserve well and your going to be shooting feet not yards.
keep that shoty tube full and chamber empty with 6 more on the side and your ready to rock and roll fast.

I’ve heard rat snakes and even cotton mouths while sitting and waiting on a gobble. I couldn’t imagine what that sounds like, then seeing it!!