Python hunt falls well short of expectations

Maybe the media and polititions have been blowing everything out of proportion on the amount of Burms in the Everglades. Here is the article.

October 30, 2009
Python hunt falls well short of expectations
The state’s big python hunt that began on July 17 ends Saturday, but of the estimated 100,000 or so pythons slithering in the Everglades, as of Thursday python hunters caught only 37, according to wftv.com of Orlando.

Maybe there aren’t as many pythons out there as some experts theorize. Then again some experts say that giant pythons have a nearly unlimited food supply in the Florida wild and will sit dormant for up to a month digesting a big meal.

“They’re out there breeding on their own. So I think it’s going to be a difficult journey for this hunt period,” said Joey Inherst, who captures snakes for a living.
Posted by John Chamless at 07:45:00 AM on October 30, 2009
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Here is the link.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/bizarre/2009/10/python-hunt-falls-well-short-of-expectations.html

When I was just down there in July I didn't see a one and we went from coast to coast and down to the keys looking for bugs and were where we should have seen at least one during the week plus we were down there. I think it's a lot of hype.

Ummmm...What did they expect....and yes their theories are wrong because they are just that...THEORIES NOT FACTS....

The Florida Department of Natural Resources is filled with very intelligent scientists. I've seen the data. I attended the National Wildlife Society Conference last year in Miami and there was a whole symposium dedicated to this topic. Trust me when I say that I trust their theory a lot more than most people's facts.

Honestly, I think 37 is a really good number for the first python hunt. Think about it. We're hunting a species that although large is highly cryptic (aka hard to find), exists in a very difficult to access area (the Everglades), and we don't have any good hunting methods yet. This was an experiment, and although they didn't kill as many as they hoped, they probably killed more than the scientists' expected.

In addition, do we know how many permits were issued? The only number I have is 14, although I certainly hope (and am inclined to believe) that more were issued than that. We'll have to wait until FL DNR releases their annual report, but I'm curious.

I'm an avid deer hunter, but let me tell you how difficult it is to actually find one of America's most abundant animals when it's hunting season. I've hunted in areas with as many as 35 deer per square mile and didn't see a single one during a whole month of hunting season! And deer are big! And they leave poop and tracks and other signs of their passing. I can't imagine a semi-aquatic big snake is going to leave a lot of sign for trackers to find. Hunting isn't as easy as it looks with those staged 'hunts' on TV.

Were you aware that Greg Graziani himself participated in this hunt? Kudos for him. He's a true representative of what our reptile community should be: focused on the welfare of captive reptiles AND fully aware of local conservation issues and willing to work hard to give the reptile community a respectable face.

Here is the article: http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article1046407.ece

The hunt was successful. Snakes were killed. That's 37 fewer pythons in the Everglades. I think we should all follow in Greg Graziani's example and try to be part of the solution instead of denying what is very much a problem in Florida.

Can't edit, so I'll add an addendum to my previous post. Fifteen people hold licenses to hunt on state land and 37 snakes were killed. That's a capture rate of over 100%. In the Everglades, 30 people hold permits. The article didn't specify how many of those snakes were actually killed by permit holders, but 11 were captured in one week. If you assume that those permit holders captured all those animals, that's still a success rate of 50%. That's an excellent hunt, in my opinion.

St Petersburg Times said:

Fifteen people have permits to hunt snakes on state-owned land. As of Monday (October 18, 2009), python hunters had captured and euthanized 37 snakes on land managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The hunting season expires Saturday, but state officials said they are considering another permitting program to hunt snakes.

Thirty people hold permits to hunt inside the Everglades National Park. So far this year, 281 snakes have been removed inside Everglades National Park, including 11 last week.

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Say what you want, it is far from and ecological disaster. However this will be used to take away our rights to own large snakes first and then everything else. This is ignorance and the animal rights agenda at its worst. If the problem exists in the Everglades, why are they trying to limit ownership of large serpents nationwide? How has the Mojave Desert where I live, or the tundra of Alaska been effected? Deal with the everglades problem in Florida, not the nation. The python ban in any form is nationwide, and must be stopped. The everglades is a excuse to limit ownership of snakes, not a reason. And as for the issues of large snakes and children over the last year, don't confuse unfit parents with the ownership of large snakes. This is the animal rights special interest groups and media propaganda limiting our individual rights as Americans.

The nationwide attempts at banning these large snakes is indeed an over reaction and not to be confused with the genuine ecological problem we have in Florida. The media love to spin things out of proportion, agreed. However, this hunt doesn't really have much to do with the national legislative issue, but rather it's a valid attempt at controlling these snakes. At this point eradication is probably impossible, but providing a healthy population check through legalized hunting works.

For example, along the coast of the southeast, we have a tremendous feral pig problem. Hunting these pigs has actually helped nesting sea turtles, because the pigs would dig up the nests and eat the eggs.

Unfortunately, science is often confounded in politics. There is good science that exists about the python problem (and other invasive species in Florida and elsewhere), but when is the last time the media actually read a scientific journal article and understood it? Never. They read what they want to read, often report a sensationalized version of the truth, and then scientists get blamed for it. It's very uncool.

The good science is applied by the Lacey Act, which will be avoided if this bill goes through. The same thing happened when HR 669 came about. The government needs to let the legislation in place handle the problems (real or imagined) and keep AR groups and legislators out of the process.

Moonstone said:

The good science is applied by the Lacey Act, which will be avoided if this bill goes through. The same thing happened when HR 669 came about. The government needs to let the legislation in place handle the problems (real or imagined) and keep AR groups and legislators out of the process.

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Well put. They've imposed their new laws and permitting systems on us as of last January, now they just need to give them time to work, the Pythons didn't show up in the Glades overnight and they're not going to go away that fast either.

This summer,I've been down in the Glades at least half a dozen times in as many months and on every trip we stayed, actively hunting, from just after sunset til early the following morning. I have yet to see one "wild" Burm or any python for that matter.That's not to say they're not there, I just don't think that they are as big of a problem as the "experts" would like us to think they are.