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Who's ready to meet me in Florida? (From: Curious.com)

Whoโ€™s up for a challenge? The state of Florida has just announced the dates for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge, a hunting contest to see who can remove the highest number of invasive Burmese Pythons from the wild. This yearโ€™s contest will take place between August 5 to 14. For those 10 days, any hunter can participate as long as they pass an online training course. The Python Challenge is organized by a partnership between the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). While some animal lovers might be put off by the idea of declaring open season on snakes without limits on the number of kills, The Florida Python Challenge is actually part of an ongoing effort by the state to help local wildlife, especially in the Everglades.

Originally introduced to Florida through the exotic pet trade, the pythons have wrought immense destruction on the local ecosystem. In fact, in the three decades since they established a breeding population, they have decimated the population of marsh rabbits, opossums and several other small animal species. The snakes will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, and considering that Burmese pythons can reach lengths of 20 feet and weigh up to 200 pounds, that covers a lot of wildlife. What makes invasive pythons so hard to manage is that they are perfectly suited to the climate and environment of Florida; their cryptic coloring helps them blend in and they thrive in the warm, humid conditions of the Everglades. They are so efficient and well-suited to their adopted hunting range that in a 2013 study tracking marsh rabbits fitted with radio transmitters, 77 percent of them were found to have been killed by pythons. Currently, there is no accurate data on the population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades, largely due to their excellent camouflage. Estimates range from anywhere in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Itโ€™s enough to make your skin crawl.

CaptainFeelgood 7 July 27
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You, Sir, are F**in nuts!

Or, channeling JimJones and looking for some company.

Have you ever seen the Glades? It is waaaay past wet. And, there are dino-looking critters called gators. The pythons are bait for the gators. You go to fetch a snake and your "friends" are not gonna dive in after you when the gator grabs you.

If you insist, please have your surviving friends post videos. ๐Ÿ™‚

๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿคฃ Well, Sir, you may be right about me being Fuckin nuts. No denying that. But so you know, I have been to the 'Glades' as you call it, and I assure you there are plenty of places to go and hunt these snakes without worrying about Gaters. This is an actual thing they do every year now you know. [flpythonchallenge.org]

@CaptainFeelgood When I used to live in Texas friends and other weirdos would wax poetic about the yearly rattler trappin parties out further west. "Let's go get some!"
Amazingly, they all came back, alive and with all their parts. More recently there are videos and just what I thought, it is all about drinkin beer.
Yah, hundreds of the nasty things were trapped and cooked (like every other weird meat in the world it tastes like chicken). But, it was the professionals that did that, and charged by the pound. Most everybody else is just staggering about swilling the beer.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can do that closer to home, with AC!!

@bobbo666 Aaawwwe,, you poor thing. Must be a rather boring life there at home swilling your beer. I'd much rather be outdoors with a bunch of friends doing it. I've been rattlesnake hunting here in NC with friends, but we waited until we got back to camp with our catch before cracking open the cold ones. And yes, it does taste a bit like chicken, but the texture is a bit more like catfish or flounder. Oh well, to each their own.

@CaptainFeelgood If swilling beer is boring, you must be a teasip.
Betcha don't know what that means. Hint, think Texas and Unis. ๐Ÿ™‚

@bobbo666 Actually I dated a girl that went to Texas A&M, so yeah, I'd heard the term before, but I've never been there.

@CaptainFeelgood Congrats. There were not a lot of female Aggies there when I was a frosh -- way back in the ..... never mind that.
I then went to UT of all places.

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