Carl Jackson noticed something when he turned his truck around on Turner River Road in Big Cypress National Park. It was almost 4 p.m. on Jan. 13. He was on his way back to near where he had just spent some time hunting Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades.
“I saw two snake tracks right across the road going over my truck tracks,” Jackson said.
Initially, Jackson said he didn’t think much of those snake tracks.
“They were small – like a mountain bike tire,” Jackson said. “I thought like, maybe we had a 5-to-8-foot snake.”
Jackson, a contracted python hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, proceeded to go in the bushes where pythons like to hide.
“I go in and walk around and I see a head,” Jackson said.
How heavy was near-record Burmese python caught in Florida Everglades?
Based on the size of the snake’s head, Jackson immediately knew this was a much larger snake than he originally thought, a much different snake than the snake tracks he just saw on the road.
He said: “Gravy.”
As Jackson started the removal process for this python, he got the surprise of his life. His eyes were locked on what would be − after an epic wrestling match that involved three members of his family − the heaviest snake he ever caught and the second heaviest to be recorded in Florida.
Burmese pythons, an invasive species first identified in Everglades National Park more than 20 years ago, are distributed across more than a thousand square miles in southern Florida. They’re among the largest snakes in the world, with adult animals averaging between 10 and 16 feet long, according to the University of Florida.
The 16-foot, 10-inch female python Jackson caught weighed 202 pounds. The record is a 215-pound python caught in 2022.
“It was insane,” Jackson said.
How do you catch a 200-pound Burmese python in the Florida Everglades?
The same can be said for what Jackson went through to contain the snake, which during the wrestling match would coil several times and wrap itself around the 43-year-old hunter from Utah.
Jackson estimated the snaked dragged him 10-15 feet and over a red and black ant hill along the way before the struggle − all of it captured on video − finally ended.
On this day, a python hunter played cowboy.
“It was like riding a slow horse,” Jackson said.
How do you become a python hunter in Florida?
During the capture, Jackson said he needed to call on his “team” and “assistants” several times to get the snake uncoiled from his body. He was referring to his wife, Tasha, and his adopted children, Ryker Young, 20, and Jazzlyn Bateman, 16. It was only the day before that all three of them became Jackson’s certified assistants in the FWC’s Python Action Team – Removing Invasive Constrictors program.
Jackson and his family came to Florida last June, leaving their life behind in Utah for the adventures of python hunting in the Everglades. Jackson was born and raised in Utah and said he would never leave. But he saw a Discovery Channel show about python hunting. He wanted to do it. Full-time.
Jackson’s wish came true when he was hired to be a contracted python hunter in 2025. The FWC has contracted Quintessence Marine (QM) to assist staff with management of day-to-day operations of the PATRIC program.
During the interview process, Jackson said he was asked if he’d be hunting part-time since he lived in Utah.
“I applied several times in the past and then last year I applied again and Roland from QM reached out to me,” Jackson said. “He said, ‘You are in Utah’. I said, ‘If you hire me I will hitch up my trailer and head down there.’ “
Jackson and his family currently have set up a camp on Bear Island.
Jackson made a big splash in his new job when he caught the longest (17-feet, 10-inches) among the contracted hunters for 2025 and is among the longest pythons ever caught in Florida. He said since he started the job he has eliminated 91 pythons. That snake was “only” 153 pounds. Jackson weighs 152 pounds.
He will never forget this one. Neither will his wife, who eventually was the one to put tape around the snake’s mouth, or his children.
What came next was the transporting the snake where it could be weighed and measured and prepped for the taxidermist. Jackson said he’s going to have the snake’s head mounted on a wooden plaque. The snake’s skin was sold.
“We got the snake bag and couldn’t get half of her in the bag,” Jackson said. “Last year, when I got the 17-foot, 10-inch snake, I could put that in my bag. This snake was only 16-feet, 10-inches. It was smaller but three to four times around. It has a girth of 26 inches and that is unheard of.”
Also of note, Jackson said, was the necropsy of the snake. She hadn’t had a meal in a while. No sign of native animals like deer or rabbits.
“It was all just her,” Jackson said.
And beside removing one more of these invasive creatures from the Everglades, Jackson said the snake was carrying 200 eggs. So, he scored multiple victories with the catch.
“That means more to me because that is 200 potential deer eaters and native animals,” he said.
As any good python hunter would − despite being exhausted from their near-record catch − Jackson and his family returned to the spot where they captured the 200-pounder. In the process of catching that snake, Jackson said they had intentions of looking for male snakes in the vicinity, but they left to get the female weighed and measured.
As it turns out, their day of snake hunting was not over.
“We got to the spot where we caught her and caught a 10-foot, 1-inch male as well,” Jackson said.
What happens to Burmese pythons caught in Florida?
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife, captured Burmese pythons must be humanely euthanized at the site of capture and cannot be transported alive.
While they are not protected in Florida, anti-cruelty law still applies.
Many methods are available to kill invasive pythons. Regardless of the method you use, two steps must be completed to humanely kill a reptile:
What are the heaviest pythons ever caught in Florida?
Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologists caught the heaviest Burmese python ever recorded in the Florida Everglades in 2022. The colossal female python weighed an eye-popping 215 pounds and was nearly 18 feet long.
A 198-pound Burmese python was captured in November 2023 in the Big Cypress Preserve, making it the second-heaviest ever caught in the Sunshine State. The massive snake was 17 feet, 2 inches long.
What’s the longest Burmese python on record, caught in Southwest Florida?
A group of python hunters caught the longest Burmese python ever measured on July 10, 2023, in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County.
The monster snake was 19 feet long.
18-foot pythons captured in south Florida, Everglades
The previous record was held by python hunters Ryan Ausburn and Kevin Pavlidis who captured a python measuring a whopping 18-feet 9-inches in 2020.
In 2013, Jason Leon captured a then-record 18-foot python in southeastern Miami-Dade County. The massive snake weighed 128 pounds.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida hunter outlasts 200-pound Burmese python in epic wrestling match
Reporting by Mark H. Bickel, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
