Tom Rahill said he was on a mission.
Rahill, the ultimate grand prize winner for the 2026 Florida Python Challenge, was recognized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) today (Aug. 5) at a commission meeting in Panama City.
He was awarded $10,000 for harvesting the most snakes during the July 10-19 compeition that took place across eight designated hunting areas in and around the Everglades where pythons are a significant threat to native species.
Rahill, who founded an organization called SwampApes in Broward County that takes veterans suffering from PTSD on python hunts eliminated 96 pythons. A total of $25,000 was distributed in three categories for hunters who participated.
“I was on a mission to get one of our veterans a big snake,” Rahill said when he took the microphone. “I did. And we wrestled this thing. That was the mission. To get him a big snake − it was a 17-foot female. The veteran was just over the moon.”
Rahill said once that mission was accomplished the focus was on harvesting as many of the invasive pythons as he could.
“I went deeper in the Glades and that’s when I found those 96,” he said.
The FWC said 907 registered to compete this year, coming from 30 states in the U.S. , Canada and Vietnam.
A total of 280 pythons were removed during the competition. It was reported at Wednesday’s meeting that coming into this year’s Florida Python Challenge, 1,400 pythons had been removed.
Last year hunters removed 294 snakes.
Managed by the FWC and the South Florida Water Management District, the Burmese python hunt has become a tradition in south Florida over the past decade. The first competition was held in January of 2013. The competitive hunt has since been moved to summer during the python hatchling season.
Naples resident Taylor Stanberry won the grand prize in 2025. Stanberry eliminated 60 pythons to become the first woman in the competition’s history to finish on top. She eliminated 33 female pythons and 27 males. The longest snake she caught was just over 9 feet and weighed about 16 pounds.
The Florida Python Challenge is the only official Burmese python hunt in the world.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia and were first reported in the Everglades system in the 1990s.
This invasive predator has wiped out a significant amount of native wildlife in south Florida and is now likely a permanent feature of this landscape.
Florida Python Challenge 2026 prizes
Along with the $10,000 top prize for the most pythons caught, this is the breakdown by category:
Professional Category
Novice Category
Military Category
What is the Florida Python Challenge?
The Florida Python Challenge is a python removal competition held every year since 2013 to increase awareness of the invasive species and keep the populations down.
The 10-day event takes place in eight FWC-managed areas in South Florida, you can’t kill them in your backyard and count them in your numbers. The Everglades National Park was added in 2025 as one of the competition locations.
How serious is the python problem in Florida?
Burmese pythons have wrought destruction in the Florida Everglades. They’ve contributed to the decline of small mammals including raccoons, opossums, bobcats, foxes, marsh rabbits and cottontail rabbits.
A recent study revealed that Burmese pythons can eat prey much larger than previously reported. Scientists observed a Burmese python swallowing a 77-pound white-tailed deer, nearly 70 percent of the snake’s mass.
How many Burmese pythons are in Florida?
“Burmese pythons are hard to find due to their cryptic coloration and secretive behaviors, and their low detection probability is a major challenge to effective python control and research,” according to Florida Fish and Wildlife.
However, conservative estimates by the USGS put the Burmese python population in the Florida Everglades region in the tens of thousands.
Can Burmese pythons ever be removed from Florida?
Because Burmese pythons are distributed across more than a thousand square miles of southern Florida, including all of Everglades National Park and across the southern coast, the chances of completely eliminating the snake from Florida is low.
Controlling their numbers and preventing their spread out of the area are critical goals for conservation efforts and land managers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Where is the 2026 Florida Python Challenge being held? Competition locations
The Florida Python Challenge will take place in these eight competition locations:
Mark H. Bickel is the Audience Development Director for The News-Press & Naples Daily News. Reach him by emailing mbickel@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida Python Challenge winner claims $10,000 grand prize
Reporting by Mark H. Bickel, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark H. Bickel, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
