Forget Coyotes, we gotta control these snakes:)

jiminbogart

TCU Go Frawgs !
Get caught shooting one and they'll stick you under the jail lol. Hopefully that changes after the ongoing predation survey in the big cypress is complete.

SSS

I'd call it civil disobedience.
 

Swamprat

Swamprat
Wait till a panther gets caught and ate by a python and you will see the state napalm the glades.

Panthers are a money maker for the state due to their so called "rarity" but slowly and surely they are eating their way through just about every animal species down there. Add the pythons in the mix and just about everything from rabbits to deer is becoming rarer than the panthers and pythons.
 

Iwannashoot

Pesident of the Fla Chaper Useless Billy club.
"Just about eradicated hogs south of the caloosahatchee and the deer numbers have plummeted as well"

I don't hunt or even live close enough to give it a shot. But, if these snakes can control the hog population, much less "eradicate" them , then there is a plus side to these creatures.

s&r

The Panthers did that, not the snakes.
 
it's a pretty significant theory

that the eastern cougars resurgence is because of the hog population. They (big cats) will pray on the piglets.

The cougar is protected and it is my hope that they return to the eastern US.

s&r
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
Hogs been on the increase in Florida since 1539.
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
Maybe the Vikings brought a few too.



They brought them and other stock to Iceland, but no evidence has been found anywhere in Greenland that they brought any livestock of any kind with them when they settled there.
 

swamp hunter

Senior Member
Why does everybody hate on Hogs ?
Dang good eating sometimes, and way bigger than a Rabbit.
I think ole Ponce stocked the Hogs , Glad he did..
When I worked for the NPS half the Staff wanted the Hogs gone Now..
The Panther folks we're just biding their time cause they knew it was a great source of an expanding Cat population.
Deer were at 1'3 per mile and that ain't feeding much.
You watch...major die off coming to the Cats as they ate themselves out of food...
 

red neck richie

Senior Member
Why does everybody hate on Hogs ?
Dang good eating sometimes, and way bigger than a Rabbit.
I think ole Ponce stocked the Hogs , Glad he did..
When I worked for the NPS half the Staff wanted the Hogs gone Now..
The Panther folks we're just biding their time cause they knew it was a great source of an expanding Cat population.
Deer were at 1'3 per mile and that ain't feeding much.
You watch...major die off coming to the Cats as they ate themselves out of food...
I don't. I like to eat em. If I had to guess It's because they are destructive to habitat and their populations are out of control. They eat turkey eggs as well. Just a guess?
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
Why does everybody hate on Hogs ?
Dang good eating sometimes, and way bigger than a Rabbit.
I think ole Ponce stocked the Hogs , Glad he did..
When I worked for the NPS half the Staff wanted the Hogs gone Now..
The Panther folks we're just biding their time cause they knew it was a great source of an expanding Cat population.
Deer were at 1'3 per mile and that ain't feeding much.
You watch...major die off coming to the Cats as they ate themselves out of food...


Swamp, they already crossing the Caloosahatchee now. They`ll have to expand their range as the game dwindles. They`ll regulate their numbers one way or the other, just as they always have.
 

Swamprat

Swamprat
They had one hit on I-4 a few years back...way North of the Caloosa.

FWC is pretty secretive on what they know about population and now with the new regime of Commisioners I think it will be worse. Wiley, Yablonski, Priddy were good folk who had common sense and wanted the right information before making a decision. Bloviating Alligator Ron was just there for his 15 minutes.

Kinda like the bear season, we were being fed a line of what the population was but all the outdoorsman said otherwise. Had passed the quota in like less than 48 hours and they shut that down pretty quick for the following years. They can say there is 200 something cats right now but we could probably kill 200 hundred and still have close to 200 remaining.
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
They had one hit on I-4 a few years back...way North of the Caloosa.

FWC is pretty secretive on what they know about population and now with the new regime of Commisioners I think it will be worse. Wiley, Yablonski, Priddy were good folk who had common sense and wanted the right information before making a decision. Bloviating Alligator Ron was just there for his 15 minutes.

Kinda like the bear season, we were being fed a line of what the population was but all the outdoorsman said otherwise. Had passed the quota in like less than 48 hours and they shut that down pretty quick for the following years. They can say there is 200 something cats right now but we could probably kill 200 hundred and still have close to 200 remaining.



I think the population is higher too, Scott. Correct me if I`m wrong, but, say a female has 2 cubs with her. Don`t they count that "unit" as one cat rather than three?
 

Swamprat

Swamprat
I think the population is higher too, Scott. Correct me if I`m wrong, but, say a female has 2 cubs with her. Don`t they count that "unit" as one cat rather than three?

Unless they
changed it if one or two cubs was with momma it counted as one since they were still dependant on momma. Once they broke away they were added to the population count.

Even then unless they were tagged hard to verify ones that survived after leaving. Lot of them get killed either by vehicles or other cats while searching for new territory.
 

oldfella1962

Senior Member
Other sources reveal they made it spit up the deer, (that's why they could weigh it) and released the snake as it is part of a tracking project.

If you want to read some interesting stuff, look up about the Indians (from India) whose culture is tracking and hunting these snakes, and who were brought to Florida. These dudes could actually track the snakes, and knew how to lure them in.

Another footnote, is that the water control districts in Fl. are independent gov't agencies, and the SW Fl. Water Control District has taken a much more aggressive approach to the python issue than the State of Florida.

I haven't seen the latest results, but there was one project where they were training terriers to scent and track the snakes. Apparently they leave a significant scent trail.

what's the life expectancy of the terriers? :rofl: You better roll out with a six-pack of them at least!
 
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