Quick Take
- Securing the state’s second-heaviest python required enduring a violent 15-foot drag across an anthill.
- Finding a record-challenging clutch of eggs inside the specimen highlights a massive ecological threat to the Everglades ecosystem.
- Analyzing the tracks proved counterintuitive when the snake’s actual mass contradicted initial scouting estimates.
- Obtaining Python Action Team certification allowed the hunter’s family to serve as official contracted assistants.
In the annals of record-breaking animals, there is big, and then there is Florida python big. Leave it to a professional python hunter to encounter one of the more impressive specimens in the history of the Sunshine State.
Capturing this creature required a hard-fought battle, during which a professional python hunter was dragged over an anthill. Some people may even consider this an injustice. The truth, however, requires an understanding of the Florida Everglades, the invasive species that have taken over its ecosystem, and the people who answer the call to combat a problem that is growing out of control. Let’s learn more about Carl Jackson and how his foray into the Everglades in search of one particular invasive species led him to capture the second-heaviest python ever found in Florida’s history.
Out of Towners
Burmese pythons are such effective predators in Florida that they are known to strangle, kill, and swallow full-sized alligators.
©
Before we delve into the exciting story of Carl Jackson and the second-heaviest python ever found in Florida, it’s important to give some background on the relationship between these hefty snakes and the Sunshine State. The Florida Everglades, with its humid temperatures and labyrinth of swamps, is a veritable showcase of unique creatures. But its ecosystem has faced an onslaught from other invasive species, such as the Burmese python.
All Burmese pythons found in the Florida Everglades are invasive, with many descending from escaped or abandoned pets. Sometime during the 20th century, these pythons established a breeding population, and their hunting prowess spread far and wide. Huge snakes with equally sizable appetites, Burmese pythons have all but decimated once-common creatures such as opossums, raccoons, and white-tailed deer.
Some people have more or less accepted Burmese pythons as the new apex predator of the region. Others, including state officials, are determined to stamp out the python problem. This is where a man like Carl Jackson enters the story.
License to Kill
Carl Jackson is one of the few people in Florida equipped for dealing with these massive, monstrous invasive snakes. He is a licensed, full-time python hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Jackson was on assignment in the Everglades on the afternoon of January 13 when he came across a sizable specimen. As reported by USA Today, Jackson was traveling on Turner River Road in Big Cypress National Park when he saw a Burmese python’s tracks snaking across the road. Jackson assumed they were from a smaller python, perhaps eight or nine feet long.
Jackson headed into the vegetation to get a closer look. He told the Naples Daily News, “I go in [to the bushes] and walk around, and I see a head.” In an instant, Jackson knew he was dealing with a much larger snake than he expected. He started wrestling with it, but the snake easily dragged him back over a red-and-black anthill. He said, “It was like riding a slow horse. It was insane.”
Luckily for Jackson, his team was there to help him. That team includes his family members: his wife, Tasha, and his adopted children, 20-year-old Ryker Young and 16-year-old Jazzlyn Bateman. Fortuitously, his wife and adopted children had become certified assistants in the FWC’s Python Action Team (Removing Invasive Constrictors Program) just one day before. Though the snake managed to coil around 43-year-old Jackson several times, his family members were able to uncoil the snake and secure it before it could do any more damage. As seen in this Facebook video, the snake was massive.
A Record-Breaker
The second-heaviest python captured in Florida history measured 16 feet, 10 inches.
©YouTube/WPLGLocal10 – Original
Jackson and his family were expecting a large snake; however, they were not expecting the second-heaviest Burmese python in Florida state history. The snake ended up measuring a whopping 16 feet, 10 inches, and weighing 202 pounds. Furthermore, it had a massive clutch of eggs in its body at the time of capture. For context, the heaviest Burmese python captured in Florida’s history was found in 2022. That specimen weighed 215 pounds.
This achievement is something of a dream come true for Carl Jackson. Originally from Utah, Jackson moved to Florida last year to pursue his dream of becoming a python hunter. He was inspired by professionals he had seen on the Discovery Channel. Remarkably, Jackson and his family later returned to the scene and captured another Burmese python, this time a 10-foot male, making the day even more impressive.
While Jackson was pleased to capture the second-heaviest python in Florida state history, he was even happier to have found a specimen with an impressive clutch of eggs in its body. That’s because each of those eggs would have become an invasive python. He told reporters, “That means more to me because that is 200 potential deer and native animal eaters [that were eliminated].”
