export_ofoct.com (1)

[00:00.96] That project is shared by the wildlife agency and the South Florida Water Management District.

[00:09.98] Through 2023, more than 18,000 pythons have been removed from the wild.

[00:19.01] Contractors like Aycock have removed about 11,000.

[00:26.19] The pay is average. Hunting along backroads pays $13 an hour.

[00:34.42] Walking through the swamp pays $18 an hour.

[00:39.73] Contractors also get paid per snake: $50 for the first 1.2 meters in length, plus more for longer snakes.

[00:52.50] “You’re not going to make a living doing this full-time.

[00:56.21] There’s no way you could do it,” Aycock said.

[01:00.72] Florida does not permit hunters to use firearms to kill pythons.

[01:07.10] Catching them is a hands-on exercise.

[01:11.87] Aycock goes into the wetlands to check on known hatching spots and grabs at them when he can.

[01:20.90] But mostly he drives down empty roads at night, shining a strong light into the swamps.

[01:29.41] He says these bug-filled drives help his mental health.

[01:35.51] Sometimes he brings along fellow members of the Swamp Apes, a mental health non-profit organization for veterans.

[01:46.67] The group catches invasive snakes in the wild, clears overgrown areas, and works toward environmental preservation.

[01:58.38] The group’s founder, Tom Rahill, is also a snake hunting contractor.

[02:05.55] He knows the swamp so well that he can smell a python’s “musk” odor. He says he can feel when a snake is near.

[02:16.97] There is an art to catching a snake, the hunters say.

[02:22.28] The methods change from hunter to hunter.

[02:25.73] Some use a snake hook and then jump on them before putting them into bags.

[02:33.18] Rahill likes using his hands -- if the snake is calm enough.

[02:39.02] “Instead of jumping on the snake, you just kind of gently get up to it and then just pick it up,” he said.

[02:48.58] But the snakes are not always calm. Sometimes a hunter needs a helper to keep the snake uncoiled until it calms down and can be contained to prevent escape.

[03:06.11] Once the snakes are caught, the hunters have 24 hours to take them to the wildlife agency.

[03:15.41] It is illegal for any person other than a licensed contractor to transport a live, invasive snake.

[03:26.83] Aycock takes them home first to be “humanely killed.”

[03:31.88] “That’s the part of the job that I really just ... hate,” he said.

[03:37.45] “I hate having to kill snakes.”