EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. – A snake-hunting team just bagged one of the largest Burmese pythons ever caught in Florida.
Zach Hoffman, Jan Gianello and Justice Sargood said they had covered 140 miles and were at the end of a really uneventful night of hunting Saturday morning, when they saw what they thought was a fallen tree in the road near Everglades City.
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They took a closer look and saw a gigantic snake.
Hoffman and his team jumped into action, but said the python didn’t go down easy.
“It was tough. Even as a team that snake was pretty overwhelming,” Hoffman said. “It exhausted us.”
The beast was 16-feet, 8-inches long and 105 pounds.
Hoffman says the trio started hunting about a year ago and spend about 25 hours a week in the swamp.
He says they have already caught hundreds of snakes.
Hoffman says the team always tries to harvest as much of the snakes they catch as they can.
They skinned this beast and donated portions of the meat to friends and family.
So, we had to ask which dishes are best made with python.
“Gyros, tacos, pretty much anything that you’d use chicken for, you can substitute it with python,” said Hoffman.
“It’s chicken-esque. It dries up on you if proper preparation isn’t made. Marinades and slow cooking it help alleviate that.”
Hoffman joked that he doesn’t expect to see python on restaurant menus anytime soon.
Python meat sales are legal in the United States, and one online site advertises boneless Burmese Python meat for $99.99 per pound.
The snake-hunting trio say they don’t have a name yet but are looking for suggestions.
Jake Waleri and Steven Gauta bagged the longest documented Burmese python ever caught in Florida.
They stumbled upon a 19-foot beast in the Big Cypress National Preserve near Naples in July 2023.