{"id":725033,"date":"2026-01-27T22:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725033\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T22:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:09:14","slug":"python-drags-hunter-15-feet-over-ant-hill-like-riding-a-slow-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725033\/","title":{"rendered":"Python drags hunter 15 feet over ant hill; \u2018like riding a slow horse\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A professional python hunter in Florida needed assistance from family members to uncoil a giant Burmese python from his body and to ultimately subdue the second-heaviest python ever caught in Florida.<\/p>\n

Carl Jackson, who is a contracted python hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was traveling back on Turner River Road in Big Cypress National Park in the afternoon on Jan. 13 when he noticed Burmese python tracks across the road over his truck tracks, as reported by Naples News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They appeared to be tracks from a smaller snake, perhaps an 8-footer, tops.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go in [to the bushes] and walk around and I see a head,\u201d Jackson told Naples News.<\/p>\n

He immediately recognized that this was not a small snake.<\/p>\n

Jackson began wrestling with the huge python, which dragged him an estimated 10 to 15 feet over a red and black ant hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like riding a slow horse,\u201d Jackson, 43, told Naples News.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carl<\/p>\n

Carl Jackson poses with the second-heaviest Burmese python ever caught in Florida.<\/p>\n

\"Jackson's<\/p>\n

Jackson’s python weighed 202 pounds, only 13 pounds from the record.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The python measured 16 feet, 10 inches.<\/p>\n

Jackson relied upon his team to uncoil the snake from around his body several times. His team included his wife, Tasha, and adopted kids, Ryker Young, 20, and Jazzlyn Bateman, 16, all of whom just the day before became certified assistants in the FWC\u2019s Python Action Team, Removing Invasive Constrictors program.<\/p>\n

The python wound up being the second-heaviest python ever caught in Florida at 202 pounds. The record is 215 pounds caught in 2022.<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s python was a 16-foot, 10-inch female, which had been carrying 200 eggs.<\/p>\n

Also on FTW Outdoors: Woman awakes to find python on her chest, \u2018don\u2019t move\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat means more to me because that is 200 potential deer and native animal eaters [that were eliminated],\u201d Jackson told Naples News.<\/p>\n

Since moving from Utah to hunt pythons last year, Jackson has eliminated 91 pythons, including the longest one among the contracted hunters in 2025\u2014a 17-foot, 10-inch python. <\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Python drags hunter 15 feet over ant hill; \u2018like riding a slow horse\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A professional python hunter in Florida needed assistance from family members to uncoil a giant Burmese python from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[216012,216010,216011,70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-725033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-burmese-python","9":"tag-carl-jackson","10":"tag-naples-news","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115969350985986500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}