best rifle for pythons
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meanmrmustard
Member
I thought I was dreaming when I saw this.
If you have a .22, try using the Colibri rounds, fired to the base of the animals skull.
If you have a .22, try using the Colibri rounds, fired to the base of the animals skull.
BigN
Member
I'd go with a shotgun. Actually I wouldn't go looking for a snake that could eat me, but that's just me 
Hit_Factor
Member
Anything in 12, 16, 20 or. 410 gauge.
lemaymiami
Member
I work as a fishing guide in the Everglades (out of either Flamingo or Everglades City) when I'm doing daytime charters. In the last 16+ years of towing a small skiff down into the Park I've only seen three of the Burmese pythons (and I'm down at Flamingo almost 100 days a year...). Make no mistake, they're a bad and growing problem. In the last seven years I haven't seen one swamp rabbit along the only road in the Park. In recent years the number of racoons, an possums in that area has diminished dramatically as well. Road kill used to be a terrible problem - it's now confined to birds and reptiles almost exclusively... those darned snakes appear to be getting the rest of them.
As you can guess it's a hot topic down here in paradise.... If the Park established a bounty program for them (and made it worth doing....) I could generate quite a bit of extra cash hunting them - but so far, no joy. My gear of choice would be a small shotgun in 20ga along with a good sized machete and a large burlap bag. If you hunted them on cold days only they'd be pretty easy to find and dispatch with only that machete...
The biggest one I've personally see was at least 20 feet long (that animal stretched all the way across my lane -with six or seven feet still laying in the grass....).
As you can guess it's a hot topic down here in paradise.... If the Park established a bounty program for them (and made it worth doing....) I could generate quite a bit of extra cash hunting them - but so far, no joy. My gear of choice would be a small shotgun in 20ga along with a good sized machete and a large burlap bag. If you hunted them on cold days only they'd be pretty easy to find and dispatch with only that machete...
The biggest one I've personally see was at least 20 feet long (that animal stretched all the way across my lane -with six or seven feet still laying in the grass....).
BSA1
member
Why a Snake Charmer shotgun of course silly!
primalmu
Member
A .22 LR would be perfectly suitable. It is powerful enough to penetrate a horse's skull if you have to euthanize the horse in the field. A believe those gator hunter guys on the Discovery channel use .22 rifles, too.
RPRNY
Member
Shotgun and No. 5 or 4 shot, Mod or tighter choke. Snake Tamer is a good idea, light, short, cheap. But, I think I would want a repeater....
T Bran
Member
Shotgun material. They dont seem to fear vehicles much but as soon as I get out they haul butt. If they are cold it will be different but when warmed up they can really move.
Having to figure on a moving target makes me lean toward a scattergun of just about any gague available.
T
Having to figure on a moving target makes me lean toward a scattergun of just about any gague available.
T
Saakee
Member
FLRon
Member
Being a city boy, i have no experience personally. However, I had someone tell me just recently to feel free to take a shot at the body and when the head turns around and comes back to see what has happened, take a head shot.
Can any of those familiar with snake hunting comment on this approach please?
Can any of those familiar with snake hunting comment on this approach please?
Archangel14
Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2012
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What kind of python are we talking about here? Burmese? Lower Chi River python? I have to say, going after a python with a firearm is, well, less than sporting. When I'm out on my annual python/cobra hunts, I use a combination Kabar-blow gun approach.
Tommygunn
Member
Nuke it from orbit; it's the only way to be sure!
Sav .250
Member
You have to admit,sometime the questions are really funny.
Colt Smith
Member
"What's the best rifle for hunting a 12-foot long boa constrictor?"
Use a mongoose. Seriously though I would think a machete is plenty. If you don't want to get that close a shotgun will do the job. Do it clean and neat if you can. Lop off the head and give the rest to someone who will use the skins and eat the meat.
Use a mongoose. Seriously though I would think a machete is plenty. If you don't want to get that close a shotgun will do the job. Do it clean and neat if you can. Lop off the head and give the rest to someone who will use the skins and eat the meat.
Abel
Member
20ga with #6
lobo9er
Member
i would like to echo shotgun or 22. depending on situation. 410 sounds like a nice idea
lemaymiami
Member
Like the guy from Homestead said... they can move pretty fast...
They also have one other trait that makes actively hunting them in warm weather not much fun at all... Biologists that study them (the Park is probably going to study them until we're all up to our butts in pythons... but that's just my personal opinion...) tell me that the darned critters will coil up loosely on wet/dry plains right out in the open. The problem is that even a big one blends in so completely with its surroundings that you almost have to step on one to find them -when they're not moving...
For the fellow that says there's a bounty on them... Please name the agency and how much they're paying per snake (and do they want them alive or dead -dead would be my preference). While you're at it, if there is a bounty... I'll be astonished if Everglades National Park participates or would even allow that sort of activity (and there's lots of gladesrunners that are very capable of bringing in bags full of the things when it's cold).
Unlike all the popular speculation about snakes eating your pets... the real problem is how badly the things affect any local predator population. They're taking the food bobcats, foxes, hawks, and eagles need to prosper. Not enough food and their babies don't survive... I think things in the Flamingo area are in really bad shape (that's where many python are sighted most days...).
They also have one other trait that makes actively hunting them in warm weather not much fun at all... Biologists that study them (the Park is probably going to study them until we're all up to our butts in pythons... but that's just my personal opinion...) tell me that the darned critters will coil up loosely on wet/dry plains right out in the open. The problem is that even a big one blends in so completely with its surroundings that you almost have to step on one to find them -when they're not moving...
For the fellow that says there's a bounty on them... Please name the agency and how much they're paying per snake (and do they want them alive or dead -dead would be my preference). While you're at it, if there is a bounty... I'll be astonished if Everglades National Park participates or would even allow that sort of activity (and there's lots of gladesrunners that are very capable of bringing in bags full of the things when it's cold).
Unlike all the popular speculation about snakes eating your pets... the real problem is how badly the things affect any local predator population. They're taking the food bobcats, foxes, hawks, and eagles need to prosper. Not enough food and their babies don't survive... I think things in the Flamingo area are in really bad shape (that's where many python are sighted most days...).
krupparms
Member
Maybe an M203 mounted on a M16A2, just to be sure
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