Python Hunting with Amy Siewe and Anne Gordon-Vega

Artemis

Yasss, pythons. Not a typo. This week on the podcast, we hear about how Amy Siewe went from snake lover to snake hunter -- and how her hunting pal Anne Gordon-Vega also became a python contractor. Pythons aren't native to Florida, and they wreak havoc on native ecosystems. So... when you find a 17-foot python big enough to swallow a deer, in the middle of the night, and you're alone... how DO you handle that?

3:30 Badass python-hunters are grandmas, too!

5:00 Life transition: Going from being a real estate broker in Indiana to a Florida python hunter

7:00 A brief history of pythons in Florida... a non-native, apex predator

9:30 "In the southern part of the state we've lost over 90% of all mammals." It's shocking. No opossums, no raccoons, no marsh rabbits.

12:00 Miami, drugs & exotic pets

14:00 Pythons are VERY difficult to find in the wild

15:00 What eats baby pythons? Plus, python breeding

17:00 Two python facts: They're the only snake that sits a nest, and the "babies" are 18-24 inches when they're born. (AH!)

18:00 When a python regurgitates the last four things it ate...

23:00 The contractor program in Florida - Florida Wildlife Commission; South Florida Water Management District

26:00 The python-hunting version of a Florida family vacay

30:00 Meeting your first deer-eater sized python at 2 a.m., laying over its body so it doesn't wrap you, and wrestling it into a bag

34:00 Snake-bagging 101

37:00 Catching a python on your ebike

40:00 Team-tagging pythons at night in dark, dark swamp water

43:00 Wrangling a 17-footer, with a timely assist from passing hunters

48:00 Python hunting is actually not much like how it's portrayed on reality TV

51:00 BSwanky handbag line from Florida pythons

52:00 Amy is a full-time python-hunter... and she also saves the skins for her own line of product. Find her online, Python Huntress

53:00 What does it PAY to be a python contractor? It's not about the money... "I do it out of love (for the Everglades), and -- I'll admit it -- adrenaline."

54:00 Python hunting is a night-time thing... outsiders can totally try it on vacation, but start by paying attention to the rules: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

55:00 The Florida Python Challenge - cash prizes! ATVs! Reptile stuff!

56:00 Are we putting a meaningful dent in the python problem?

58:00 Snake-tracking hound dogs

59:00 Find @PythonHunter_Amy on Insta, or PythonHuntress.com for those snake skin goods we mentioned; Find Anne on the FWC Python Contractor FB page

1:04 Turkey hunting! It's ON. (Dinner Island Ranch, where working cattle land meets public lands)

1:06 When mom makes you a snake bag for the record-breaker on the horizon... <3

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