Meanwhile in Florida: Cousins Wrangle 300 Pound Python, Take Ultimate Snake in the Grass Selfie

Frolicking with your friends in the wetlands of Florida always runs the risk of encountering a snake in the grass, but rarely is it a 300-pound python on the prowl for breakfast. While driving on his property in Zolfo Springs, Aaron Brown saw something he’d never thought he’d see slithering in the sod. As he pulled over to take a closer look, he realized it was a 16-foot long Burmese python.

Yep: the kind that swallows men whole with one snap of the jaw. Brown’s mom, who was riding shotgun at the time, told her son to hop out of the truck and go catch the snake. For those of you who’ve never encountered a serpent of such stature, snake enthusiast Aaron Brown will tell you exactly what you need to do first.

Scream.

“I was like, ‘Good lord, that’s a huge snake!’” Brown recalled, clenching various parts of his body.

Following more motherly encouragement, Brown called his cousin Willy Wilkinson to help wrangle the python. Together, they chased it into a culvert, and with a couple of long hooks at their disposal, began battling the snake. That’s when it turned on them – but Brown was unfazed. Conjuring up the bravery of their hero, Dusty Crum, star of the reality show Guardian of the Glades, the cousins compelled the python into a drainage ditch.

“Ever since the Guardian of the Glades has been on, I always tell my wife I’d love to go down there and catch a snake. Just one time go catch a snake. Lo and behold, one that was astronomically huge fell in my lap because my cousin spotted it in a ditch,” said Wilkinson.

Before it could escape through the drainage line, however, the pair drew a firearm and shot it, then pulled its carcass piecemeal from the pipe. They laid the snake down to its full length and took the requisite selfies, which spread so fast across the internet, even their hero Dusty Crum decided to pay them a visit and get a load of their prized python.

While Burmese pythons are not native to the Everglades, illegal import and release of the animals has led to an increase of natural breeding in the area. In fact, the very next day a 9-foot python was found in a neighboring county. Brown’s specimen, not surprisingly, is the largest ever reported in Zolfo Springs. Brown had never hunted anything so big in his life, but he claims it’s not the craziest thing he’s ever run across.

“It’s in the top ten,” he said with a smile. Personally, we don’t even want to know what’s in his top five.

Cover Photo: Aaron Brown

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