Florida’s 10-Day Python Hunting Season: Inside the State’s Most Unusual “Hunting Season”

 

For ten days each summer, Florida does something no other state does at this scale: it turns an invasive snake into the star of a statewide hunting competition.

The Florida Python Challenge™ is a tightly regulated, 10-day python hunting season focused on removing invasive Burmese pythons from South Florida’s Everglades. In 2025, 934 registered hunters from 30 states and Canada took part and removed a record 294 pythons in just ten days.

State officials say every single snake matters. The goal isn’t bragging rights; it’s survival for Florida’s native wildlife.

What Exactly Is the 10-Day Python Hunting Season?

The Florida Python Challenge is an annual ten-day competition run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and partners like the South Florida Water Management District. It’s designed to get both professionals and complete beginners into the field to remove Burmese pythons from specific public lands.

While people often call it a “python hunting season,” it’s really a time-boxed conservation event:

• It runs for 10 straight days.
  
• Hunters focus on Burmese pythons only, a nonnative species.
  
• The competition is meant to raise awareness and thin out python numbers, not to create a sport season for native wildlife.
  

When and Where the Hunt Happens

For 2025, the competition runs July 11–20, starting at 12:01 a.m. on the first day and ending at 5 p.m. on the last.

Hunters work across designated areas in South Florida, including:

• Parts of the Everglades managed by FWC and the South Florida Water Management District
  
• Everglades National Park, which was added as an official competition area in 2025
  

You cannot just walk onto any random property with a snake hook, participants must hunt only in approved competition zones.

Why Florida Is So Focused on Killing Burmese Pythons

Burmese pythons are not from Florida. They’re large constrictors, adult females can exceed 15 feet, that have become deeply established in the Everglades.

Wildlife managers consider them a top-tier invasive species because they:

• Prey on birds, mammals, and other reptiles, including raccoons, rabbits, wading birds, and even alligators.
  
• Have few natural predators in Florida.
  
• Reproduce aggressively; one female can lay 50–100 eggs at a time.
  

Since the early 2000s, more than tens of thousands of pythons have been removed from the wild through various programs and contractor efforts, and removal numbers have surged in recent years as the state has ramped up incentives.

The Python Challenge is one piece of that broader year-round removal strategy.

How to Take Part: Training, Fees, and Who Can Join

The event is intentionally open to both local Floridians and out-of-state participants. You don’t even need a traditional hunting license for the competition zones; just completion of the official registration and training.

Key requirements:

• Registration fee: $25 per person, non-refundable.
  
• Online training: Everyone must complete required online training and pass a quiz (minimum 85%) before their registration is accepted.
  
• No age shortcuts: Each participant needs their own training certificate code, no sharing between family and friends.
  
• Open to non-Floridians and international participants: People from other states and countries are welcome, as long as they complete the same training and registration steps.
  

The training covers identification, safe capture techniques, humane dispatch requirements, and legal rules. It’s designed to keep participants safe and minimize suffering for the animals.

Rules on Hunting Methods and Safety

The Challenge looks wild in the photos, but on the ground it’s heavily rule-driven.

Some of the major restrictions:

• No firearms in competition hunts
  
• No drones, dogs, or traps
  
• Participants may use tools like air guns and hand capture, as long as they follow humane-kill rules and site regulations.
  

Hunters also must:

• Check pythons for implanted research tags and report them correctly.
  
• Follow all check-station procedures for turning in snakes.
  
• Adhere to safety guidance for working in remote, wet, and alligator-heavy terrain.
  

FWC also sets up Training Outposts at check stations during opening weekend, where experts provide in-person coaching from 4–7 p.m.

The Money: Prizes and Categories

This is a conservation event, but cash absolutely drives interest.

The 2025 Florida Python Challenge offers $25,000 in total prizes, including:

• $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize
  

• Awarded to the participant who removes the most pythons overall.
  

• Additional awards in three categories, Professional, Novice, and Military, for:
  

• Most pythons
  
• Runner-up (most pythons)
  
• Longest python removed
  

Those category prizes typically range from $1,000–$2,500 each.

Record-Breaking Results: The 2025 Season

The 2025 competition set several milestones:

• 294 pythons removed, a record for the Challenge.
  
• 934 participants from across the U.S. and Canada.
  
• Grand-prize winner Taylor Stanberry removed 60 pythons in ten days, earning the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize and widespread media attention.
  

Officials say these numbers matter: every python removed is one less apex predator in an ecosystem already under heavy pressure from development, climate change, and other invasive species.

What Happens After the 10 Days Are Over?

The Challenge may only last ten days, but python removal doesn’t stop when the prize money is handed out.

• Florida encourages the public, and contracted hunters, to remove pythons year-round on certain lands, under specific rules and permits.
  
• Residents and visitors can also report python sightings to FWC so trained crews can respond.
  

State leaders have pointed to 2025 as proof that investing in removal programs works: just between May and July 2025, more than 1,000 pythons were removed, compared with 343 during the same period the year before.

If You’re Thinking About Joining

If you’re curious about participating in a future 10-day python hunting season, the safest path is:

1. Start on the official Florida Python Challenge website for rules, training, and registration info.
   
2. Take the online course seriously; it’s not only required, it’s what keeps you, other people, and native wildlife safer.
   
3. Treat the event as what it is: a conservation project with hunting elements, not the other way around.
   

Florida’s python problem isn’t going away overnight. But for ten days each year, the state turns that problem into a highly visible, highly regulated mission and invites the public to help push the Everglades a little closer back toward balance.