Florida's python hunt coming soon. What to know about the reigning champ

Here's what we know about the 2026 Florida Python Challenge, how the yearly hunt works and a little bit about last year's winner.
The Cool Down on MSN

Florida's wild 10-day python hunting contest takes over the Everglades after dark

The event now feels like equal parts wildlife management effort, local tradition, and surreal endurance test.

‘The Python Hunt’ Review: An Entertainingly Garish Documentary Account of a State-Sanctioned Culling Spree

Xander Robin's fluorescent, stranger-than-fiction 'The Python Hunt' follows a variety of American oddballs in the annual ...
ABC15 Arizona

Amateur hunters capture nearly 18-foot python days before annual competition

NAPLES, Fla. — Three men said how they're pumped for the annual Python Challenge invasive snake hunting event, after catching a nearly 18-foot python Wednesday night in the Big Cypress National ...

In ‘The Python Hunt,’ a Real Competition as Riveting as Fiction

The Florida Python Challenge brings out a fascinating cast of characters, all captured by the director Xander Robin’s camera.

Biologists Are Using Florida Opossums as Low-Tech Trackers to Hunt the State's Invasive Burmese Pythons

The collars send a signal to researchers after a opossum is eaten, leading to the snake's location ...
WFTV

Florida python hunt pays minimum wage plus bonuses

In an effort to reduce the population of invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades, the South Florida Water Management District announced an experimental program Thursday that offers $8.10 an hour, ...