Aaron Brown was driving down Parnell Road when he observed something unusual on his family’s property and decided to investigate more. “I screamed as I drove past, ‘That’s a big snake.’ ‘Well, come out there and grab it,’ my mother said while I was with her. ‘You go out and fetch it,’ I insisted. You won’t be able to help me if that jerk captures me.’ Aaron remembered. A 16-foot Burmese python was the huge snake. Aaron requested aid from his cousin, William Wilkinson. “I told him about it.” ‘Keep an eye on that thing, man; I’m heading your way.’ “We’re going to catch that beast,” Captain “William” declares.
After it slithered into a culvert, Aaron, William, and William’s son Hunter got to work. “We tried dragging him back and forth, but he kept coming back on us,” William explained. The family was not prepared to give up hope. The fight was done after hooking and shooting the snake. “When we eventually got him out, I was like, ‘Wow, what a snake!’” says the author. William recalled something. It’s also the biggest snake ever found in Zolfo Springs. “We measured him and set him down, along with the two toddlers, to obtain a rough concept and ended up discovering a tape measure,” William recounted.
It weighed 300 pounds and was 16 feet 4 inches tall. “We’ve gone through these woods barefooted in and out, and we’ve never seen something that big,” William stated. The family enlisted the help of Dusty Crum, a local wildman and snake hunter. Crum added, “We’re down in the Everglades trying to block these pythons from going north in all ways.” He took the snake to get it peeled and examined. Within, he discovered 100 eggs. Pythons have been spotted outside of the Everglades. On Monday, FWC and Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office officers worked together to catch a 9-foot python in Rotonda/Englewood in Charlotte County.
“Hopefully, it’s only a rogue snake that’s wandered this far north.” “These boys were able to prevent an invasion by k.il.ling a giant breeding snake like that,” Dusty explained. Now that the snake has departed, Aaron and William are keeping their eyes open. “On my way to and from work, I’ve been scanning every ditch in the hopes of finding another.” “People are now demanding that I go snake hunting with them,” they said.
