Episode 614 - Mike Kimmel || The Python Cowboy

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Origins Foundation Podcast

Episode 614 – Mike Kimmel || The Python Cowboy
Date: January 6, 2026

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Overview

This episode features Mike Kimmel, widely known as “Python Cowboy,” a renowned trapper and conservationist from South Florida recognized for his work removing invasive species—especially pythons—from the Florida Everglades. Mike shares his unique experiences hunting invasive reptiles, the importance of species management, his background, and reflections on wildlife, conservation, and public perceptions around hunting in Florida. The discussion places a spotlight on the blend of tradition, hands-on science, and stewardship that underpins his work.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Getting to Know Mike Kimmel (“Python Cowboy”)

• Background

  • Born and raised in South Florida; calls himself a "Florida cracker," a term he explains as affectionate and historic rather than derogatory.
  • His father was a sailor, leading to a childhood spent sailing from Florida to South America and the Caribbean (09:18-09:47).
  • Early passion for wildlife; began volunteering with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) as a teenager, helping with nuisance alligator removals (13:58-14:24).

• Professional Profile

  • Owner/operator of Martin County Trap and Wildlife Rescue.
  • Bridges the gap between trapping/removal and guided hunting experiences for clients (13:39-13:55, 34:20-35:19).

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2. Life as a Gladesman

• Describes the culture and history of the Gladesmen—hunters and trappers of the Everglades.
• Discusses the history of man-made islands and airboat trails in the Everglades, as well as the eviction of traditional campsites (03:27-04:54, 05:09-06:01).

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3. Wildlife Management in Modern Florida

• Alligator Management

  • Explains that passive “leave it alone” approaches are no longer viable due to urban encroachment and landscape changes:

    “In this day and age we live in, there is no more just leaving them alone. Look at Florida. I mean, we've encroached so much into the wildlands that we have to manage it.” (18:00-18:17)

  • Management prevents overpopulation, aggressive territorial behavior, and dangerous conflicts in communities (18:17-19:29).
  • Describes state/private land alligator tag systems, surveys, and economic sustainability—hunting can be a vital conservation and financial tool (16:02-17:10).

• Bear, Python, and Iguana Management

  • Controversially short bear hunting season led to misunderstanding about its need and value for population control (19:35-20:52).
  • The same principles apply to invasive pythons and iguanas—public misunderstanding is common, often arising from lack of education (20:59-22:06).
  • Mike stresses that education and public engagement are crucial to supporting management programs.

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4. Invasive Species: Challenges and Realities

• Iguanas

  • Florida’s iguana population is now self-sustaining in the wild; pet trade restrictions have inadvertently removed a form of free management by trappers (23:26-25:36).
  • Efficient trapping techniques discussed—nets, nooses, and baited traps—with decline in outside trappers after new laws.

• Pythons and Monitors

  • Details the spread and difficulty of python removal; describes the Burmese python as the main species of concern (29:16-29:50).
  • Tells of his experience rescuing alligators from huge pythons, highlighting one video that went national and sparked his social media presence (30:18-33:55).
  • Explains the use of detection dogs—mainly German Wirehaired Pointers and Drahthaars—and their specialized training to sniff out snakes and other invasives (37:51-39:19, 43:09-44:12).

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5. Hunting as Conservation and Social Education

• Public and Online Perception

  • Mike shares stories of confronting public misconceptions head-on, both in real life and on social media (21:07-22:46).
  • Highlights the importance of patience and education:

    “When I have a moment to explain it to them … a lot of times they end up thanking me for what I'm doing.” (21:07-22:06)

  • Even self-identified vegans and animal rights advocates have expressed appreciation after understanding the reality (22:46-23:10).

• Guided Hunts and Experiences

  • Describes the evolution of guided hunts for clients—how difficult and specialized invasive species hunting can be (35:19-36:47).
  • Notes the challenges of night-time python hunts and shooting iguanas from moving boats—“Even the best shooters that come out struggle.” (35:28-35:51).

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6. Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

Wild Encounters

• Catching a 17ft, 135lb Python:

  “17 Ft 7 inches. 135 pounds and it bit the hell out of me.” – Mike Kimmel (03:19)

• Python vs. Alligator Rescue:

  “I have to bear hug this bundle up out of the water … the alligator head is also loose. So ... then I body slam it down as hard as I could, like WWE on that thing ... The snake starts to uncoil.” – Mike Kimmel (31:14-32:24)

On the Necessity of Management:

• “You leave them alone. The alligators are their own worst enemy ... spill out into our communities, our residential areas ... obviously become a problem and a danger.” – Mike Kimmel (18:19-18:49)

On Dealing with Critics:

• “To me … that’s how I built my page … when I would go through and answer every single comment … I built a very loyal following. I'll have tree huggers and vegans in my comments rooting for me.” – Mike Kimmel (22:13-22:48)

Nature of the Work:

• “It's different, you know? Yeah, it's. People ain't used to shooting big reptiles.” – Mike Kimmel (50:15)

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7. Python Dogs & New Discoveries

• Detection Dog Breeds

  • Details on breeding, selection, and training of python dogs (37:51-41:52).
  • Points out the difficulty and importance—dogs can find underground nests and save countless hours of human searching.

• Nesting Behaviors

  • Recent groundbreaking observation: pythons are reusing nesting sites, especially underground dens, changing the field strategy (43:34-46:09).

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Additional Noteworthy Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------------------- |---------------| | Largest python caught | 03:14-03:30 | | History of Everglades camps | 05:26-06:01 | | Alligator management & surveys | 16:00-17:10 | | Public resistance to hunting | 17:43-19:29 | | Bear hunt controversy | 19:35-20:52 | | Social media and public education | 21:07-22:46 | | Restrictions on iguana trapping | 23:26-25:36 | | Iguala and python territory | 28:12-29:37 | | The genesis of “Python Cowboy” | 33:43-34:20 | | Python/alligator rescue story | 30:18-33:55 | | Using detection dogs | 37:51-39:19 | | Discovery of underground nests | 43:34-46:09 |

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Where to Find Mike Kimmel

• YouTube and Instagram: @pythoncowboy
• Merchandise, Leather Goods, & Guided Hunts: pythoncowboy.com
• Guided Adventure Inquiries: [e-mail] (49:22-49:40)

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Tone & Atmosphere

The conversation is friendly, candid, full of humor, and infused with the heat and wildness of the Florida swamps. Mike’s practical, boots-on-the-ground philosophy balances with thoughtful perspectives from the hosts, providing a vivid and grounded insight into living and working with wildlife at the intersection of human expansion and nature.

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Closing Takeaways

• Sustainability and science drive the mission.
• Education—both through conversation and social media—is essential to changing perceptions.
• Wildlife management is necessary due to human impact, and hunting can play a responsible, beneficial role.
• Mike’s journey shows how conservation, entrepreneurship, tradition, and outreach can all reinforce one another for healthy ecosystems and communities.

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Notable Final Quote

“There’s only going to be certain things in this world that are, like, truly fun to hunt, has a purpose, has sort of invasive species purpose to it. That iguana has a conservation benefit to it … you can do something with it. It's not just a waste.”
– Co-host / Interviewer (49:40-50:12)

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

You may not know the name Mike Kimmel, but you probably know the name Python Cowboy. Trapper Mike Python Cowboy is out of South Florida, and he's made his name for himself by trapping pythons, catching pythons, specifically catching pythons with amazing dogs, German whitehead pointers and draw thaws. And we were fortunate enough to spend a couple of days with Mike and do a Blood Origins episode, an embedded Blood Origins episode with him. And so I wanted to talk to Mike about sustainability, invasive species, you know, what drives him to hunt. He's essentially a very country, rural guy in South Florida and affectionately calls himself a Florida cracker. And I really was like, well, isn't that a derogatory term? And he explained what it was and really, just a. A good old conversation in the middle of the Florida swamp in the middle of the heat. It was hot and humid. But the conversation, as you would expect, is a really good one. So enjoy. So five years ago, there was a reason why I started this movement. And the truth then is the truth now that we need to champion our narrative. We need to champion the truth around what we do and who we are.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

There's a sweet spot with a gun.

[Podcast Host]

You know, too heavy and it's a.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Burden to walk with.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Too light and you whipping it.

[Podcast Host]

Why is the project so important to the hunting community?

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I think it's not only important, I think it's vital. I think it's just in time. It's like snakes and ladders. You guys are climbing the ladder, and.

[Podcast Host]

Then somebody does something stupid and you just slide down. That is such an amazing analogy. Snakes and ladders.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You know, ivory, in my opinion, was the plastic of its age. Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

The expensive rule going up, it goes a long way with families. We are families that do need it.

[Podcast Host]

Let me close this door because I.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Have a little wiener dog. What? You are. You're laughing because I said wiener.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I'm really glad you finished the sentence out. I'm sorry. The first happen. What are we doing here today?

[Co-host / Interviewer]

You're telling the whole world. You guys ready to go? Just turning something off. Mike, did you order the air conditioning for later tonight?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah, we're saving that for later.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, we need it tonight a little bit. The gallons of sweat that we've probably poured is good to go. Yeah. All right. Oh, lunch orders.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Ally wants a pulled pork sub, and I'll just take a turkey sub.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I'll take a pull pork sub as well. Thank you. Thank you, Francesco. Ensuring that I don't get something random from the slots boys. Say what? Oh, yes. You can you, can. She controlled Sammy pretty good.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And that's not easy to do. That's not easy to do.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Sammy was like, Franny, Francesca, what do you need? What do you need? Francesca? You good? Come on, friend. Hey, Francesca, come on.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Oh yeah, for sure.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What did you say longest python you've. You've caught? 17.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

17Ft 7 inches. 135 pounds and it bit the hell out of me.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

You're by yourself?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

By myself in the middle of the Everglades.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Just. Were you purposely out there looking for.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah, oh yeah, I was out there specifically mainly trying to find a real big snake. I had a feeling I found some sheds and some other things that let me believe that there was a big girl out on those islands. And you know, that obviously wasn't the first day I went out there looking, but eventually I found her.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Islands like we were on, or so you take. You would still call those islands even though they're more. They're Levy esque.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, they're, they are islands. They're not attached. They may seem like, like they're all attached, but actually in between each of them it's just grass and marsh right after like SW swim to get to the next one.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Well, that's why we were like putting on different places essentially. And you could only go a certain place on the outside or to the left or to the right.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And then we turn around and go back because. Yeah, we breached that end.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Is it because that, the levees in the between those islands or they are they levees?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

They're islands.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

They're islands.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Islands. They're, they're island man made islands. When they dug the Canal, you know, 100 or year more years ago, piled them up and it's all limestone.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So they, they didn't pile a continuous levy, they just piled. When they felt like they piled enough.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

They didn't want to block off the water.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, they wanted the connectivity to be maintained.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Exactly. They just dug that, that deep canal and you know, you do have the grass and the marsh area that still holds water.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But they can still use that deep channel to kind of push water through and manage it how they manage it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So people would, people would put their airboats between those, those gaps in the islands and push back, way back into the big Everglades.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Oh, yes, sir. Yeah, we still do. There's, we call them airboat trails.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And it's basically trails made from airboats running it and kind of keeping it open and yeah, they stretch all out in, into that swamp and there's actually Camps? Where? Where we were hunting.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What do you mean camps?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Like physical buildings, houses basically on stilts up out of the water. There's a couple that are actually built on dry islands out there as well and those are leased from the government. Now they used to be privately owned. The government took everything over the camp south of 41. There was actually a big kind of controversy. They burned down a lot of the camps because a lot of us Gladesmen didn't want to abandon and move out of there. So they, they forced it a little bit. But the camps, when did that happen?

[Podcast Host]

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[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Back in, like, kind of the 60s, 70s.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

In. In.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

In that area, was your dad a Gladesman?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

My dad was more of a sailor than a Gladesman.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

He was a.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Well, you got both options here. You got to decide, like, what. What is your passion? Right.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah, he. He actually took me, my brother and mother on a sailboat for a number of years. We sailed from Florida to South America and back. Geez. All through the Caribbean. Lived on the boat, was homeschooled.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

How old were you then?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I was. I think we started the trip when I was seven or eight.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Holy smokes.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yep.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Still remember everything about it.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Oh, my God. I. It's crazy. I don't remember much, you know, from, like, my childhood and stuff, but I remember that trip so vividly. I really do. So many things about it. I can't remember. I can't believe I remember. It was. It was an amazing, amazing experience.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

She's well my Kimmel. Welcome to the Blood Origins Podcast. It's not Joe Rogan. We certainly appreciate your hospitality here in your backyard, and, well, we are technically in your backyard doing this.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. I appreciate y' all coming down in.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Front of a big buggy and whatnot. Sort of swung in the same little Sig Hunter game circles. Bird. Soren was on your team, wasn't he? Who was on your team at Hunter Games?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

For the first. The first Hunter Games, I had Cowboy.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Cerrone and Bo Sandoval.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Bo Sandoval. And we'll have to.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I'll have to send Bo. I'm gonna take a picture right now. I'll send it to. To Bo. He's a good mate of mine. There we go.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah, Bo's a great guy. And the next year I had Mike, I think he's. No donuts here on.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

No donuts here on.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

On Instagram. I think he's like a. I don't know if he's CrossFit or what.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, okay. Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Used to be a police officer.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah. What we'll. We'll need to. What we need to do is we need to connect you with who just Worth in Cookeville, Tennessee, is Rich Ronan.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Okay.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So Rich Fronan is essentially, I call him Mr. CrossFit. He's won the CrossFit games individually or as a team, 10 times. Wow. He is the man.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. Yes, sir.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

He. When he first started, I was asking him the story, and I said, how'd you get into this? And he says, well, I was here in Cookeville, Tennessee, and I was doing a physical education major or whatnot. And I was in the. I was a firefighter, so I was working out, and my major professor came to me and she said, hey, a lot of these firefighters and policemen and whatnot are doing this CrossFit stuff. You need to go check it out. So he went and checked it out. You know when you're sort of genetically inclined for something, when you went and checked it out, they said, oh, you know that you can compete in this. He's like, you can. You can win stuff. And they're like, yeah, went to regionals, qualified to regionals, qualified to semis. Yeah. At that time, a big deal, and still is a massive deal. Like today it's even. It's just a monstrous mainstream community worldwide. And then he went to finals that first year and came second. Wow.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

That first year.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

That first year.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It's impressive.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And the dude's just now he's retired, officially retired from competition. He's 36, but he's just now, as I said to you, he's eaten up with hunting. Like, eaten awesome. It's like, now his next level, like, he's finished CrossFit. Now his next career is outdoors. Like he wants to. He's in the programming business, in the fitness programming business. And he wants to build, like, outdoor fitness programming for, you know, when he's probably going out west. He's probably on his way to elk hunt right now. And have you ever elk Hunted, I have not. So elk hunting in the mountains where. Where these guys are doing it has a lot of deadfall, for instance. So to climb a mountain, it's not just simply like we're just going to climb the mountain. It's like constantly lifting your legs over freaking Deadpool. Over dead for over Deadpool. And he's like, man, even me at the end of the day, his hips were just.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, I got a little taste of it at that. Hunter games and. Oh yeah, it's a whole nother world, especially for you. Yeah, I'm used to the swamp, you know, we're always picking our legs up, I guess through the water throughout, a lot of that. But there's no incline. There's no.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, the islands are as much altitude as you get. Yeah, 20ft.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

For sure. For sure.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Mike, introduce yourself. What do you do? What are you known for?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah, Trapper Mike, better known as python cowboy. And I'm a professional hunter, Florida conservationist. And I own and operate a trap and wildlife company here in. In South Florida. Martin County Trap and a wildlife rescue.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And how long you been doing that?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Past. Past 10 years or more maybe.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What did you do before that?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I was always big into animals and wildlife, like even as a. A teenager. Started because I got in a little bit of trouble. But I volunteer. Used to volunteer with FWC doing nuisance alligator removals where, I mean, I'd be 15 years old and I'd go to the houses with the officer and help them tape up, catch an alligator, remove it out of there.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, there's no. They don't particularly enjoy alligators being shot in their backyard.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

No, no, you can't just shoot them. So yeah, you got to catch them and keep them alive, tape them up. And it can be a little bit of a battle. Hey, that's kind of where I still.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

In the game today. Would you say you still do nuisance alligator stuff today?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So the nuisance alligators changed from when I used to do it. Now the Snap program handles all the nuisance alligators under the guide of fwc. And I was going out with an FWC officer just on calls. They don't do that anymore. Now you put in a report and it's a specific Snap county alligator trapper that goes out on the jobs. And most my alligator work I do now is guiding people for private alligator hunts.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Gotcha.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Or just helping the state during the alligator season out on public land.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And you'll have. You've got areas that you will. You'll apply for permits yourself in right and your team will apply like we did. As I said, we did some alligator hunting in. I'm gonna mess it up, but like STA1 or STA1 of those. And we were. We bought the alligator trapping agent license. You know, given the fact that alligator hunting often is a team sport, definitely that was just a way to like, hey, you've got two permits, you got two tags in your permit. Sammy had to, you know, got a permit. He's got two tags.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. And it is, you know, our public lands, a lottery system.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Gotcha.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But we also, we help a lot of the private landowners manage their alligators.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

How do private land tags work in Florida?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So we bring out a biologist. The biologist comes out with us. We bring them out in all the areas where we know we have alligators. They survey for the alligators. To give you an idea, the last survey we did, we counted 130 alligators in an hour.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

In how big of an area are we talking?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Just a small retention pond on like a, you know, four or five thousand acre property. So there's a lot more than that. So he issued us a hundred tags for that year.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Holy.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You know, they, the state's very good at realizing the alligators need management.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And they're. They're willing to issue us substantial quotas when we need them.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And that's very good. They work with us on that. And then we take those tags. We can manage the gators ourselves, but more often than not, we'll take clients out to help us fill those tasks and get. Get a more bang for our buck. Of course, you know, a lot of time and energy goes into getting the tags, but it's. It's definitely a crucial thing to.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Well, it's also. It's a viable financial. As you said, it's a viable financial mechanism.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Absolutely.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

With people looking to alligator hunt. Yeah. That's what we did essentially on Saturday. Like, we never really had this dream of alligator hunting, but they were like, look, we've got four tags.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And for us, it's, you know, there's a bonus to it. We got to bring people in, show them a little bit of our way of life, why it's important to hunt alligators. And that's really how we're going to be able to sustain all this is, you know, showing it in the right light and getting people behind, behind us. And you do that by. By showing them what it really is.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah. You know, it's a difficult, you know, and you probably heard this a lot. We get it a lot. So why don't you just leave them alone? They're doing great. You know, why are you guys even in there? I know how I'd answer that. Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

In this day and age we live in, there is no more just leaving them alone. Look at Florida. I mean, we've encroached so much into the wildlands that we have to manage it. It would be irresponsible if we didn't manage it. We've changed the landscape so much.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Your fingerprint is monstrous. Down here.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It's not what it used to be. So, no, you can't just leave them alone. You leave them alone. The alligators are their own worst enemy. You know, the big bull gators will try to control the gene pool, killing all the other male alligators in the area, you know, affecting their populations negatively. And then they start to spill out into our communities, our residential areas, where they obviously become a problem and a danger. Here in Florida, we have someone killed by an alligator every year almost.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

They're not know. They're not known to go after humans. It's more the guy that's probably.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, more so what it is, it's someone walking their dog or something near a pond where there's an alligator. And usually that alligator is fed by people. And when you get in an alligator, any wildlife really that's fed by people, you actually make that animal very dangerous.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And also that person's probably running, walking his dog the same way, stops in the same spot to poop every day. And that alligators going.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And that alligator is not going for the person. It's oftentimes going for the dog or it thinks the person's something else and, you know, drags in the water and the person drowns.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And, you know, alligator that's just trying to do his job, essentially.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What is your opinion on black bears here in Florida? Got a substantial population, doing really well.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Needs to be managed.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

No hunting.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yep, needs to be managed.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

It did open, right, how many years ago? Four years ago.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

For a single day.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And the quota was hit in that day? Oh, yeah, done.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Oh, well, that, that's why it was shut down, because all the antes and the people that just don't understand management and how that's possible. Saw like, I think it was some crazy, like, I want to almost say a thousand, maybe not quite that much.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I don't think so. I think it was like 200 bears in one day. It was like, boom, done, quota, done.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yes. It freaked everybody out. By seeing that many bears killed in one day. We're like, oh, we're to kill all the bears.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

That's right.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But that showed how bad we needed that. And it's not down here in the Everglades. In the Everglades, the bear populations, you know, small. We don't need them managed down here. We need them protected down here. But in Central Florida, North Florida, they're. They're out of control, and they definitely need to be managed. And, you know, the state allowing the public to manage them is just good for the state. You're getting all that money towards conservation, towards protecting the land, and people just don't understand that.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Same with pythons. Same with iguanas. It all comes down to. I just didn't know. Right.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yes, sir.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

How many conversations did you say you've had on the, on the canal? Like, someone comes out and goes, what are you doing? That's native. It's protected.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So many times. Yeah, people come out and they just see you shooting anything and it's, you know, what are you doing? You can't be doing that. And I have to explain to them, look, I'm literally hired to come out here and do this because it is such a problem and these animals are so bad for our state, we need to remove them. Not only am I doing it humanely and ethically and safely, but I'm making use of everything afterwards. Yeah, there's really nothing anyone could be upset about when it comes to what we're doing down here, besides the fact that they're just not educated. And that's usually always what it is. You do get some people that they just want to be mad at something and it don't matter how you explain it to them. But most of the people, when I have a moment to explain it to them, on the side of the canal, wherever I am, do my whole little spiel. A lot of times they end up thanking me for what I'm doing and go. Go about their way. You know, for me, that's one more person I've converted, you know, and it's worth it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah. I think it's almost like how much, how much of that happens on social media. You've got a big social media fingerprint.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

A lot. And, you know, people are like, why do you, you know, even bother answering the comments? Why do you even waste your time with those people? To me, it's not a waste of time. To me, that's how I built my. My page is the first post I posted with a bunch of dead iguanas. Man, I was getting death threats. I was getting all kind of stuff. But when I would go through and answer every single comment and take the time to do it, I built a very loyal following. And you know, I always joke around, which they might not like me calling that, but I'll have tree huggers and vegans in my comments rooting for me.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Defending me for sure.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And you know, it's because I've taken that time to explain.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, I think the, I say this a lot, but I think the best comment I ever received on we were tagged into some crazy anti hunting post or whatnot and I said what I had to say and the person who commented underneath me says I'm even, I'm even a bleeding heart vegan. And even this guy makes sense to me.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You know, it is, it is because it's just, especially with the invasive species, there's nothing else we can do. I've tried it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What else could you do? So you trap them, right?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Trap them and try to turn them into pets, which where we're at now, there's too many. It's impossible.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

But you said yesterday there was a law change in Florida.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, but ignoring the law change, recent law changes, it's actually illegal to possess them alive now. So all that's been shut down. But years with the idea, with the.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Idea that they're helping, you're going to cut off the source.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yes, yes. They think because the iguanas come from the exotic pet trade, if you make them illegal and people can't get them from the pet trade, it fixes.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

But that makes sense.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It does. Until you look into it, until you talk to someone like me, the problem is no longer pet iguanas. The problem is wild breeding, feral iguanas.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And they're breeding like crazy.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Like crazy. There's already an established population where you know, the guy releasing his iguanas a little, a little raindrop and then you have this tsunami of wild iguanas that are breeding every single year. It makes no change. It makes no difference. But them making it illegal cuts off the free management we had of guys like me, people from all over the country coming down to South Florida, trapping, specifically baby iguanas.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

How would you trap a baby iguana?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You can set up nets. You get areas where they sit out in fields. You set up a net to the area that they run to and you chase them to that net and then you just gather them all up. Makes sense that or there is traps. It's almost like a fish trap where they go in and get out. You just put mangoes in there and stuff for the adults, it's not necessarily real effective trapping them. The adults you can live capture with, like a noose and bring them to you and then take them up. Which we had many people coming down from all over the country to catch these iguanas, bring them out of state, back to their. Their native states to A, use the big ones they capture as breeders or B, sell the babies as pets, which, if any of those animals got loose in their state, they can't survive anyway. It's too cold.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So it's not presenting an issue.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

All that free management we have, which was a lot, we had a ton of people doing that. It's now gone because it's illegal for them to come down here and do that. And I'm seeing more baby iguanas.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, we saw so many baby iguanas yesterday, and they're super, like, luminous green.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. About that big. And they're everywhere.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Like those that we saw yesterday that were like 3 inches or 4 inches. How old would they have been?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Those are anywhere from a couple weeks to maybe like a month. Okay, probably about a month or two.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And are they. Would they be breeding constantly all throughout the year, or do they have a cycle?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

They. They have a breeding season, but I've noticed their breeding season is long. A couple months starts in December and goes. Goes into early spring. And right now they're on nest. Nest are hatching, and they're. They've kind of laid most their nests, but they're hatching right now.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So yesterday, obviously, we. Once we got off the water, everyone was driving home. And you know how one of the analogies is for someone who's never hunted, you're driving down the highway, you see a field. There's two people in the vehicle. One that's never hunted and one that's hunted. The person who's hunted looks intently at the field. Person who doesn't hunt doesn't. Because the person who's hunting is looking for the deer or is looking for the turkey or is like, oh, that looks like a pinch spot right there. You know, I want. I'd put up a stand there. I'd do this, you know, I'd put a food plot there. We did the same thing on water on the way home yesterday.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Looking for iguanas.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Looking for iguanas on the sea wall. Every se wall, we're like, hey, is anyone, you know? But we didn't see any. So. And Jack asked, he was like, do we not have any iguanas around where we've rented our airbnb I answered, there has to be. I guess we're not seeing any. What's your answer?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You were looking on a canal.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah. So we, we. We almost live. It almost looks like, like a moat is around where we. We've got this Airbnb. There's like a bunch of water canals all around us with houses that back up onto the canals. And I was like, there's got to.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Be iguanas here, most likely. You know, especially yesterday. I would expect you to see some out. I almost want to say it might be a canal we manage very well.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Could be this is the city of Tamarack.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. We have a couple spots.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

In Tamarack that we manage. It could even. It could even be maybe a neighborhood that's, you know, fishers and hunters where they're shooting their iguanas. Yeah, sure, we see some of that, but, you know, kind of hard to say. It could just been time of day. Could have been, you know, how the sun was. Or they're very unpredictable. That's what, that's what makes them.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

But you would expect, in your professional opinion, you probably got iguanas how far north and how far south in South Florida?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

South, especially southeast Florida. They're. They're everywhere. They're. They're all the way from Martin County, ME all the, all the way down in the Keys.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

They're in the Keys.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

We have them in Vero and Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce as well.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Just not in huge numbers in certain pockets.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But you know, when they get in pockets, they start to expand and spread out. When you get in areas like Fort Lauderdale, even a little bit of Palm beach up there, they're practically everywhere. If you look hard enough, you'll find an iguana.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And it's not just iguanas, it's white throated monitors. Nah, lizards.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

The white throat monitor, thankfully, is not established, established breeding population yet.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

If I didn't catch that one, it very well could have been. Thankfully, we don't really have known breeding populations of that. We do have known breeding populations of Nile monitors, though. Mexican spiny tails, redheaded agamas, amoebas, Nida knowles.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Jeez.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I mean, I could keep going.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What about snakes? So we've talked about. We went out and caught a Burmese.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Burmese pipe.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Hopefully we catch some more tonight.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Hopefully we catch some more tonight. I'm one of a few people that have caught a North African rock python here in Florida. And there are small breeding populations of those. There's small breeding populations of red tail boas, rainbow Boas.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What about reticulated?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You know, there have been reticulated captured here in Florida, but I don't see much evidence for breeding populations.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

The Burmese is the primary Burmese, Burmese is the one.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Now there are breeding, invasive breeding populations of reticulated pythons in Puerto Rico actually.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But here in Florida we just really haven't seen that. We've got, we've had a few captured that were escape pets and from what we've seen, they didn't have a chance to establish.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Did I hear you correctly? The other night the thing that got, dare I say Trapper Mike on the radar was the python alligator incident?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah, yeah. It was actually the third time I've rescued an alligator from a python. But the first time I got it on.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

How big was that alligator?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

That was the smallest of the three.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Maybe like a four foot alligator with a 11 foot python wrapped around it. The biggest alligator bundle I separated was the first one. I was about crapping my pants on it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Wait, stop, stop, stop. You were crapping your pants even though you've done 17 foot pythons? You've done everything.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

This might have been before the 7th.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But I seen it. I was riding a levee down in the water, was a six foot alligator, maybe about a six foot alligator with a 14 foot python wrapped around it, strangling it. And I go down, down the levee, get a hold of the bundle. It's so big, I, I really can't.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Where's the, where's the python? Where has it grabbed the alligator?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So it's wrapped around the python heads. Loose.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Python's head's loose, which is scary situation.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Hell yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And the alligator head is also loose. So I have to bear hug this bundle up out of the water. As I'm bear hugging it, the. I don't know what the python head was doing, but the alligator heads right next to my head. So I got the bundle. The bundle's too heavy for me to walk it up the levee, so I just get it out of the water and then I body slam it down as hard as I could, like WWE on that thing. And as I, when I body slam and it hits the ground, the snake starts to uncoil. Very quickly as it's uncoiling quickly, it's almost trying to get away. Yeah, I grab the head and now it's not worried about the alligator. It's fighting with me, spraying poop everywhere and you know, trying to coil up on me. I gain control of it, thankfully get the snake in a bag and the alligator still somewhat unconscious, like, kind of coming back to. And I'm able to kind of nudge it back into the water, and it does swim off alive. All three alligators I rescued were alive. Were alive. They all lived. The one we got on video was a little easier than that. I was able just to grab it up out of the water, kind of separate the two, quickly shoe the gator back into the water. And then the guy I had with me on a guided trip, he actually came out, which, I didn't know this at the time. He came out to get over his fear of snakes.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And, you know, he's. He's video the whole thing on his phone. And we get up to the top of the levee, where I'm fighting with the snake, get a hold of it, and I'm like, hey, I'm gonna go grab a bag out of my truck, take this snake. And I just hand it to him, and he's like, okay. Grabs it, you know, does good with it. I get back to him with the bag, and then he explains to me that, like, he's deathly afraid.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Holy smokes.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

He came out to get over his fear. But, you know, afterwards I talked to him, and he said he is very much less afraid of snakes.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

What is that? So what did that video do? It just.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I made the news, so I never posted it. I didn't have social media at the time.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And he sent it into the news, and it just.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

It.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It went. I think it went national.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And then the owner of a local clothing brand, Flow Grown, reached out to me.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Did you need an Instagram asap?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Like, dude, he made it for me. He's like, I made you an Instagram account. He's like, you know, I'll give you all the information.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Did he come up with Python Cowboy?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

No. So I wanted to be Trapper Mike.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But Trapper Mike was taken by some, like, gangster dude, I guess.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, geez. So t. Rapper Mike or something like that, right?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. And, you know, I already had some buddies calling me Python Cowboy because I was hunting snakes and everything like that. So I was like, well, I guess, you know, we'll try out Python Cowboy and see how it does.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

When do you. When did you, like, have the realization that you're just like, shit, this python stuff, iguana stuff, could be a business that you could do. And then, you know, in terms of clients that generate a business that way.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So the guided hunt aspect of it took me a while. You know, right away, I I knew, you know, that's the road I'd eventually want to go. I saw the benefit in it. But I wanted to get everything real dialed in and figured out before I started bringing people out. Because of the way we're hunting these things and the areas we're hunting them. It's a little bit different than, than most your hunt, you know, especially for the iguanas. I'm taking these people in these real urban settings and I got to make sure I get in areas where I don't want to take them into one of these private golf clubs I'm hired in where they're paying me to remove them. And then I just bring these clients.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

That they just don't know what they're doing.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Don't know what they're doing. Too much.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Can't do that.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Not our team. Our team was snipers, right?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You guys are golden. You guys are golden. But not everyone's like y', all, except me.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I wouldn't put myself in the sniper category. I was the worst shooter out of everyone.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I'll tell you what, on those, those guided iguana hunts, even the best shooters that come out struggle.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, for sure, because you got the boat, you've got the.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

A gun you've never used looking through a scope you've never used. It's an air gun. You're used to recoil. It don't have any. And the boat just totally. These iguanas are small, they're running resilient and there's no vital shots on them. Yeah, you got to hit that pea sized brain.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But you know, especially the iguana hunts, it is, it can be a little stressful bringing people out. So, you know, I wanted to make sure I got permitted along these public areas where they knew what I was doing and everything was lined up good. And especially with the pythons, I didn't want to bring people on these guided haunts and us not catch anything. You know, a lot of these nights I go out there snake hunting, I'm not catching anything.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Well, you, that's probably the look in my brain. It's almost like the lowest probability hunt that you can try and do because it's, it's, it's in the dark and your field of reference is literally six foot around you. If you've got a head torch and.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You'Re hunting an animal that makes its living off of being hidden or as.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I, from what I know in terms of snakes, they start feeling vibrations and whatnot, they get the fuck out of there.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, thankfully they don't really.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

They.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

They use their camouflage.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

They'll hold up.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Sit still and either think you're an animal coming and they want to eat you.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Or I'm a lay still and you're not going to see me. And it works, man. When I. When I'm getting these dogs and I'm training these dogs, especially the ones that I don't know what it is, not every dog will smell these snakes or show interest in it. And some of these dogs that, that don't. I know I can't use as a snake dog. And I put them in front of a snake, they'll literally step on it and like walk right over. Not even there. And I've seen it out when, when I'm hunting and I come across a snake laying there and I've had a couple times where there's a rabbit or something coming towards it and that animal does not see that snake. I mean, that thing could be sitting on the road.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And it just. Maybe not on the road, but in the grass. The short grass next to the road is where I've seen it. And, you know, it does not see it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So your two python dogs are Whitehead griffons. What are they?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So we have a couple more in training, but my two main dogs I'm using now, one is a Germa wire hair pointer. That's auto.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And then the other one is a draw tar, which is rogue. And they're pretty much. Yeah. A drought is pretty much a German wire hair pointer. It's still just bred to these strict.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Breeding, hunting a little calmer, right?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

No, not necessarily calmer there. When you buy a drought, at least how I look at it, you know, more what you're buying.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

The wire hairs have kind of gotten watered down a little bit. People just wanting to own them because they're a cool dog and they're not really hunting them.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So you have these breeders that are breeding them just to breed them. And with the droughts, you don't get that. In order for your dog to be considered a drought, be registered as a drought, it needs to meet these standards. And if you want to breed a drought and produce droughts, that dog needs to pass certain tests and it needs to pass certain physical tests where it's mouth is the right shape.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Teeth are lined up. It's. It's very strict, which, you know, for me it's a little too strict. But as my wife always reminds me, that's why that breed is so good.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So good.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

When you buy a drought, you really do know what you get. Now, Otto, our wire hair, both his parrots were draughts. Oh. They just weren't approved to breed.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

The owner of them was just a hunter like me. He didn't really care about the testing system.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So he was like, my dogs are really good. I want to breed them.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Are those parents still breeding?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

I don't believe so. I've been dying to get another one.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And Ali's asked him a few times, but they just did that one breeding for themselves.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, and you got one of them and I got. He's your top dog.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

He's my top dog. Yeah. I always call him a bootleg drought. But it's, it's funny because all these drought pages and a lot of these drop readers, they share them as a drought because he really is everything that they want a drought to be. His drive, the way he listens, his beard, his build, everything.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Maybe you can petition the draught board and say like, hey, here's his pedigree.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Would you like accept him as an honorary drought?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

You know, Not a bad idea.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

That'd be bloody good.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It's actually kind of interesting. The. It's, it's so kind of regulated and the real droughts actually have a tattoo in their ear. No way to identify who does that. It's their registry. It's done. When they're a vet will do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ally will be able to answer all that more than me. She's real in that I just use dogs.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

The boss knows.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. I just teach them bad habits, you know. But yeah, she'd be able to answer that better than me. I don't know exactly when they do it or I know it's, you know, not just. You don't go to a, A tattoo parlor.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Sure, sure. But yeah, that'd be interesting. I wonder who does dog tattoos.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And actually so my dog Rogue, we got her during COVID and they weren't doing the tattoos then, so she doesn't have one.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But my other draught catfish does.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay. So you've obviously got a menagerie of different breeds of dogs. Have you sort of has it. Have you honed in that the drought is that animal that will be able to smell a snake. Are you other dogs smelling snakes?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah. So my, my lead hog dog, Moose, he was my original python dog.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And blackmouth.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Blackmouth curry even before Otto. And you know it. Him, I think why he was good as. Because he's my right hand man. I mean I give that dog any job and he's gonna do his damnedness to try to figure it out and make me happy.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Gotcha.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

He hunts for me. He don't hunt for himself. Auto hunts for himself for sure. And I think that's where is with him. From what I've seen, the cur dogs are not the dog for, for a python dog, I really like these wire hairs or even more of like just a pointing dog.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

For, for these snakes, what a lab.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Would do, you know, because they've, they've, you know, they've got labs nowadays that are pointing labs or even you can train them to find sheds, like white, whitetail sheds in the woods.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

We have one we're training now who's, who's a yellow lab? I use her for iguanas. We use her as a flushing dog. My wife guides quail and pheasant.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, cool.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And I use her now for pythons as well. And you know, she's good at it. But from, from what I've seen the, from what I've seen the, the wire hairs just have a little more grit, a little more dry, a little bit more go in those tough situations. And that's what you really need out there. You know, we getting some thick, thick thorns. The sawgrass.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It can be nasty and you really need a dog that's, that's gonna stay on it, stay out there and just keep hitting it, you know, with the wire hairs. What I found though is sometimes they're a little too gung ho and I gotta train them in when they find the snakes, what to do, because Otto, he wants to go in there and take them out, catch him and shake them. Yeah, I've had him actually, where he's walking in front of me. I can tell he's getting hot on something. He reaches his head inside of a fern and pulls out a damn 8 foot python and is trying to kill it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So I noticed that again, one of the videos that you had you yanking a snake out of the ferns and we. You were very particular about like really poking in and around those fern patches.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yes, sir.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

That's what they're like.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Not necessarily, but they do, they do, especially this time of year. They like to lay nest in there. They can conceal themselves very well, those ferns.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So you're finding nests above and below ground?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yes, sir.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

We're finding a lot of them underground inside holes, which. That's kind of unique. Not necessarily unique, but that's more of a groundbreaking discovery we've made this season. I Can't say of another nest that has been found before the season underground like that. And now we're seeing other hunters take onto that and looking down more in these holes. And they're also finding snakes and nest in these holes. And for me, that's what it's all about. You know, we're a community, we're a network. We need to learn from each other. And the way I really found out is because of the dogs. I had Otto sticking his head in this hole trying to dig it out. And, you know, I spent the time to look in.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Did you have a. Did you have a whole camera at that point?

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

No, I did not. Not at that point.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So what'd you do?

[Podcast Host]

Do you just.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So I actually. I stuck my phone kind of down in there and looked and I thought. Saw what I thought was an iguana. And, you know, I was like, oh, you know, Auto smells an iguana in there. He wants a damn iguana. He's an iguana dog. Like, all right, it'll be cool for us to get a little footage at a film crew with us to get some footage of the iguana in there. So I start digging it out, Digging it out. I can't see, I can't find this iguana, but I see an old hatched python egg leading into, like, this other cavern that I didn't know was there as I'm, you know, further in the cavern.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So I was like, you're just coming in from that. From the. The ground up, or you're going from.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

The top down, top down, top down, top down. And see this other entrance away from the other entrance that I couldn't see before, and I see the old hatch python angle. I'm like, well, we can't find that. Let's find this old hatch python nest. That'd be cool. That's probably what Otto was smelling.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

So we start opening that up, and as we're opening that up, here's this live python.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Sitting on in.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Or.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

No, I'm sorry. She was not on an active nest. It was a live python that was full of eggs.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, geez.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

She was gravitational, getting ready to lay a nest on her old successfully hatched nest, which for me, that was extra cool because.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Mock that.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, in the years prior, I always speculated and have said that I believe these pythons are returning to their old nesting sites where they've successfully had nests and they're relaying. So why I've been so successful this year is I've. I've marked out so many old nests that I found thinking that they're going to return to those nests. And here I'm proving it. And I mean, I've proven it a dozen times this season. Going back to old nest, I have marked, boom, there's a snake.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Or even just old nesting sites where I found a nest above ground. And I know there's holes, they'll lay in another hole. And, you know, especially with the holes, the dog has. Has really come in crucial for that because there's so many holes out on these islands, I can't camera and dig out every hole. So that dog indicating to me that there's something in there is really, you know, saving the time and making it successful.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I was telling you about my snake escapades in South Africa, the big boys and whatnot. And so we did all that telemetry work and we telemeted. When we went out to drop the big snake, we. He had five males out and we came up on. It was almost like this big trees, but big, like termite mounds and obviously South Africa. So there's war toggle holes and everywhere. And he's doing the radio telemetry and he's like, the snake's in here, you're gonna have to dig him out. And I was like, what do you mean we're gonna have to dig him out? He said, I'll find where most likely the snake is. And you just start digging downwards.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yeah.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I'm like, okay, so we start digging downwards and we open into the cavern and he goes, you're going to have to stick your hand in there and find the snake. I said, what do you mean? He said, don't worry, it's not going to be able to bite you because it's going to be in. And I'm just listening, I'm just like, okay, whatever. And I said, how do you know? And he goes, then I want you to find the head. And it. And it was actually quite intuitive. He said, all you have to do is once you put your hand on that python, feel the direction of its scales and then go the opposite to find the head. And I was like, yeah, because, well, you know, the python scales are running in a certain direction, so if you run it, if you run your, your fingers up the wrong way, it's going to be rough. That's the way to the head. And so just, just put your hand around it and just slowly make your way up the coil.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Well, the thing about it too is if it is tight enough in there, he's kind where a lot of time that snake will choke back into your hand.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It'll try to get back and it'll go right into the cup of your hand. More times than not, though, you get bit.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, yeah, no, we didn't get bit and we didn't find the head, but we found, like, a point where we could lift a part of the python out the hole. And then it was just like a.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It. It did come out.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, it came out and finally somebody, you know, grabbed the head and whatnot. But it was.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Oh, yeah. A lot of times they kind of will get a hook in there.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Yeah, it's.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

It's tough. It's funny when I take people out and we do find a hole with a snake inside, it doesn't matter how ballsy they think they are. Reaching your hand inside of that hole, knowing you're probably gonna get bit by a snake. Even me, I cringe at it a little bit, you know.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Oh, man.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

But it's. You gotta do what you gotta do.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Well, dude, again, appreciate the hospitality. It's been a sweat fest. One more sweat fest tonight. Looks like I've got a bit of clouds, but where can people. Obviously people know where to find you, but if they don't know anything about you, where can they find you? Whatnot.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Python cowboy on YouTube and Instagram, if you want to get some merch, some leather products, support the mission python cowboy.com and if you want to come on a guided adventure, email python cowboy hunts gmail.com and you will not be disappointed.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Absolutely will not. Will not be disappointed. I've got a laundry list of people famous and not. I was like, man, I need to come do this. Like the iguana. Like this. We was talking about ground squirrels in Idaho. There's only going to be certain things in this world that are, like, truly fun to hunt, has a purpose, has sort of invasive species purpose to it. That iguana has a conservation benefit to it.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And you do something with them and.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

You can do something with it. It's not just a waste.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Yes, sir.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Do something with them. That iguana hunt yesterday was.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

And it's different. It's different, you know? Yeah, it's. People ain't used to shooting big reptiles.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Or big reptiles, big air guns, suppressed air guns in the middle of. In the middle of Miami. Much appreciate you, Mike.

[Mike Kimmel (Python Cowboy)]

Thank you. Appreciate you.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Well, that's it for today. Appreciate you listening as always.

[Podcast Host]

Leave a review, share it with your friends, and most importantly, do what's right.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

To convey the truth. Around hunting.