I’m currently in south Florida killing iguanas. AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that people aren't going nuts about this on this forum. I support you op. I also support people who trap and kill house sparrows. They are an aggressive species that kills off smaller nesting birds. People freak out about this. House sparrows will kill anything on the nest and take over all possible nests in an area. I tried for a month to stop a male from taking over a bluebird nest. Once they find a nest, nothing will stop them from killing whatever is in it.

Some did and posted idiotic political generalizations but they were deleted …

Cuz OP doesn’t feel anything when killing iguanas BUT he has the sadz when anonymous posters say something he doesn’t like.

🦎

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you kill them? Club them over the head with a rock?

Shoot them just behind the eye with a high power airgun, or harpoon them with a dart and then beat them to death with a small club. The darts are for places where it’s not safe enough to shoot an airgun.

I truly cannot imagine clubbing any other animal to death. Can you shoot it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you kill them? Club them over the head with a rock?

Shoot them just behind the eye with a high power airgun, or harpoon them with a dart and then beat them to death with a small club. The darts are for places where it’s not safe enough to shoot an airgun.

I truly cannot imagine clubbing any other animal to death. Can you shoot it?

Behind the eye perhaps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that people aren't going nuts about this on this forum. I support you op. I also support people who trap and kill house sparrows. They are an aggressive species that kills off smaller nesting birds. People freak out about this. House sparrows will kill anything on the nest and take over all possible nests in an area. I tried for a month to stop a male from taking over a bluebird nest. Once they find a nest, nothing will stop them from killing whatever is in it.

Some did and posted idiotic political generalizations but they were deleted …

Cuz OP doesn’t feel anything when killing iguanas BUT he has the sadz when anonymous posters say something he doesn’t like.

🦎

🐊 Nope OP did not report the stupid insults - I did. I’m gonna make a habit of reporting stupid insults that derail Threads from now on.

This is an interesting topic and does not deserve to be dragged into mind numbing pedestrian insults and crude political polarizations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that people aren't going nuts about this on this forum. I support you op. I also support people who trap and kill house sparrows. They are an aggressive species that kills off smaller nesting birds. People freak out about this. House sparrows will kill anything on the nest and take over all possible nests in an area. I tried for a month to stop a male from taking over a bluebird nest. Once they find a nest, nothing will stop them from killing whatever is in it.

Some did and posted idiotic political generalizations but they were deleted …

Cuz OP doesn’t feel anything when killing iguanas BUT he has the sadz when anonymous posters say something he doesn’t like.

🦎

🐊 Nope OP did not report the stupid insults - I did. I’m gonna make a habit of reporting stupid insults that derail Threads from now on.

This is an interesting topic and does not deserve to be dragged into mind numbing pedestrian insults and crude political polarizations.

Hall Monitors Gone Wild! 🐊🐊🐊

Mine were deleted and they weren’t political.

[Anonymous]

Okay but how many did you get? I hope you killed a whole truck of pythons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that people aren't going nuts about this on this forum. I support you op. I also support people who trap and kill house sparrows. They are an aggressive species that kills off smaller nesting birds. People freak out about this. House sparrows will kill anything on the nest and take over all possible nests in an area. I tried for a month to stop a male from taking over a bluebird nest. Once they find a nest, nothing will stop them from killing whatever is in it.

Some did and posted idiotic political generalizations but they were deleted …

Cuz OP doesn’t feel anything when killing iguanas BUT he has the sadz when anonymous posters say something he doesn’t like.

🦎

🐊 Nope OP did not report the stupid insults - I did. I’m gonna make a habit of reporting stupid insults that derail Threads from now on.

This is an interesting topic and does not deserve to be dragged into mind numbing pedestrian insults and crude political polarizations.

Hall Monitors Gone Wild! 🐊🐊🐊

Mine were deleted and they weren’t political.

I have entire threads I started as non political posts get deleted because the nut jobs post so many absurd inflammatory nonsense … I am not sure how the editors decide to edit when there are reports but it is better to lose a few innocent posts than the entire thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any luck with the pythons? It's insane how quickly they've decimated wildlife in the Everglades and surrounding areas.

OP checking in!


Sorry for the lack of updates, had a long day hunting on Saturday, then early to bed and up at 3am in order to get over to the west side of the state on I-75 and out into the hunt area in Big Cypress by dawn today.

No. Pythons.

Bummer. A couple factors: wasn’t quite as cool last night as we were hoping, so the snakes probably weren’t as cold as we were hoping, and didn’t need to bask very long before they got moving for the day. The other reason - and this is the REAL bummer - is that Florida Fish and Wildlife now thinks the python population is falling off - from gradual starvation. The reason that’s a bummer is because that means they’ve already eaten most of the small animals in the southern part of the state. As proof of this, or at least my own anecdotal observation, we spent 6 hours walking through brush, cypress woods, pine hammocks and grassland today, and I didn’t see a SINGLE rabbit, squirrel, possum, raccoon, fox, beaver, muskrat, nutria or other small mammal, or any tracks at obvious places. Nothing. Not even many smaller birds to be seen or heard. Big wading birds, yes, but very few small birds. It was erie. In a place that should’ve been full of life, there was literally nothing larger than bugs or smaller than deer or wild hogs. There’s a whole lot of animals out there that aren’t there anymore. That’s what pythons have done to the western Everglades. And now they’re gradually starving out because there’s nothing left to eat. So nature finds a way to fix imbalances I guess. But it sure is costly, with lots of collateral damage and ripple effects. It was a real downer to be out there today and realize what is happening.


So, that was the update for today. Yesterday we hunted in the morning, killed about two dozen by lunch, then went to the beach. I harpooned one practically underneath the I-95 bridge by the Ft Lauderdale airport that was 68” long and 16 lbs! Biggest of the trip so far. Huge male, with bright orange skin with black banding. Paid a local kid at the marina $50 to skin it and do a tanning on it for me. I’ll figure out what to make from it later.

Back out tomorrow morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bravo! Especially if people eat the ones you kill.

Can you start on tearing down the invasive vines strangling the native trees along the C&O Canal when you get back? It is depressing that so much invasive kudzo, ivy, and wisteria are choking so many river oak, red bud and sycamore trees.

Yes. I hate vines, too.

I drive rock creek parkway daily and the slope across the creek from P street beach is a mess. So nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Killing for sport is sick. It’s blood lust. And op admits not feeling anything. That is psychopath territory.

Op here

Whatever.

I enjoy hunting iguanas. Not going to apologize or feel guilty about it. And I couldn’t care less about you calling me names. They don’t belong here, the adults have no natural predators, they’re damaging local flora and fauna, and aggressive territorial males can injure pets and even kids that get near them. So no, I feel no sadness at all. None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does something inside of you feel sad when you kill one?

Nope. Not even a little bit. I’m not that kinda guy. Neither is she.

Fascinating. You should do an AMA just on this.

On what? That my wife hunts too? So does the couple we’re staying with. Lot of women hunt. I’ll ask her if she’ll do an AMA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No questions but very interesting. Have never been to Florida and didn't know iguanas were a problem invasive there.

OP here

It’s not just iguanas. Florida is filled with invasive tropical species.


We saw two monkeys on top of dumper behind Taco Bell in Dania Beach this evening. Yes. Monkeys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At first I was being snarky but have come around because they are invasive, destroy vegetation and trees, mess on patios and am not sure if they are dangerous to the countless dogs that chase them and they are nervy as all get-out

OP here

The big males are extremely territorial and will act very aggressive towards dogs. They can break a dogs leg with their tails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bravo! Especially if people eat the ones you kill.

Can you start on tearing down the invasive vines strangling the native trees along the C&O Canal when you get back? It is depressing that so much invasive kudzo, ivy, and wisteria are choking so many river oak, red bud and sycamore trees.

Right, because humans interfering with nature always has good consequences. I wonder how does invasive species got there in the first place?….oh wait….humans, that’s how.

OP here

We’re gonna be interfering with as many iguanas as we can while we’re here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you kill them? Club them over the head with a rock?

Shoot them just behind the eye with a high power airgun, or harpoon them with a dart and then beat them to death with a small club. The darts are for places where it’s not safe enough to shoot an airgun.

Is this part necessary? It's one think to shoot a living being and have it die instantly, quite another to "beat it to death."

There’s some places where we’re hunting where it just isn’t safe to use a high power airgun. If you miss, or get a through-and-through shot where it passes through the iguana and keeps going, the pellet can hit something you don’t want. Houses, windows, cars - people! Don’t want that under any circumstances! So you have to harpoon them instead, and then reel them in and dispatch them manually.

Believe me, I much prefer shooting them when possible. Yesterday I had one that my wife harpooned scratch the hell outta my left shin as I was moving in to club it. Bled all the way down in my sock! Thought I was gonna need butterfly stitches for a while until it finally scabbed over.

So sometimes the iguanas get a few licks in, too. It happens.