(Newser)
–
Florida's ambitious 2013 Python Challenge has officially wrapped, and after some 1,600 hunters combed the Everglades in the month-long state-sanctioned slaughter of the estimated tens of thousands of snakes that can reach 18 feet in length, well ... ladies and gentlemen, there were 68 casualties. "You can go out there for days and days and days and not see one python," one snake hunter tells CNN. "I don't care how much experience you have. It is going to take some luck."
The hunt had showed signs of being a flop, but organizers are trying to put a happy face on it: "Thanks to the determination of Python Challenge competitors, we are able to gather invaluable information that will help refine and focus combined efforts to control pythons in the Everglades," says one official. The top amateur hunter took home $1,500 and six pythons, while the top professional hunter bagged 18.
