Caught on camera: 18-year-old wrangles massive python

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WBBH) - An 18-year-old Florida man has bragging rights after catching a nearly 16-foot python, one of the biggest anyone in the area has seen recently.

Jack Cronin, 18, says python hunting has always been on his bucket list. On Sunday night, the recent high school graduate made his first trip to the Everglades National Park to go hunting with experts.

“Man, it’s an adrenaline rush like no other,” Cronin said.

While on the hunt, the 18-year-old spotted a massive python that measured 15-feet, 6-inches, which is longer than an SUV, and weighed about 86 pounds.

“We go over, and there’s a snake’s head just sitting there, the size of my head. I shined the flashlight back through the woods to see the body and couldn’t even see the end of it,” he said. “I was like, ‘That’s a big snake.’”

Cronin is only 5-feet, 10-inches, but despite the python’s size advantage, he made the catch, wrangling the huge reptile by jumping on it.

“I jumped on it, grabbed its head. Then, the thing started going nuts, and it turned into a wrestling match,” he said. “That was my first python I’ve ever jumped on. I’ve caught little snakes. That was my first python I’d ever seen.”

The 2023 Florida Python Challenge ended just about five hours before Cronin caught the huge reptile, which could have won the tournament. The challenge, which lasted 10 days, sees competitors working to remove and humanely kill invasive Burmese pythons from certain areas in south Florida.

“We’ll definitely be back out there trying to get another big mama,” Cronin said.