Mike Kimmel, conservationist and python hunter, managed to catch a 17-foot-long python in the Everglades. In an Instagram post, he revealed that he was looking for one for a long time and finally managed to catch it not before it left him bleeding and punctures his artery. Known by his social media moniker Python Cowboy, he shared a photo with the deadly python and revealed the shocking story of how he fought with it. He also said that he documented the trapping of the snake and shared a small clip of it on social media.

He wrote, “At 8am I headed out into the swamp on my 14’ jon boat in search of an invasive #ManEater and at 11am I found her…. she wasn’t coming without a fight lol. I noticed her almost immediately as soon as we crossed paths, I could barely contain my excitement. She definitely was not afraid of me and started to slowly cruise through the vegetation as I carefully walked next to her trying to gauge exactly how large she was.”

Describing how he managed to take hold of the man-eater, he said, “I knew going for her head first would be the easiest and safest capture method but I couldn’t turn down the chance to grab her by the tail and dance with the devil herself!” He added, “she was able to successfully get a bite on me. Only got me once but that’s all it took… I was punctured quite deep on my bicep and forearm, piercing an artery and hitting some nerves, I was lucky she didn’t latch on and that I was able to pull out of it. After loosing about a gallon of blood, lol, I was able to tire her out and get her under control.”

Mike also revealed that the snake’s measurement was record-breaking and he did not have a bag to stuff her in. He wrote, “After getting her to my boat, where my suppressed .22 pistol was, I was able to euthanize her before leaving (I didn’t have the proper bags for live transport because she was too large lol).”

According to a report in The Palm Beach Post, Mike Kimmel is a state-contracted python hunter who gets paid based on the length of the snake he catches.