Tom Rahill captures 96 Burmese pythons in 10 days to win 2026 Florida Python Challenge

Tom Rahill removed 96 of the invasive snakes from the Everglades in just 10 days — more than enough to leave the rest of the field in the swamp dust.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE FROM OUTKICKRahill was named the ultimate grand prize winner of the 2026 Florida Python Challenge on Wednesday, earning $10,000 for capturing more snakes than any other competitor during the 10-day event.TOPSHOT - Tom Rahill, founder of Swamp Apes, handles a Burmese python as he speaks about the snake at Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 25, 2019.(RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images)And apparently, once he got rolling, there was no stopping him.Rahill founded SwampApes, a Broward County organization that takes military veterans suffering from PTSD on python hunts in the Florida wetlands, in 2017.

He said his primary goal during this year’s competition was to help one of those veterans land a monster."I was on a mission to get one of our veterans a big snake," Rahill said during a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Panama City."I did it.

And we wrestled this thing.That was the mission.

To get him a big snake — it was a 17-foot female.The veteran was just over the moon."Mission accomplished.FLORIDA FISHERMAN USES SPEARGUN TO HOLD OFF THREE ATTACKING SHARKS DURING DESTIN DIVERahill then turned his attention toward piling up as many snakes as possible."I went deeper in the Glades, and that’s when I found those 96," he said.All 96 of Rahill’s pythons were captured in Everglades National Park.Three of the five Florida men who encountered a nearly 200-pound invasive Burmese python in the Everglades last week teamed up to capture it.

(Courtesy of Holden Hunter)The annual Florida Python Challenge drew 907 participants from 30 states, Canada and Vietnam this year.Competitors collectively removed 280 Burmese pythons from eight designated hunting areas across South Florida between July 10 and July 19.The competition awards prizes in profess...