It was a bad week to be a Burmese python.
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.
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Rahill 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.
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.
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Rahill 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.
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 professional, novice and military divisions, along with the $10,000 grand prize for the most pythons captured overall.
Christina Kraus won the professional division with 36 snakes, while defending grand prize winner Taylor Stanberry finished second with 34 and earned $1,500.
Stanberry made history last year when she removed 60 pythons to become the first woman ever to win the competition. Her 2025 haul included 33 females and 27 males.
You can watch her interview with OutKick Outdoors here:
Rahm Levinson earned the professional division’s longest-python prize after capturing a snake measuring 16 feet, 5 inches.
The contest is not just about cash prizes or bragging rights. It's also about conservation.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia and have devastated native wildlife populations since becoming established in the Everglades. The invasive predators have contributed to declines among raccoons, opossums, bobcats, foxes, marsh rabbits and cottontail rabbits.
They are also remarkably difficult to locate because of their camouflage and secretive behavior. Conservative estimates place the python population in the Everglades region in the tens of thousands.
The challenge was moved to the summer in recent years to coincide with python hatching season, allowing hunters to remove young snakes before they have an opportunity to spread or prey on native wildlife.
Sarah Funck of the FWC told the Naples Daily News there is no single solution to Florida’s python problem but said every removal matters.
The elimination of even one python, she said, "is a win for Florida’s native wildlife."
In that case, Rahill delivered Florida 96 wins in just 10 days.
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