What began as a family outing to help remove invasive snakes from Florida's Everglades quickly turned into a terrifying fight for survival. Carl Jackson believed he had spotted a Burmese python measuring about 12 feet as it crossed a dirt road in Big Cypress National Preserve.

Hunters participating in the Florida Python Challenge in July will have an abundance of python meet. But it is advised that it not be eaten.

Florida pays contracted hunters to remove invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades. Native to Southeast Asia, the pythons have caused a severe decline in native mammal populations. Conservative estimates place the python population in the tens of thousands