Three Florida python hunters made the catch of a lifetime after they wrestled an 18-foot long python in the middle of Florida Everglades.
The trio were in Myakka City, near Sarasota, when they happened to catch sight of the enormous snake as they were travelling along a levee late on Thursday night.
Dusty Crum was driving the pickup truck at around 11pm when one of his lookouts who was sitting on the vehicles roof, banged on the car to alert the team he had seen something big in nearby bushes.
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Python hunter Dusty Crum is pictured with the enormous 18-foot-long python
It took all of the trio’s strength to subdue the giant snake and then kill the reptile
Gregory Morris, left, was on the top of the truck when he saw the snake at the side of the road. Dusty, right, was then able to stretch out the snakeskin once it was killed
Dusty is now keeping the python’s body in his freezer for safekeeping
The group quickly pulled over to the side of the road and shut the truck’s engine off after the reptile was spotted at the side of the road.
Knowing it would be a struggle, Dusty told NBC that he did everything in his power to capture the monster and bring it aboard.
‘I wrap my legs around this snake, like Ric Flair figure four leg lock,’ Dusty said. ‘It was just the struggle of my life, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
‘I didn’t know what else to do. I put it in my mouth and I bit down on the tail and took another grip but it was too strong for me – I couldn’t hold it.’
Dusty said that he needed to use all of his strength in order to pull the snake aboard his truck
The enormous find occurred late at night in Myakka City near Sarasota in western Florida
Dusty, left, and Gregory Morris, right, can be seen trying to hold the python as it struggled
Fellow python hunter Gregory Morris said that he knew the team were dealing with an enormous creature after they were able to see just three-feet of the tail.
‘I thought it might be 10 or 12 feet long but we were dragging it out and it kept coming and coming and coming!’
Eventually the trio successfully captured the python and it is now back in Dusty’s freezer with it’s skin is hanging from the back of his truck.
‘I didn’t know if i was going to make it out of the swamp alive or not said Dusty, clearly feel relieved from his reptilian battle.
In the light of day, the full scale of the python can be sees. Dusty has put the body of the snake in his freezer while he decides what to do next.
The rest of the reptile has been skinned and the scales have been draped over the back of his truck.
Any passing snakes will know for sure that Dusty is not a man to be messed with!
After capturing the python, Dusty was able to skin the repile and hang its skin from his truck
The snakeskin was left hanging from the back of Dusty’s truck the following morning
This is not the first time, Dusty, right, has captured an enormous python. He is seen here in this snap from 2016