Catching a python on live bait

In many countries, hunting is a kind of men's games. And although the prey is laid out on the table after the hunt, most hunters could easily buy this meat at any grocery store. But in some countries, hunting is a means of survival.

For example, in Africa, snakes are hunted precisely in order to eat, because no other food is expected in the near future, and python skin is dearly valued on the market. Below is shown how hunters extract a 6-meter African mountain python for live bait.

To begin with, wrap one hand with a buffalo skin. Presumably, a giant snake will cling to this hand.

They find a snake hole in the mountains and climb there headfirst. The python's burrow is about 10 meters long. In order not to get stuck in a hole, a special lubricant is applied to the body.

The snake sees perfectly in the dark. Or rather, he has infrared vision. The person is warm, so the snake, having seen the "yummy" that crawled into his hole itself, is preparing to throw. To confuse the snake and see something for himself, the hunter lights the branches. They are much warmer than the human body, this misleads the snake.

The snake, curled up in rings, lies on the eggs (usually at least 100 pieces in the clutch).

The snake rushes to lunch.

But a clever guy substitutes a snake with a hand wrapped in a buffalo hide. The disoriented snake tries to bite through the skin, and the hunter closes the snake's esophagus with his free hand so that he does not accidentally swallow his hand along with the skin and the hunter himself.

In principle, even a three-meter python is able to strangle a person, but a six-meter python, as in this case, swallows a person completely. Moreover, at first the pythons bite into their teeth (the python's teeth are in two rows, bent back, and you can only escape by leaving a piece of your flesh), then gradually wrap themselves around rings, choking the victim and breaking her bones. Well, in the end, like a stocking, they "put on" the already unconscious victim, swallowing her whole. Sometimes the victim can regain consciousness inside the python, however, it is useless to resist.

To get back out with a six-meter snake weighing 10-15 kg per meter is unrealistic for one.

But that's what the hunter's hungry companions are for. They have to pull the hunter out by the legs along with the snake.

The hunter, holding the snake by the throat, appears on the surface.

If the snake can't resist much underground, then a real battle begins on the surface.

Hunters should: one - press the snake's head to the ground with a slingshot, the second - hold it by the tail, well, the hunter himself cuts the snake's throat, trying not to damage the skin (it can be sold).

The battle is over. One of the assistants climbs into the hole and takes the eggs left unguarded. If they are cooked over a fire, they become a real delicacy.

When hunters loaded with prey appear in the village, they are greeted as real heroes.