Iguana/Nutria Hunting in Florida

T

Top Dog

New member
I may be taking a trip to Orlando to visit my friends at the Randall Knife shop in May or June.

I was wondering if there were air rifle hunting opportunities in the Florida area for Iguana or Nutria.

Hunting license needed? I know that they are invasive species so probably no bag limits.


Top Dog
 
GC,
I was thinking about that as well. Most of the information about Iguana/Nutria hunting seemed fairly vague so I will do more checking.

Obviously,an air rifle would not be the tool for the Burmese Pythons.

That might be just the job for an old single shot Stevens 16 ga that I converted to a truck gun. Cut the bbl back to a bit of 18 inches,installed an XS front night sight,and had Diamond D leather make a butt stock shell carrier for it.

With Federal slugs it is "minute of bowling pin" accurate at 50 yards and the buck shot choice is #1 Buck.

Top Dog
 
I watched a program on the T.V. that showed them hunting Iguana's with air rifles. That was cool. I didn't know they had such a problem. At least now they are eating Nutria, so more people will hunt them.
 
Rudy,
I see that in the past couple of years there are guided hunts/tours for Iguana in Puerto Rico.

Not wanting to fly I started checking out information in Florida for those types of hunts.

Top Dog
 
Tim Wells the slock master is awesome! Check out the video of him drilling a griz right between the eyes with a bow from 35 yrds and he was between the bear and the guide with the back up gun.
 
My wife came running in one day and told me, "there's a spiney swift on the bbq pit this long, holding her hands spread about two ft. apart. Since spiney swift only reach 11", I was a bit skeptical, but she insisted that I go look, soooo

46718999074_27a480834f.jpg


sure enough it was, about 2' long but not a spiney swift. I'm sure he was an escaped pet and he hung around for a week or so; long enough for the wife to name him "George" and then he was gone, but not before he learned to trust us enough to take bits of tomato from our hand.

Regards,
hm
 
Bowhunt,
I intend to use either my Benjamin Discovery PCP 22 or Air Force Condor PCP 22. Both are suppressed.

I had heard that the canals are pretty much open to hunting but must check out the regs further on that.

Also may have an opportunity to hunt from a boat or canoe but they must be stationary when shooting.

Still a lot more to check out to make sure I am with in the law.

Top Dog
 
Sweet! I still have my Discovery in 22 cal. I was the first pcp I ever bought. I still remember the first time I took it squirrel hunting. I wasn't too sure about it so I took along my Ruger 77/22. After the first 2 head shot squirrels at 32 and 40 yards, I just left the Ruger leaning against a tree and hunted with the Disco. Killed my limit that morning and haven't hunted with a rimfire since. It shot so well I put it in a custom walnut stock. I passed it down to my daughter when the FXs started rolling in. Lol
 
I don't know about Orlando area, it gets colder up there, but iguanas are all over down here. Anywhere there is water and trees you'll find them. It is legal to kill them as long as it is in a humane way. Pellet guns one of the recommended methods. They can do damage to seawalls by under mining them with their burrows and like squirrels cause a number of power outages not to mention eat up all the plants in your yard.
 
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BowHunt,
I would basically say that the Discovery is probably one of the best "starter" PCP rifles.

I got mine when they first came out several years ago and have not been disappointed with it at all. I still pump it up with the "bicycle" pump.

The Condor I fill from the SCBA Carbon Fiber tank.

Glad that you liked your Discovery so much.

Top Dog
 
atd,
From what I understand,the Iguanas can get to a pretty big size (about 5+ feet) so I guess they can do a fair amount of damage to property and plants.

From the video hunts that I have seen,it seems that they are just about behind every bush and tree.

Pretty much looks like a target rich environment.

Top Dog
 
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