This was one of those iguana hunts I still think about. We pulled up to a canal, turned the corner, and 50 iguanas scattered in every direction. Some hit the water, some ran up the bank, and the whole crew just looked at each other for a second. It was an iguana stampede, plain and simple. This is what iguana hunting in South Florida looks like when you find a real honey hole.
Otto was still early in his career when we filmed this one. He wasn’t the polished, dialed-in dog he’d eventually become, but he was already showing you exactly who he was going to be. He was out there working the bank, getting after them, figuring it out. A little rough around the edges sometimes, sure, but he was getting it done. Looking back at it now, knowing what he turned into, it’s pretty cool to see those early clips.
Once the stampede broke loose, it was controlled chaos. We were shooting, sending Otto, recovering iguanas out of the water, and trying to keep up with all of it at once. A few of them went deep into the canal and we had ourselves a swimmer going in after one. We were calling out instructions from the boat: pin the back legs to the tail, swim to him, grab him. It was all hands on deck. Otto ended up swimming out and helping finish the job. That’s the kind of dog he is.
What makes this footage hit different now is knowing what happened to that spot afterward. We worked it hard, and we worked it well. Today if we go out there and spend a full day on that same canal, we might come out with five to ten iguanas. In this video alone there are way more than that in a single stretch of bank. That tells you everything you need to know about what consistent removal actually does. We didn’t just pass through. We cleared it out.
The same day we wrapped the iguana hunt, I got a call from a city department letting me know there were Egyptian geese out everywhere ahead of a major hurricane. This thing was nearly a Category 5. I hauled down there while most people were heading the other direction, loaded Otto up in his Lucky Duck kennel, and got to work. The geese were out in the rain, trying to get some sun and food before the storm hit, and they were not hard to find. We put several big breeders down fast. Then it was back out for python hunting in the middle of the storm that night. In my experience, pythons get active around pressure changes. The breaks between the bands can be surprisingly productive if you know where to look.
One moment from the iguana footage that really stood out to me was when Otto locked up on point along the bank. I got my camera rolling right as he started to move, and he read the situation, went around to cut the iguana off, and trapped him clean. That’s instinct you can’t teach. You either got it or you don’t, and that dog had it from day one.
We’ve still got spots that hold iguanas. There are still honey holes out there where we can pile them up. But the fact that we had to work harder to find them is a good thing. That means the work is actually working.
