That's one lucky snapping turtle...
 

I did my good deed for the day....spared a big ol' snapping turtle his life :). I killed four whoppers last summer....all in the 2' diameter range....this one was similar. Top of the water, head the size of a small football sticking out 10".... easy-peasy head shot. I let this one live another day...

What do you do with the dead turtles?

Watch them sink?

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Yep....the one's from last year...out in the water...shooting down from above....can't retrieve them. The reason they've become so populated and huge....no one's been making turtle soup for a few decades...

I could have easily put a couple of 9mm into the turtle's head today...passed. The one's I took last year....took 4 .357 mag out of a Marlin....no bueno...they don't kill easy. If I decide to take any more out, and don't have a head shot....12 guage 00 buckshot ;)

Btw....I have oodles of big yellow sliders too....I trapped and relocated around 30 of them last summer....biggest was maybe 9". Mess with my fishes spawning beds....and I'll mess with you....humanely.

I hear and read a lot about people killing snappers. People talk about them with animosity. What is it that's so bad about them? Do they eat the bass in the lake? Do they eat people's cats and dogs like coyotes? I always think of a turtle as such a benign creature.

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Serial, them things are dinosaurs!
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Saw a big one take the front leg off of a golden retriever.

There is absolutely nothing benign about a snapping turtle.

Hey John that was cool...never heard it before....right up my alley :)

I've still got plenty though...still too many.
Three ponds with no predators for decades...balance got out of whack.

Now muskrats get a free pass....even when they breach a dam....there were half dozen of them today too....can't hide this time of year...I can see 'em. Got a bunch of them...

They are a nuisance....but they keep me busy...and I'm not Tim Hancock ;)

Live and let live....if possible.

No schit....the largest one I spotted two years ago when I decided I needed to intervene....
probably 30"+ shell, big azz 18" head extended and similar length tail....no lie. Just looking for a mate....cruising the pond. I still have at least 6-8 huge ones....oodles smaller.

Too many turtles, snappers or sliders get the ponds out of balance an muck up the fish spawning beds...

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That's NOT a big ol' Snapper ;).....I've got BIG ol' Snappers! No tellng how many that size and smaller....I'm not relocating them....they die.
Yellow Sliders get a ride in the pickup and freedom in a big lake near my house....gotta take 'em miles away or they will return....so I read.

No way I'm getting my hands near a snapper, and their neck will extend WAY out....too easy to lose a finger or hand....they are nasty, mean critters...

My wife and I spend lots of time in our creek during the summer. Last summer I noticed a huge snapping turtle ‘fishing’ at the bottom of the creek – this was an amazing sight to see. The water was extremely clear so we had a very good vantage point to witness this activity. We were both spellbound for 45 minutes as we watched this turtle attempt to catch his/her dinner. This variety of snapping turtle clearly had the worm-like appendage on its lower jaw used to lure small fish in 'for the kill'. Not once did it come up for air during the time we were watching.

As we were coming back from the creek this past fall, we saw a recently hatched snapping turtle on our path. I picked this angry little creature up and redirected him/her to a safer and less treacherous route.

Just be careful doing that...their heads extend and they can reach the back of their shell....even a small one can take a finger off.
They are NOT friendly critters....but you know that now :)

i had turtle soup in hongkong..it was delicious; until i figured out it was turtle soup..

in my defense, i was 10. :) i think it was a Slider turtle.

You really should cook them up. Turtle soup is about as good as it gets creole style. Just had it at K Paul's in NOLA!

If you can clean them and send the meat please? I'll eat them! SmileWavy

G

I haven't seen 'em in a few months since it got cold, but I fattened up some big ol' nasty grass carp for ya last summer Cliff. They were maybe 13-14" long last April when I put them in, and doubled their size....grass eating machines they are. They'll be small submarines in another year :).

THIS!

https://honest-food.net/turtle-soup-recipe-creole/

Unfortunately, the big ol' Snappers are out in the water where I can't retrieve them after a kill. Yellow Sliders....oh yeah, I plan to have my trap out all year...need to remove quite a few more...maybe 40-50. They get up to about 12", plenty of them too, but usually find the 4-5" in the floating trap. How many do you want ;)?

By clean, do you mean rinse them off with a hose....I can do that :)

Can't you trap the snappers?

LOL on the "cleaning". I enjoyed reading that recipe - pretty good writer, I need a friend like his "Norm and Joe" = KC911!

I will invite Vash over when I cook it!

Deal?

G

Can't trap the Snappers, but if I ever shoot one that can be retrieved, I plan to...my uncle wants a big ol' shell....he's the hunter extrordinaire in the family....

Once, I was swimmin' 'cross Turtle Creek
Man, them snappers all around my feet
Sure was hard swimmin' 'cross that thing
With both hands holdin' my ding-a-ling-a-ling, oh

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Great - your uncle will know how to dress it and he gets the shell! Throw it on ice and haul it over there! :D

G

I don't wanna give you lead poisoning....you will find 9 00 buckshot pellets inside ...I don't miss, and the pellets group nicely....enjoy!

Grass Carp:

Grass carp should never be stocked into a pond where there is a substantial risk of escape. Grass carp live in rivers in their natural environment so they actively search for moving water. They can escape through an unprotected spillway with as little as 3 inches of water flow. Grass carp can not reproduce in ponds but they can reproduce in some rivers. Grass carp can damage or destroy native wildlife and fish habitats by removing aquatic plants and indirectly causing increased water turbidity. For this reason, it is against the law to release grass carp into public waters in both Oklahoma and Texas. If grass carp escape, the investment in aquatic vegetation control washes downstream with the grass carp.

Grass carp should be stocked only in a pond with properly designed fish barriers on the spillways or in a pond with no overflow. If water will flow through both an overflow pipe and an emergency spillway, both need barriers. The best type of barrier is a parallel bar barrier. It is constructed of round metal rods welded horizontal with 1-inch gaps between the rods. Vertical supports should be no closer together than necessary to adequately support the barrier. A parallel-bar barrier clogs much less and lasts much longer than net wire barriers such as hardware cloth, poultry wire, fence wire, etc. Generally, a box-type, parallel- bar barrier works best over the intake of an overflow pipe. A larger box is less likely to clog than a smaller one. A panel- type barrier is generally placed at the entrance or crest of an emergency spillway. A barrier on an emergency spillway should have at least 2 feet of freeboard between the top of the barrier and the top of a dam.

Thanks CB.....I should have qualified it....sterile grass carp...I only put in 6, a fraction of the per acre guidelnes, 4 in one, 2 in another, and will evaluate as they grow....already made a difference, and no chance of escape anyways....last thing in the world I want is a pond full of nasty grass carp. Vash may eat 'em but dang...they are not handsome fish.

15 bucks each....they better be sterile...or I'll shoot them too! They'll get huge....maybe 3'+ and live for a decade or so....if I let 'em....it's all about balance....grasses are good too....Vash would probably fix something tasty out of pond grass....but I won't ;)

IMHO, the MOST delicious fish to eat is the Chilean Sea Bass. you ever seen one?..effen ugly. i think the original name of the fish is the Patagonia Toothfish. they apparently hired up a great PR firm, did some presto-chango..and viola!! Chilean SeaBass!! found in the worlds best kitchens..up to extinction i bet.

i need someone local to show me how to catch the MONKEY FACED EEL. another "looker". apparently, they are fantastic table fare being in the rockfish family. they are horrid to look at.

Yeah..I don't think I could clean and eat this fish
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