Little guy

[country gent]

This little guy was on the drive when I came in from the shop today Looks the the snapping turtles have hatched this year.325764

[Winger Ed.]

They're pretty rare, endangered, and protected down here after we ate almost all of 'em.

[jdgabbard]

Haven't seen a lot of turtles for some time. Glad they're still doing their thing.

[elmacgyver0]

They're pretty rare, endangered, and protected down here after we ate almost all of 'em.

They are safe from me; I'd rather have a hamburger.

[Electrod47]

Here in Mississippi, every fallen log on your pond will have a dozen turtles lined up like kitchen canisters by size. Jumbo to Tiny. About 14 years ago when I first moved here I have a 40ft wide 10-20ft deep creek. I killed a snapping turtle about as big around as one of the tires on my 2500 long bed Chevy...Today I would never do that cause it was probably 50 years old. I have a turtle story of one I watched for 10 minutes from my perch over looking that same creek one late summer day 5-6 years ago I won't repeat, cause nobody would believe me.

[country gent]

Just for a size comparison he was bigger than a quarter and smaller than a 50 cent piece.

[racepres]

We still get them now and again..Not quite warm enough here just yet!!
The Damn Birds gobble 'em up!!!

[Texas by God]

Last month a pair of them were doing “Synchronized Sex Swimming” for hours.
I’d never seen that.
Scratch that one off the bucket list[emoji16]


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[Kestrel4k]

Here in Mississippi, every fallen log on your pond will have a dozen turtles lined up like kitchen canisters by size. Jumbo to Tiny. About 14 years ago when I first moved here I have a 40ft wide 10-20ft deep creek. I killed a snapping turtle about as big around as one of the tires on my 2500 long bed Chevy...Today I would never do that cause it was probably 50 years old. I have a turtle story of one I watched for 10 minutes from my perch over looking that same creek one late summer day 5-6 years ago I won't repeat, cause nobody would believe me.
I don't believe much of what I read on this site anyways, so go for it. :-)

[MaryB]

100+ year old abandoned granite quarry near me. 200 feet deep... FULL of huge snapping turtles and catfish that scared a diver who went down looking for bodies. In between all the sharp metal in the bottom(it was a dumping ground for years) and the monster catfish divers refuse to go in there now, after he saw the size of the snapping turtles he really refused! I caught one while catfishing and it dang near pulled the edge of the boat under before I got the hook out(no I dd NOT get my fingers near his mouth, used the paddle!). Small boat, 14' long, 42" wide.

[farmbif]

I didn't know that anyone ate snappers or they were now no longer fair game. but back when we had the fish farm in palatka and cooter turtlers were fair game, many years ago. we would set trot lines across the ponds and catch soft-shell turtles and I would take big bags of turtle meat to this old souther cook that was in charge of the kitchen at the Windjammer and I'd get back half of what I brought her cooked to perfection, breaded and browned then finished in an outstanding gravy. wow that was good. there wasn't anybody who tried it that didn't like it.

[WILCO]

They are safe from me; I'd rather have a hamburger.

Me too. With bacon.

[WILCO]

I killed a snapping turtle about as big around as one of the tires on my 2500 long bed Chevy....

I've seen them that big, on a creek from a canoe.

[country gent]

We cleaned them and cut up into pieces along with the straps inside the upper shell. browned and fried it like chicken. was a very good meal. We would catch them in the sand bottom ditch on the farm.Occasionally the one neighbor who dipped ditches would bring one over. Some of his got pretty big. but then we would pick them up and put in his truck with the hydra hoe. LOL.

Cleaning can be a job but its worth it.

[country gent]

Wait till one that size wants to climb in the canoe with you. :(

[RayinNH]

Thirty four years ago I caught a snapping turtle on my fishing pole. It was Father's Day weekend and my boys had given me a new lure as a gift. The boys were 6 and 4 at the time. So the four of us are in the canoe, me, the 2 boys and Mom. Well I snagged a snapping turtle on the hind leg, except at the time I thought I had caught my hook in a submerged branch or log. Absolute dead weight. When he came up and became exposed to the air he started thrashing around, banging in to the boat. The 4 year year old freaked out and was crying. No way I was going to put my hand near his mouth, he was the size of a trash can lid, so I used the paddle, beating on his leg to free the hook. The eye hook holding the treble hook to the lure opened up and off he went with the hook still in his leg. If I had been fishing alone I would have cut the line and bought a new lure, but I couldn't do that with the boys present. The panicked son is now 38 and I'm not sure you could get him in a canoe to this day.

[William Yanda]

Here in Mississippi, every fallen log on your pond will have a dozen turtles lined up like kitchen canisters by size. Jumbo to Tiny. About 14 years ago when I first moved here I have a 40ft wide 10-20ft deep creek. I killed a snapping turtle about as big around as one of the tires on my 2500 long bed Chevy...Today I would never do that cause it was probably 50 years old. I have a turtle story of one I watched for 10 minutes from my perch over looking that same creek one late summer day 5-6 years ago I won't repeat, cause nobody would believe me.

My daughter's FIL tells about him and his brothers finding one big enough to stand on and ride when they were kids.

[country gent]

Today was another little one enjoying the rain was a little smaller than yesterday. Not sure how many eggs they lay in a group. Or what the average to hatch are.

[jdgabbard]

Here in Mississippi, every fallen log on your pond will have a dozen turtles lined up like kitchen canisters by size. Jumbo to Tiny.

Back when I was a kid, I'd go out to the ponds with my single-shot .22LR and shoot them off the logs. My grandfather always told me they ate all the fish. One pond in particular I could sit at all day popping turtles. They were definitely a little more common here back then than they are today...

[wildwilly501]

I went back and checked the date on your post because snapping turtles haven’t layed their eggs yet this year.Can’t explain the little turtle but in Ohio they won’t lay for another month plus

[15meter]

I went back and checked the date on your post because snapping turtles haven’t layed their eggs yet this year.Can’t explain the little turtle but in Ohio they won’t lay for another month plus

Most likely one from last years brood. They grow slooow.

Best story is my oldest sister commenting that she never sees turtles in SE Michigan. I sent her probably 8 photos in 2 weeks of turtles I had spotted on the road or in my yard. Then told her to look off the transom of her and her husband's boat while it was sitting in the dock. Those green sticks that were poking out of water were turtles. She had to get out the binoculars to prove me wrong.

That didn't work.

She never was the most observant one in the family.

30+ years in the same dock and never noticed.

[Rapier]

The Great Blue Herons around here do a fair job of keeping the snapping turtle population down to a medium roar in our two ponds. Every once in a while I catch a big one that got through the Heron mine field and need to whack those. They and the soft shell turtles will eat a bunch of fish in a pond, plus the snappers eat small birds and baby ducks, catch them by the foot and drag them under and drown them. Small version of an alligator. If you just catch one and get your hand close, you will get a lesson in life. They could teach a bulldog a thing or two about clamping down on something.

[country gent]

I thought last years would be a little bigger than this but you are probably right.With those little legs it was a chore traveling the 75-80 yds from the ditch across the road to where they are now.

I was taught by an old neighbor how to clean and catch them. He waded barefoot in the ditch when he felt one under his feet he reached down and felt the shell ridges rough and sharp was towards head smooth was tail. A big turtle can remove fingers if they get hold of you. A smaller one is even painful. The "beak" is sharp and cuts. Ive had a few that the head wouldnt fit in a mason jar.

[Handloader109]

Saw a std box turtle heading across the road yesterday when we went to town. Lots of dump trucks running out of the quarry around the corner from us. He avoided all of them... wasn't sure if he would

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