I hate them. I've seen them injure other animals and people.

Last year I took a 35-pounder out of our pond, and relocated it miles away. I just spotted another one this year, not nearly as big, but big enough.

Trying to net the buggers is very difficult. I was thinking of getting a small crossbow. Anybody have any experience with that? They're supposedly pretty powerful and it seems like they could definitely get through the shell.

Thanks

There is a forum post on using a floating PVC square turtle trap as a pretty easy way to get turtles. I'm not sure if snappers no how to elude these or not.
The only time I have been able to get a snapper out is to catch them with hook and line and then tow them to shore and dispatch of them with a pellet gun to the noggin while someone holds their head out of the shell with the fishing line. You could probably set out a 'jug line' or shore line baited with anything meaty or smelly and catch one pretty easily that way.

One month after Woodstock, a commercial trapper took over fifty snappers out of Max Yasgur's farm pond. That had been filled with hundreds of drunken/stoned revelers a month before, with no reported bites.

The best defense against snapping turtles is apparently to be bombed out of your mind and naked.

OTOH, they have 7 different flavors of meat in them. And like Star Wars' Ton-Tons, they smell worse on the inside when you cut them open.

We see one or two every spring. Sometimes we catch them on hook and line (by accident). Sometimes they expire from 'lead poisoning'.

I used to catch soft shell turtles and eat them, and the occasional snapper too. The key is to use a different knife to cut the meat than you used to cut the skin.

Fried turtle legs - tastes like chicken!!

I have a very large female, long term resident in my pond - she's been there at least 4 years now and lays her eggs in the same spot every year. Every year the raccoons eat her eggs before they hatch out. She does no real harm. I get a few smaller males that roam through each year as well.

keep in mind they eat dead fish, dead frogs, curly leaf pond weed, FA, etc. It is like having another caretaker at your pond but could get out of hand if you get a hatch off.

At the range you would be bowhunting from (assuming a boat, dock, or close range from shore), a quality crossbow will do the trick. You would want the traditional bolt tip that is a plain sharp point with the retractable barbs so that the barbs do not hinder shell penetration.

That said, turtles are not bad for a pond given there are not too many. And, one has to ask why there would be so many? There may be enough dying older fish to support a larger population and the clean up crew would be desired. Turtles can do some substantial damage to vegetation, however. I can tell when a snapping turtle is in my pond due to the sudden destruction of the lilies that I am trying to get established.

The only turtle attacks on people I have heard of were accompanied by the words..."watch this"...lol

We trap a few each year out of the pond for table fare, they are good to eat. They aren’t hard to trap. Thanks.

Bryan

I shot turtles for the first time in 30 years the other day. 2 acre pond and I counted 19. Generally, I like having them around to serve as the pond buzzards.

That's a lot of turtles Dave. I'm curious...What were their relative weights???...LOL They had to be eating something???

My 2 acre pond is small enough that I limit my turtle population to about 5 at any one time. I am at my pond every day and see them. This year I actually have seen some small baseball sized ones on the bank. When I see dinner plate sized ones ganging up at my feeder twice a day it is time to select harvest a few. Mine eat a lot of floating fish food! Note: These are NOT snapping turtles or loggerheads though.

QA, they were certainly well fed on pellets. BTW, I left about 5 or 6 in the pond. When I looked yesterday there were only 3. Guess they didn’t like me being inhospitable.

You had to.....

I've caught several this year and have dispatched 2 of them. I don't mind them until they interfere with my fishing too much. The last one I killed cleaned of 4 of my lines within 30 mins. I'd reel him up and he'd let it go right when I could see him. He screwed up and finally swallowed a hook. All I had at the time was a 10mm semi-auto and the ringing in my ears the next several hours had me wishing I'd just let him keep eating.

Here's a trip down memory lane for Sunil:

Good thing those shorts were camo.

I'll pass on eating the snapper in Esshup's pics.

I think the flavor of the meat may be influenced by his dietary preferences.

Quit busting on Todd3138. He's sensitive about his baldness.

FishingRod, Catmandoo had brought a few 'friends' up from WV to help do a bullhead catch and eat festival at my pond.

They caught this snapper and tried to 'store' it in the back of their pick-up truck, but it kept getting out. So, they came up with a new idea.

It was a zero sum thing for those guys as they preferred to crap in the woods vs. using a port-a-john.

Sunil,

Thanks for the clarification.

I was really worried that a "crapper snapper" had evolved naturally!


P.S. With "friends" like that, I hope you don't have rattlesnakes, copperheads, scorpions, or rabid skunks at your place.

I had the pleasure of catching 4 snapping turtles this weekend all around 15 lbs. I love to eat them and usually slow cook them before picking the meat off, breading it, and deep frying it. Now I have the LEM meat tenderizer attachment and was wondering if anyone ever deboned the meat, ran it through a tenderizer, and then just fried it. It would kind of be like cube steaks or pork cutlets. Just curious. Thanks