Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Turtle tales.

In light of the recent threads concerning turtles, I thought It might be entertaining to share a few tidbits of turtle lore from my childhood days. My family has hunted, caught, cleaned and eaten snapping turtles for many years, and as a kid in a large, backwoods family I got to hear some pretty curious ideas covering different aspects of their capture and handling.
Bear in mind that some of what you read in this post may be mildly dangerous, fly directly in the face of accepted scientific principles, cause extreme concern among members of certain animal rights groups, and turn out to be nothing more than an outright fabrication. I am not the author of any such fabrications, aside from those involving Yeti coolers and hydraulic grapples, but am merely passing along what was presented to me as fact, back in the day.

A Snapper that has had its head removed as a precursor to butchering, will continue to move until the next thunderstorm passes through. Totally not making this up....widespread belief at the time. Wow.

When hunting turtles with a firearm, you obviously need to see the animal in order to get off a shot. But since turtles can hold their breath for a long time, and the patience of the pre-teen shooter often grows short, you need a way to bring the animal up. Slapping the surface of the water with an asphalt roofing shingle will cause the turtle to rise to the surface out of curiosity. I don't know if this works, but missing shingles over the front porch will most certainly lead to unpleasant circumstances for the aspiring young turtle hunter. Fact.

Nothing will bother the remains of a snapping turtle. Not possums, coons, coyotes, buzzards.....nothing. I have a very hard time believing this, but now that I think about it, I don't ever recall being curious enough to tramp a quarter mile through tick infested woods to check out what, if anything, remains of the gut-pile left behind from butchering a turtle. Especially not after an extended interval of 90 degree days in August. This sounds like it would be right up Yolk Sac's alley however. Perhaps he will weigh in with his findings.

If you are unfortunate enough to be the recepient of a snapping turtle's bite, AND the animal refuses to let go, Sticking a broomstraw up one of its nostrils will cause it to open its mouth. Here again, I am without any hard evidence that this technique will provide results. But I surmise that the introduction of synthetic materials in broomheads has probably rendered the procedure obsolete. That's progress for you.

Flipping a snapper over on its back will render it immobile, allowing you to approach it more easily. Yeah right. That might work with some namby-pamby box turtle, but a snapper will use it's head and neck to roll itself right back square, with the only effect being a ratcheting -up of intensity/anger on the turtles part. Fact.

A live snapper can extricate itself from the bed of a pickup truck, easily endure the fall to ground, and escape unharmed. Absolutely true. Metal trash cans with lids AND weighted down make great escape-proof enclosures, but trying to sleep with such an arrangement right outside an open bedroom window is futile.

An aluminum jonboat that always had plenty of room for two anglers and their gear, will become unbearably cramped once a large, ticked off snapper is taken on as a passenger. VERY true. As an interesting sidenote however, wildly flailing oars will do an admirable job of aeration, provided any water is left in the pond. And jonboats can achieve planing speed under human power, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.