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Found this little thing crossing the drive after leaving the HBG pond. Just like in my youth, I had to stop and pick it up....not sure why, Just did. As usual, it snapped and lunged, more bark than bite however.






Then, a few hundred yards further down, I located this behemoth leaving another pond. This one is good sized for our area. I stopped to pick it up also, but it was in a no-nonsense mood and let it be known that if I wanted to play, it would be more than happy to accommodate me. As it had considerably more "bite" than the smaller one, I gave it a pass.



Best guess on my part is that they were both females, heading off to lay their eggs. Unusual for me to find two on the same day, just minutes apart.

Is that a hole in its back?

Sparkie, did you take one out in the jonboat, just for old times sake?

Hey old timer, I think your eyesight is finally going. Isn't that a shadow cast by the leaf on it's shell?

Tony, well done - I probably would have shot them both, then regretted it seconds later until my deathbed. Good restraint employed - those turtles aren't likely doing any harm but cleaning up dead/dying fish and keeping your pond clean.

You know Yolk, there are many first's in a person's life. Some are memorable simply by virtue of having been a first, while others may claim the dual distinction of having been a first and a last simultaneously. With no small amount of relief, I acknowledge that turtle-in-a-jonboat belongs in the latter category.

Dave it wasn't a hole, but leaves and debris on the shell.

I would never shoot a turtle I wasn't going to eat, TJ. I don't mind them in the pond one bit. I do wish I would outgrow the tendency to try and grab up every last one I see, though. I'm going to regret that one day, as my reflexes probably aren't getting any speedier.

On the down side, I guess we'll know what happened when you change your screen name to "nubbins".

On the up side, it'll be another one of those "firsts" you were writing about, which are increasingly hard to come by the older we get.

Yeah, now I see the shadow but had to enlarge it(ctrl+)

As others have said on this forum, any fish slow and/or sick enough to get snapped up likely needed to be culled anyway. As such I leave the turtles be...what little fish food they eat I call a small price to pay.

Good pics sparkie.

We swim in our pond all the time. My wife says she's not swimming if we have snappers in there. I've never heard of a swimmer attacked by one. Maybe if you stepped on it.
I guess I could have the pond all to myself... Hehe.