Brandon ... I assure you that shooting turtles is not an option for me. That's why I posted this topic to see if folks might offer alternatiove non-leathal measures.
Snakes are another matter. They are
fauna non-grata in my ponds. Regardless of what psychological peculiarities might be prompting me to eliminate those dispicable creatures, the main practical reason is because I do NOT want my dawgs to become accustomed to or accepting of snakes of any kind. Both dawgs have been through "snake proofing" to cause them to avoid rattlers, cottonmouths and copperheads that DO exist in our general area. I train Labradors. They are water dawgs. They are fast and aggressive in the water but could not outswim a snake. A snake bite to a dawg is not to be taken lightly. Most dawgs that arwe snake bit in the water get hit on the face near the eyes. Here's an example of what's in store for a snake bit dawg. This one's owned by someone who is a member of our Hunting Retriever Club.
http://www.bigdhrc.com:16080/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5 As far as MY handling turtles are concerned ... I'm not so sure that this rash on my left forearm, elbow and shin is actually poison ivy as opposed to "
turtle ivy" that I'm suffering with right now!
