Because of the loss of LMB and other fish, nesting mallard eggs and more recently mallard chicks, I declared war on the turtles in general in our ponds and with a special emphasis given to the snappers. I started shooting them with a .22 but quickly switched to a 3" 20 gauge load of #4 lead (left overs from when lead was still legal for waterfowl) and I have made an appreciable decrease in their numbers.
What's amazing to me is how many there are and just how canibalistic they can be. A turtle shot today will be an empty shell on a bank somwhere tomorrow, I kid you not.
And by the way, the most effective location I've found for catching and killing them is in adjoining pastures or the farm yard just after daybreak when they have been off marauding for their evening meal, laying eggs, or both.
