Feed them ! Mine like to eat .22 mag. vmax
Cappy,
There may be an alternative....there was someone advertising in the Polk County Enterprise recently to buy turtles, alive. If I can find the ad, I'll send you an e-mail
I have been trying to find out if red eared sliders (turtles) are edible since I have so many in my pond and they eat a lot of fish food.
Does anyone have a clue?
Originally posted by Ric Swaim:
Turtle soup!
Eeeuwww. Eat redears? That's like eating toad soup or dog soup or something. Blecch. Alligator snapper and softshell are the "eating" turtles.
I think the .22 Mag. is a better recipe. It knocks them about 15' out of the water.
All seriousness aside, I guess a "trap and relocate" project could work. Pretty labor intensive though. Get ready for some hard work. Maybe an alligator would keep the numbers in check.
I know exactly what they eat, but I have no idea what the impact of a large turtle population is on a pond. Anyone know?
Cappy_TX, back to your original question. Why do you think you have TOO many turtles? I can have a lot of geese or I can have too many geese. Too many implies that they are doing some kind of damage.
Do you know exactly what species you have? Try as I may, I can't imagine what kind of damage they might be doing.
Norm ... For starters, they are feeding on largemouth and channel cat fingerlings we stocked.
Secondarily, when we throw the floating fish food into the ponds I'd like to see FISH begining to feed, not several dozen turtles appearing from all areas of the pond and making a bee line for the fish pellets.
Third, the durn turtles leave the ponds and wander into the barn, garage and anywhere they think they can go for whatever reason they go there. My Labs insist on tracking them down and taking great delight in picking them up and bringing them to me.
First of all, Cappy, I dunno what TX laws are in regards to reptiles, but I know that in some places it is not legal to kill turtles, and in other places it's frowned upon. This may be regardless of whether it's your own private property or not. Chances are killing 'em won't be caught by the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction), but if it is, it could result in some ugly fines.
In regards to you or gramma catching them, you're bolder than me. I have some wierd hangups about handling certain animals. I have no problem handling a gar or pickerel, but am terrified of catfish. I'll handle toads, but not frogs. In much the same vein, I have little fear of snakes (even the "bad" kind), but am pretty petrified of turtles.
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!
Cappy_TX, the first thing to do is to get an accurate species identification. That will tell you about the life history of this species. To change the numbers of this species, you have to change something in its life history. Since you have large numbers of this species, you must be providing an ideal situation for them somehow.
Turtles are like anything else, if they find a food source like pellets, they will use it. Think of bears eating around trash dumps. These individuals will have to be removed. Lots of directions for making turtle traps have been listed. Just put the pellets in the trap. Once the individuals that are eating the pellets are removed, the others may not start again.
Again, let me stress that you must get an accurate species ID to control the population of this species.
Hey, Cappy, unfortunately I have witnessed a snakebitten dog of my own. I used to have a few labs, and one died of a snakebite. So I can certainly understand that you don't want your dogs to accept or "get used to" any snakes. Sorry I can't be of more help on the turtle thing, but Norm's advice sounds really solid, so that should be a starting point. Good luck!
I was determined that i didnt want any turtles, except small ones to eat any dead fish etc. I "relocated"(to turtle heaven) a couple large red sliders and saw a couple eating nearly all the fish chow. I dont live close to the pond, so have no control of this. I fished the pond first time last wk. It has only bream and common shiners I think. I was fishing for bream with small shiners and "BUBBA" my new name for the large slider that would not look at the shiner I was dragging right in front of him, but would follow my little iridescent yellow cork nearly to shore, only to look up passively at where this potential treat might have come from. After a few eye to eye contacts, needless to say BUBBA will be a permanent resident and will probably grow quickly and die young due to over indulgence in the fish chow.
Thanks for the suggestions. We bought the properties in June of 2004. The pond enlargement work continued on through early November. Unfortunately, we didn't beging feeding pellets until after mid-April this year when we stocked the enlarged ponds with bass and catfish fingerlings. There was already a resident population of bass, crappie, bluegill, bullheads and cats in the much smaller original ponds. In addition, there were turtles galore already present so whatever has attracted them apparently still exists.
The snakes that we are seeing are limited to a 7-1/2 acre wetlands we created on a 55 acre property 5 miles north of our homestead. While I personally haven't seen an venomous species there yet, the former owner said he frequently killed copperheads around a corral where he kept a few horses.
Cooperheads are the least aggressive of the venomous snakes in TX and have the least toxic venom. However, I am not impressed by their diminished degree of toxin ... bang - bang is my solution.
I was looking for a better way of getting rid of turtles than shooting or trapping them. I have a turtle trap that I baited and put out for a week and only caught two turtles. Norm turtles compete directly with the fish for pellets which is why I would at least like to thin their numbers. I'm not trying to raise trophy turtles but trophy fish! Apcenter in Texas a valid hunting license is all that is required to kill turtles on private property.
Turtles are NOT welcome at my pond, period. I'll unleash the .22 mag every chance I get. I see the big ole moss backs as a disease waiting to happen. I figure the ones that sink to the bottom create structure !
Hello Jim
As you know we do a lot of wetland habitat for ducks out here. On several of our projects turtles became a problem particularly snappers. Go to E-bay and type in fike net .It will be a small 3 hoop net that is stacked in the water it with catch ALL kinds of turtles and allow you to transport them else where .If need be I can loan you one of mine for a few months. Another thing you may want to try is a turtle sun/box it is just a floating box with tapered sides .The turtle climbs up the side to sun then falls into the box .It will catch painted and teal pot turtle like crazy with out killing them….you can always drown them later hahahah. We trapped a few huge snappers out of water fowl pond when I was home last,it was well over 50lbs…….he became soup!
James, I can't imagine a better way of relocating turtles than shooting them. This relocates them to the side of the pond. Generally, nature takes care of the remains. I have some and have occasionally considered them a problem. If they become a problem, just remember breath control and S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E.
Cappy, I ain't no turtle expert,but seems ta me yer feedin yer own problem. "Me and gramma and the mutt, round em up and put em in the nearest pond". NO, NO, NO!! They just keep multiplyin that way. If ya don't wanna kill em, here's an alternative. Get a tractor innertube, split it opposite the valve stem (makes a good sight), nail it between two trees bout 4" apart. Now ya got yerself a fine turtle slingshot. With the right wind conditions, ya can send em like a Tiger Woods Big Bertha drive. If yer soft hearted, don't worry, they're hard shelled, and will bounce like a superball. If ya got some neighbors ya don't like, take carefull aim, and have fun. Bob-O
I like the way your thinkin Bob-O
turtleapaults
air-turtle-cannon
Some kid tellin his parents "it's raining turtles".
I wonder if the smaller turtles will fit in the clay bird thrower! PULLLLLLLLLLLLL!hahahah
An addendum to my June 27 2005 post. At that time, there were only 2 turtles that were more interested in my bobber than the shiner on the hook. Since I live 375 miles away from my pond, I cant monitor it. I have been feeding the fish heavily since 1st of March. I went last week and had several very large, many large, and a few small red sliders. They were eating nearly all the fish feed. The small ones were chasing and nearly catching the rosy reds. I applied stern punishment with a break barrel .177 pellet rifle with scope and pointed pellets. Next day only 1 turtle showed up to feed. He will probably be twice as big when I go back in about 3 wks. I like the fact they eat the dead fish, but just cant have an exploding population.
This is a photo from the Aquatic Eco-Systems Catalog. When I worked there, this item sold well and worked even better. Most of the Auqaculture guys were very happy with the results. The only problem was having to relocate them. Maybe another persons pond that you are not happy with?
Cappy-
I feel your pain. Our 12 acre lake is loaded with red-eared sliders. And last weekend, I took my 8 year old daughter and 4 of her friends to the farm to fish. On the last cast of the day, one of the girls got "hung up" on something. She eventually dragged what she thought was a sunken log to shore. Now picture in your mind 5 eight-year-old girls coming face-to-face with a 10 pound snapping turtle. It was priceless -- something I'll never forget, and the reason I bought the land in the first place. Unfortunately, the prehistoric creature broke the line, hissed at everyone, and slowly crawled back into the lake...
Dan, sounds unforgettable for her.
Fishman Dan shares a moment
Now picture in your mind 5 eight-year-old girls coming face-to-face with a 10 pound snapping turtle. It was priceless -- something I'll never forget, and the reason I bought the land in the first place.
:D I luv these 5:30 am smiles
good picture you paint...
Well, I've gotta problem with them painted turtles, too. It's not that we've too many of them. In fact, I've only seen about 3...however, my wife insists on making sure they all get their "fair" share of pellets whenever we feed the fish. "They're so cute..."
They all have the same name...Freddy...as in Freeloader.
Oh well, Nene gets a lot of enjoyment from watching the "piranhas" in action. If she also enjoys feeding all the Freddies, I won't beetch much.
Kinda tickles me that this thread started in June of last year and is still getting current discussion.
Our turtle problem got bigger than ever early this year. Possibly due to the TX drought for the past nine months. Most every pond within a few miles dried up during the July through March drought .... except for ours. We found turtles out in the middle of nowhere during the late summer, fall and early winter. I have a feeling they found out we still had water and told all their buddies about us.
During the same period, I had a small problem with snakes develop. We had been relatively snake free until November when a cotton mouth and a few copper heads showed up. At first I was using either a .357 loaded with rat shot, or a .22LR with rat shot. Then I just went to the 22LR hollow points which I found were great (shhhh) at reducing the turtle problem too.
When skunks, racoons and coyotes started making our ponds part of their daily routine (and I do mean daily as opposed to nocturnal) I started also carrying a 12 ga loaded with Lead 4s on the rifle rack in the ATV. It works very well on all of the critter problems we had.
Here's wife Carol with a Giant Canada in January next to a pond that
used to have a turtle and snake problem.
By the way, the pond was down about 42" from normal in that picture. Here's the same pond a few weeks ago after we finally got our 7" or rain that filled us to the brim and then some ...
I personally have turtle structures and habit in my pond. Large stumps partcially submergered.
Ever now an then when my redneck side takes over and I want to play Rambo I pull out the old 22 long rifle semi 9X scope that my grand father gave me as a kid. Very first gun after my daisy BB gun. I don't really need the scope because there will be about 5 to 10 all bunched up and I spread 15 rounds on them in a very very short period of time. I usally manage a 50% kill ratio. Got to leave some for the next time Rambo shows up.
Some times when I want to play GI Joe I look out and see all these little black heads floating around I become a marine sniper and utilize the scope for percision head shots. Instant kill.
Now that's my mean side. As many may recall I posted a while back on geese problem. They have now eat all the screens off the front of the house and mess all over the porches and deck. They even guard the doggy door and want let my cow dogs out. My wife has put out a death contract on them. Trouble is they are so pretty I can't bring myself to sqeese the trigger. Are there any Assassins for hire near the DFW area? Has anyone ever had deep fried goose?
RT, I have gotten to the point where I almost won't kill anything that I'm not going to eat. I say almost because I just don't believe in putting up with problems. I like coyotes because they don't chase cows like my neighbors dogs do. By the same line of reasoning, I have come to the point of not liking my neighbors.
I recently posted about having to drag a dead dog out of my pond. It turned out to be a neighbors dog. He was upset about the loss of the dog and I was upset that he wasn't there to retrieve it. That water was cold.
Rocky goose is a fantastic meat! I am an avid water fowl hunter and we eat our possession limit every month during the winter here in DE. I am sure you will have no problem finding a few hunters to stool out in your pond and share the harvest with you.
I do not kill many things I do not eat as I will try just about anything when it comes to food from ground hog to snappers, but I have been known to drop the 22 mag on the occasional un-collared cat, and I shot all foxes on sight.
rockytopper ... go to this website ...
http://www.txwaterfowler.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=3 introduce yourself and ask for volunteers to assist you in reducing the goose population. How many THOUSAND folks can you accomodate on your property at one time?
rockytopper...deep fried goose is NASTY...roll ol' liver around in breading and deep fry it...that's as close as you can get...
It's been said before but I'll mention it again...Shooting turtles CAN be dangerous, just be sure what lies in your ricochett pattern. Just remember that cool whine you hear is a bullet spinning and curving up off the water. BTW, I took the .44 MAG and 9mm out for turtle practice myself. Nothing like popping a small black head from 50 yds away with a .44!
