oh yep: my dingaling, my dingaling
as far as the snappers go they don't sun themselves, the red eared sliders do on logs and rarely get bigger than 4' across & 6" lnog. they usually eat only small crustations fish & dead stuff along with buggs... Snappers on the other hand can go over 50 lbs easy CAN break / remove fingers and dingalings if not securly attached. they will eat live fish, dead ones smaller turtels dingalings even ADULT DUCKS yes I've witnessed it first hand! (full grown duck drug under by it's leg by a turtle that left bubble tracks over 4' across ! that is here in Ohio. I have also lost hole fishing stringers to them, nothing left but the heads. (talking 5;bs of catfish we caught and left in the water for a early morning frying pan of food! wasn't happy or full the next morning either /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I don't think there is a season for them but it does require a licence to fish/hunt for them off youre own land. in you're pond you cando as you wish. all above mentioned ways of getting them are valid traps snares milkjug lines as well as bank lines all work well. bait (dead fish hooked securly)
anyhow the red ears are nice to watch and will come up and sun often as well as surface and skim the top and float on top for long periods of time, snappers will stay down LONG TIME and rarley surface long enough for a shot. soft shelled turtles are also big fish eaters move faster and have a mean attitude too. they are not as heavy but will get bigger around and are usually a green or brownish color snappers have jagged shells with small piramid shpes on them. soft shells are leathery looking & feeling and VERY stinky more so than even a snapper.
for eating it is common to let them soak for a week or two in a tub of clean water to get the stink out of snappers but lots of people like them. (I'm not one of them though as I been around em a lot /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif) anyhow happy hunting.
MarkM