snapping turtles

[Jesse masterson]

I agree no need for aggression were all just talking and sharing commenta

 

[MossRoad]

Apparently, you've never seen the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

DOH! :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

I frankly couldn't give give a rat's az$ what you believe, but do your own research!

I did. Everything I found says cannot jump UP more than a couple centimeters. Please, oh please, show me turtles jumping 3'6", as that would be truly amazing. Thanks in advance. :thumbsup:

 

[polo1665]

When I was just a kid, I heard about turtle soup. I can't remember who told me you used soft shelled turtles for soup, but Dad & I occasionally caught both soft shelled and snapping turtles on our trotlines. So one day when I had caught a couple of soft shelled turtles, not much bigger than saucers. I dressed them out and took the meat home. Mother refused to have anything do with it, but allowed me to make turtle soup and it was quite good. So later I caught a much bigger soft shelled turtle. I still remember weighing it and think it was 8 pounds, so I dressed it out and made soup with it. The soup was good, but the meat was so tough the dog was the only one in the family that could eat it.:laughing: So I never made turtle soup again.

And I was in my mid-20s when I learned that people also eat the snapping turtles.

As a child I spent most of my early summer days on or around the lake looking for baby turtles. A friend of one of our teachers would take all you could catch for his "turtle farm". The one thing that I remember about soft shell turtles is how fast they were. Seemed much meaner than a snapper and twice as fast.
Nice memories.

 

[polo1665]

I did. Everything I found says cannot jump UP more than a couple centimeters. Please, oh please, show me turtles jumping 3'6", as that would be truly amazing. Thanks in advance. :thumbsup:

I don't think that anyone bought the vertical leap thing. There is probably no need to rub it in any further.

 

[lockhaven]

they do jump....but only while being hit with 230 grains of 8MM copper and lead:laughing:

 

[toppop52]

:ashamed: OK< didn't read my own post before I got huffy, sorry.:ashamed:

I copied and pasted the jump height without paying much attention. I knew they could jump pretty well from messing with them as a kid, but no, they can't jump 3' in the air, at least none I ever seen can. That would be the very rare "Kangaroo turtle", found only in ones imagination. The proper numbers were 3.6"-4.2" depending on size and temperature. They can indeed jump high enough to do a 180 and bite whatever is directly behind them. It looked to me like those big boys down in Carolina could jump 6" or more while spinning to the opposite direction, but it may have been 3-4", that's 45-50 years ago, and those are accurate numbers!
example; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=dWYYe_6bJuE

 

[Bird]

didn't read my own post before I got huffy, sorry

OK, you're forgiven.:laughing:

 

[RoMad]

Everyone is talking turtle soup but I am suprised nobody mentioned fried turtle. Many years ago when we moved to Florida people told me how good soft shell turtles tasted. Well I caught one crossing the road, took it home and cleaned it. My young wife (this was 30 years ago) said she would cook it but not eat any.
I cut it into small pieces and had her roll it in flour and fry it like chicken. It was absolutely delicious. I almost had to beg her to taste it and she finally did. Then, to my suprise, she ate as much of it as I did. After that I caught quite a few of them and she fried them all.
I am getting lazy and soft in my old age. Usually when you catch them crossing the road they are going to or coming from laying thier eggs. After cleaning a few that I found full of eggs I quit catching them.
And if you do decide to catch one, be careful as they do have a very nasty disposition when you mess with them.

 

[MossRoad]

:ashamed: OK< didn't read my own post before I got huffy, sorry.:ashamed:

I copied and pasted the jump height without paying much attention. I knew they could jump pretty well from messing with them as a kid, but no, they can't jump 3' in the air, at least none I ever seen can. That would be the very rare "Kangaroo turtle", found only in ones imagination. The proper numbers were 3.6"-4.2" depending on size and temperature. They can indeed jump high enough to do a 180 and bite whatever is directly behind them. It looked to me like those big boys down in Carolina could jump 6" or more while spinning to the opposite direction, but it may have been 3-4", that's 45-50 years ago, and those are accurate numbers!
example; Snapping Turtle Leaping - YouTube

O.K. man. I apologize, too. That is a much more reasonable figure. :thumbsup:

I've got tears in my eyes from thinking how traumatized I would have been as a child going after some turtels in our lake and having them jump up as high as my head. AAAAH!!! Killer turtle!!!! You'd think some adults would have warned us to stay away from those things! :laughing: