Nailed this Big Boy! (Snapper)

[jcummins]

During the summer, I always have a 22 with me, and patrol the ponds here regularly. And yes my fish population....BIG fish....has declined. Two reason, some over population....but eagles some years back literally fished the crap out of my ponds. And naturally they spot...and take...the biggest of the fish. I witnessed it over and over, and nothing could I do with the eagles being protected.

 

[Stimw]

We have Gopher Turtles here that dig burrows in pastures for horses to trip in!
They are endangered/protected, EPA will call out a SWAT team if you mess with them!

Always wondered about those guys Noodle-ing? What if Mr Turtle is in the hole!!!

 

[Gem99ultra]

Need to lay a beer can next to him for reference. Could be 3" long for all we know.

Actual size WAS about 18" long. Big enough that I dang sure wasn't going to test it and stick a finger in front of it! BUT - that sucker is now GONE. Where it went or how is a mystery to me. I checked on it all day the day I shot it and it hadn't moved. Next morning - it had disappeared. Sorry - if you wish you can just mark this report up to fiction or whatever. Heck, maybe I was just dreaming? That happens at age 77.

On the turtle traps, I bought one that was guaranteed to catch loads of turtles. Paid $80 for it on eBay I tried it out for a week, but it never caught one single turtle. After the first week, it sunk to the bottom of the pond, which is 15' deep. Never found it again, but the seller refunded my $80. He didn't, of course have to do that, but I didn't refuse the refund either.

Unless I get some workable suggestions on a good turtle trap, I'm going to lay a log from the water edge up the bank, for convenient turtle sun bathing, and use Eddie Walker's suggestion - i.e. target practice. This year we're overrun by turtles! Gotta do something...

 

[AlbertC]

Actual size WAS about 18" long. Big enough that I dang sure wasn't going to test it and stick a finger in front of it! BUT - that sucker is now GONE. Where it went or how is a mystery to me. I checked on it all day the day I shot it and it hadn't moved. Next morning - it had disappeared. Sorry - if you wish you can just mark this report up to fiction or whatever. Heck, maybe I was just dreaming? That happens at age 77.

On the turtle traps, I bought one that was guaranteed to catch loads of turtles. Paid $80 for it on eBay I tried it out for a week, but it never caught one single turtle. After the first week, it sunk to the bottom of the pond, which is 15' deep. Never found it again, but the seller refunded my $80. He didn't, of course have to do that, but I didn't refuse the refund either.

Unless I get some workable suggestions on a good turtle trap, I'm going to lay a log from the water edge up the bank, for convenient turtle sun bathing, and use Eddie Walker's suggestion - i.e. target practice. This year we're overrun by turtles! Gotta do something...

GEm99 - I see you live in middle Georgia. I live in Perry and I made my own turtle trap and I have caught tons of turtles out of my pond . It's a pretty simple copy of one I saw on the Internet. I attached the picture below.

 

[Stimw]

WOW! They will climb up that Wheel Barrow to get in the trap?

 

[Gary Fowler]

18" long is a fair sized snapper but really not large as they get much bigger and claims are they live over 100 years.

With his head smashed in, he might still have crawled away. I shot a pond turtle and he laid on the bank all day and then disappeared. He reappeared (floating dead) a day or so later. Amazing that they can have that kind of damage and still crawl away.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You can catch a lot of turtles with a trap like shown but you need to bait it with meat for it to be really effective. The PVC pipe needs to be at least 4" in diameter and nothing on it that the turtles can hook a claw in to climb up. Check it often so you get them while they are still eating the stinky dead meat. Once meat is exhausted they will start trying to climb out. You don't need the sunning board, just the ramp for them to crawl up on to get to the top of the pipe floats. Glue the pipe joints well so they don't leak. The guy that sold yours to you much not have glued it properly.

 

[MossRoad]

From what I've read, and from what my nephew, the turtle specializing herpetologist told me...

Snapping turtles rarely bask in the sun compared to other turtles. Floating turtle traps are mostly designed for those other types of turtles that tend to sun themselves. They make specialized snapping turtle traps that you set on the pond bottom in shallow water with the top 2" or so out so the turtle can breath once its in the trap.

This store explains it pretty well. Underwater traps VS floating traps.

Floating Turtle and Sinking Turtle Traps - Turtle Hoop Net - Snake Trap

 

[Sawyer Rob]

We have a lot of snappers around here, many about the size shown. I get them out of my ponds any way I can, but I no longer eat them.

I've shot more than few that were sunning themselves, so for where "I" live, it would be mis information to say they don't normally do that.

I have a lot of smaller turtles in my ponds too, but I don't bother them, pretty much all paint turtles...

SR