Sammy the Snapper, on the Move

[kenmbz]

They are cute as babies, and I had Snapper stew once and it was pretty good.

My Uncle caught one when we were lake fishing once and tried to reel it into the boat.
That was pretty amusing , luckily the turtle finally snapped the line before it got my uncle

 

[2LaneCruzer]

This is a second hand story (no pun intended), but I thought there was a lesson there especially for a trot lie fisherman. Friend of mine was telling about him and one of his friends setting a trot line in one of our larger lakes. Seems his friend had a habit of not lifting the line completely out of the water when they came to a staging with a fish on; he would run his hand down the staging, under the water, and grab the lip of the fish and lift it over in to the boat.

Well, seems what appeared to be a fish, was actually a large snapping turtle. He ran his hand down the line, and yep...the turtle snapped on to his hand, between the thumb and first finger. They had to cut the turtle's head off and then the muscles around the jaw to get it loose, and apparently it did considerable damage to they guy's hand.

 

[Liquidsilver]

I have a lake with a beach area and my kids wont go near the water if they see a snapper, so we shoot them on sight. I'm friendly to most critters, but snappers, cottonmouths and poisonous spiders are a no go.

 

[Richard]

I've been going by this 'dry pond' every day. It's been raining so the pond is maybe 8" deep. I walk around the edges looking for him. Can't see the bottom where it's "deep" (HA)

Shovel is there waiting. I don't see him at all. I realize he might have moved on. I'll keep looking. The pond will soon be dry and he'll have no cover under which to hide other than burrowing in.

If he burrows in, how deep might he go? Would that disturbed area look much different than the areas next to it? Remember, this "pond" is otherwise nothing but grass on the flat bottom. Essentially flat with riding mower height grass.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

How certain are you that he didn't just turn around and head back to the other pond when the dog commotion started?

 

[oosik]

I've read stories about snappers. Just glad the only turtles I have - painted box turtles.

 

[check]

We see snapping turtles in our (big) lake all the time. A big one once bumped into me while I was standing on the bottom near the dock. I don’t freak out about them, because they are not really aggressive while they’re in the water. But my daughter sure does! She saw one through her goggles while she was swimming, and she swears it was chasing her. So, for the next few swims I had to swim ahead of her with the kayak, “ hunting“ for snappers. We thought it was kind of funny, but she didn’t!

 

[the old grind]

A friend used to trap turtles with his Dad. There are supposedly 7 kinds of meat in a turtle, likely why many/most are used for soup. Doug said all seven were rubbery and unappealing but the liver was the best if beat the heck out of with a wine bottle to tenderize it. When it's half as thick and twice as wide it's ready for the frying pan. Thanks anyway.

A farmer on my 'block' came up my d'way with a mid-sized snapper ~8"x 10" carapace. He offered to drop it into my pond. Took me long enough to thin down the channel cats that feasted on goslings and ducklings. I didn't want a snapper that might have left here already coming back. Reptiles migrate when it rains, why they always find our ponds and puddles whether permanent or seasonal.

 

[Richard]

Evolution of my story:

I've looked & looked....the pond has dried up. I don't see ANY sign of him, nor do I see any signs of him digging in (not that I know what it might look like)

I don't know what he ended up doing but I'm presuming he left the big pond. I've not yet seen him behind the house in the recirculating pond (which is turned off so it's just a pool right now)

He could have waltzed down to the proper lake.... no idea.

 

[bunyip]

not a snapping turtle but this came out from under the house yrsterday, they do bite and pee on you if you pick them up, this one was about 5" long, they get to about 8".