Age of turtle??

[Dave B]

duplicate-ignore

[This message has been edited by Dave B (edited 08-10-2004).]

[so haaad]

Grebe-
I know someone who threw one in the trunk of their car, and the thing chomped out the wiring of a taillight.

[BLACKJACK]

When we were younger we used to snag them up and butcher them. Uncle Grump has it right, clean them out in a stock tank for a week. To get the head off, we got tired of trying to get that head stretched out with a vice grip to cut it off, so what we'd do is tie a twine string to the tail, tie the twine to a post. When the turtle stretches out to get away, we'd shoot them in the neck with a 12 guage slug. Walla, the head is gone (or most of it anyway )! Then we'd hang them for a couple/four hours to bleed out and die! If you start butchering right away the muscles sit and twitch every time you cut!

As I've gotten older and realized how long they live at the bottom of a swamp, collecting every bit of pesticide and other various good stuff that washes into the swamp, I've shyed away from butchering and eating them, I'll stick to chicken and beef!

By the way, the shell makes a unique clock!

[Buckhead]

Snappers taste like chicken and beef they have 3to5 different kinds of meat.the last two ice fishing years we heated up snapper someone brought and it was great at 2am. kinda makes you squrm in bed plus its easy to get up and crawl to the bathroom after drinking 12 plus beers. good luck boys
Buckhead with a B.

[metro 1]

I liven next to Lake Maria State park and there are turtles galore.Every spring they have a seminar on turtles and demonstrations on how to handle them. They say give the turtles a break on the road and help them aside.With a snapper get a stick put it front of them and they will latch on then drag off road.Getting anywhere near them is not recommended ,they move extremely fast for a foot (12") or so.The snapper is only aggressive when on land or provoked in water.Think about all the times your in the water and they are all around you with out incident. The soft shell turtle is an aggressive critter and when dealing with them they don't run away scared they come at you [PoorWordUsage]ed. Metro

[Stratosman]

My grandpa used to catch about one snapping turtle a year, usually while it was crossing the road, and I remember grandma cooking it up almost like a stew with cream of mushroom soup. It was very tasty but very bony if I remember correctly. I would definately eat it again.

[The Grebe]

Your right about them Rubberbacks, they will definately go on the offensive! I had one come after me (I guess I provoked him a liitle bit? I have to admit that he first tried to get away.) while fishing the Mississippi.

That thing came after me like a deranged version of a moldy cartoon pancake and they are some homely cusses with that long snout and those stripes!

He did'nt leg it after me for a block or two, just a very short distance, maybe 3 or 4 feet, but he meant business and he covered that distance fast! I would have to say that they are definately the SST's of turtledom!

[psegriz]

To kill the turtle don't lop off the head instead get a rope tie around it's neck and hang him up from tree branch. then cut his tail off about 3 to 4 nobs up from the end of tail. They will bleed to death in an hr. or so and can then be cleaned without any twiching and the jaws will not want to clamp as they do when loping off the head. The way I understand it is by lopping off their head the central nervous system is destroyed causing them to react to thing although they are dead.

If a person ever gets bit by them simply get a stiff blade of grass put in it's nostril and push it in, just keep pushing it in til it opens it's mouth. Walla finger out.

------------------
Ice is coming soon!!
GRIZ

[McGurk]

Love the stories!!! Let's see some pictures!

We had a local restaurant back home that specialized in snapping turtle, until it burned down. We sure miss the Old Mill. Another eatery has started serving it since; there must be some demand for it!

[Lowe]

Some years ago I was fishing the river near town when I saw a snapper in shallow water with its snout sticking out of the water. The fish weren't biting and I was bored (plus I heard snappers taste good)so I dug in my tackle box and found a big hook, some 20# test, and a big sinker. I had some dead creek chubs I was going to use for catfishing later on, so I put one of those on and threw it near the snapper. A couple minutes passed and the snapper swallowed the chub. I hooked it and started handlining it in. Reason set in when it was about halfway in and I paused. I was alone, with no net or other means of dispatching the big old turtle on the other end of the line.

Well my sister lived only a few blocks away, so I figured this would be a good job for my brother in law.

I tied the line to a small willow tree and quickly drove to my sister's house. Figuring my BIL wouldn't come running to help me land a turtle, I told him I had a big northern on, at least 20 pounds, and I needed a net.

"Hey, I'll give ya a hand. But I don't have a net."

"How about a .22?"

"Nope, no .22. I do have a baseball bat."

Good enough. We grab a bat and head back over. The willow tree is bobbing slightly. I start handlining in the snapper and position BIL at the edge of the water. "Whack that northern good now," I say, realizing this is by far the most fun I've had fishing in a while. The water in the St. Louis River is stained and was pretty muddy after a recent rain, so he didn't see the snapper until it came up on the bank right next to him, hissing, mouth wide open. My BIL, posed there in a perfect batting stance, suddenly looked like a Little Leaguer trying to back away from a high, inside fastball by Roger Clemens.

Sadly, positioned as I was, I couldn't see his face, but I'm pretty sure the whole town heard his scream. We got the turtle, eventually, but my BIL doesn't seem to trust me anymore. Can't figure out why.

[metro 1]

This spring my neighbors were having their annual May party and we needed some warmer cloths ,so I was driving down the driveway and see what looks like a leaf moving.My oldest daughter 9 and a friend are in my truck when the turtle expert (Me ) decide to mess with the turtle.I tap one time on it's shell and going for another tap and this thing spins around and nips the palm side of my right thumb. Not bad, but enough to see the tooth mark.Then its not bad looking like an ***** in front of your daughter but she has to tell everyone at this party.I'm now done messing with the turtles and I know she is.Metro

[pikerliker]

I remember as a kid fishing with my dad and uncle on a lake in Wright CO. I was bored and used to like to pull up the stringer and look at the fish we had on. We had caught a couple of walleyes and I think a northern and bass. When I pulled up the stinger to look at it the two fish on the bottom of the stringer were gone with only thier heads remaining! I remember looking at my dad and saying "Dad. What happened to the fish". Well I not sooner said this then a turtle that had to have a 3 ft shell floats up next to the boat. My Dad let out a few explatives and proceded to try to kill the turtle with one of the boat oars! It just submerged like a submarine and resurfaced about 20ft away and eyeballed us. Needless to say the rest of the fish stayed in the boat that night!

I also had an incident in Wisconson with some friends when I was older about college age. My buddy had caught a couple of bass and had tyed them to the doc with a stringer. It was dark and we were outside sitting around a fire. The bass were going crazy and were splashing all over so I went down to the lake to see what was going on. I started to lift the stringer out of the water which now was considerably heavier for some reason. Well it was dark enough that I couldn't see it, but the hiss just about made me **** my pants!! I did end up saving the fish but I never forgot either one of those experiences!

~piker

[2dalake]

I never thought these things could float, but I saw one come up for air several times a few weeks ago in 12 feet of water. I'm used to seeing those little pond sliders come up for air. The first time this critter broke the surface it looked like Nessie.