Turtle Catchin?

[DOGKILLR]

Dave, before you fry up your turtle make sure you boil it for a while either in a pot or pressure cooker. It makes it a whole lot more tender.

[DOGKILLR]

Wow - sounds like you guys have turtlin down to a science. Here's the easy way I used to do it.
buy some cheap pieces of steak or chicken at the store.
tie a 7/0 hook to 25' of mason line. drive a stake into the ground on the side of the pond and tie the line to it. hook a piece of meat and throw it in. leave a little slack in the line on the bank. when you come back and the line is tight- you got one.
It ain't fancy but it works like a charm.

"waiter, bring me some turtle soup and make it snappy!"

I used to set hooks but I found that baskets are a whole lot more productive. Also I've lost some turtles on hooks. Those big boys can be powerful if they get their claws in the bank or bottom. I've also caught alot of snakes on the hooks. Damn if that won;t give you the heebeejeebees when you pull one of them sob's up.

Also, Dave. Just a word of advise to you. When you put those snappers in a barrel to clean them just remember that if your barrel is not full size and they can get their head over the edge they will get out. A friend of mine borrowed my traps and caught a bunch one night and put them in a 55 gallon barrel that had been cut in half for the purging process and when he came home from work all of them were out.

[Dave Sikorski]

Thanks for all of the help folks. Now I just have to wait out the winter.

It's 32.1 and raining and everything is covered in ice.

Damn I hate the winter.

-D

[Deep C]

You crawl up on your belly lookem in the eye and tell them in a Clint Eastwood type wisper to get the F*** out before you get pissed... Works every time.

[austin ensor]

what you do is take a 1/0 hook and put a peice of expired chicken on it attach it to a milk jug and throw it out when it bobbing go get it. pull the trurle up and snap its neck then tutle stew we did this last summer in a buddies pond and got 7 snappers!!!!

[scalez]

Just to add one more option --- What we used to do was to take a 55 gal drum (plastic is best) wire several wood ramps 2 foot long(2x8) from the top edge to the water for stability, put a bunch of old bricks in the drum and float it with about 4 inches of freeboard in the pond permanently. No bait was required. Caught sliders mostly but some snappers. This trap worked year round and provided it's own bait. We only tended the trap if we wanted turtle soup!

[Glenn W]

Just to add one more option --- What we used to do was to take a 55 gal drum (plastic is best) wire several wood ramps 2 foot long(2x8) from the top edge to the water for stability, put a bunch of old bricks in the drum and float it with about 4 inches of freeboard in the pond permanently. No bait was required. Caught sliders mostly but some snappers. This trap worked year round and provided it's own bait. We only tended the trap if we wanted turtle soup!

Now that is nasty--- I can still remember the smell of rotting turtles in July. When we first started catching turtles commercially we needed a way to hold our catch until we got enough to take to the buyer. So we devised a holding pen made out of a cattle trough and filled it about half full of water.--- don't know why, but the dang turtles drowned and smelled like holy hell in a few days.-- no, worse than holy hell-- I mean gag a maggot nasty.

[whitey]

I had a turtle head this morning but I caught it with a roll of Charmin.