Our farm pond has an ancient inhabitant

[SPIKER]

Agreed that a BIG snapper can eat a LOT of fish, we had a stringer of Catfish that all was left were 4 heads still on the metal stringer... They were caught at night camping next to the public lake & we were GONNA have them for breakfast so left them stay alive on the stringer... needless to say we ended up with Eggs and Bacon on the fire...
the cats would have been about 2~3lbs each undressed so probably 9 lbs of fish that turtle ate.

A while prior seen a Duck (full grown) get taken by turtle nothing but feathers surfaced.


Mark

 

[lockhaven]

Personally I do not like snappers, I also lost fish on a stringer hanging off the side of my boat. Still if the pond is not used to raise fish or anything else for that matter no need to kill the creature.

 

[DarkBlack]

I think old snapping turtles are kind of cool in their own way. Seems a shame to kill one that survived so long.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, snappers can eat lots of big fish on strings..... so if you own a farm pond with snappers in it, don't keep your fish on strings... FREE RANGE CATFISH!!!!

 

[Happy Gilmore]

It's just a farm pond, around 1/2 acre, we haven't swam in it in over 30 years. I can remember as a boy my Dad seeing a big snapper heading into the pond and him telling my Grandfather never to let me swim there again. It never stopped my Grandpa, he kept right on swimming. Me, not so much. I've been cleaning up around it for the last couple years. It's a pretty good bait pond, I'm guessing the snapper agrees.

 

[boggen]

personally i do not like snapper meat, and a good amount of time to clean them, vs little meat you get out of them. if i give some calls and no one wants them to clean and take the meat from them, they end up getting killed, in a way that keeps my fingers and my skin on me. and not in the turtles mouth or in its claws. have seen larger snappers escape out of pickup truck beds before. (nothing in bed of truck, tail gate up).


i hate walking out into moss, due to snappers. due my best to rid the lake of snappers here (swimming, fishing, etc..)

 

[sweep]

OP, if you swim in that pond wear a 1/2 plate steel cup.

 

[Happy Gilmore]

OP, if you swim in that pond wear a 1/2 plate steel cup.

Before I swim I'd have to call Turtle Man, "yeeyeeeyeeee, live action"

 

[Happy Gilmore]

Looked around the shoreline, no sign today. One thing I did notice, the waterline is down a foot or so with lack of rain, probably had given him more area to sun himself the other day.

 

[Redbug]

If it bothers you to have him in there...catch him and re-locate him to another home. It's nice to have some wildlife left around since the human race moved in...