Are there laws against capturing wild turtles?

[ticks]

Quote:
I think so, too. And it's fascinating to think that they've been around since the age of dinosaurs.

They look like dinosaurs

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
What he said. And here are some simple recipes I saved a long time ago from an old book:

Dressing Out a Turtle: Scrub the decapitated turtle with laundry soap and a stiff brush until it is clean. Get a container of water boiling, big enough to hold the turtle. When you have scrubbed off the leeches and green growths, boil the whole turtle for 30-40 minutes. Take the turtle pot and dump it outside on the grass and leave it until the turtle is cool enough to handle. Turn the turtle upside down and cut out the under shell. Again let it cool. There are different flavors of turtle meat. Some of the choicest lies along the backbone and it is almost hopeless to try to get this out if the turtle has not been boiled first. Now is the time to work with two dishpans. I toss the good meat into one and the discards into the other. When in doubt taste. Muscle meat tends to be good, fat is often of low quality. Seek the liver carefully. It is often excellent, but the gall bladder must be cut away and discarded or its acrid taste will permeate, and your friends will wish you had never come upon a turtle.

Fried Turtle: Fry like chicken or pheasant.

Turtle Soup: Cook slowly, simmering over low heat with onions and a little salt. Meat stock or bouillon may be added. Taste the soup when the meat is tender. Now is the time to decide whether to make plain turtle soup seasoned with sherry, or whether to add tomatoes, carrots, celery, etc.


Another soup recipe: Deboned meat from one small turtle. One each cup of chopped potatoes, onion and celery. One quart of turtle stock made from the bones. Cook all together until vegetables are tender. Add enough milk or cream to your taste. Adjust salt and pepper. Serve.

My wife will add the eggs from the hen turtles to the soup and then we feed them to our dog so not to waste, I'll have to watch my wife prepare and share her recipe, she doesn't use vegetables, but uses them when she prepares ox tail soup.

 

[Sparrow]

I'm rather fond of snapping turtles, too. They are respectable and fascinating creatures in my opinion. I think they're cute too.

I know people around here trap them all the time. The trap s look pretty simple, ju st make sure that whatever kind you choose to u se gives the trapped turtle plenty of access to air. Some people just submerge the trap and let them slowly drown. I think it's a hideous way to die for any creature. The best method is trapping and relocation. Th at way, they go on about their buisness and you do, too!

 

[SueNH]

How can you resist a face like that??

I see dig marks in the sandy spot again. No turtle mamas spotted though.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Thanks everyone. We haven't "seen" any snapping turtles "yet", but when Adam was younger he remembers them pulling one snapper out of the pond that "had claws like a bear or something, it took several fullgrown guys to put it in the back of the truck, it was HUGE" he explained this to me spreading his hands 3-5 feet apart describing only the width(!) of the turtle's shell. This was back when the pond was infested with turtles earlier and when Adam was much younger and had days on end to lay on the grass and use their heads for target practice. Not so much time now and I would "prefer" to relocate the critters. It was also back in the day that Adam's family raised ducklings in the bathtub only to release them onto the pond and watch them dissapear beneath the murky surface. :|

The neighbors did eat that monster. I wish I could have seen it, but then again I would have had mixed feelings, knowing that a turtle that big was probably over a hundred years old. I hate cutting down the old trees. I don't know, I have a stranger respect for things that survive such a long time.

I know we'll never be able to be completley turtle free. The pond was man-dug and stocked with fish. It's a pretty big pond I would guess about 3 acres. We just have way too many turtles to try to introduce any domestic waterfowl right now. On a sunny day you can look out and spot a head every 3-6 feet.

That is just way too many! I wouldn't mind some turtles but right now I think any waterpets we would have would be swimming more in turtles than in water. LOL

I have read ways to make live traps out of chicken wire. They are pretty simple to make, they are basically just a funnel type trap baited with canned cat/dog food. They crawl through the tunnel and shouldn't get out.

-Kim

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
I'm not sure about the laws, but in most states, I'd assume there would be laws & penalties against killing wild turtles. There are live turtle traps you can buy....I'd suggest that...

 

[boilerjoe_96]

Quote:
Check your state laws. It appears the opening on that one is below the water line. I belive that one would not be legal in Indiana. The entrance has to be above the water line if I recall correctly....

Snappers: The meat along the top fo the shell is the tastiest... Needs to be a big snapper to be worth getting. Then in order of yumminess, neck...front legs.... back legs are so so to barely edible, tail is soup only. Even though some back legs are tough and not too tasty, they make great soup.... Basically the meat gets stronger the further back on the turtle you go.

I have harvested a few snappers in my day, come to think of it, it has been a couple years.. I may need to go do that this summer....

 

[theOEGBman]

Quote:
Oh wow, she is gorgeous! I could never eat a turtle, not only because I love them, but because I heard something on the tv yesterday about bodies dumped in rivers being eaten by fish and turtles.

 

[Ang]

With all of the flooding going on here, turtles are really on the move. I have seen so many of them smashed on the roads.

 

[fowltemptress]

My cousins released a few alligators into their lake to deal with the turtles and nutria. After a couple of years the turtle population was noticeably down and there hadn't been signs of nutria for awhile, so they recaptured the gators and started stocking the lake and acquiring ducks. I thought that was a neat solution to their problem.