** turtle trapping thread **

how is eveyones season going?

now that's a dandy!!!

get the grease hot, nice turtle, I've kept 4 so far this summer and wound up turning them back loose as i'm to dang lazy to cut them down to meat

sorry, not from ohio...lol

matt

Thats a dandy, going to eat him?

that's a nice one...the feet look like clubs...lol

matt, turtle don't take that long, takes longer to skin a yote....lol

i found one almost that big the other day at the creek,i thought it was dead. i reached down and grabbed it by the tail,well it wasnt dead , it took off like a bass! well maybe not that fast but it scared the heck out of me.....

So far 10

Nice Catch there Mousie.

What did that one weigh in at ? Net ??

That's a dandy. Mighty fine eatin,right there.



Charlie

Nice work Ms. Mousie!

I have yet to even set a trap this summer, but I plan to remedy that quite soon. That is a whopper, did you put it on a scale?

Mousie that is a biggg turtle. Glad you removed that duck and frog killer.

People forget how much plant matter turtles that size also eat.
Ask Newt.
Do they eat frogs and ducks ?
Sure, and fish. But they also eat a tremendous amount of plant matter too.

Turtles that size, at least here, would be full of toxins, especially RIVER turtles.
They wouldn't be fit to eat and I've argued that point for a very long time.
Turtles that large are very old and are worth FAR MORE alive than dead.

Ask a turtle farmer, which is where a large portion of snappers are sold to.

Aquariums

I bet that thing has human fingers in it. I don't think I could help but play chicken with it either.....like a kid finding a hornets nest and a pule of rocks.......like y'all never did it.

Dang thats a great lookin Turtle! I haven't had turtle spoup for 30+ years all the turtles hear are protected.

Which ones are those ?

Looks like he'll take your finger off

Good question...but knew there had to be market for them. I would guess over seas ??

New port aquarium..

What theres a turtle in that pic? Just kiddin nice catch thou.

Got one the other day and the shell is pretty much black. The wife wants it to hang up , any idea on how to clean it?

Can I answer that ?

Go ahead Newt-
Everyone loves your no frills answers.
Lay it out
Tim B

Absolutely YOU can answer that Newt !
Few on here know turtles the way you do !

AND....if this means anything...we all missed you at the NTA this year !

Why, I over heard 'the mouse' tell a trapper she was really sorry you didn't come this year so you would have someone her own size to play with ! LOL

Newt...someone loves you.

You too LT

Lima ? NO went turtle trap'n. Dont have to drive 500 + Miles to do that. Just as much money,or more,less work,No restocking,No people ,did I say ? More fun too.

Most turtles go AIR FREIGHT to China alive

Was looking forward to talking to you at the NTA Newt...But I hope you caught a boat load of turtles.

nice turtle Mousie

Now I think you are far from hated I know Mousie thinks a lot of you

Met James at the convention...he feels we all want to tar and feather him.

James from Alaska ?????
Crap....

Oscar Cronk from Maine was there.
Now that ol' boy is a legend !
Wished I would have known which one he was...

Yes from AK !!

Oscar Cronk...darn missed him

Hope they become an invasive species there in return for their carp.

NO not to China !

We need them here....

Lets send them our carp

Yeah, cause we got the Asian carp !

doesnt anyone else have photos of turtles they caught?

Hey now I have an idea....why not net all them carp and sell them back to those markets

Heck we ship our furs there, ship our tuna, ship our eels, timber, steel, food...why not these blasted carp ???

Perhaps we do ??

Not trying to hyjack your post....

Does Ohio allow the commercial trapping of soft shell turtles? I have a fish farm in California and am trying to purchase softies to raise.

here Mousie i caught this little dude in my yard after a hard rain

Micky'D cup



had it for 2 years then we turned it loose



caught this one out of my buddies pond

around 12 pounds made good soup




tell LT to post some turtle pics

I know where to catch them...and I do. Just not sure about the commercial side of things. It is in southern Michigan and they are nice size.

yes, we have plenty. how many ton would you like?

We do harvest them...few people eat them, at least here, and almost all will be sold to turtle farms,

heres a big jersey female 27lbs

In the right market that female is worth $2.00 a pound and as much as $4.00 a pound if she's full of eggs....you do the math.

Cableman, how is it is you stay so clean ?

I got $1.85lb n I don't leave the boat lol I do stay somewat clean

So could someone show me some pics of how they catch them. I have no clue.

Hey, i got this ! lol

sometimes its easy trapping ponds. its all bank trapping. tried to throw this undersized female back but she wanted to fight instead.

Mousie, does you photographer be hazard pay?

request permission to ask Mousie if shes married ?

Those smaller ones are the worst !

Females

Are you talking about me again Newt? You know you never had a trapping partner as cute as me. lol

Good Stuff!

Or that earns their keep.

Mousie, I have to admit, I admire a women who traps. Do you hunt and fish as well? Great pics by the way.

Mike

No NO!. LT said the small turtles bite more.
I ment to say the Female turtles are the worst at trying to bite you.

Wish my turtle trap'n partner looked you.
NAAAAAAAAAAAAA maybe not. Would'nt do much turtle trap'n

Bahahahah! Newt your all right in my book!

Now if I were to do that.Would you still respect me ?

She might...we would smile

mr. newt, you inspire me, you snare, so i learned to snare. you catch turtles, so i learned how. just tell me one thing. how did you get so many homes to place a statue of you in their gardens? this i must know. lol

The one with him holding the lantern???

i like those turtle traps but i dont thing we can use them in ky

gosh no. i meant the garden gnome. the cute and happy one.

Just TOO CUTE

lots of people ask how i bait the traps. here are two different kinds of bait holders. one is heavy netting, the other wire screen. I much prefer the wire screen bags, as turtles cant destroy them. anything less a large turtle will shred to pieces. the bait? skip jack herring and carp will work pretty good too sometimes.

I think both are just fine.

But agree...wire helps it last longer.

Ever use catfish ?

Aint you afraid of them leaches in those ponds ??

There a good amount of turtles down here in Texas, as far as I can tell we got good rules on it too,

yes, in some water you will have a good many. which is the reason i wear wadders. doesnt help you when you fall or step in a drop off over your head. lol

in cleaner water i dont worry about it as much.

most hoop nets can be ran just by tossing them in and pulling them back in with a garden rake or tator rake. much easier and also faster.
you will have days where you catch the wrong kind of turtles even with 8" escape rings.

Just ate some turtle stew last night. Best stew ever!

either your a midget, or that's the biggest snapper I have ever seen!!!!!LOLOLOL OOOOOOH WOW

lol. why do you think they call me mousie? i am 5'4 115 pounds. i dont think thats a midget. that turtles is nearly 50 pounds. almost half my body weight.

Very impresive. I would not goin the water after one. You are bravier or I am smarter..

Very impressive. I would not goin the water after one. You are bravier or I am smarter..

weeds seem to hold a lot of turtles.

How many traps do you run? What is a good days catch?

a good day would be not going in over my wadders or my head not getting a trap stolen or washed away or torn up by a beaver or muskrat or a very large turtle and not having to turn back too many undersized ones.


like these. all just a bit shy of our 13" law. oh well. lol

Do you sell the meat comercially?

That's what I was wondering. If you don't eat turtle yourself, what the heck do you do with all them turtles?

We see how good your turtle trapping skills are. Can't wait to see some fur catches this year.

I just shot milk out of my nose.......

Our gators would like those nets.

Affirm!

What size nets? you said sometimes they get tore up, do you repair them yourself or chunk them?

always repair them. these nets are too expensive to throw away.and you better know how to do it in the field too. guess i m the last girl scout standing as i am always prepaired.

So the trick to all this trapping stuff is the pink? Man, wish I'd known this 18 years ago....

Good stuff. Looks like you are taking care of business. keep up the good work.

Hey Mousie when you set traps and catch turtle that are too small...do you continue to trap the same area ?

My thought is if your trapping an area, releasing smaller ones. Do they not just come back ? And fill the trap again ?

Or...can you take them else where ? Where they can grow large due to food supply.

saw carp for sale in market here other day,,first time

going to have to go back to carp as bait. the skip jack is all gone. the weather has turned cooler. very odd for mid august






but enough chit chat back to work.

hey mousie are you trapping turtle for ADC work or do you just sale the turtles?

Mousie just keep doing what your doing to [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] with everybody else

I stopped worrying what others thought of me years ago. My life has become much easier since then.

How many traps are you running ??

Did you build them ?

If you want to come up on lake Erie I know some marshes

marshes are always good especially early on before the water gets hot and turtles head to deeper water. if there isnt deeper water turtles will often bury in mud to regulate their body temp.find the vegatation find the turtles. many snappers eat a great deal of plants. most turtle trappers dont even know this i ve found.early in the season and as summer winds down are the times they eat the most. here we have cattails arrowhead pond lily or lotus and several others.
Erie you say? how about i come up and we also take in a day of walleye fishing? know anything about that? lol

Hey mousie, read Kristen's signature. Some people on here do the same thing to her. Good luck!

Catch walleye whenever I go out but I do not get out often as I used to. I wanted to get some others here out also " LT " for one Buzzy wanted to go out too. Anyhow yes to walleye. Early in the season and late is the best time.

I know where there are some heavy loads of lotus on some rivers dumping into lake Erie. Marshes are full of cattails and there are some other weeds too. But all those places warm up in the summer. Some area just off the lake have all kinds of different weeds, arrowhead, cattail, phragmities, curly leaf pond weed, eel grass, lotus, duckweed, and well just about everyweed imported or native.

Michigan tends to have many spots that I mentioned. But Ohio does also.

The shells are easy to save. Snipe off the ribs with diagonal plyers and smooth with heavy

sandpaper of a drum. Scrub outside of shell with soap and water, dry then varnish. This is just a small one I kept for myself. And don't throw away the head, clean them with ants them varnish them too, they sell easy.....jk

hey somebody stole your backstraps. lol

pretty cool on the shells. most of these turtles will be picked up alive. i have seen some clocks made from turtle shells that are well made.

usually a good sign when i see the water clear in heavy vegetation. most always means a turtle/turtles are in the trap. care should be taken to also stake traps that are on a slanted bank as larger turtles can drag the trap towards deeper water. a mistake you'll only want to do once!

what size trap do u use?

here are a few turtle pics for you. you can opine about newt bein in all the gardens, I want a percentage of the royalites he gets from them "travilin Knome TV adds"

well finally a real turtle man shows up ! lol

Eric,
I mounted a turtle just like that hump-backed one in the upper photo. It was 26-28 years ago though.

Hi Mousie, those D-shape net traps are fine but here by me the lifespan for them is 4 nites before fisherman slice them beyond repair. so I use my own homemade cage traps that are designed to be set completely underwater,as far as 8 inches, can be covered with water plants and not be seen by fisherman or passerbys. I have not lost a trap in 3 years. I have posted them here before but here are the pics again. 12 inches high, 2 feet across and 4 feet long, net throat, hog panel flap back door for easy turtle removal, hog panel reinforced 6x8 inch breather hole in the top near the rear of the trap. level set trap works far better than one set on a steep angle.bait is held under a 1x1 wire flap on the floor of the trap

J.Morse, I got that one this year, was a female, I assume it hatched that way. was not nasty at all. here's one I got a few years ago that was a victum of the plastic 6 pack holder, was some plastic still embedded in its shell, turtle weighed about 15 pounds. I figured it didn't deserve to die, so I released it. I have posted this before also.

Eric what keeps the turtle from drowning if the traps are under water? suppose the water rises.

nice pics!!

Most of the time the trap is only 2 to 4 inches underwater, water can rise another 6 to 8 inches before small (10 pound) turtles could not reach air. I have had 20+pounders 15 inches under water and still they can stretch their necks enough to get air. It is surprising how long the turtles neck is. I prefer to trap turtles in streams and rivers. It is amazing how big the turtles are there and how the flowing water gets that bait smell over a much larger area than in a lake or pond. Also most river turtles are eating a lot more fish and crayfish and do not have a constant belly full of vegetation, so they are hungryier. I face the trap downstream and have watched many turtles come upriver as fast as they can go and literally jump into the trap. Caught a turtle this summer and he pooped out a ball of hair, mink hair! Can't say I was sad to see him off to the choppin' block.
Turtle trapping is like fur trapping, its all location, location, location. In a lake or pond, set the shallows, thats where they hunt. In a river or stream set in the shallows just above a deep pool, or at the edge of a deep pool just below a dam. Picture below is the last thing millions of ducks, mink and muskrats have seen

eric when do you think the turtles quit feeding for the year? i think our climates might be the same or close to it. i think its around the first part of September but this year it seems warmer. what do you think. i just got more fish and am getting ready to make one more run at it.

are dock lines legal in michigan?

I was hoping to do my big end of the year set this weekend, but got pneumonia (I don't know if that is the right spelling but you can get the idea what it is). I am going to set the first few days in Sept ifin I can get this bug whipped. Most years by Sept 7 they are done here. Water colder here than normal this year, they might have quit before I can get back at them. 'Bout 5 years ago they quit on August 23. My experience, (for what little it is worth), is that the turtles over 15 pounds all shut down at the same time, just like you turned off a faucet. But they will feed like crazy for the couple of days prior to shutdown. My biggest catches are just before shutdown. Last year I made a big catch Sunday nite of Labor day weekend. The next nite (Labor day Monday) I caught 0 ! If a cold front moves through any day now that will finish them.

but eric arent they going to feed last on vegetation not meat or fish? or is that a misconception?

You ain't Lookn at her turtle.....:)

getting ready to make one more run for the season. nets ready.new water lined up and spme old water looked at again. bait filled containers are ready in the freezer and stuffed with carp. a storm could cool the water down and end the season in a flash. we will see what tomorrow brings but for now things are on hold.
fear brings hesitation and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true !

Good luck. Set heavy for the last hurrah!

I fear these skeeters will carry me away out of my bow stand.

Not at all. You can't leave any hook/line unattended, even for 5 minutes.

if legal hoop nets offer a far better choice for harvesting turtles as they allow you to select and keep turtles of a larger size.
it would be difficult to remove a hook from a smaller turtle without damaging or killing it.

I need to learn more about the commercial demand for turtles around here. We have plenty that need to be thinned out by trapping.

Dave

I had a Asian guy that I sell scallops and lobster call yesterday and ask about buying turtle. PM me if any of you are looking for a buyer. The guy is from NY

hmmmmm, I think I see the baitholder, but I know nothing about trapping
RR

mousie, I have a question? The skip jack herring and carp are a oily fish, Have you ever tried beaver meat for bait?

I have had beavers devoured in less then 24 hours on some of me nuisance jobs during the summer time. I know it was turtles, they were still there.
Just a thought.
Dave

I once knew a guy who used groundhog meat on hook lines and claimed it worked well...
Like Dave, I have had summer nuisance beaver fed on by turtles, as well as muskrat and 'coon, (which were accidental catches in footholds set for muskrat).
I have heard of guys using chicken meat and fat with good results.
I myself, have only used fish.
Trout would be my first choice but not readily available here.
Carp is however and works fairly well.

I just thought the oily beaver meat would travel as a slick in the water better than chicken, Cheaper and more plentiful for me any way.

I like to try to utilize my catch to the least amount of waste that i can during the summer time nuisance control.

Just thinking with the key board again.
Dave

Beaver,Coon and Muskrat work well. if you cant get FRESH FISH

I have a great source of road kill deer meat, liver etc. and I have tried it many times and have never caged trapped a turtle with it. Have tried beaver also with poor results, yet I have had snappers kill live snared beaver and like others have stated eat them. Best bait is still oily fish, salmon and bluefish the best.

I ( think ) and Newt will correct me if I'm wrong, that he ( Newt) used menhaden, which like Bluefish, isn't readily available this far east.
It reminds me of a 'Ship Jack Herring', which is a common fish here in the rivers.
That may, or may not , be the true name of them...anyone know ?
The guys out east use 'carp caps', which is the top of a carp's head.
They claim the oil gland is in the head, and if you toss one into the water, you can surely see oil float to the top.

The 'oil slick' is, of course, what 'pulls in' the turtles, as it has the taste and smell of fresh fish...

"I ( think ) and Newt will correct me if I'm wrong, that he ( Newt) used menhaden, which like Bluefish, isn't readily available this far east."

Dont you mean WEST ?

I think that is what he meant

See what I mean, always correcting me...

Yeah, ok west. I never think of Ohio as west. It's in the eastern part of the United States, but yes, it is west of N J.

It's not east coast, like Virginia, Carolina's or yes, Jersey.

And I think that's probably where you catch Menhaden and Bluefish.

Still people refer to Ohio as eastern or I have even heard it called Mid-west.

Ohio is east ??????????

Remind me never put you at the helm of a boat.

All depends on where you're standin'

I got my bug toe in the Atlantic

the weather is changing fast. the catch is low as the last gasp of summer comes to a close. time to pull the nets and dream of next year.

No time to pull the nets and get ready for trapping season.

summer is over and the turtles have shut down on their feeding. time to get all the nets cleaned and repaired before storing them for winter. i had a pretty good season but its getting time to start thinking about trapping season which will be here all too soon.

Nicely done...

thanks Aaron. this isnt a "look how big this fish is i caught" photo by holding it too close to the camera. i m holding this up against me. i m only 5'4 and 115 pounds. snappers this big are few and far between.

That's a monster.

yeah i just let the small ones go lol





they do look like some kind of mini version of a dinosaur when on land

Mousie, you're an animal. LOL Keep it up...

people have send me questions asking what the poles are or made of. are they wooden? no. they are pvc (and scheduled 40 to be exact.)
they have a notch cut out on each end for a quick set up / take down. they are also light weight. much lighter than wood. the ones pictured above are camo painted. these are shoved in the mud vertically to stake the trap from moving. a cattail head and stem is broken off and shoved in the pvc to resemble a cattail from a distance. few fishermen recognize it or just avoid it altogether. the two side ones are just left white as this stands out under water. turtles eat some plant roots and stems and dead fish. these are somewhat white so i think white attracts them. please dont think i came up with this. i didnt. it was passed down to me as i am doing it with you.

I bet you would love these alligator snappers we got down here.

yes but arent they protected?

Yep but their still some thing to see, one very large critter.

i m already preparing for next year by freezing cut bait in my bait bags. i have a freezer full so i should be pretty good to start the turtle season with. unless of course i run out of coon bait have to raid it. lol

Congrats on a successful season.
Not many trapping turtles commercially anymore due to so many state regulations.

do you get many painters? I was looking for a couple for doing some slate calls.

It is illegal to keep 'cooters' in this state.

Thanks Grey.....doing some reading it looks like guys were using box turtle shells not painters.....I always assumed they were made with painter shells. If you happened across a box turtle shell and its legal to keep it holler.

What's the biggest u have caught

TTT fir all my turtle trapping buddies!!
Tim B

It hasn't closed yet. It's still in for another 6 days.

yes i know but its been too cold. cant make gas money back at $3.85 a gallon. water's too cold to run on a large scale. its all about making money at this point. a few snappers can be caught but it is better to let the water warm up then the turtles will respond better to bait. many are still feeding on water vegetation.

Ya me to

Who's taking the photos of you?

Ya

I've never done any turtle trapping....but i know plenty spots loaded with um.... sounds like something good to check out for the summer

Ya it's fun

Cant wait until opening day just under a month away. getting bait ready though.

Bad news for commercial turtle trappers:

The market price has crashed.Check with your turtle buyer.

i ve got buyers on here contacting me. i havent heard anything unless its recently happened. no matter. we ll have the worlds largest turtle fry. lol sent you a pm anyway newt.

mousie


getting bait ready for season. individually wrapped and heading to the deep freeze.

How recent would this be Newt? Must be very recent I have heard nothing not even any rumblings

Guess it's good I don't sell them, if the price went and crashed. I haven't cleaned one yet this year, but I currently have 7 in my holding tank, so I need to cook a sauce and put some the rest in the freezer, soon. I even released a couple loggerheads this year. Just curious, do you know why the price dropped? I would have thought that the Asians would be buying just as many, since they already overfished their own turtles...

China turned the spicket off several months ago. I haven,t heard if it came back on.

They have enteral problems. I understand it has to do with changes in power or their form of elections.

They were getting cheaper and harder to move in quantity late last summer and fall. I expected it as the same problems that affect the fur mkt. are depressing the live turtle mkt. China again.

I gotcha. Speaking of snapping turtles, some of you may find this video interesting. It was filmed back in the 80s, I guess, some of the fellas catching them are from my neck of the woods. I thought it was an interesting video, even down to the commercial fishermen saying themselves that there wouldn't be any alligator snappers left if the unregulated trapping continued.

I would have loved to have seen what it was like to trap snappers back in the early days.

As much water and limited access there is in La. I don,t see how you could trap the turtles out especially with a low market price. Even the predators.

It'd take a whole lot of trapping, that's for sure.

Sure, there's plenty of water that has never been trapped. I realize that.

However, when you think about how long it takes for turtles to reach sexual maturity, the odds stacked against a turtle egg, how many people eat them here, and how easy they are to catch..... it's just a matter of "getting ahead" of the turtle numbers.

I'm not advocating shutting down commercial turtle trapping, I'm just saying that catching them faster than they reproduce happens, and it has happened in a lot of places.

You been reading too much junk. They shut us down here. You want to help turtles catch coons, shoot crows. You don,t see them promoting that do you.

A snapper can have fertile eggs for years without being bred. Do they tell you that? NO.

One of the biggest killers of small snappers are the large males. Promote your programs with targets of removing the large males.

I cant stop singing this song when people talk about turtles.

Turtles and (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman): http://youtu.be/Vf22Bhn5lZU

I'm with Kirk.
A few years back I caught the largest turtle I have ever seen.
On a river that at least 4 of us commercial turtle have trapped since the early 70's. He weighted 68.75 pounds. To let you know how many turtle I handle. In the last two years I caught,bought and sold over 125,00 pounds

Let me say this in a way that isn't taken as rude....

First of all, don't tell me what I have or haven't read. I know that they don't have to breed every year, they can keep the semen.

As I said, I am not advocating for ending commercial season. Just because they can be trapped out of one pond, doesn't mean that there aren't healthy populations in just about every waterhole a person can imagine.

Very few snappers reach adulthood, there are so many things that eat them. However, once they DO reach maturity, they can almost live forever. That works out for them, because they live for so long that the few that do make it, make up for the ones that didn't.

I do shoot every crow at my house that I can, not because of turtles, but because they are crows.

Don't try to make me look like I am against commercial trapping. A few people make a living doing it, and the rest just catch a few, so I think that their population is safe. They may get fished out of a certain area, but the population remains stable elsewhere. I understand that, but don't attack me, telling me what I read is junk, and don't tell me that they can't be trapped out if they are over harvested in a given area. Even the buffalo numbers got short, and I know the buffalo hunters probably argued otherwise.

As I said, I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm not going to have someone tell me that I'm spewing false information--you don't even know me.

If it wasn't for the coons and skunks in this area there would be no shortage of turtles I would guess 90 percent or more of the nests are dug out, they track them right from the waters edge to the nests. We used to buy a few from a old guy who tracked them with his dog during egg laying season, if his dog could do it no doubt a coon can.

My dad used to buy a lot from a couple old brothers who used to keep the females they caught early in the spring and put them in a fenced pond they had until they layed there eggs, they would then hatch them and release them back in the fall, this was years ago but they were just trying to put some back, the state eventually came with a 12 inch size limit which meant it was illegal to raise any babies, better to let the skunks and coons dig them up I guess. (you can get a turtle farm lic now if you want to jump through the hoops).

Its just a matter of time before it is shut down here, they don't issue any commercial license's any more just us that have been grandfathered in, I am third generation in my family that has been in the turtle business in some capacity , although it is just a little sideline once in awhile for me now. We used to do numbers comparable to Newt back in the 80's and 90's but it was all for the meat market in the states at that time.

The turtle harvesters would never get the turtles down to where there wasn't any, it just isn't possible, Frogs and salamanders and garter snakes are just a small fraction of what they used to be in this part of the country but nothing will be done about that, agriculture is big business.

My rant for the day LOL

Dang good info on here guys!
Keep posting.
Like the 'mouse', I'm gearing up to trap turtles this coming July.
I'm a nuisance trapper full time, so I can't go at it like I want to but, I will have about 40 hoop nets in the water opening week...
Hope to make it pay but, I won't go at it hard if the money isn't there.
I can't afford to.
We have a 13" law here , which means over half your catch is tossed back...
Sucks to toss a hundred turtles 12" back but, I support a regulated harvest...like it or not.
A lot won't!
It's the reason I stopped using hooks on snappers. Try getting a hook out of a deep caught snapper that swallowed it and it only 12".
And don't injure the turtle...or let it injure you. Easier said than done !

Interesting point on the big males killing females.
I have seen 30 lbs and bigger males 'jump on' smaller females and breed them in tanks before the law changed the slot limit.
They're rough on 'em...

Thanks to Kirk De and Newt and the others who've posted on the turtle market.
Please keep us posted with any up dates.
IMO, the whole China market deal is disappointing both on the fur trade and turtle market...well, all around really...
I can sell a good many here locally.
Not all as buyers in Iowa was my intention.

Regardless guys, keep safe out there. And have a good season !
We're stocking freezers up with fish here and hoping for the best!

I watched turtles mating this spring. Looks frustrating.

Does if you're the one on the bottom!

I got the phone call Monday

What is the product called that those open top bait bags are made of in the picture ?

all i know i wish we could trap them here we can only use 22 and bow

The reason why I said that is because Louisiana, unlike your states, is a free for all with (common) snapping turtles.
From what I've seen, it appears that the states in your area have some sort of regulation that helps to keep the populations healthy. As far as for Louisiana, there isn't for the common snapper. There isn't a season, there isn't a size limit. There's a few gear restrictions, and methods of take restrictions (can't use gasoline to flush them and other common sense laws), but nothing as far as for keeping them, at least that I'm aware of, and I've read the recreational and commercial restrictions.
People can catch them all year, and they can keep all the catch. That in itself wouldn't be bad if people were responsible, but you know that's not going to happen. I've seen someone keep some 6" turtles. "It just takes more of em when they're this size".

It's ridiculous, I know, but that's how it is, for now. Even if the law would change, it wouldn't be followed by the majority. They just don't care.

Any of you have any experience using leads or wings with your turtle nets/traps? If so, do you think it's worth it, or do you prefer not to use them?

aixsponsa are you trapping turtles in La. ? arent there turtle farms there that buy them alive? we cant use wings or leads here in ohio.

It is not ridiculous. We had no restrictions except for endangered turtles. Always plenty of turtles. Now they got restrictions it is not profitable to trap. Never caught fewer from one year to the next when comparing time trapping.

Never saw another turtle trapper while trapping, ever.

How'd those endangered turtles become endangered?

Shrimp trawls?

Haven't done it commercially, just trapped what I wanted to eat or give away. Down here, selling snappers is just a matter of holding one up by the tail when there's people around, and I'm not kidding. I'm not sure how many people eat turtle there, maybe a lot of people do, but down where I am...everyone eats it. I've heard of people getting in a fight over a dang snapper on the road. If you see a snapper down here crossing the road, ya better stop on the first pass, because the second pass it might be gone.

I've heard of the farms, never looked into it. As I said, they're easy to sell to individuals, and most markets will buy them too. Down here it's easy to sell frog legs and snapping turtles.

Mousie, I do like how you wrap your bait individually in foil. I usually freeze bait by 5 trap lots. It's a pain to have to break each trap's bait off of the block. I'm definitely going to start freezing in foil.

The river system went from an unregulated flow to a regulated flow with dams. Starting just before WW2. Help some but hurt others.

In 1960 the screw worm was eliminated and all predators increase more than hundred fold.

More otters, coon, now than ever before. Otters seem to be one of the biggest problems. They are restricted to seasons and cites tags.

We have alligator snappers so plentiful in their areas they prey and kill the other turtles. Just because they are listed as endangered or protected doesn,t mean they are scarce.

We have more alligators than the state will admit. Maybe they don,t know. They are in every drainage here. Hundreds of thousands and only allow the legal harvest of less than 500 under a drawing.

Some thing also, many of the endangered small turtles due to the way they swim and the habitat they need it makes them more appealing and easier to catch for otters.

I definitely agree with that. Being endangered doesn't mean there aren't locations that they're plentiful, perhaps even as many as there's ever been there.

Elsewhere, they may be hard to comeby. Trust me, I get it on the alligators. They were "endangered" at one time, now in some places, I think it's safe to say there's way too stinking many. I guess the market can impact that, if the money's good everyone wants in, if market slacks, not enough of them are being taken out. If I'm not mistaken, the gator farms have to even release a percentage of their gators to the wild. I guess the gator numbers are good in a lot of places, but in other places they look like yellow belly turtles basking because there's so many.

That's interesting about the otters though. Most of my life, I didn't see an otter around my house. They were in the crawfish ponds, but not in the sloughs and bayous near my house. In recent years, I've started seeing them in the sloughs where I turtle trap. Thats probably not a good thing for the turtles, seems like I read about otters doing a number on snappers whenever they're burried in the mud, especially in the winter. Guess I'm going to need to make an otter fur scarf or gloves for the wife, this winter LOL

i also as you see have my bait bags already and filled up for opening day! im using fresh(frozen) carp to start with and skipjack herring in another.
i will use a whole fish or two if needed. often these will go side by side to see which one will produce the best. theres no waiting around until opening day to figure out things for this kid. i ll be chumming ponds before opening day with ground carp to draw the turtles in the area.
opps did i just give that away? lol

mousie

Would some one mind posting a pic on the throats of their hoop nets ?

Mousie, what are those bait bags made from? Looks like those plastic sleeves that people put around small trees so that the string trimmer doesn't knick the bark. I usually use hardware cloth bait holders, but those would work well and wouldn't scratch skin so easily.

Oh, I can answer that one.
That isn't plastic as big snappers would shred plastic as they will cloth and (most)netting 'bait bags'.
Hardware cloth is (although metal)is too soft and when cut, will have wire ends that will nick and cut your hands if you're not careful.
The material used is metal leaf guard cut and folded, then rung.
The ends turned down prevent wear and tear on one's hands.
Even big snappers can not damage them.

LT

Lt, where can I find that stuff, other than online? Do you know of any retail stores that carry it?

wolfdog91 here is pic of the ones of the traps I sale. dave 318-464-4819

Love seeing that! LOL

Ok turtle trappers, what I am about to post is something that I just started a thread on, incase there were any carp fishermen on here that wouldn't see it if I only posted it on this turtle thread....even though the people on this thread are probably the ones that can answer it. Here goes...


I would like to get some carp for turtle bait. I don't have any hoop nets left at the moment, I only have wire net traps for fish. I have a few friends that bow fish and get carp when they go, but I don't know when they'll be going again, so I'd like to get the carp myself.

I used to have quite a few carp in my pond, and a flag gill net would catch me plenty. The pond is being drained, so the pond isn't an option. The place that I have access to for catching them at the moment is a small bayou and a fairly large bayou.

I guess my options are limited to hook and line at the moment (unless anyone has had luck catching carp in remesh net traps). So...does anyone catch carp? What do you suggest I use, trotlines? I've caught them on trotlines, but has anyone had good luck with limb lines for carp?

Also, what do you recommend for bait? I have some vanilla extract, and I have some biscuit dough. Is biscuit dough a decent bait for them? What about candy like tootsie rolls, does anyone use something like that for bait?

Any and all tips will be appreciated. I've never targeted carp on hook and line, but I would think that I need a small hook. Would I find them in the same types of places that I'd set lines for catfish?

Thank you!

im no expert on fishing by any means but i can tell you that carp can be caught on worms (night crawlers) and canned corn just to name a few. chumming seems to work quite well when using corn. carp dough balls i have used made from plain ol wheaties ceral and some other kind that smelled like strawberries. Lt makes a pretty good one made from molasses corn meal and vanilla. his is some say the best one out there. Lt is friends with a few bow fishermen who can on a good night fill up a freezer! spearing where legal would work well in the spawning season. carp flesh makes a good bait but there are better fish to use. any fresh oily fish will work well. notice i said two things. oily and fresh! very important! the thing about carp is that their flesh is very soft and the oil gland is actually in the head! the scalp is what most will use as their bait for turtle traps. they use the scalp over the flesh because the scalp puts out oil for several days or more and cant be eaten as opposed to the carps flesh which in real warm water will spoil almost overnight. if your bait floats it is almost too spoiled for snappers and soft shell turtles. this is not to say that those two species of turtles wouldnt try to eat spoiled fish but the odds are against it. it takes quite a bit of fish to run a commercial turtle operation as anyone who has ever tried it will tell you. trout is a great choice if you know anyone who catches them ask them to save the (rest of the) fish after they fillet them. or a market that sells fish may have some go bad. Our season here in ohio will open july 1st and by september 15th the water will be cooling down enough that the turtles will stop feeding for the season. in fact their last meals will normally be plant material instead of meat or fish. the season will continue to stay open of course but it isnt cost effective to run a operation when the temps start dropping at night. sorry if i got off track.

mousie

Thanks, Mousie. I talked to a buddy of mine that said his pond has some carp in it, and the water is supposed to be pretty clear. Might make a trip out there this weekend with a borrowed bowfishing rig and another friend that bowfishes to try to shoot a few. I'd have to get quite a few carp to have enough bait, and that's not even trapping commercially. If I caught 10 carp, I'd be out of bait in no time. The more I think about how much time it's going to take to shoot or catch some carp, the more I think I'm better off just going throw a cast net to catch pogies (menhaden) and mullet. They'll be small, but they'll work just fine in a bait holder. Have any of you ever used Ladyfish for bait? Those things are really greasy, and I know they're great bait for sharks. Ole snapper would probably enjoy some ladyfish roast.

I know it would take a whole heck of a lot of bait for a commercial turtle trapper. I went through two 40lb boxes of shad this spring, and that was only in recreational turtle traps, fish nets, and fish lines. I sure didn't use it sparingly, that's why I'm almost out.

Back to the carp though...I've never tried catching them on a rod and reel. I definitely understand why people like to fish for them. Hooking one of those things probably feels like you have an Orca on the other end of the line!

count on using about 1 to 2 lbs of fish per trap per day. if you figure it that way you ll have about the amount you ll need.
on the subject of bow fishing i heard a guy give this advice. aim low. then lower your aim below that. light on the water confuses your eyes to how low that fish actually is.

mousie

Thanks Mr.beaver foot ! Do you make your our own netting or just buy it ?

pretty sure he hand makes them

ok wolfdog. here you go for whatever its worth. here is what a turtle will see. throat is in the middle on this end. the escape valve (ring) is on the opposite end.

mousie

a trapping rig doesnt have to be pretty. it just has to get the job done. right?

Thanks y'all for the pics ! They explained a lot ! See I was making mine real wide like the one in a fish hoop net .

just make sure the throats are tight or you might end up losing turtles

I've been using left over coon carcass for bait that I couldn't sell this winter. Works great !

hoho beaver and groundhog are often used by hookers up here. i dont run hooks only hoop nets as we have a 13" restriction law here in ohio and there isnt any way to safely release a small throat caught turtle. hoop nets will out produce hooks anyway. its just a fact. everything being equal a man with hooks cant out produce another with hoop nets in the same water. it just wont happen.

Yea, I don't fool with hooks and have better uses for beaver than turtle bait. We have 12 " law here.

X2 !!!

sweet!!

Red white and blue. I can almost hear a toby keith song playing in the back ground!!

season starts in two days. the rains have the creeks way up on the banks and the water temps are much cooler than normal in the ponds. i would like the water temps to be warmer. the bait spoils faster true but the turtles are also feeding heavier. hows everyone else doing out there across the nation. anyone selling turtles? live to the turtle farms or perhaps the meat market? just wondering if newts prediction of lower prices is still holding true?

regardless there will be nets set. good trappers trap regardless of prices. i assume turtle trappers and fishermen are both the same.

Tarpons count?

Is that a 3 toed box turtle ?
Used to see them in Oklahoma...

Don't know. I fed him to the squash bugs on the zucchini. He is gone now. Either devoured without a trace or run for his life.

Hey mouse, we've got our new 'Magnum' size bait bags made for this season !

( I should mention, I normally use ones half that size. )

Do turtles sell live/lb.? What is the market price? I know nothing about it.

Yes. We were getting $1.50 per pound for snappers, $1.30 for soft shells and .20 for red ears. The biggest buyer in texas got into some trouble now he doesnt buy anymore. I cant find anybody that buys them in texas so I just gave up on turtle trapping.

I'll b putting nets in also in a few days.LT is that mesh stainless??

Galvanized, I think. It's leaf gutter guard !
Double the length, bend and ring it together with rings like you use to build a fox pen with.
One end stays open. Easy to bait, empty, clean and rebait.
No turtle will destroy that...


jdw, can you sell outside the state ?
Have you considered it ?

Thanks LT I'm gonna make a few

You'll be happy with the results, trapperand.
Here is the normal size I use.
The larger ones are for certain situations not every day use.

I have considered but we are limited to just private ponds and lakes here in texas and 95% of what we catch in them are red ears. Would have to have a few thousand pounds of snappers to make it worth toting a trailer full of turtles out of state.

so how was everyones first day?

another full net !




mousie

never a dull moment

back of my truck few days ago

Good lord Eric! That's a pile of turtles!

That's a lot of stink in the back of that truck Eric. Pretty clean lookin though.

nice catch eric. are you using your wire traps again and what is the bait your using? is there no way you can haul them in a tank of water? snappers out of water get quite rough on one another in that small space.

our buyer quit buying red ears and lowered the price on snappers anyone else having problems with this?

is there a market for the turtle meat??

Are you selling the shells also?

My wife is a dress and high heels gal. She didn't know crap about the good life!(still doesn't). But she does try. We say...I'm showing her the finer things in life.

oh that's hot!


mousie

Just turned1 loose.only 11 inches long.Ohio has a 13 inch law:(

That was a couple days catch, just pulled them out of the spring house, buyer picked them up just after pic was taken.
I will try and get my son or grandson to do a couple of cell phone videos and put them on here as to bait, wire traps I use, etc.

thanks eric. are you river trapping?

the common snapper like the alligator snapper has two parts to its shell. the carapace on the back and the plastron on the underside. on average an 10 year old snapping turtle turtle has a a shell length of 7 inches in length. a 25 year old snapping turtle about 11 or 12 inches. in captivity they can grow larger. the largest common snapper ever recorded was 68 pounds. big turtles can hurt you if you re not careful !

yeah have thrown back most of the caught ones so far this year.

That stinks but Ough well .hehe save them for Seed I guess mousie

I cought a 68.75 Pound Snapping turtle. I think John Rodgers cought one 84 pounds

newt send us a pic. i believe your right. the one pictured is just under 50.

Aint got the puter smarts for that

ok newt. no problem. i ll catch you sometime at a convention and you can show me then ok? until then i am going to keep at it trapping turtles. my problem is i have only so many tanks and will have to go to barrels soon. my best offer has been $1.60 on males and $2.00 on females. $1.00 a pound on softshells. thats if i deliver.

Deliver where ?

No bodys paying anything like that here. Last year yes, not this year

yes Sabrehawk ( a t man member) from iowa sent me a pm. he states hes buying turtles and those are his prices. i still have the pm which was just the other day. i assume those prices still stand. still one would need a refer van/truck to haul that distance. bagged turtles would be stressed and likely overheat without it.

I thought softs were worth more....guess not.

soft shelled turtles are $1.00 a pound is what i m told

hello everyone Name is James From Ohio great lake Erie area

not real real new to trapping but yet i am. found the site and have picked up some ideas that i did not apply before.

thanks to all for that

now so is anyone from or around the same area i am ?

ive pulled all hook and line traps and plan to set two for now one hoop and net store bought and one cage trap home made

picture of traps and material used would be greatly helpful, at 70$ for a hoop net i want to try and cut cost much as possible like im sure we all do

lastly want more clarity on ohio' laws on where i can set traps

You can set pretty much anywhere, but if in doubt, ask the folks in green. Make sure you have a 6" exit out of your traps with mesh under 4" and a tag on your traps.

i need a how too on putting together the three ring hoop trap, i bought one yesterday and dont see how it goes together

PM Me if anyone knows how and show or send me something to see how it goes

thanks

pasadena thanks for the input ill tread lightly lol

you have anything on how to put these hoop traps together

thats pretty pricey for a hoop net. mine were $30. i set private ponds but i understand you can set rivers and creeks. i dont think a turtles out of a river would be very good to eat though. at least not here.

Really wow that bits for me and that was for one not even assembled and only 3 ring. :-(

I'm calling bull. Maybe 25 years ago. The material in a quality hoop net is now that much.

Chinese

You forgot the Chinese, Morgan.

I'v seen some. You get what you pay for.

Care to divulge where you bought these $30 nets?

call all you want friend. and you ll still be wrong. my nets come from (j)in iowa who is a turtle farmer and a member of here.
Lt bought them as did forrest london who used to trap turtles commercially. (he no longer does it and has sold his nets.) these are the same ones he uses to make a living trapping turtles in iowa. i bet you any amount of money people on here know him and i ll bet newt knows who he is too as hes a buyer like newt. ive used these two years( when they were bought and yes at $30. each) and other than needing dipped at the end of the season they are holding up very well. now newt suggest these are made in china and i do believe he is correct. that said have the traps we use to catch fur bearing animals are made in china or some similar country. so whats your point? they still work. i can make my money in one night using them. two twenty pounders even at a dollar a pound and im ahead. save the gas it took to get there. set a dozen nets and have a keeper or two in all and you quickly see things add up. my best day was 36. today i had 19 with 6 in one net. all keepers. i am not against american made products. i dont. beaverfoot who is a member on here makes and sells nets. i believe they are much higher though.regardless i will post some pics this weekend. too busy now catching turtles.

As Morgan said. You cant buy the materails to build a Turtle fyke like I sell .I bet Beaver foot will also agree.

Maybe that is why the Iowa guy no longer sells them.

yes the price of everything keep going up. DAVE 318-464-4819

I don't like Dave's nets. He won't warranty them against alligator and beaver damage! I need some made out of kevlar!!!

lol. no i guess not. muskrats are bad on nets too for some reason.

1200 lbs so far this year for me...

So how do you store them until you take them to the buyer? How do you bring them home? cooler? tub? How long can you keep them before they need to be turned over to the buyer? What's the best way to track down a buyer in N. VA? Thanks for any thoughts.

250 gallon plastic tanks with a valve at the bottom which allows you to change water easily. plastic woven fur buyer bags/2 per bag and twisted down tight with a zip tie. plastic drums if you re not catching much. turn over at 1000 to 3000 lbs depending on how far it is to your buyer. are you driving to him or he driving to you. a lot to consider. if you re not someone who can deliver that time of numbers then perhaps another market may be available. ask the buyer for the best answer and what they want.

Thanks!!

hoop nets can be ran from the bank on small ponds. this system is quite effective.

Nice:)

I have just a couple of questions. First what do you use to coat your nets at the end of the year with and how do you coat them? Do tyhem get dipped, brushed or sprayed? Also if oily fish work best have anyone had luck coating their fish with salmon oil? This is my first year trapping turtles. I have been getting a lot of 10-12 inchers but no keepers (13in in MI. Any advise to get some big old moss backs in my traps?

i coat some of my fish with menhadden fish oil. i use a sprayer like you would spray your garden or fruit trees with. i can really put an old slick on the ponds and let the wind do the rest.







the answer to the other question. roofing tar thinned down with gasoline. dip in then shake off and let drip dry. it needs to be warm. also make sure your tar is thin or your nets will end up being sticky.

mousie

yeah its just like that !

mousie

my bff and turtle trapping partner on a road trip. Swee' Pea. i think shes got the hang of it. 6 keepers in this one net. theres another one buried under there somewhere. this pond gave up 12 out of the hoop nets with turtles still insight.

You girls don't get to have all the fun...LOL

dont be so sure!

when you get both softshells and snappers in the same net, the softshells,(that normally avoid snappers) usually got in there first.
same with smaller and great big male snappers. if you get a huge snapper in first most smaller ones will avoid the nets.

Eric, I'd like to see your video of your son / grandson sometime.
I think a lot of us would enjoy seeing your methods.

LT

Here's One for any and everyone, ran into a friend today says he had one in his trap.

what happens or better what does anyone do with a drowned turtle. Obviously can't take that to sell but is it or would it still be eat able ???

No, it's shot...wasted!
If it dies in warm water,(summer) it's over.
Not worth the risk.
Always stake your nets off so they can't be moved into deep water...
If you don't, eventually you'll be sorry!

None too happy!

this is some good stuff right here I don't turtle trap but I catch my fair share fishing love the pics

never caught one in a kill trap but i ve caught a good many in comstocks beaver trap accidentally . more than beaver anyway. lol

third day in a row i ve caught this turtle (an undersized one) at this location. its amazing how easily you can catch turtles even the same ones with the right bait. anyway time to move the hoops on down the line. three days is all i stay at one location.

Big T told me you girls were whacking and stacking,,,,,Great job!

Use one that won,t do that if set properly.

still at it although august has been unseasonably cool. still catching turtles though.

I haven't had much time to be on this site much this summer, but us jersey boys have been on em.....heres a beast from today at 57 pounds! We also had a 40 pounder, a 44 pounder, and two 45 pounders, along with a boat load of the more average size snappers today......

fishsticks those are some absolute monsters! can you post the pictures any bigger?

Fred, I know you are all excited about trapping turtles,but ask mousie nicely and pay attention to what she tells you,you will do way better not using conibears to trap turtles.
hope you are enjoying yourself back east!

I will try to repost them bigger now....im not sure how to do it, they were taken with a phone.

I cant seem to enlarge them, when I do, they come out completely blurry

i do get some dandy soft shells now and then.

another nice male out of a farm pond. we got 5 out of 3 nets the first night. we rebaited and set the traps.

Holy crap.nice

well they come bigger but yes a real nice keeper for sure.

best day / worst day



a bakers dozen here. but all nice turtles over 13 inches and all males. its hard to judge the size with this type of picture i know but these turtles have to be placed apart to prevent fighting. turtles this size can hurt one another and will fight constantly if left out of water. mine will go into tanks to await a buyer but some turtle trappers will use loose wet straw where the turtle can hide.
ok so why is this the worst day too? what you dont see is over 30 smaller undersized turtles and 9 of 13 inch (or larger) females. all released. i am just as much for turtle conservation as i am someone who harvest turtles for table fare.

mousie

Mousie,

What's the trick to handling the soft shells without them reaching around and biting you? I've only handled a couple since moving down here and am still not comfortable with them.

flip them upside down and grab them in the back leg sockets with your thumb and first two fingers. no slip gloves might help as they are rather slippery.

You ever get bit by a snapper Mousie?

Thanks, I'll try it next time.

Mousie, what's the weight on your larger snappers? I can't find one in my ponds over 15 down here, but used to get a few around 35 years ago in Mn.

we took six real nice snappers out of two ponds tonight with four nets. three of those turtles were some heavy weights. haven t weighted the three largest ones but heres one of them. a dandy to be sure and dangerous in the wrong hands.

mousie

i have a small scar but wouldnt be allowed to show it on trapperman

mousie

That young lady needs to tie her boots.

Big Ol turtle.

yes she almost feel over the guardrail into the water. lol if she trips with that turtle it could get ugly real quick.

hard to say how long these turtles have been around in this old pond

Nice!!

Here is a little of how I do snapping turtles;
I know I promised a video but try as I might I just cannot get it to download. I have tried making it as short as 30 seconds and still no luck. So I will try to show with a few pictures off of my cell phone. I will not repost pictures of how to make the traps they are available in the archives here, only 1 with the how the bait is held
Anyway: I use both cage traps and hoop type net traps. I MUCH prefer the cage traps. The biggest negative about the cages is they are bulky. The positives are, ease of setting, easy to hide from passerbys and fishermen, allow for a rise in water depth of up 12 inches without drowning catch, easy to bait, and real easy to remove turtles (average time to get all turtles out of a trap is 10 seconds).
For bait, at present I am using carp, but I prefer salmon or bluefish as they last much longer in warm water and are very oily. I freeze the fish laying flat, and when ready to use, cut them into 2 inch thick “carp steaks” with an old skil saw. (see pic). The heads I use in net bait bags in the net traps. A 15 pound carp will make enough steaks for 6 or 7 traps (the last cut is just above the vent, so the tail section can also bait a trap.) By having the bait frozen the guts stay inside the steaks until they thaw out in the trap in the water. Being “steak cut” gives maximum access to let out the oil, not much skin to hold it in. To bait the trap, I simply lift the back door, lift the wire flap that has one side hog-ringed onto the bottom of the trap, put the carp steak under the wire and secure with another hog ring.(pic #2) Baiting a trap takes about 5 seconds.
I have 2 sections of aluminum ladders fastened to the top of my truck cap, with snaps on a rope every 2 feet to fasten the traps to. Can easily put 8 traps there and inside the cap will hold another 12. I set traps in the evening and pick up all in the morning. Most nights I set 12 to 14 traps. In the morning I have 3 barrels in the back of the truck to hold the turtles, a garbage can (to carry turtles from trapsite to truck, if needed)and a small cart to wheel turtles from catch site to truck. This way I can put 6 traps inside the cap and the rest on top. I rarely trap out of a boat, mostly I trap within 100 yards of the truck. I leave the house at 4:30 or so and am home to go to work by 8 AM.
I prefer to set in small rivers or streams (see the stream pictures), picking a spot just upstream from a deep hole. I live in what passes for mountains in Jersey and most streams I catch turtles in are pure enough you could drink the water except for the beaver fever. These are not the polluted waters of central Jersey. The stream pictures show an upstream view, a trap set underwater, so it does not attract attention from passerbys and the content of that trap.
My turtles are held in a Spring House, a structure dug into the ground, with concrete sides and a gravel bottom that fills partially with cold spring water. These spring houses were used before electric refrigeration was available to cool cans of milk before shipping to the city on railroad cars. The one I use (pictured) is 7x7 and 9 feet deep. Water depth varies from 5 to 7 feet and the temperature is about 50 degrees. The turtles stay cold, almost dormant and lose very little weight. First picture is with lid slid almost closed, second is lookin’ in at turtles.
The last 3 pictures are from this morning. This is the first time I have had to call for help when turtle trapping. Threw this trap in a stream last night below a vertical bank of about 6 feet. The bait was the same carp steak in the pictures above. When I looked over the bank this morning the trap was full! I tossed out my grapple on a rope but could not lift it up the vertical bank, (full of poison ivy, which I get). A call to my son and he came and we got it lifted to the bank top. (last pic) 13 keeper sized snappers.
I have trapped this location for 8 years (1 time per year)and it is always good for 3 or 4 turtles. It seems that they replenish faster in the streams, and now towards fall they are all on the move to a swamp to winter over. Eric

C'mon Miss Mousie, I can't stand the suspense.....how big???? Those pictured are some brutes.

L to R 45 39 36 31.

Here is my secondary spring house that I forgot to include in last nights post. It has a small water hole inside, just big enough for 60 turtles or so. As a side note there is a window in the back
and it is an excellent deer and bear stand!

a little piece of paradise there eric. your pics of such full traps makes me think you are over run with snapping turtles in jersey.
impressive the number of turtles in each trap and the number of traps that are loaded.

i do have a question though. a friend has said that turtles in captivity will lose weight. a pound a day he says. well that cant be true or in 2 weeks a 15 pound turtle would weight almost nothing. lol that said they can get tank rash from claws if over stocked. we keep ours cool and covered in deep tanks but also feed them fish and dry dog food. which they do eat. any thoughts on any of this?

mousie

Turtles in warm water will fight to escape and lose weight rapidly. In these spring houses the water is cold, I have tried to feed the turtles but they will not eat, the water is that cold. They do empty their intestinal system and that is some weight loss but other than that they seem to lose little if kept for a month or so. A few years ago a neighbor caught a snapper in mid September and put it in my springhouse after I was done for the year and he was still there and lively the next spring when I went to put my first catch in.
Until I started turtle catchin' 10 years ago no one had done it much here commercially since the late 60's. I have empty traps too, but no one wants to see empty trap pictures. I usually average 2.5 to 3 keepers per trap. The one thing I like about the cages is that I rarely get to a trap and find a turtle outside trying to get in from the side (this seems to be common with net traps). I think the hard sides are more likely to guide the turtle to the opening. Eric

yes i had that happen twice this year. pull up and a turtle either on top of the net or trying to get in and swim off right before my eyes. i think i caught them a day or so later with fresh bait. i have used carp (flesh) or carp caps (skull dome with is full of oil) and several types of other fish. quill back shad buffalo sucker etc. my favorite is skip jack herring with are usually just under a pound and at times well over two pounds. they are very oily and remind me of a mini tarpon. fisherman here use them for catching shovel head and blue catfish. they are also a good raccoon and mink bait. eric where did you say the photos of your wire cage traps are located? is it here on trapperman? again thanks for your contribution. it doesnt seem like there are many turtle trappers on here or at least they arent willing to share.

mousie

My hats off to ya, those are some quality turtles.

heres an oddball shaped snapper who it appears at an early stage in its life had its shell crushed and survived. it regrew into a dome shape. probably hit by a tractor or a car.

Cool pic mousie!

The turtle lovers are campaigning hard in Ontario these days exploiting the notion that turtle numbers are dwindling. They should try nuisance beaver trapping in the summer if they think numbers are low.

Great thread and pics, thanks Mousie. Good job.

last load of the year awaiting pic-up

it isnt always about the money. sometimes you feel the need to give back. i confess we have caught and released (even relocated) far more turtles than we ever kept. at times we get a tip that a pond or lake is being drained. some of which have been around fifty years or longer. these watersheds have turtles in them that may have migrated there since there beginnings so who knows what turtles may lurk there and for just how long.

such was the case this august when we stopped by a farm that had recently been sold to developers. a one acre pond that had been been drained over a month ago but still held a little water. the water of course was less than two feet deep. even more frustrating was the fact the muck around the pond wouldnt allow us a close approach without sinking up to ones knees. it was very frustrating.
the good news? we were able to see sign of turtles crawling out of what little water was left behind. where had they gone to? we had no idea. maybe they had returned. but the sign obviously showed tracks and belly drag marks from larger turtles than we had taken all summer. a small pool of water at the opposite end of the pond held a hope that they had only gone that far. it was no more than 6 inches deep and thirty feet across. a mere fraction of its former self. no more than a mud puddle really. yet evidence indicated the turtles had stayed behind and possibly buried themselves in the mud. slide marks indicated some had decided to leave. did they return? try to travel across land? we had no way of knowing. with no ponds or lakes in the area the risk of dying of dehydration was a real risk. snappers can last about two days out of water with the sun this hot.
with the august heat there was no time to waste. time was of the essence. if any turtle were here it was now or never. these larger turtles seem to have been buried in the mud through the hottest weeks of august but as the rains have cooled things down it seems they are again feeding the last days of summer. if it cooled down in a week or so the turtles would stop feeding. it was nearing september. our nets would be nearly sitting in inches of water. not ideal to be sure. the muck held us at bay. pondering on just how to handle the situation a large snapper reared its head out of the moss and lazily moved toward the middle of the pool. at that point we knew there was no turning back. it was a long shot but we felt well worth the risk.


whats left of the pond after it was drained.






picture shown:

evidence of some large heavy snappers. how many had left? how many were here? we could only guess. in the below pictures shown only six inches of water remained on one end of the drained pond. about thirty yards away at the deeper end there was less than two feet of water in a small pool. the hot august sun would evaporate it even more. many people would have passed it by. but experience told us there were still turtles here. in the hot sun the water temps were rising and we figured the heat had caused the larger turtles to bury in the mud to cool their body down. big turtles because of their mass can easily overheat. in such heat the bait will spoil fast but heavy rain storms were coming. its now or never we said. many would have passed this place up. but we re not many people.







time to set the nets !







with the muck conditions of the banks a 2x10 plank allowed for a closer approach. a four prong hook on a long rope would allow us to be able to retrieve the nets with a simple toss as our nets were not out very far at all. with the heavy turtles caught and dragging it toward us the muck would ball up and at times outweighed the catch. to be sure it was no easy task and we were usually covered in mud when it was all said and done. but isnt all trapping at times challenging?

mousie

below is a picture of our largest one and wouldnt you know it came out of the shallow end of the pond that only had about six inches of water !
these turtles were quite old and indeed a handful and wouldnt be worth eating. we took nine turtles over 30 pounds from this single one acre pond plus a good many smaller ones. not bad for a couple of gals. all these old turtles will be relocated to lakes where we have plenty of females waiting. we have no idea the true age of these turtles but figured they were over 35 to 40 years old.



thanks for reading

Nice.:)

Great post way to go Mousie

Very nice post... I was going to mention using planks to cross the mud, but I see you got it figured

thanks guys. yes rye someone had suggested it to help support our weight. we dont weight very much but the much would have us stuck in no time.
it wasnt the worst place i ve trapped turtles but was by far the dirtiest. mike row wouldnt have done it! lol you dont see any pictures of us once we got covered in mud because quite frankly we were afraid to ruin the camera.

As the others have said,very nice shots.

Ive never learned so much about those snappers and how to recognize their sign along shores as I have in your pictures.

Very nice education habitat views you have there.
Like the action shots of you both too.

Thank you Hope.

thanks Sharon. that means a lot to me coming from you. i am trying to tell a story as much as just show some pictures of a caught snapping turtle. trapping turtles have become a part of my life over the past few years as well as a source of income. i have tried to teach others about the importance of snapping turtles in our ecosystem. its my way way of giving back i suppose.

mousie



they cant all be big ones i guess. lol

during the summer we all get together and have a wild game cookout. my role in all this is to supply enough turtle meat for the guest that come.
not every one wants to try turtle meat but there are lots of other game to try. raccoon muskrat pheasant quail frog legs elk deer meat wild boar you name it. its probably there. with about 300 friends we all have a pretty good time.




































thanks for looking.

mousie

a good healthy hatch assuring there will be snappers for generations to come.

For some reason one of the Rolling Stones song just popped into my head:
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

lol. we always have a great time. last year we had several t man members come. one from as far away as minnesota. chris lyons who goes by lynoch i think.

Fried Turtle is good stuff...Yummmmmm...lol...Cool pics Mousie

Thanks a lot for sharing. Looks like everyone had a great time.

from the black lagoon. an overgrown swamp full of black muck and mosquitoes. you would have thought this place belonged in the south somewhere rather than ohio. had to cut a path with machetes just to get to it. one way in. one way out. also had to float in the hoop nets and float out the catch. every turtle earned. no doubt about it! had some help this trip with a 12 year old grandson of a friend who wanted to 'go on an adventure.' oh he got to go on one alright! lol he seemed to enjoy it though in the sweltering heat.
we had to hose him down afterward due to the poison ivy he waded through carrying sacks of turtles.




it was some trick to dump the turtles in a floating sled and grab them all and sack them up before they started fighting or escaped back into the lagoon. once a turtle went into the black water grabbing for it seemed like a good way to get bitten. we only lost one but likely caught it again the next day after baiting the hoop net again. we thought that we would see the monster of our dreams here but only caught 7 keepers. still worth the trip if nothing but the experience.

as summer waned we had a decision to either hit a few ponds and creeks or call it quits for the season. the water was cooling fast and we knew the turtles would be shutting down soon. our catch had fallen off and we knew to push things would be a gamble. we decided to go for it one last run. win lose or draw we were turtle trappers first and the only loss we hoped would be not going for it.

it was labor day weekend and we decided to hit a few ponds first heavy and pull after one night. if we set heavy we figured we would have a good chance. we figured wrong as 6 nets in 3 ponds only netted one turtle. disappointed but still determined we decided to go to the creek we had been driving past all summer and set it up while our bait still had some freshness to it. we guessed it would only be good another day. not paying attention to the weather proved to be a big mistake.



that night a 2 inch rain fell and the creek swelled up over the banks. we hadnt staked our nets but i doubt it would have made little difference.
the next morning i went to pull the nets only to find the water was 2 feet higher and the nets were nowhere in sight. thinking i could rescue the nets from the rushing water proved wrong. a lot was learned that day on how powerful rushing water can be and it is not to be taken lightly. a mistake i will just say i wont be making anytime soon.



it took days before the water went down enough to venture back in. nearly a week in fact. we walked the banks every day but we could see through the murky water. we waded in when it felt safe and probed the waters but to no avail. once it had gotten back to its original level we decided to make a serious effort to find our nets. we expected the worst yet hoped for the best. nets could be replaced we knew. trapped turtles would have perished however and to waste their lives needlessly would be our biggest regret. the nets we feared may have been washed to the river.

we didnt expect much but luck would be on our side. sand bars with snags had indeed caught our nets. twisting in the strong current would prove too much collapsing them and sinking them to the bottom. the pvc poles had washed away but those are easily replaced. the nets were none for the worst. one turtle was all that was lost. a softshell. we took its remains and returned them to the waters. we knew with the crayfish and minnow population it would not go to waste.




and so with that we decided to call it a season. lucky we had one at all. a few days before the season opened my best friend and partner was involved in an automobile accident which nearly cost them their life. a slit second decision saved lives that day. it seemed at that moment the season would be on hold if at all. still determined we started later than expected but once we got things going we never looked back. a lot was learned this year on the line. some dreams came true and some did not. challenges were met and some exceeded our expectations while others handed us rears back to us. but we never gave up hope that come hardship or high water we finish out the year putting everything we had into it. we had learned near seasons end that a buyer had backed out leaving us with almost our entire seasons catch of over 2000 pounds of live turtles. never the less we explored other markets. regardless we felt we had a good season.

Great thread Mousie.

we had a lot to do cleaning and putting away our nets at seasons end. one doesnt see all the preparation that goes into making all this happen. it looks easy on paper. its a lot of work making sure nets are mended. you have enough bait. organizing everything day in and day out. each net has its own series of poles all numbered. all covered in mud. lol. it was still warm so despite our saying we were done for the season we did set a few more nets out just to explore some waters we hadnt touched. we ran a few days but never caught any keepers and returned them all back to the water. my friend angie said she learned a lot and would do it all again regardless if we sold any turtles or not. the offers did come slowly but they came and so we re now in the process of butchering all of the male turtles we have on hand. the females were bred and released to ponds we had selected around the area. although we harvest turtles it is also as much about the preservation of turtles for future generations to come. with that said we re looking forward to next season.

a 2 year old snapper. we dont see many of these as our nets all have 8 inch escape rings. this one couldnt figure it out until we gave it a hand. angry little cuss. lol.

Good for you. Good times.

Great storyline and photos.

My biggest turtle, never got to weigh him because I turned him loose..Thats a 4" wide bait net laying beside his head..He would not fit in the bottom on a large metal garbage can..Caught him on a trot line..The whole head of the holler was muddy were I caught him..Im guessing the shell length was an honest 18 1/2"-19"..

thats a dandy kyboy. were you able to remove the hook? i dont use hooks personally due to we have a 13 inch shell limit and removing a hook from the throat of a smaller turtle could injure the turtle and quite frankly be dangerous for me. im convinced i can out produce someone using hooks by using hoop nets and they are far more selective. for now we have started our butchering this fall and as of date have only found one turtle with a hook lodged in its throat. the hook had not rusted and was attached to a small mesh net containing some foul smelling substance. possibly liver. i m guessing because the line was mono that it was intended for catfish.

Yes, I got the hook out..Im not a turtle trapper per say but catch plenty trotlining. we always keep some to eat..I had enough and there was no reason to keep this big boy. I left him for breed stock..

washing out turtle tanks.





recycling water

TTT! First softshell of the year for me. She is a nice one.

That the one I looked at hyesterday?

Yup. Trying to get some more just like her. I want some turtle soup and some turtle sauce picante!

You call me when ya get it & I'll come help ya eat it!!

we have no idea the true age of these turtles but figured they were over 35 to 40 years old.


Advarage live span of a COMMON SNAPPER in the wild is 26 years

What does the water temp need to be to get the turtles moving in the spring?

"A booming international trade in turtles has lead the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to propose placing the common snapping turtle and three other native turtles under the protection of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Bringing the turtles under CITES could help the service better determine the legality of exports and also decide whether additional efforts are warranted."



"While none of the four turtles proposed for protection is currently in danger of extinction, a growing international trade...poses a threat to the future of these species."

Bryan Arroyo : Assistant director of International affairs for the service.

Just curious how the above will affect the hunting and trapping of common snappers in my home state.
With the season re-opening July 1st, one can only speculate what changes in the coming months or years to come.
Regardless, I am looking forward to the upcoming season and hope you will have a good season, for those that do go forth. Be safe on the water !

Angela

Big turtle Angela...good job!

Why wouldn't you just count the rings on one of the sections of the shell, Newt? Just like counting the rings on a tree.
If that isn't a true way to tell a snappers age, then why do the 'experts' on the internet tell us it is?
Google: How to tell the age of a snapping turtle and that is exactly what comes up. Surely you've heard this, a man with your experience?

That is troubling....

I agree, ShaneT. I'll keep you posted if I hear anymore about it.

Part of turtle trapping down here is releasing swamp lizards.

I caught and released 54 here the first year I trapped turtles. Learned to do a better job of avoiding, but still caught some of them. Lost many traps being unrepairable on the big ones.

I hear ya Kirk. Any tips for avoiding them? Seems that making sure the bait is submerged helps. I think this is number 9 or 10 so far this year.

That's a lot of 'gators, Kirk and sounds like a lot of damage to your nets. Those things aren't cheap !

I don,t know a good way to avoid them. I just didn,t put the traps out sometime.

I usually was like shane. usually got 2 to 4 traps ruined a month. The really big ones balled the net and rings up the size of a basket ball.

They weren,t too bad to release as long as they were under 6 ft.

I think I paid 115$ for the nets. Usually ran 20 nets twice a day. Used 30" and 36" nets. Never experienced a down turn in turtle numbers and never saw another turtle trapper while trapping.

Restrictions are too great now for me. State ruined what was a good thing for all.

I'm not Newt but the whole counting the rings on the shell most likely isn't accurate, I remember my dad mentioning it years ago as a old wives tale. Google a little more and you will find its not a accurate way to determine a turtles age.

Kirk, the state is slowly phasing out commercial harvest up here, there will be turtles here long after the people are gone regardless if they shut it down or leave it open, to much water most places to endanger them.

I thought gators could be sold also?Why release them?

Well here, you have to either have nuisance tags, landowner tags, or be drawn for a lottery. Alligator season is only about a month long for the landowner and lottery portions. The particular body of water I am on now is public water that is not on the list for the lottery so only nuisance tags would apply. I am about to start making some calls to see what the process is for having it included in the lottery. I live on the body of water in question and it is overrun with gators. I am also looking into what it takes to be able to apply for nuisance tags.

The land of 10,000 lakes ? lol I'm guessing so !

Actually closer to 15,000 depending on the size of the water used for estimate. The northern half of the state isn't great turtle water density wise although the turtles tend to run larger. Lots of lakes here but not all suited well for turtles, most of the turtle trappers up here that catch a lot target rivers or did anyway, not many guys left up here that catch big numbers anymore (partially market driven, and guys are getting old and dying off) There are only about 20 commercial license holders left. Do we have less turtles here than 50 yrs ago? yep but to shut it down in fear of endangering them isn't going to happen up here, wish the state felt otherwise.

The biggest killers of turtles are not the trapper. It is coon, otter, and crows.

One family of coon will destroy more turtle eggs in their lifetime, reducing potential turtles than a trapper would catch in his lifetime.

Otter will bite the heads off of turtles just for the fun of it. Why don,t they make open season on otter and coon with no limits, if they are so concerned. Allow the killing of crows with no restriction, if they want to protect them.

If the states DNR really wanted to raise turtle numbers, there would be a strong push and support for trapping. Even a bounty system on coon in summer during turtle nesting season.

Right on Kirk. I honestly believe wildlife regs are more about appeasing a few lefties then sound management.

Either that are the governmemt doesn't want folks earning a living off the land because it takes control away from them.

I agree with Kirk due to nest raiding. Big fish also eat them as I skin fish with them in their stomachs.

i've found small turtles in bull frog stomachs.

SHaneT , how you fix your softshell turtle's , the same way as snappers or different ?

no one i know eats them or ever did .

Round here car tires put a good hurting on them too!

Yup, same way. Just let them purge longer and better not miss any of the fat when prepping them.

I have ended up.selling everyone I have caught so far this season. I catch a lot of alligator snappers and can't sell them so we just eat the biggest and I turn the rest loose.

No doubt about the nest predation, coons and skunks up here probably get in the the neighborhood of 80 to 90 percent. I am sure they can pick up the turtles trail from the waters edge and follow it right to the nest.

$115 for a Hoop net seems fairly high, Kirk. Who sells those ?

If you are in the market for some new 30 inch d hoop nets. I sell my 2 inch webbing nets for 50.00, plus shipping. dave 318-465-5961

Memphis net and twine. They were ordered with 1" webbing, flat throats, and dipped.

Thanks Kirk !

Thanks beaverfoot !

(If you are a member on face book,) Check out my new site on f.b. , American Turtler lots of new pics,(just added abour 100 and hopefully with what we share, many new ideas and concepts to help trappers be better at catching even more turtles.

We better enjoy them while we can...yesterday on the front page of the Lake Charles American Press newspaper there was an article about them. It said that the state is trying to restock juvenile alligator snapping turtles by the hundreds in order to avoid them being put on the Endangered Species List in 2017.

I don't know which, if any, states still allow recreational take of the A.S.T., but we're the lucky ones right now. That could change soon, and we all know how serious it gets when something gets put on that list.

I was glad to see that LDWF is trying to keep them off of the list according to the newspaper.

It is easy to skew the results of population densities. It was obvious when we had the turtle meetings here. It was a fixed outcome.

All the federal guys have to do is set the traps improperly or change the way the traps are baited to get the results they want. Here it was even the type of traps they used and as well as how they were used. Even the time of the day they were run.

Hey Sweet Pea, did you take them pics of Mousie floatin around the internet ????

https://www.facebook.com/americanturtler?fref=ts


Join me in celebrating the snapping turtle and the men (and women)who pursue them !

Angela

Hey what about those of us who targer softshells lol

I can't get the link to work, Sweet Pea. Thanks!!!

Shane, I target those too and we also have pics on those too. You know they taste like chicken ! lol

I think I had a space in there, I 've changed it. Go up to my post and try it again(click on)

Angela

Anybody other turtle hunters here hook them besides me? never seen any one talk about it, just curious.

I set a few jugs here and there. That's the only way I've ever gone after them.

Not talking jugs or baited set lines, cant do that here (long list of cant do's here)

Nice FB page...should have a few more comments with the pictures.

We always called what you are talking about noodling I think rats4me. A pole with a hook on the end... my grandpa used to catch 1000's of pounds a week of alligator snappers and common snappers like that way back when.

Yep thats what I am talking about Shane 10-14 ft pole with a large treble hook on the end, hook them by bubble trails, floaters in the weeds or certain times of the year in clear water situations where you can see them ( thats the easy ones) My my grandpa used to make a living just hooking years ago, my dad has been hooking them for 60 years never was many guys that did it or were good at it, steep learning curve and varying situations.

Anyone used the Quarles style turtle traps? How do they work? Caught any softshells in them?

I do. All of my turtle traps are similar to them. Some of them are concrete reinforcement wire with 1 1/4" webbing throats, some are just the wire frame with webbing throats, and some of them are completely wrapped with webbing of either 1 1/4", 1 1/2", or 2" webbing.

I also have a single trap that's entirely made of PVC coated 1 1/2" hex wire, even the throat. It works really well for turtles.

I just purchased 2 rolls of PVC coated wire, and I'm going to make some turtle traps with some of it. I'm going to make at least one with a throat made of webbing, and I'm going to make at least one that has a wire funnel throat.

I can tell you this much...if you make your turtle traps out of PVC coated wire "crab trap wire" they will last forever as turtle traps. The one I have I have been using since 2002 and it's still going strong. Now that I have plenty of wire my traps will be made of coated wire from now on, either webbing or wire throats. It's cost effective, it works really well, and it lasts. A person can make them out of coated wire for roughly $10 each, not to mention you can make one in minutes.

I also make mine square or oval. They stack and they don't roll as easily.

Better hurry up and catch them. They are gonna get away.

https://youtu.be/hyUmGHdK9e8


Told ya.

What was the weight on that turtle? Also, how long is the shell?

madcotrapper, in all fairness, that is a softshell turtle, which is a totally different type than a snapping turtle. Both water turtles, yes but, a softshell is much faster in the water and on land. Snapping turtles are much, much slowly on land due to their bulk and weight.
Those snappers pictured are all females out of my nets at the lake and are going to be returned to the water anyway, as I don't kill females and I don't take any turtle under 13 inches in length,( Ohio state law).
The bigger males,(like pictured below) are what I'm after.

I know sweet pea. I was just having a bit of fun.

Dandy catch.

I have a whole bunch more just like him !

Thanks for sharing!!

How many turtles can you put in a tote and how often do you change water?

I have between 30-40 usually on snappers, sometimes a little less on softhells but not much.( They're a little more fragile than snappers).
We have a 13 inch law here so I only keep the larger turtles. I change water once a week, Try not to hold turtles more than a week or they will end up with tank rash from over crowding. Also the cooler water is, the better. I use well water that's ice cold and shade them.

Endangered species they say. Some of these biologists need to go back to school. That makes 7 loggerheads out of 3 nets checked so far this morning.

48" bottom in the boat. He tangled in the net and drowned. Will make a beautiful shell on the wall.

Now THAT is a turtle

I watched a meattrapper video on youtube. He was almost through with the whole butchering process and the heart was still beating. That's one tough critter. Guess they don't ever have heart attacks.

Shane, I'm assuming the meat was spoiled. Is that what happened, or were you able to clean it?

Not as impressive as yours but surprised to this one hanging out with my goats!

Yea it is spoiled. Water is still real warm. I had a 45 pounder in the boat when I got to this one. I turned him loose to keep this one. That one per day limit is a bummer.

Maybe he was trying to eat your goats ! lol

I just read this entire thread right after watching my new DVD "turtles by the ton"!! very useful!! Any buyers in Minnesota? I'm going to be taking my first stab at turtle trapping this year. Any and ALL local information is very much appreciated, also any others advice.

Also, those are $500 holding tanks......... How in the heck does that pay to have????? How many turtles can you have in one tank?

Nobody has posted on this thread for a while so I thought I would liven it up with a picture of the load I sold last night. This is the back of my full size pickup truck. Sorry one is a little blurry

Eric, how many individual turtles are there in the truck?

Really enjoy your pics and sharing your methods Mr. Space. Thanks. Big dollars!

J.Morse, there are a few short of 200.

There's money to be made turtle trapping in Louisiana. Most of the species are legal to sell. Snappers and softshell make the check whilethe rest cover expenses.

I make a few bucks over expenses. Main thing for me is it is FUN. Hard work, sure, most of these were carried from trap to truck in a garbage can, some over 100 yards, but to me it is a blast! The thrill of checking turtle traps is the same as checking fur traps, what might be in the next trap keeps up the excitement. You just never know when the next trap might have a 50+ pound snapper. Like fur trapping its all Location, Location, Location. Learning the "where to set" is just as important as "the how to set". I have lost 80 pounds since this picture from August of 2015, just so I could be in better shape to catch snappers. Now I am almost a shadow at 270 pounds!
The thrill of what is in the next trap is stronger than the thrill of eating a dish of ice cream.
I was hoping the Ohio convention this weekend was in eastern Ohio. We were going to attend if it was and bring a turtle trap for those who wanted to see, one but it is in Lima so maybe next year. The wife and I sure miss going to the all the conventions we useta' attend.

what's a good bait if you can't get a hold of these real oily fish ? I've been using frozen bream but it's not doing to good. Would buffalo possibly work ? I can buy it dirt cheap of the side of the road

If buffalo is carp it will work fine but put in traps fresh frozen and set traps within an hour before dark. As soon as it goes sour they do not want it. Eric

Ttt

O Yaaaaaaa

Has anyone heard any prices yet this year, if so what have you heard.

Very good read....

Super cool read. Turtle trapping guided trip? Can u mount a turtle?

I see their were no 2017 pictures on here. I only took a few pictures last year, here are the 2 I saved. Average weight in this truckload was 24.7 pounds. I lost 110 pounds in the last 2 years just to be in better shape to trap turtles. The one I am holding is a nice turtle, and while I may look like a shadow I weighed 245 in this picture, so that turtle is not as small as you might think.
Wonder how Mousie and Sweet Pea, the turtle trappin' ladies, did last year?

Eric, you are my turtle trapping/weight shedding hero! I am where you were 2 years ago....wish me luck(and I don't mean trapping!!)

J.Morse, just remember this : "You are in charge of what you put in your mouth!" For years I had lots of excuses, and then someone told me this phrase and it kinda' hit home.

Just got done reading all 23 pages great info thanks to all that post just started turtle trapping this year it's been great fun now if I could just catch stinkin turtle before the season is over it would be great lol thanks to all that have shared their knowledge on this post

I'm bringing back the turtle thread lol. Throats for eric's type trap design are a little pricey, any alternatives???

Whats lil Mousie up to these days?
I enjoyed looking at her "turtles"

I don't think her or Sweet Pea have been on in a long time. I was going to ask them if they had any traps they wanted to sell, but they split.

You can make your own throats from landing net replacement nets. On bass pro shop website they are $9.49 ( size PB36/B) free shipping right now)

You are awesome eric!!! Thank you!

Somebody said they were LTGREY dressed up.

You can find out more about the girls and follow their trapping adventures @ American Turtler, right over on face book !

I'm betting that is a practice that has now been stopped !
What say ye, Newt ???

Last bump before going to the archives.

nice ,

Bringing this back from the dead for a bit. Great read

what do you guys use to treat your nets with??

Thinned out tar is a the most common thing.

thinned with white gas??

Yes sir.
Think some use that gas dip you use for water traps too

Turtle trapping is such a blast. An adult snapper can be just as cagy as a coyote. Just like fur trapping, the anticipation of what is in the next trap spurs you on. The snapper with the biggest shell is not necessarily the heaviest. Heavy turtles are deep thru the body and usually oblong shaped. Removing snappers helps up the population of ducks but also the population of muskrats and mink. Interesting note: snappers eat quite a few blue herons. I learned this because they can digest the whole bird except the bill, they would poop the bills out in transport in my truck!!
I did not trap any last summer due to a new hip replacement, but hope to get a few truckloads this summer.

im new to this whole turtle trapping but I tried it last year and I caught one with trotline and a treble hook baited with fish

i never tried turtle trapping, would u trap for meat?

eric space is a stud......
Mousie!!!!! Uncle Dave says Hi.......