Turtle huntin'?

[osok-308]

Why would you want to hunt a turtle?

The most dangerous game there is.... also, where would you shoot the turtle? I mean is there a spot on it's shell where you can say "all the vital organs are housed in that 3" area"?

[Rucker61]

Do you stalk them or set up a blind?

[FL410]

Do you stalk them or set up a blind?

Run 'em with pack of dogs. Better hope they can tree 'em too, cause they get nasty when cornered. Lost a couple of my best hounds to a snapper last season. :-(

[sniper7]

Run 'em with pack of dogs. Better hope they can tree 'em too, cause they get nasty when cornered. Lost a couple of my best hounds to a snapper last season. :-(

I miss those dogs. Best looking irish wolfhounds I had ever seen.

[Not_A_Llama]

What about the distressed trout call I picked up?

A genius that will never be appreciated in this lifetime.

[45XD]

The "Tactical" ones are a threat

The "Assault" ones are pretty dangerous too....

[bigun1962]

Snapping turtle is good eating. I have no seen any around here. I would not think of them of a nusience animal around here. Have had them steal fish from trot lines. Very hearty animal. Once their head is cut off they and still bite you. You can check the gut pile 8 hours post cleaning and the heart could still be beating. May have to go find one I am getting hungry for turtle.

[bigun1962]

The last turtle I cleaned was relatively small and weighed 30 pounds. Probably 40-60 years old.

[CapLock]

When I was little my Grandpa used to take me fishing for pan fish on a private lake. After a few times of walking off to fish other parts of the lake and coming back to only fish heads on the stinger he started bringing my 22 bolt action along for the turtles. Combine excellent pan fishing and non stop target shooting and you have little kid paradise. Sit in your chair and wait for the dark spots out in the water....then see the heads sticking above water. It was an old coal mine/strip pit. Water was clear as glass made spotting easy. Hell even if you missed, your reactive target (water splash) was fun and let you know right where your shot went. Fishing/turtle hunting makes prairie dog shooting seem boring.

Just want to add that this was a "PRIVATE" lake with nobody else around for miles. Shooting at any body of water in Colorado unless you own it will probably get you into trouble. Bullets ricochet off water and go who knows where unless your shooting down at a steep enough angle.

[Great-Kazoo]

I've just never noticed snapping turtles in the booklet before. It got me curious, how the heck do you hunt something floating on water. If you shoot it, now you gotta figure out how to get it out of the water. If you use some sort of fishing pole / meat setup, now you're dealing with a pissed off turtle. Then once you do get it from the water, how the heck do you get to the meat through the shell. And what would you make with turtle? Other than soup (Not too appealing in 100° weather).

The shell opens up like a clam. Knife, soft area between shell and underneath, insert knife cut around till opened in half.
You need to be careful when cutting open. They're like skunks, have a nasty sack that will spray you something fierce. Rinse in clean cool water, fillet , bread with some panko bread crumbs, red pepper flakes and garlic powder, toss in to a preheated cast iron skillet with smoking hot, not burnt, Bacon grease, 3-4 min per side.