snapping turtles

how do you get rid of snapping turtles in your pond? new stock of fish is disappearing and i believe a turtle is eating them, however i never see one on the surface so i believe it to be a snapping turtle.

Be careful if they bite you they won't turn loose until it thunders. :wink: Floating traps will get them.

A .22 rifle, lawn chair, and a 6 pack of beer. Not a better way to waste an afternoon.

chicken on a fish hook, use a strong line tied to a milk jug. Don't use fried chicken, might catch the preacher.

I'm sorry for that, thought I was downstairs

Can whiskey be substituted for beer?

Call "The Turtle Man"

you can buy a commercial trap for snapping turtles from netcraft. see the attached link. my grandfather used to trap em, grandma made turtle soup from the snapping turtles and the softshell turtles. best bait for snapping turtles is bulls neck. go to your local butcher shop and ask for it. it the tough stringy meat from a steers neck. make a small basket about the size of a 2 liter pop bottle out of chicken wire and hang it in the center of the trap. trap is staked down in water just deep enough to barely cover the trap. for soft shelled turtles, use cut up carp.
poke here

The "Turtleman" will cost you now, now that he's a bonafide celebrity!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn8EQ0azXpQ

You sure it"s not one of these?

A Southern Baptist preacher!

JohnDeereFan has the right idea. Get to be real good with a .22. When you see that pointy black spot pop up in the water, aim just below it.

I think I would up that to about a 30-30 or .270, just for the heck of it.

The shock effect will compensate for a near miss.

Gene

Make sure you don't have otters. They will clean a pond out in a heart beat.

I had 10 migrate in here this spring. I caught 2 more crossing the property and dispatched them. Never saw so many.

They are really tricky and very reclusive. They don't come up for air often and lots of time they prefer floating vegetation as it hides their facial visibility from me. They walk on the bottom and when they disturb the silt it releases oxygen or methane or something that makes a string of bubbles. You can track his whereabouts and be ready when and if he shows his head. Makes for good sport.

I thought I got them all right after they got here but I still find a couple. Right now I am waiting out the results of a couple I shot a couple of days ago. One was a head shot on the surface and the other was coming up for air where I was feeding my, or what's left of, my fish. I saw that big fat circular outline of the head about 6" under the water and I know he was looking up at me wondering whether to come up or not.

I didn't wait for him to decide to make the usual fast breakaway so I popped him. I think I got both as the post shot activities were indicative of a hit.

On the fish, I'm still looking for 300 fingerling channel cats that just disappeared without a trace. Have the turtles and the Herons. Have one Heron that's here all day every day. Every day I see that sucker I wonder if my fish are worth 10 years in prison.......I don't think so.

Mark

(quoted from post at 15:25:09 06/20/13)
Be careful if they bite you they won't turn loose until it thunders. :wink: Floating traps will get them.

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That is exactly what grandpaw told me and my brothers about skinny dipping in the creek. :shock: The result of his warning was that we learned to swim using only one hand. :wink:

they found a snapping turtle on a golf course near by that someone had pounded on with probably a golf club it was alive when they found it but perished shortly after there is now a ten thousand dollar reward for the info on who did it.

Way we did it was a 55 gallon drum weighted down and submerged so only 3" or so stuck up, hunka plywood with a trap door in the middle over the top, trap door held up by a screen door hinge, chicken guts for bait and cover it so the birds stay away. Snapper smell bait climbs up on plywood, falls through trap door. Retrieve snappers, put in stock tank of fresh running water for 10 days to 2 weeks, kill, dress, stand by for turtle soup!!!

thanks mark. that is what i am experiencing. no herons o pond at present time. thanks for all the other replies also

Pete, ever used a trot line for catfish?
It also workes for turtles by tight-lining it up off the water so that the hooks dangle 1-4 inches above the water. Bait can be chicken, stink bait, cheese.

We have done all of the above over the years..we have a few ponds that are over run with channel cats so we set trotlines several times a year..hasnt been one time we didnt catch a snapper on the line also.
Careful tho as snappers are protected in several states..but boy are they good fried.