I ran over a boxie today, instantly shredding it to bits of flesh and shell.
In retrospect, i could have done things a bit differently.
I have a small clear area of my property that i mow 2-3 times a year to keep the brambles from taking over. As a result it has dense grass (including rye grass i planted last century) alliums, and weeds. Plus, we have had phenomenal rains the past 6 weeks or so and it was lusher, taller, and denser than i had ever seen. Especially in the area where the turtle was. My gas mower was bogging down there, wanting to stall if i didn't stop and do a wheelie often.
Scouring such an area for turtles would be very time-consuming and unlikely to be 100% effective. But what i did wrong is, first i mowed around the periphery of this section, then i kept mowing around in smaller circles, with the "island" of verdancy shrinking in the center. So the turtle presumably moved inward to escape the noisy threat. But since the noise was traveling around him in a circle, no direction seemed safe.
Whereas, had i started mowing on one side and just gone back and forth along that one side, maybe he would have walked away from the noise and eventually into the woods.
In retrospect, i could have done things a bit differently.
I have a small clear area of my property that i mow 2-3 times a year to keep the brambles from taking over. As a result it has dense grass (including rye grass i planted last century) alliums, and weeds. Plus, we have had phenomenal rains the past 6 weeks or so and it was lusher, taller, and denser than i had ever seen. Especially in the area where the turtle was. My gas mower was bogging down there, wanting to stall if i didn't stop and do a wheelie often.
Scouring such an area for turtles would be very time-consuming and unlikely to be 100% effective. But what i did wrong is, first i mowed around the periphery of this section, then i kept mowing around in smaller circles, with the "island" of verdancy shrinking in the center. So the turtle presumably moved inward to escape the noisy threat. But since the noise was traveling around him in a circle, no direction seemed safe.
Whereas, had i started mowing on one side and just gone back and forth along that one side, maybe he would have walked away from the noise and eventually into the woods.