A friend of mine plays baseball out on a diamond in the country. I don't know ALL the details of how/why they do this, but snapping turtles are common there.
He says that when they catch the snapper the first time, they spray paint an X on the shell to identify it.
The next time they catch it, they kill it.
So David calls me today and says that he caught a snapper with an X on it, and that if I didn't want to come out and pick it up, he was gonna chop her head off.
I had previously told him that if he finds any snappers, or other turtles or snakes or anything else that he doesn't want around, to give me a call. I told him I would relocate whatever he had.
So of course, I put my plate of hot food (right after I made dinner and sat down he called) and Reid and I hopped in the car to go and pick her up.
We brought her to a different river about 20 miles away that doesn't connect to her old territory, so I am hoping she will be fine. She was pretty traumatized by the whole event. Spent several hours in a cardboard box...musked more than once, which lets me know that she was really afraid. She was prolly 14-15 inches SCL and about 12-13 inches in diameter so a large turtle able of defending herself in other manners. Poor girl.
When I tipped the box by the rivers edge, she just sat there. I probably could have reached in and picked her up barehanded, for all the fight she had left in her.
Once in the water she paddled around the shallows for about five minutes, submerging her head, but staying on the surface. And then, she was gone. We stayed watching until we couldn't spot her anymore.
I will post pics once I get home. We stopped at Reid's parents for steak. So I get my hot dinner after all!
I would have traded in the entire day's meals to save her though. She must have been atleast a decade old. Death would have been a sad, and undeserved prize for beating the odds and surviving to get to the size she had.
I just wish people (especially my friends) had more respect for these wild reptiles. But I suppose its a start that they even called me at all, and didn't just kill her on the spot.
Stay tuned for pictures.
He says that when they catch the snapper the first time, they spray paint an X on the shell to identify it.
The next time they catch it, they kill it.
So David calls me today and says that he caught a snapper with an X on it, and that if I didn't want to come out and pick it up, he was gonna chop her head off.
I had previously told him that if he finds any snappers, or other turtles or snakes or anything else that he doesn't want around, to give me a call. I told him I would relocate whatever he had.
So of course, I put my plate of hot food (right after I made dinner and sat down he called) and Reid and I hopped in the car to go and pick her up.
We brought her to a different river about 20 miles away that doesn't connect to her old territory, so I am hoping she will be fine. She was pretty traumatized by the whole event. Spent several hours in a cardboard box...musked more than once, which lets me know that she was really afraid. She was prolly 14-15 inches SCL and about 12-13 inches in diameter so a large turtle able of defending herself in other manners. Poor girl.
When I tipped the box by the rivers edge, she just sat there. I probably could have reached in and picked her up barehanded, for all the fight she had left in her.
Once in the water she paddled around the shallows for about five minutes, submerging her head, but staying on the surface. And then, she was gone. We stayed watching until we couldn't spot her anymore.
I will post pics once I get home. We stopped at Reid's parents for steak. So I get my hot dinner after all!
I would have traded in the entire day's meals to save her though. She must have been atleast a decade old. Death would have been a sad, and undeserved prize for beating the odds and surviving to get to the size she had.
I just wish people (especially my friends) had more respect for these wild reptiles. But I suppose its a start that they even called me at all, and didn't just kill her on the spot.
Stay tuned for pictures.