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INDIANAPOLIS STAR (Indiana) 10 August 03 Catch a turtle by the tail - Indiana has few rules on harvesting turtles, which hunters insist are plentiful. (Don Mulligan)
Photo: Darrell Bozarth of New Goshen hoists a large common snapping turtle from an area farm pond, using the "hog" method. That is, feeling around in the water with your hands and grabbing one, hopefully by the tail. (Don Mulligan)
New Goshen, Ind.: Harvesting turtles for consumption doesn't neatly fit into any single outdoor category, with the most skilled gatherers employing aspects of hunting, fishing and trapping to fill their freezers.
Perhaps that is why Indiana allows turtle harvesting with either a valid hunting or fishing license. The other possible reason is that, until recently, Indiana did not have anyone tracking turtle populations full time.
Enter Zack Walker, Indiana's new full-time herpetologist, whose mission will be to study Indiana's reptiles and amphibians. If Walker's name sounds familiar to hunters, it is because until July he was Indiana's deer researcher.
"There simply isn't a lot of data regarding Indiana's turtle population. Once we have compiled some, then we can make an informed, scientific decision regarding season dates and limits here," Walker said.
Currently, the season for three types of turtles is unlimited, with a daily bag limit of 25.
Although some other states have placed a moratorium on harvesting turtles, there is no reason to believe an adjustment to Indiana's regulations is necessary, Walker said.
Field observations
While he is open to suggestions, New Goshen turtle fisherman Darrell Bozarth thinks that the turtle population in his part of Indiana is healthy and in no need of being rescued.
"I guarantee every body of water, big or small, in Indiana has a bunch of big turtles living in it. Just because people don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there," says Bozarth, who has been catching and eating turtles since he was a child.
He says it is not difficult to catch six big turtles from a single half-acre farm pond, leave it alone for a year, and then catch six more. Especially when the pond is in close proximity to another pond or stream.
These ponds are the best fishing, according to Bozarth, because turtles are constantly moving from one waterway to the next, restocking themselves.
But despite seeing as many or more turtles today as he did as a child, it still requires some skill to coax the biggest and oldest turtles out of their murky lairs.
"As a kid, we used to 'hog' them. That is, we would wade around mucky bottomed ponds, feeling around in the mud with our bare toes until we found a turtle. Then we would reach down and pull the turtle out by hand, hopefully grabbing the tail and not the head," Bozarth said.
Hogging an Indiana common snapping turtle is not for the squeamish, however. Adult snappers average 35 pounds, and can easily take a man's finger off with their vice-like jaws.
So instead of using their hands for bait these days, Bozarth and his partner, Bill Hale, use baited treble hooks.
"Using baited lines to catch turtles is a numbers game," said Hale, who explained that fishermen should expect to catch one turtle for every two to three baited lines.
Hale uses 800-pound test nylon twine with a No. 1 sized treble hook tied directly to the line. He prefers baiting the hook with a chunk of beef, but says old deer meat does nicely as well.
Hale likes to suspend the line about a foot or so beneath a gallon jug. In a typical half-acre pond he may distribute 10 baited jugs to cover the entire pond.
"I prefer using jugs because I believe there are fewer misses. When a turtle tries to pull away, there is no resistance and the jug follows him wherever he swims," Hale said.
On the other hand, Bozarth prefers tying lines to trees on shore, and heaving the baited treble hook out into the pond, hopefully, just beyond the weed line.
"By using shore lines, I don't have to use a boat to collect and check my lines like Hale does with his jugs," Bozarth said.
Regardless of the method, they agreed that the best time to turtle fish is when the temperature is high. Their experience suggests that turtle activity and feeding increases in concert with rising temperature.
On a typical hot summer evening, the duo have been known to catch 20 big snapping turtles.
That kind of haul requires constant line checking, rebaiting and moving between several water holes. And while turtles will take the bait at any time of the day, Hale says he prefers to put baits out at dusk, and check back the first thing in the morning or sometimes even sooner.
"If I'm fishing a pond that I know hasn't been hit for several years, I may check my lines every couple hours since I am confident there will be a bunch of hook ups," he said.
Indiana has few rules on harvesting turtles, which hunters insist are plentiful

The three species this article is referring are common snappers, smooth softshells and spiney softshells. While they may still be somewhat common, the possession limit is simply ludicris. I am not sure if they have a season on them, last time I checked, they didn't.

Not only is this a problem, but Indiana currently does not have any headstart programs for endangered reptile species that I am aware of and do not recognize captive breeding efforts. With the exception of a few snakes, captive breeding of native species is not allowed and the possession limit is 4 per native species. Endangered animals native to the state can be kept, however they must be obtained from out of the state and the permit to keep them is the same that one would need to keep a bear or a big cat.

To add to the mayhem, under the current regulations, many species are not written down to the subspecies level therefore protecting many non-indiginous sp? species. Take for example the box turtles both eastern and ornate. They are only written down to the species level therefore, they treat desert box turtles as native animals as well as any of the Terrepene carolina subspecies. While they may argue that they are protected because of similar appearance, I find their reasoning unjustifyable.

While I am not one much for law enforcement as a whole, I believe that fish and wildlife commissions should reach out and work with the people who deal with native species on a regular basis rather than make laws like they stand. I hope the revisions for 2004 are much more sensible.

Steve