Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering how you catch your turtles, if you do thought it would be neat to see different methods, I use my chest waders and a probing stick and just wander the swamp poking and proding the ground, usually looking for snappers,any one else?
Wayne

Most of the turtles ive caught recently have all been by sight and hand. In the past I used home built turtle traps, and the mud and stick method you described. No waders tho, just tennis shoes and a pole, damn them snappers get grumpy when you dig em up.
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What the hell is wrong with you people?! let the little turtles live thier lives in peace!

nothings wrong with us people. Most of the turtles I catch, photograph and release, unless theyre injured, then I offer care and rehabilitation if necessary. Sometimes I trap turtles and relocate them to protected ponds so they dont get shot at. I have access to a coal fired power plant that has 5 ponds inside a security patrolled fence. As for aquatic turtles that I catch by hand, if I were a raccoon or coyote, they would be dead, so Im pretty sure they dont mind.

Now let me ask you, whats wrong with you people that buy turtles at flea markets, chinatown, and pet stores? Dont you know youre just encouraging them to get more turtles which are held in small containers in unsanitary conditions for long periods of time? Do you realize that its activities like this that got turtles under 4" shell length banned in the first place? If everyone caught their own turtle, we wouldnt have this problem. But by buying at one of these places, your encouraging people to catch hundreds of them so they can make a buck each selling them. Also if everyone had to catch their own, they might know something about the turtles natural habitat, which would answer a lot of questions asked in these forums.
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whew!..Ok you guys are all right in my book then. It seams that everytime i talk to people about my turtles they want to know how they taste. As for buying them in a store, i would do it because i know that i could give them a much better home then they have, but i know how they catch the them and that isn't cool. I personnal got all my turtles from a friend that got them from another friend that got them from some where else(god knows) and the person that i got them from kept them in a box with saw dust, no lighting, no food dish, no water; so i was happy to give them a good home.