Farm Pond Turtle Traps?
- Thread starter kerley
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callmefence
Keyboard cowboy
#6 high brass through a full choke.
What kind of turtles? Snapping turtles are pretty easy. Even a hunk of meat on a fishing pole will catch them.
I trap a couple of different pond and swamps for snapping turtles for cleaning out and butchering. If your going to clean them and eat them I made a 24 x 24 x 36 live trap out of a hog/cattle panel with a piece of heavy #9 wire for a trip on the drop door. Throw the trap in the pond with 4 -6 inches of the top sticking out so they can breath when caught. I bait with as cheap as I can find uncooked rope or linked sausage in an onion sack wired to the bottom middle/back of the trap.
Before I made my trap it used a milk jug/laundry soap jug tied to a string. Run a hook through a piece of meat that the fish cant pick apart and hang it from the jug. Oily piece of meat works best, rotten meat doesn't work too good on snappers. Hook size doesn't matter cause a snapper doesn't chew, it goes right down its big throat. On a good day, you can throw the jug out and watch the air bubbles from the bottom as the turtle come a runnin.
The only issue with the jug and hook is, you cant keep them for a week to clean them out to eat. They will die a lot of times from swallowing the hook, that's why I went a cage trap.
I trap a couple of different pond and swamps for snapping turtles for cleaning out and butchering. If your going to clean them and eat them I made a 24 x 24 x 36 live trap out of a hog/cattle panel with a piece of heavy #9 wire for a trip on the drop door. Throw the trap in the pond with 4 -6 inches of the top sticking out so they can breath when caught. I bait with as cheap as I can find uncooked rope or linked sausage in an onion sack wired to the bottom middle/back of the trap.
Before I made my trap it used a milk jug/laundry soap jug tied to a string. Run a hook through a piece of meat that the fish cant pick apart and hang it from the jug. Oily piece of meat works best, rotten meat doesn't work too good on snappers. Hook size doesn't matter cause a snapper doesn't chew, it goes right down its big throat. On a good day, you can throw the jug out and watch the air bubbles from the bottom as the turtle come a runnin.
The only issue with the jug and hook is, you cant keep them for a week to clean them out to eat. They will die a lot of times from swallowing the hook, that's why I went a cage trap.
jkwilson
Well-known member
Bank line with a chicken neck on it will catch a snapper all day long. Buddy of my dad's used to own a bar and he cooked and sold more turtle soup than a guy could imagine. I caught most of those turtles out of little bitty ponds with bank lines.
Best part was people who had ducks or geese would either pay me or give me fishing or hunting privileges in exchange for cleaning the pond, and the guy who wanted the turtles made it good too. As a poor young fellow who spent free time chasing rabbits, deer, fish and young ladies, I was always needing money and a place to hunt or fish.
I worked full time and then was usually out with a girlfriend until 11 or 12 and then checked turtle lines afterward. I got stopped by the police dozens of times as people had reported me slipping out of a place with a flashlight at 1 or 2 am from checking lines, but once they figured out what I was up to the deputies hooked me up with more new clients than anybody else.
Best part was people who had ducks or geese would either pay me or give me fishing or hunting privileges in exchange for cleaning the pond, and the guy who wanted the turtles made it good too. As a poor young fellow who spent free time chasing rabbits, deer, fish and young ladies, I was always needing money and a place to hunt or fish.
I worked full time and then was usually out with a girlfriend until 11 or 12 and then checked turtle lines afterward. I got stopped by the police dozens of times as people had reported me slipping out of a place with a flashlight at 1 or 2 am from checking lines, but once they figured out what I was up to the deputies hooked me up with more new clients than anybody else.
M-5
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google turtle trap if your talking about striped legged ones, They are pretty simple to make out of pvc and hardware cloth .
skyhightree1
Well-known member
kerley":183uabhb said:
I make some stakes then use some 100lb test line with some really big hooks used for turtles not sure the size I buy them from the hardware store put fatback or livers on them for snapping turtles I don't shoot them cause I eat them.
BigBear
Well-known member
skyhightree1":p4qvl1cr said:
I used to do the same. T-posts and 100lb test line With treble hooks and toads as bait
greybeard
Well-known member
I used to have them of all kinds and sizes, by the dozens a few years ago. You couldn't take the grandkids down to fish with worms or minnows without almost immediately losing bait. Finally, after watching turtles raid the catfish food every day for a couple of weeks, I went down one evening with my rifle, more floating catfish feed, and plenty of .22 bullets. The massacre was extensive.
2 days later tho, I had to go around with a dip net in my little boat and get all the nasty smelling things out.
I still have a few, but their numbers have never recovered from that evening.
2 days later tho, I had to go around with a dip net in my little boat and get all the nasty smelling things out.
I still have a few, but their numbers have never recovered from that evening.
kenny thomas
Well-known member
Never seen or heard of a turtle trap or anyone doing it. This topic has me interested. I looked up a few commercial traps and I like how one seems to work? Anyone ever try a Pond King Turtle Trap?
littletom
Well-known member
Ruger 10 22 Good idea to control they made a wreck of a cows udder 2 summers ago for me
kenny thomas
Well-known member
I like shooting but not enough hours in the day. Im down to 1 small pond but this would be for the eating table.
greybeard
Well-known member
kenny thomas":2f3tpdyv said:
I watched 2 guys chunk turtles out of not much more than a muddy area near a culvert...with a pitchfork. Said they had a buyer for as many as they could bring in. (This was in Louisiana) One guy in the mud throwing them up on the bank and another running them down and throwing them in the back of a pickup.
skyhightree1
Well-known member
BigBear":104kmaim said:
Never tried toads but have brim
Ky hills
Well-known member
I have never trapped any turtles but have seen plenty of milk jugs with lines. Have went back to the back forty to check on things before turning cattle in and found plenty of unsolicited jugs in the pond. Once saw a jug moving and fished it out. To my surprise there was a turtle on it. For the first and only time in my life I felt sorry for the varmit, no telling how long he had been hooked but I'd say it was a while cause he was sure skinny looking underneath the shell. I cut him a loos, ain't about to mess with the business end of a snapping turtle.
BigBear
Well-known member
skyhightree1":kto2hwfi said:
That should work
Get some kids and a 22 and go to town.
