Turtles

[GRTiger85]

I made money last year trapping turtles, there was a guy locally that bought them and shipped them to china, he had people all over the state catching them for him, and he would have a truck go around to centralized points to buy and collect them. It was a fun summer job, till the state made it illegal after the environmental people started throwing fits saying people were going to catch all the turtles in texas.

 

[TREY-L]

I made money last year trapping turtles, there was a guy locally that bought them and shipped them to china, he had people all over the state catching them for him, and he would have a truck go around to centralized points to buy and collect them. It was a fun summer job, till the state made it illegal after the environmental people started throwing fits saying people were going to catch all the turtles in texas.

I made lots of summer money when I was a little kid by catching snapping turtles and baby crawfish (bait size). I cought most of them (the turtles) by hand and barefeet :shock:. It's pretty easy to do, you just wade around about chest deep, feeling around old stumps and tree tops, gently picking your feet up and placing them straight down on the bottom, being very careful never to slide them on the bottom.
Once you locate a turtles shell, you can feel the ridges on the back, the old saying goes, "if you go up the bumpy road your going toward the head, if you go down the bumpy road your going toward the tail". Then the fun started, take one good last breath, then under water you grab the turtles tail and try to wrestle it out of the hole or mud or tree top. I only sold the snapping turtles, I released all the alligator snapping turtles that I caught. Mama made a mean gumbo with turtle meat in it.

Ahh, memories........

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone ever fried turtle meat??
How did it taste?

 

[angie1]

I have only ever had it fried. Someone mentioned it was greasy, but I did not notice so much. I thought it was good. Keep in mind, my opinion of "good food" has been questioned on here plenty....

 

[GRTiger85]

That sounds like the hard way to catch em...I used live traps that could hold multiple turtles at a time. I did catch a few by hand that I had to dive under for, wasnt to much fun when there water was cool or merky

 

[TREY-L]

That sounds like the hard way to catch em...I used live traps that could hold multiple turtles at a time. I did catch a few by hand that I had to dive under for, wasnt to much fun when there water was cool or merky

I was a strange child, that was my idea of fun, and yes, I do still have all my toes.

I used some hoop nets also, but I always caught alot of red ears and cooters, and these were not the target species. I did however catch my biggest turtles in the hoop nets. I always released the alligator snappers because I felt guilty about how long it took them to reach a really large size. I only sold the common snappers, they grow pretty fast in comparrison. The common snappers don't even compare in attainable size to the alligator snappers, but I more than made up for that by the numbers that I caught.
The most common sizes that I sold were between 8-20 lbs with the occasional "giant" around 30-35 lbs.
Not bad money for a little kid at 1$ a pound live weight.

All this talk about catching turtles makes me want to revisit the days of my youth and slide into my pond this summer, maybe with a little luck I can catch a few and post some pictures for you all and if I do happen to get bit I can post a picture of that too.

 

[GRTiger85]

Ya the guy buying them from me bought snappers and softshells for $1.20 a lb, and sliders for $.20 a lb...I was catching quite a few...Only did it for one summer before the state made it illegal to catch them to sale....but In that one summer i probably made atleast 3 to 4 grand. Caught so many I was using the cattle trailer to haul em. I got some pictures somewhere Ill have to track them down

 

[BB_Agron]

I remember as a kid, we would put traps out and use catfood for bait. We would pop a couple of slits in the can and tie it in the trap. We would mostly keep just the snappers. They were a lot easier to clean. We would also catch a lot of snapping turtles when we would clean out ditches in the cane fields.

 

[TexasBred]

Anyone here set turtle traps. Lately I set out a few just to see if I would actually catch anything. There were a couple that I had a hard time picking out of the water. I probably averaged over 20 turtles per trap! :shock:

Maybe if you count stripped head turtles, bragging about that is like counting "pull-dos"when you go duck hunting. :cowboy:

:lol2: :lol2: Tried to catch up with a pull-do in a bassboat one time and catch him by his feet. Guess what I got a face full of. :cry2: :cry2:

 

[3fifty7]

I can only imagine :lol2:

 

[TexasBred]

I can only imagine :lol2:

If I hadn't been wearing sun shades I'd still be blind today. :lol2: :lol2:

 

[jfont]

Anyone here set turtle traps. Lately I set out a few just to see if I would actually catch anything. There were a couple that I had a hard time picking out of the water. I probably averaged over 20 turtles per trap! :shock:

Maybe if you count stripped head turtles, bragging about that is like counting "pull-dos"when you go duck hunting. :cowboy:

Very true, not enough meat to be worth cleaning. No striped head turtles for me.

 

[Jim62]

What's a "pull-dos" ?

 

[Fred]

What's a "pull-dos" ?

That's what they call an American Coot.

 

[Horticattleman]

What's a "pull-dos" ?

pouledeau or poule d'eau --- means water hen in French.