Bleached white skulls ? Yep, I have 'em. $20.

I got away from hooks after skinning turtles and finding hooks embedded in the throats of turtles and seeing the infection.
Many turtles had 'appeared' to have lost weight.
We have a size limit here, so there's no way to safely remove a hook from an undersized turtle's throat, without harming it, or you !
Hoop nets are far more selective and a much better deal when harvesting turtles in numbers.
One on one, a 'hooker' can't match a man with a hoop net !

I'm new to turtle trapping this year I built 2 traps modeled after the tomahawk 410 single door repeating trap I have had the traps out for a week now and have changed locations a few time without any luck I have tried fish chicken liver and chicken thighs as bait the location I have had the traps at the last 2 days is a slow flowing muddy river I know there are plenty of snappers and soft shells in the area even had a guy fishing tell me as u was checking the traps there was a huge soft-shell sitting on a rock right next to the trap about an hour before I got there .......so my question is what do you guys look for when you are searching for a spot to put your trap any advice would be much appreciated as our season ends September 15 and the kids really want to catch one to eat. If I can find a pic of one of my traps I will post it soon maybe I did something wrong IDK the doors swing open freely and they seem like they would let a turtle in easy enough thanks for any and all input my boys and I appreciate it

Not the best pic but here it is

Looks too small to me, but we are only allowed hoop nets here. I would guess you are not setting in deep enough water. Find a tree you could wire the trap to that would set it angled with the door end just under water and maybe an inch or 2 of the back end above water(so the turtle can breath after it gets caught. In a spot the water around the trap would be 2 or more feet deep with a little wind or current pulling the scent to deeper water. Bait with fish and wire or tie it in the back part of the trap. I sometimes use fish oil to squirt on the surface to create a scent slick.

The trap is 42L x 23W x 12H. I am setting in a river that has a constant slow currant and so far every place I have set it has been at least 2 foot deep most times the door is deeper than that. I finally have a few days off starting Monday so me and the kids are going to load up the canoe and check out some new spots including a small bay off the river that is full of Lilypads so far we have just been setting spots we can access from shore because I been working 12 hour days for the last 3 weeks. We will be sure to try the fish oil. Thanks for the tips it's much appreciated.

http://www.snareone.com/videos.html Scroll to bottom of page........Turtles by the Ton taught me loads