does a barbless hook hurt a turtle caught on a line? will they spit it up? what are some other alternatives that are under 80 bucks?

I've butchered snapping turtles that had several rusty hooks inside them, so I've got to believe it doesn't hurt them. I'm sure having a piece of metal rusting away inside your stomach doesn't feel good, but apparently they'll live just fine.

Snapping turtles caught on a line often do not survive. A hook in their guts tears the gut open and many will die from the infection. Best to trap them in a cage trap or a collapsible net trap. Keep the ones you want and release the rest unharmed. If you have coon size cage traps you can catch snappers in them. Only 1 at a time, usually, but you would be surprised how big a snapper can fit in the cage trap. Be sure and not have the trap submerged or the turtle may drown. Fasten the trap so it cannot be dragged into deep water. Also can catch snappers in a foottrap like the old victor#2's. Simply place your bait along shore in front of the trap. May be a little difficult taking the trap off of his front foot, let him bite on a stick and then remove trap. Can catch them with 330's too!

Boss man could you PLEASE post some pictures or talk more on using foot holds for snappers ?! Would love to hear more about it

I don't know about Ohio or other states but in Wisconsin it's not legal to use footholds for turtles, or any kind of trap that isn't made of stretchable nylon stuff

[quote=eric space]Snapping turtles caught on a line often do not survive. A hook in their guts tears the gut open and many will die from the infection. Best to trap them in a cage trap or a collapsible net trap. Keep the ones you want and release the rest unharmed. If you have coon size cage traps you can catch snappers in them. Only 1 at a time, usually, but you would be surprised how big a snapper can fit in the cage trap. Be sure and not have the trap submerged or the turtle may drown. Fasten the trap so it cannot be dragged into deep water. Also can catch snappers in a foottrap like the old victor#2's. Simply place your bait along shore in front of the trap. May be a little difficult taking the trap off of his front foot, let him bite on a stick and then remove trap. Can catch them with 330

Interesting, do you have any pics of big snappers in a coon size cage?

I do not have pictures of turtles in coon cage traps but I have done it. You are not going to catch huge turtles that way but if you are lookin' for eaters it will work. I have also snared them on purpose in culvert pipes, I do have a pic of that will have to look it up and post it.

Here is the snared snapper. I put bait in the culvert pipe where water flowed into the pond and set my snare with a 10 inch loop centered in the culvert with the bottom of the loop against the culvert bottom. Perfectly neck snared.

Footholds and body grips are not allowed in Ohio for catching turtles.

Turned a lot of snappers loose doing spring nuisance jobs. They love running beaver runs. I'll only use 330s in the spring/summer in spots where I can barely get the water to cover the top of the trap, the turtles can still breathe when caught in shallow water

Sorry Wolfie I do not have any pictures of snappers in foot traps. I have used footholds several times in the 1970's to clean out neighbors farm ponds. Basically made a pocket set with the hole bigger than normal and so that the water level was about half full of the hole. Bait in the back in the water and trap out front and to one side. Other set I used was dig out an indent into the pond bank and place bait in the back of the "U" shaped indent with trap in front. I would only run these traps in daylight, springing them at dark as to not catch coons and possems. A creative mind can catch turtles in many ways!!!

What do you intend to do with turtles Big E

You do not need cable to snare a snapper, baler twine will work as will nylon string. they do not chew out or twist out.

You can make a cheap turtle trap by taking a 4' section of 4' high chicken wire and wiring it back to make a tube. Wire a landing net to one end. On the other end, wire or tie on a flat piece of wire mesh, that you can easily take off, to take the turtles out. Take two stings and stretch stretch the sides of the net taut, tying them off to the wire onto the side of the trap, towards the back, across from each other. Cut the net across where it's pulled tight. Put an empty two liter bottle in the trap to hold the back end up.

I baited my traps with carp split down the middle. The turtles easily push in, but can't squeeze back out. I used to catch around 2500 turtles a year to sell, mostly painted turtles for the pet trade, but lots of snappers and softshells too.

You can make a lot of these for very little money. A 50' roll of 4' chicken wire, will make 12 traps.

Keith

Make turtle burgers

This here is a soft sell turtle burger I made with chik fil a sauce

Interesting, how would I snare them in numbers with nylon twine?

I netted more turtles than I trapped. Netting for me was more fun than trapping. I used an 18' long net. It was 4 inches longer than my canoe.

I used the same net to net pigeons at night. Later this week, I'm going to to net feral pigeons in London, Ohio in a porch.

I caught a lot of snappers in shallow water, by hand too. It's easy to see where they are buried in, in clear water. Just grab them by the base of the tail.

Turtle catching was one of my favorite things to do and very profitable

Keith.

… my dad loves some soft shell turtle… but if you’re eating them why you worried about hooks?

The idea is to catch the turtle, put your finger by one’s mouth see if he’s worried about you

That looks tasty! Want to share the recipe?

Ohio has a stupid size limit now on turtles. Smaller turtles have to be released unharmed. It's a totally pointless law in my opinion .

Keith

It was changed because turtle harvest it was starting to attract attention from antis and there wasnt enough commercial turtle guys around to make loud enough noise .

In my youth I used to snag snappers with trebble hooks.If I could get them to shore it definitely hurt them.They were toast.

One of the largest limiting factors for populations of snapping turtles is adult snapping turtles, which eat young snapping and other turtles. I caught turtles out of the same bodies of water for many years and the population of smaller snappers and other turtles wend dramatically up. I took out large snappers and left large, breeding age painted turtles. Female turtles can store sperm for years. I took and sold mostly sub adults and males to the pet trade. Their removal benefited the total numbers that survived. There was less predation on young turtles and less competition for food and basking spots. Recruitment from the young of the year greatly improved. The big females produced larger and more frequent clutches of eggs, when competition with excess males was lowered.

Turtles, like other wildlife, are more productive when well managed.

Keith

The problem was that it was seen across the country that states werent managing the turtle population. Which is why turtle harvesting, mostly the commercial side, was being shut down across the nation at the time. This was done to prevent the total shutdown.

In MN it's illegal to trap them. You can take them by hooks or dip nets, or picking one up crossing the road after July 1st, I think it is. But, to do that you must have a turtle recreation license and a fishing license. Softshell turtles can't be taken by any means. Apparently, they feel turtles are becoming an endangered species in MN.

Same as Illinois

sure, flour fried turtle leg meat then i put creole seasoning on it then slap in sandwhich with chik fil a sauce

Hey keithC, what gauge wire would be good to make them turtle traps you talked about

Heavier galvanized, before and after welded, chicken wire works better, but probably almost all chicken wire would work for at least a few years. Other fence wire will work too. I prefer smaller holes to make it harder for smaller turtles to rob the bait. Also, back when I was catching large numbers of turtles, I had a better market for small turtles, for the pet trade. I sold to around 40 stores, mostly Jack's Aquarium & Pets. I often didn't even take the turtles home. The most saleable turtles I caught in a day was 284. I used to get $5.00 each for painted turtles, Sabine map turtles, red eared sliders, small softshells and in limited numbers of stinkpots. A bait cage, with 1/4" mesh would keep your bait from being robbed too.

Keith

alrighty, thanks