Louisiana made a law change that I missed this year. There is no longer commercial turtle trapping aloud in the state. Recreational went down to two per species except alligator snapper witch is one per day . Cannot posses more than ten turtles total. There used to be no limit. I talked to wildlife and fisheries they said people were coming from out of state and fishing them out. Sad day but I guess it’s for the good of the turtles. I did make the lady in charge laugh when I asked if biologist or fisherman were conducting the surveys.

Same crap we heard in NC. Out of state commercial operations coming in and catching loads of turtles without a permit or license.

I never saw or heard of a ticket or prosecution of any of these supposed commercial thieves.

And I never saw any evidence of the state herpetologist getting any valid population info. Only word was they were seeing smaller turtles.

I get tired of biologists "saving" all these animals. If they are with the wildlife commission, then wildlife is supposed to be managed, not "saved".

Oh well, I guess if more people were hitting them with cars, the insurance companies would lobby to catch more of them and extend the season. And they would win that lobby with enough money and influence.

Same BS lie they peddled in Georgia.

I demanded to see the bills of lading or harvest numbers. They couldn't produce any numbers. When asked how many commercial licenses sold, two in the prior ten years and both of those were sitting in the room. I challenged the head herper, a totally worthless POS by the name of Jensen, to come on a ride along to do an actual head count his response, it'll never happen.

A Sad day when a heritage is lost

I don't think you can keep any alligator snappers in Texas

I have seen a few bigguns

Would love to have a big old shell from one but not interested in killing one that may be 200years old just to get it

Illinois has stupid snapping turtle laws..
Which they changed a few years ago…
Used to be no season and you were allowed 8 per day 16 in possession.
Now it’s 2 turtles per day, 4 possession limit.
June 15-oct 31 is the only time you are allowed to harvest them.
The only ways you can legally harvest snapping turtles are by hand, dip nets, hook and line or bow and arrow.traps are not allowed.
I’m not sure why the new rules were introduced because every body of water has tons of snapping turtles,,, dozens of them in farm ponds alone.
If I catch any turtles on my trot lines before June 15,, and they have swallowed a hook,, I have to toss it,, I can’t legally keep it.. although the hook might dissolve, is that hook going to cause that turtle survival issues from trying to swallow food?
Snapping turtles are far from being endangered here,, so I don’t understand why the new rules were implemented

Same thing was said years ago here in Michigan.

Great question Yellowbelly....who DOES the state wide turtle surveys in EVERY state?

Market hunters have been in the crosshairs for years, along with wood burning, gardening, trapping, hunting, etc.

Any mode of self sufficiency/independance is a threat to their agenda, and moves like this prove their fear.

Wish the other states would ban the paylake fishing! Whole differemt subject though. Kansas has decent turtle laws.

MN went nuts on the taking of snappers too. You can no longer trap them, but certain times of the year can take them by net, hook and line, or pick one up crossing the road. But, to do any of these methods, you need to have a fishing license and a recreational turtle license which used to be $25.

Coons will dig up eggs here as soon as they are laid

No one gonna talk about how snapping turtles are extremely slow growing long lived critters and a slow down in there commerical capture would be a net benefit for the species. I mean where looking at 15-20 years on average for them to reach maturity , only 5% of nests actually hatch and less then 1% of the babies make it to maturity on average. I mean it got so bad the state had to start breeding and releasing them in the .... 60's or 70's can't remember.... So arguably you can say where working on a 40+ years old stock of turtles .... Probably gonna get called an anti but whatever but seems to make sense from a management point of view to give them a break every few decades to die to the low birth and survival rate . Especially if the state would step in to help breed more..and before I hear " o heck there everywhere down here !" That's great but we gonna wait till we actually see a big decline to try and do something or would it be better to try and keep the pot full per-say?

Heck wheres ole AIX ? He's a literal swamp biologist and I've talked to him at great lengths about this

The states aren't "managing" them, just banning commercial and most recreational harvest, if Turtles reach the population where your kids are in danger of being eaten if they go near the water, you're still not going to get a season again....Once gone you never get it back....

I cannot say about other states but there are so many places here in North New Jersey that are just not accessible for turtle trapping that they could never be wiped out. Look on google earth around you and see if the swamps and creeks are available to catch snappers. Remember catching is one thing, getting them out is quite another. It's not like hauling a few dead beaver out on a sled in the snow! Between 2008 and 2020 I caught over 140,000 pounds of snappers in 2 northern counties and I was not in more than 2% of the waterbodies. Even where I did trap there are still lots of snappers.
A few years ago NJ basically outlawed turtle trapping by not allowing newcomers to get permits. Pretty much all the trappers that had permits were older and have now gotten too old (or died) to do it and you are not allowed a helper.
In the 2016 meeting about snapping turtle trapping regulations, the pictures the wildlife biologists used to bolster there ban on turtle trapping were from Missouri in 1918. Showed snappers in wooden barrels. I asked them if they decide the 2016 deer season on information from Missouri in 1918. They just stared at me. Eric

So what is the long term population trend in your state, survival rate, recruitment, harvest per year over time, etc?

I mean, if the state is making these management decisions, SURELY they have the data to back up their decisions, right? Should be public access.
Right?


FWIW, as a kid, I wanted to be a herpetologist.
Big turtle fan.

When prices were up, snappers were getting hit pretty hard here.
Reactionary regs popped up, BUT prices fell.
THAT has the bigger impact.
Don't see anyone turtling here now.
And I never stopped seeing lots of snappers, of all sizes.

They stopped all commercial turtle trapping in Mn. a few years ago. I believe there was 7 or so licences at that time. There is no way 7 people could affect the pop. but the DNR ended it anyway. If anyone thinks it was to protect turtles, well I got a bridge to sell ya. MN DNR is about stoping ALL money making enterprizes off any wildlife or plant.

Which state? I've never heard of a state hatchery program for turtles in the southeast. Heck, I've yet to see anywhere the supposed numbers harvested commercial or otherwise.

If this were a court of law there has never been a turle harvested anywhere due to lack of evidence, hearsay doesnt apply.

The best my state could come up with on total turtle numbers extant in the state was to extrapolate a counts done in South Carolina and of all places North Dakota over a GIS determination of warer surface acres in the state. I was sitting at the tabe when they dropped that load of bullcrap.

Our ban on Aligator Snappers? Solely based upon the recollections of an octogenarian turtle trapper given in the 70s that had operated in a twenty mile stretch of the Flint. That recollection got Alligator Snappers protected statewide.

Many states have clamped down on turtle harvesting many reduced their limits to discourage commercial activity it’s been going on for a while. When regulations are the tool used instead of the true managing a resource is that the best way to manage that resource?

"Gator's" are protected in Mo, but regular snappers are not.