Turtles.

I received a call to day from a restaurant owner who is having issues with turtles eating ducklings. This is the first call I've gotten about problem turtles. I normally do set up + per animal. I'm curious, how do you charge for turtle trapping? I also wonder if another animal is knocking off the ducklings and not a turtle.

I use the quonset hut type turtle trap from WCS. It will hold some pretty good sized snappers. I use fresh deer for bait but Sweet

Pea says rough fish works better. I charge 20 bucks more for the set-up and 10 bucks more than coon for the turtles. And it sure

wouldn't surprise me if a couple of good sized snappers are enjoying duck for dinner. I know I do.

Wow, I didn't expect charging more. I really don't know what to expect as far as catch numbers. I'm planning on using muskrat, since turtles really seem to go after them. My trap is a hoop style. How many days do you typically trap?

Hey, the traps cost more, you have to put on waders, and last year I got bit and besides that if I didn't relocate them I'd need a

turtle trapping license. I have used muskrat and did not have near the success of a great big piece of bloody deer hindquarter. And

Sweet Pea says stinky old rough fish will beat deer meat. Just remember that the tail comes to a point and that's the side you want to grab!

Use three traps. Place at least two days after a heavy rain and try to place three days before a rain. Place in back of pond to midway. Only use fresh bait, not tainted.

Bait late afternoon if checking traps once a day.

Leave traps in until you have at least one day you don,t catch any, preferably two days. Most turtles are caught the first three days or less.

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Could be otters.

Snappers are easy. I charge the same as other ground animals. Fresh fish for bait daily. Any kind will do. I even used a fresh dead snake cut into pieces and it worked fine.
Never used red meat.

Yeah, Kirk is right about the time. I don't think I've ever caught a snapper after five days.

Depends how many are there. How big the pond is. How many are being caught in each trap per day.

I've had the trap for a few years and never used it. It's just like my frog gig, I've bought it thinking I'd use it to put some tasty meat in the freezer, but something has always gotten in the way of using either one. I just wrapped up a beaver/muskrat job and saved a couple rats after seeing how the turtles were lining up to tear them apart. That job kind of makes me think that a 330 would be the best trap for the job. I couldn't keep turtles out of them.

Kirk seems to have this down pat, except this year it seems like it's raining everyday to every other day. I've never seen a summer so wet.

Funny, I just got a call on a turtle yesterday. My State doesn't exactly have any laws on the books other than "no commercial take" and that only leaves fishing regs and they don't exactly cover turtle trapping (trap entry dia., set lines ect.) Wardens and Biologists are seeing what they can come up with I guess.

One the ducklings are gone the problem w I'll be solved.

I get there and there is an enclosure for some of the ducklings, then there is a large dock and a smaller dock with feed troughs and roosting areas. They said at one time they had 75 ducks in all shapes and sizes, everything from exotic species, to plain ole white ducks. There were adult ducks with chunks of breast missing and many had been found with legs missing. They said that they've been loosing on average 4 ducklings a day. They told me about the size of the snapper, but I never saw it. I saw one turtle and it wasn't big enough to be eating ducklings.

I think that the turtle you were looking for was probably at a weight-loss clinic. I would also keep my eyes open for alligators and

crocodiles. That's an awful lot of duck dinners. If you think I'm kidding about alligators, I'm not. Twenty or so years ago a couple

of local kids swiped two alligators from a pet shop. Of course, on the way home they realized that there was no way they could

explain two alligators to their parents, so they dropped them off in a local creek. A friend of mine came wading along to make some

muskrat and mink sets and found the alligators and took them home and gave them to another friend of mine who reported them to the

authorities. They made headlines nationwide.

I have no doubt that turtles are eating some ducklings, but I think are other predators are snacking on some as well. This is a small fire pond that was made to bring the parking lots on each side up grade. There is duck food and around 70 ducks on a pond less than 1/2 acre. I bet every predator in the county visits this pond at night.

I can't imagine that game cameras haven't already been set up to identify any other duck gourmets.

Paul, I haven't set any cameras up yet, but I didn't know what I was getting into until yesterday.

Just set a comstock beaver trap. I always catch snappers in them during the summer.

I've used baited swim through beaver traps for turtles a few times with good luck. When setting channels for beaver turtles are caught frequently, without bait. I just set a location for beaver with 3 channel sets and ended up with 3 turtles, 20, 25 and 35 pounds.

Made myself a cage trap last night in about 2 hours. Made it out of a 8ft cattle panel from TSC. Nice stuff. Ramp and entrance out of 1x2" welded and commercial fish netting. About $25 into it.

Nets are colapsible and relatively light weight. They float easily by placing empty plastic bottles in them. They are easily put in a boat and positioned at key locations. If you catch 3-400 lbs. of turtles you can roll them into the boat and easily remove turtles into burlap bags for transport.

Hard to be serious with a metal cage.

Jerry Schilling near evansville, indiana make a very effective turtle trap. I caught 26 out of a pond many of them were green sliders but it will catch every turtle in the pond and takes about a minute to set up. WCS carries the trap for 99 dollars. I have completely filled it several times. I don't get many turtle jobs I catch them mostly to eat and I can't set it to often it catches to many turtles.

Mr. Brooker is easy to recognize. He's a greenish color and is starting to develop a shell. ( And he sometimes snaps at people )

So far I've struck out. I'm really starting to believe that it's not a turtle. I've seen one tiny turtle the entire time I've been there. Searching another fire pond across the driveway from this one I've found two large dens that look like beaver bank dens. There are no other sign of beaver. Otter maybe? Otter are new here and I'm not familiar with them.

You normally don,t see snappers. They are active at night. That is why you should bait the trap late in the afternoon.

Snappers will burrow in the bank.

If you do manage to snag that turtle, keep him in a clean out tub with water for a few days, and you'll know whether you got the culprit or not. Eventually you'd see feathers floating in the tank from the ducks.

There are far more snapping turtles,(and turtles in general) in many waters than many people realize. Turtles do eat ducklings but, many other predators do too. Large fish are often the culprit. The best way to trap turtles are in hoop nets and the best bait to use is fresh oily fish. I use Skip Jack Herring and in a pinch, carp. Trout and bluefish also great. Depends on your region, really. Fresher the better. In warm water. fish spoils within a day or two. If the bait floats, it's usually past it's prime for catching snappers and/or softshells. Smaller pond turtles will find it tasty however. I don't use hooks because they also catch catfish and other bottom feeding fish. One to two night are all you should need in most cases if it is warm enough for turtles to feed. My advice ? Play the wind, just like with any other type of trapping. I also use a quality fish oil, which will carry with the wind and while floating across the water, call turtles to your traps. Always stake so that one end slightly sticks up above the water, so you're not drowning your catch. Good luck.

lol. Is that turtle burping these up or crapping these out? IMO, that's nonsense! I trap turtles for two and a half months straight. I've never seen any recognizable part of any fish or mammal pass out of the back side of a 'tanked' turtle. Lots of droppings though.And what if they are ducklings or goslings? Why, they're nothing but a fuzz ball and quite often the ones most taken.

He is right.

We always used chickens for bait. Not always, but feathers would appear from chickens.

I saved a couple muskrats just because the turtles always ate them out of the traps. I had a couple ponds in mind was going to trap just to put turtle meat in the freezer but hasn't found the time yet. Nothing has seemed interested in the muskrat, which strikes me as odd because of how aggressive they go after rats normally.

What Sniper stated is absolutely true. I've trapped turtles on and off for over 30yrs. Not just a couple of years and have seen crawdad claws, scales, small feathers and have even found small lead shot in the bottom of the barrel.

Had my 1st turtle call about a week ago, built a trap as I couldn't justify spending the money on the commercial deals....Turtle was caught on the 1st check.

Good luck with your season!

Angela


https://www.facebook.com/americanturtler?fref=ts

good pictures on your site. really some good looking turtles

Only Brooker would be interested in hot looking pictures of turtles.

I've known a few turtles in my life and have grown to appreciate the turtle and the turtler As have you the famous turdle man from Wisconsin.

Finally!!! 11 days later. Day 1 hung a muskrat and was eaten down to the tail and skin by day two. Day two, hung half a chicken and it was eaten down to a wing by day three. Ironically the wing and part of the breast was left hanging outside of the trap. I pulled the trap for one weekend because of being out of town. Knowing that it was reaching from the outside to the bait hanging from the first ring, I stretched a wire from the first to middle ring with a loop in the middle. I then hung a Cornish hen (it's cheaper than chicken), from the hoop. I also hung the wing remnants from the 1st ring and nothing was touched. Late last week, I made a basket out of mechanics wire that cradled a plastic chicken liver container. I used a utility knife to poke a series of small holes in the container. It was then hung from the loop between the rings. As of yesterday, (7/26) I hadn't even seen a turtle, except for one small slider. Today I get a call that I'd caught two! I was completely surprised. Apparently it took some completely rancid livers to draw them in. They had a trap of their own, that I also used, and they completely ignored the fish hanging in it.

Deer meat is cheaper than any of that stuff and bloodier too.

Congrats on the turtles.

We don't get turtles over here in the UK. Do turtles have a season in which you can trap them and are they widespread across the USA?

Turtles everywhere, all kinds, probably millions, small painted being very common and snappers in just about every puddle, river and lake. We just got a season on snappers in New York which kills any commercial market. Turtles can only be hunted and shot for personal use. No one will buy a dead turtle. Here in New York I think the limit is 30 snappers that can be taken in July and August. Just what we need in summer with boats, swimmers, fisherman is someone skipping bullets across the water shooting at turtles nose. In no way are turtles even remotely threatened but for some reason the state felt a need to kill any commercial trapping. It has happened in other states also.