Turtle eggs

Found a dead road killed female snapper this morning. 15 - 20 pound or so. Hate to see these things at this time of year. Some eggs had scattered along the road edge and some were knocked down the highway which is what caught my eye. I came back later after doing my errands and looked at her more closely.

She was near a sandy/ashy road bank not far from a pond.It is most likely where she was headed to nest her eggs. I gathered up the scattered eggs and some that still linked to her badly broken shell. I took them over the bank to a nice spot and nested them in what I felt was a good location. Hopefully they may have a chance to hatch if the eggs were fertile / mature enough and the conditions are good. Time will tell in 80-90 days.



My prepared and dug nest site



Layering sand/loam soil to cover the eggs.






Finished nest blended in.

Good job! Hope they had gotten fertilized. et us know what happens.

I and others I know, haven't had the best of success, when removing eggs from a 'dead turtle', burying them and getting them to hatch.
Mostly that comes from 'trappers and turtle hunters' butchering a female whom is full of eggs and then make an attempt at returning them 'back to nature.'
Usually that 'attempt' is in vain.
Turtle nest , are always under pressure to survive.
Every year I find dozens of nest, dug up by skunks, raccoon, foxes and other predators that prey on them.
Egg shells scattered, the results are clear.
Another nest lost.
It never ceases to amaze me, how far a female 'snapper' will travel to just to lay her eggs, making it much harder for the hatchlings to reach the safety of water. . .
I say "safety" in jest, because everything in the water or near the water's edge wants to eat them, including herons, egrets, bullfrogs and largemouth bass.
It's a wonder any survive to adulthood.
But, survive they do.
Personally, I never harvest female turtles.
Eggs, from butchered females, the DNR advice not to eat, as they contain all the contaminates the turtle carries in a concentrated form.

All this said, thank you for your efforts.

* A mock ( dug out ) turtle nest makes a top notch predator set.
I use pigeon eggs that work very well !

LTG

We can only attempt to give them a chance. I understand the odds are not very good. Time will tell if my efforts were successful.

Something tells us as outdoorsmens at times to make an effort to do what we can with the knowledge that we have. I am sure the crows and other animals that scavage the road ways would have cleaned all the eggs up pretty quick, then most likely started working on the turtle.

Those eggs sure stood out along the roadway. Thats what caught my attention first then I noticed the turtle just off the roadway on the berm.

Snappers in general and females I have found way out along farm two track roads. I suppose following the open lanes being easy crawling to where ever they are going.

I was running traps on a late summer coyote ADC job a couple years back in September. I was following a grassy lane along a bean field edge where I had a couple sets.

As I pulled up to one set I noticed this turtle and thought I had caught it. It was just a foot or so away from a set, I thought for sure I had caught it. That would have been a first in a coyote flat set.

No water or ponds close by. I have caught many over the years in beaver and otter sets in the water.

Was going to town early this morning and a section of road that I travel daily has a stream running along the road for a couple miles. As I slowed to cross a bridge at a turn I thought I saw a turtle right on the edge of the road near a guard rail post. I backed up to see what had caught my eye.

Sure enough, a medium sized snapper was dug in, back end down at an angle, into what looked like larger 2> 3 B gravel on the berm. Didn't think they would choose that kind of heavy stone to deposit eggs into. When I came back through an hour or so later it was gone. That turtle was nesting about 2 foot or less from the hard top road edge.

I could still see where it had dug into the stone and covered it somewhat. It appears it had attempted another nesting site a couple feet away as well. I am headed back to town to ship some orders so I will attempt to get some photos.



Road side location along stream. Nest is located in the center of the photo at the left base of the guide rail.



Sun was very bright and heading down in the West so it cast some shadow over the dug nest.



Just to the right of the main nest on the right of the post is another attempted nest site it appears as the gravel was dug there also.


Some interesting finds this week for me. I doubt not many folks see the things we see as trappers and hunters.

Hate to see them hit this time of year, Seems some folks can't help themselves.

Smart turtle, it knows that when they hatch the babies will be all over the road and people will call us to come get them haha

At least y’all don’t trap in Gopher Tortoise areas. The big ole Gopher in a MB500 looks like y’all’s badger catches. We always carry water with us to wet them down and give them something to drink before leaving them to move on their way. We’ve learned if you catch one, it’s best to move the set. They have a travel route they use apparently and a trap won’t detour them.

Very cool

I have some eggs I got out of a legally caught turtle about 10 years ago. Have been in my root cellar, in a sealed bucket covered in glycerin. Have no idea what they look or smell like. I look at the container occasionally and it appears still sealed. Maybe I will look at them before the season opens?

Not that it’s something that you’d do in this situation, but I was watching a show recently where they put a mesh wire fence covering the nest to protect it from predators.

If you notice in one photo you will see I have an old trapping sifteightr that is pictured in there. I turned it over after nesting the eggs and staked it in place with some T bars to keep the nest robbers out hopefully.

So far the nest has been undisturbed as of the last few days I checked. This nest is very close to a stream so it most likely has had some traffic in the last couple of months and visits. So far so good. Now to see if they hatch.