[Surely]

I found this on another forum, enjoy.

The video is pretty graphic so you've been warned.

http://www.cp-tel.net/pasqualy/17HMR/17hmrvsturtle.wmv

I was shooting the Hornady rounds with the V-Max bullet out of a Marlin rifle.

Here is the same vid but just the good kill shots in slowmo at 1/4 and 1/8 speed. NASTY!

Enjoy!

Slow Mo (http://www.cp-tel.net/pasqualy/17HMR/17hmrvsturtleslow.wmv)

[Diggler]

Enjoy?

What is the point to that? I see no sport in shooting a sunning turtle. Are they picked up after they are shot and eaten? Or are they just left there to rot?

Pointless. And a bad reflection on hunters/shooters in general. (These clips are NOT hunting).

The antihunters would love to get their hands on material like this, and honestly, there is nothing that I could say in the shooter's defense. It wouldn't suprise me if this was found on the PETA website as a slam against hunters.

[owen]

Is it even legal to shoot turtles?

[Brian Williams]

Turtle soup taste good
Turtle vid Bad taste

I dunno if turtles are like groundhogs around here, would be worthwhile to do so but...this vid???:confused:

[Surely]

I dunno, I found it on another website, I guess the guy said they were turtles from a private crayfish farm/pond and they were a nuisance animal as they eay the crayfish or something. Personally I like turtles and would rather see them moved than killed, but I guess maybe they make good crayfish food?

[Art Eatman]

Turtles can pretty well take over a farm pond and ruin the fishing. If a landowner cares about fishing, he's usually quite happy for folks to shoot them. No different from sheep/goat ranchers and coyotes, or alfalfa farmers and prairie dogs.

Shooting turtles makes life easier for the raccoons, as well. :) (I've found at my pond that a .223 works well.)

Art

[hillbilly]

In Arkansas, and many other southern states, turtles are considered nuisance animals because they can take over a catfish pond or a crawfish pond.

A bunch of big snappers in your fishing pond is not a good thing.

In my years of fishing all over Arkansas, I have seen turtles killed with shotguns, rifles, pistols, pocket knives, big rocks, even an axe once.

In some farm ponds, the turtles learn to come towards human footsteps on the bank, because they learn that human footsteps often equals a stringer of easy to eat fish.

I have yanked my stringer of fish out of the water with a big ole snapper attached to one of the fish many times.

I have eaten turtle from time to time, but they are a big hassle to clean.

hillbilly

[H&Hhunter]

I guess I'm just not in touch with my feminine side. But you know what? Who cares what PETA thinks, posts on their web site, or anything else the radical left does. They want us dead and gone no matter what we do.

I like to shoot just under a turtle in the water and get major hang time. A .300 Wthby does real nice. If I want to go and shoot turtles it's none of your frikin business.

If you kill a mouse in a trap do have to eat it to justify it's death?

If you shoot a turtle out of your fish pond?

What's the difference?

[Iain]

Hillbilly - what's the hassle with cleaning them? They full of silt?

[owen]

I was under the impression they were protected. It may just be a specific species in South Carolina, what do I know.

owen

[H&Hhunter]

Owen,

Some types of turtles are in fact protected others are not.

[ojibweindian]

Turtles are a big hassle out here. A neighbor's fish pond has been completely run over with snappers. Too bad, because it's a nice pond that used to produce good-sized brim and catfish.

[hillbilly]

Turtles are a hassle to clean because of their shells and their scaly, tough skins.

Plus, just because you've cut the turtle's head off does not mean that it's really dead, or is even aware that it is dead.

Here's a link on the procedure for cleaning turtles for food.

hillbilly


http://www.funlinked.com/maisie/msfrog.html

[Smoke]

I've spent many an afternoon under a mesquite tree with a .22 trying to thin the herd of turtles in a tank. Never seemed to lack for one to shoot. They are rather prolific I think. Turtles are a pest. Comparison to rats was appropriate. Rather sporting to try to shoot when they only poke their head up out of the water. They learn to duck when they see movement too. You learn to shoot quick.

Smoke

[RCL]

I've had turtle soup made by someone who really knew how to make it.
MMMMMMMMMMM good!! ;)

[Stand_Watie]

I took a snapper turtle away from my dogs and dropped it in the tank that borders my property and my neighbors.

He was a little annoyed, wanted to know why I didn't kill it. Obviously I'm not much of a fisherman:D :D I would defer judgement to a marine biology type, but the collective opinion of my neighbors and fishing oriented people that I run into seems to be that they are varmits.

[Dr.Rob]

One of the first jobs I was ever paid for ( I was 8 or so) was shooting turtles on a catfish pond. I got fifty cents a turtle (it was my uncle's place and he didn't expect me to do so well) I earned ten bucks on my first day with a borrowed mossberg 22 bolt action.

Also have been known to eat turtle soup. Was also once severely scolded by a great aunt for letting a snapping turtle go (We could have had turtle soup!) well, suffice it to say that old woman could have easily slung the 10 pound snapper that was resting on my minnow trap into her canoe.. but i wasn't about to do it.. that thing looked like a dinosaur to me.

[Art Eatman]

Nobody knows how long snapping turtles can live. There are verified cases of snappers around 100 pounds.

A 98-pounder was caught in the Chattahoochee River in south Georgia which had an arrowhead in the shell of its back...Disremember; 1970s, maybe a couple of decades or so earlier. Guesstimated 100 years old or a bit more.

Art

[Surely]

I used to catch them occasonally when I was younger while fishing for bullheads, biggest I ever caught was about 50 lbs tho. Kept him in a cattle tank and fed him frogs for the rest of the summer and let him go for winter. Interesting info about snappers, unlike other turtles they dont go dormant during the winter, friends of mine have seen them moving around under the ice while ice fishing on several occasions. I dont think they eat when the water is that cold though.

[Smoke]

There are verified cases of snappers around 100 pounds.

:what: :what: :what:


biggest I ever caught was about 50 lbs tho.

:what:


Never seen a snapper anywhere near that size.....don't think I want to.

Smoke

[sm]

H&H
hillbilly
and others I agree. I have eradicated many a turtle here in AR.

I once shared a pond with 4 other neighbors in a residental area in the city. One summer it really got bad. We fly fished for bream and bass, (catch a release, barb-less hooks). We jug fished for catfish ( pulled many out to keep pond "balanced"). Neighbor had his grandkids "trying" to fish for bream...turtles kept diving down for crickets and worms. I kept the turtles at bay with a pellet gun so the kids could fish.

Neighbor and I had had enough. Using those itty bitty treble hooks I made leaders and using 15#test line and Ambassador 5000's we pulled out 40 turtles in one day! Remove leader, chunk turtles in an old wash tub in the back of our trucks. Little trebbles get swallowed and they cannot get "unhooked", Some turtles were 15" we had a bunch in the 20" diamenter size!

Hauled then down to the river and dumped them. We dumped over a hundred turtles in one week! Figure the hooks would dissolve and they could end up downstream...in the country...where who knows what happened *ahem*.

Next time the grandkids came to fish...a lot more fun and no nuisance!

I /we did the pellet gun handy...just in case. This improved quality of pond.
We made a regular "job" of nuisance control. We never had a problem with snakes...ducks roamed the neighborhood, I learned the ducks were actually brought in to keep the snakes and mosquitos at bay...it really works.

We had the "duck crossing signs" in yards...had the "no turtle" signs as well.

Out in the country...Model 70 in '06 works. 45ACP works, 12 ga slugs work...might as well hone one's skill while doing "nuisance control" IMO.

[Selfdfenz]

Can't say I know everything there is to know on the subject but here in N. Tx if you have a tank, you have a bunch of turtles.

And the number of turtles on that tank is inversely related to the quality of fishing on said tank.

And, you can work for weeks to get rid of the turtles but in 18-24 months they are back and it's like the original "reduction" never happened.

They are about the easiest things on earth to trap however.
You can never get ride of them altogether.
S-

[12-34hom]

Man, he had his Boonie hat on - Spotter calling his shots...

The dreaded SNIPER........

Those were some big time shots he was making, maybe all you "Big Game" hunters could give some tips on how to make these shots just a tiny bit more challenging.

:neener:

Nothing worse than people with to much time on their hands and no brains to back it up.

12-34hom.

[Stand_Watie]

A lot of pics of large alligator snappers at this guys website, he runs a farm in Missouri.

http://www.turtleman.com/

http://www.turtleman.com/pic6.jpg

http://www.turtleman.com/turtle1.jpg

http://www.turtleman.com/pic4.jpg

[Surely]

I dont think a 17hmr would make a gator snapper splatter quite like the little ones do, hehe, might not even penetrate the shell.

[Balog]

Good Lord, those are some huge turtles.

12-34hom: maybe you should read some of the posts on this thread. If someone shoots rats in a barnyard would you insult them? Pest control.

[MeekandMild]

I see diggler's point. There are some videos it is better not to post on the internet, regardless of whether they are useful and needed activities. I used to work in a lab which was seriously exploring the neurological basis of schizophrenia, parkinsons disease and lots of really nasty diseases and I don't think it would have been helpful for the PETAphiles to have gotten ahold of a video of the guys who quickly and humanely euthanizing the rats with a rat guillotine then blenderizing their brains in iced saline.:scrutiny:

H&H I don't care what PETAphiles think either but I do care about the folks who are in the middle and prone to persuasion one way or the other. I know you don't care what I care but I don't care that you don't care and I don't care if you don't care that I don't care that you don't care so there! :neener:

[Delmar]

Turtles like mellon patches really well too. Had a nice crop of them coming in one year when I lived in NE Oklahoma, and used to smile when I'd come home from work and see them getting a bit bigger every week. Then, I noticed they didn't look right and went out to investigate. Turtles were eating the back side of them. That started the turtle war of 1985, as my kids call it. Turtles must die!

Years later, a good friend of mine has a ranch in Northeast Texas and the stock tank was chock full of turtles, and I'm not sure there was a fish left in the tank. We used to run up there with our 22LR's and go for the head shots. Talk about sharpening up your rifle skills!

He got a bit miffed at me one time because a turtle swam up along side the dock we built for the tank, and I pulled my Government model-hey, how was I supposed to know how big a splash that semi-wadcutter was going to make:D . We both got pretty wet on that one, and still laugh about it.

[Kestrel]

What are you guys referring to as a "tank"? Are you just talking about a pond?

[Texasbagman]

Pond = body of water smaller than a lake.

Pond = Tank

[ChefJeff1]

(inappropriate comments were here...aren't here now)

[Smoke]

ChefJeff1,

We don't tolerate personal attacks here. Just who were you referring too?

Smoke

[Stand_Watie]

Tank = man made pond, usually built for watering stock.

[c_yeager]

Chef, you might want to mix a little coherence into your posts. You might find that you like it. Personally i fail to see how turtle popping is any different that prarie dog/coyote/woodchuck etc shooting. They are varmints and a pest i see nothing wrong with shooting them. What do you think varmint hunting means?

[H&Hhunter]

Hey ChefJeff1,

I've read a couple of your posts on several different threads. Dude, are you an animal rights activist? Or do you just think your better than everbody else?

Meekandmild,

I'm glad we got that straightened out..............:rolleyes:

[CleverNickname]

That video makes me sick.
















...not because of the wanton turtle slaughter, but because the camera operator seriously needs to invest in a tripod. :neener: Talk about jerky.

[Surely]

sorry I screwed up the slow motion link of the vid, here it is again and it works now!

SLOW MOTION (http://www.cp-tel.net/pasqualy/17HMR/17hmrvsturtleslow.wmv)

[GhostCat]

I grew up on a 40 acre POND here in Alabama. Our Turtle Population got so bad, we had a couple of Gators put in to control them. That didn't work as well as we thought it would so we purchased two turtle traps. These traps would catch between 50-100 turtles at a time.
There for awhile we would just throw the traps up on the shore and leave the traps there until they starved to death......kinda inhumane if you ask me but it was my uncle that was doing it.
Then I found a place in South Florida who would buy turtles from you for scientific research......Thats when I started making money......lol....

P.S. After the gators were in the pond for approx. 10 years, the Game Warden came out and removed them via a Mini-14......That upset me more than anything.......

GhostCat

[Stand_Watie]

P.S. After the gators were in the pond for approx. 10 years, the Game Warden came out and removed them via a Mini-14......That upset me more than anything.......

You should have got that steve 'crocodile hunter' guy to come out and wrassle 'em out a there
:D :D

[Balog]

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually kinda want a .17 HMR now. And a tank full of turtles to try it out on.

[MeekandMild]

Balog, the .17 is awesome. I once shot a hole through an old steel tank (somehow 'pond' doesn't sound right) from a water heater with mine.

But windage is a problem. I missed a (bird and field mouse eating, rabies carrying, dangerous to children) feral cat last week at about 50 yards in gusty conditions. I would have missed a snapping turtle too, but they don't come up in the yard. :(

H&H You'd better believe it! :D

[Balog]

M&M: I'd imagine that it would have pretty low recoil, right? I bet you could get really quick follow-ups with a converted 10/22.

[Iain]

Balog - http://www.cctrap.com/~varmint/17hmr.htm

This is a fairly extensive set of tests. He mentions being able to watch impacts through the scope, even on 15x. There is a table on recoil energies.

warning - some of the pictures of groundhogs are a little graphic.

[Bigjake]

couple summers back i spent much time in georgia whacking turtles with my uncles 30-06. lotsa bandoliers used up in that endevor :evil:

[sm]

Yep partial to Model 70's in '06 myself.

Seems to work quite well on any nuisance I've encountered...rats, turtles, groundhogs, blackbirds, moles,skunks rabid racoons, stills a flopping 40# catfish right nice...old outhouses...old Buicks...not much one can't do with $700 and a aught -six. :D

Umm no, never been approached by a PETA rep to join...wonder why? :p

[MeekandMild]

Balog, my perception of .17 recoil is more than an air rifle but less than a .22 revolver shooting shorts. According to the Varmint Al page that St Johns linked up the .17 has about 1/17 the recoil of a .223, all of 1/4 foot pound in a six pound rifle.

Varmint Als windage table only goes to 10 mph but even at 5 and 10 mph, which are nice soft breezes, there is a lot of deflection. Considering the gust factor, fifteen inches at 200 yards is irrecoverable IMHO.