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Speed bumps..


wooly
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Box turtles are relatively rare here in NY...Are you sure they were not the much more common painted turtles ?

 

Other than snappers and painted turtles the only other species I have seen here  on the road in SW NY is a wood turtle, whom I rescued from the road near Bath a couple of years ago...They are not real common here and I had to look him up on Google to ID him. I have seen softshell turtles in Keuka Lake and Honeoye Lake  so I suspect they are in all the Fingers Lakes System.

If you want to see a softshell, go to the gravel beach at California Ranch on Honeoye Lake in June..Ther are nearly always a few of them up on the beach there. They are quite wary, and will head for the water if you get too close to them, but you can get close enough to get a good look at them.

 

Over the years I have caught and eaten quite a few snapping turtles. They stink when you catch them. I would keep them in an old bathtub or watering trough for a week or so and hose them down every day before butchering them. Took a lot of the stink off them.

 

Then I would skin and disjoint them ( never an easy job)  and cook and eat them.  They are excellent, if cooked properly. Turtle soup is good but my favorite is roast turtle... The neck is the biggest piece of meat on them and is all white meat. The front legs are the next biggest piece and are part white meat and part dark meat. The hind legs are smallest portions and are all dark meat.

 

What do they taste like...?    Turtle....  If I had to define it I would say they are closest to small game like rabbit or squirrel, but they have a distinctive flavor all thier own.. I would say that I have never served roast turtle to anyone who said they did not like it.

 

Those 10-15 pounders are better and more tender than the 25-30 pound  jumbos...

 

Besides...A 30 pounder may be 60+ years old, and it bothers me to kill something that may be older than I am...

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As a kid I would see turtles in streams all the time. I caught and kept a small one that was smaller than the size of my hand. It had a spiked tail so I assume a snapper? Odd thing is that I has for like 5 years and it never grew and then I released it back to the wild. Wonder if it had some sort of health issue because it never grew. It was like a miniature turtle...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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As a kid I would see turtles in streams all the time. I caught and kept a small one that was smaller than the size of my hand. It had a spiked tail so I assume a snapper? Odd thing is that I has for like 5 years and it never grew and then I released it back to the wild. Wonder if it had some sort of health issue because it never grew. It was like a miniature turtle...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Did you have heat lamps for it Biz?

Cold blooded creatures wont develop at the normal rate if they lack adequate heat to keep their metabolism up.

He may have been in a semi-state of hibernation at room temperature,lol

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As a kid I would see turtles in streams all the time. I caught and kept a small one that was smaller than the size of my hand. It had a spiked tail so I assume a snapper? Odd thing is that I has for like 5 years and it never grew and then I released it back to the wild. Wonder if it had some sort of health issue because it never grew. It was like a miniature turtle...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just guessing, but maybe they are like some fish that only grow as large as their habitat allows.

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On my way to work I drive by 2 swampy areas and I always see them this time of year.Either dead or heading across the road.I stop to move as many as I can but I have seen a few swerve to hit them.I cant believe people would do that because most of the turtles I see in a given year are older than the majority of the drivers on the road.So why kill them,its not like they are full of rage and come after you if they happen to get in your yard.Dumb azz people I guess!

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I found another one ready to get turned into road pizza today.

 

DSCN1130_zpscd471860.jpg

 

Decided to do a little one handed rescue while recording some video with the other. Thankfully I walked away with all my digits still in tact, and the only thing wounded was my pride when he gave me a "golden shower" at the end,lol

 

Click on pic for 1 minute rescue clip.

th_DSCN1131_zps448cbd17.jpg

 

 

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