Ontario Snapping Turtule Hunt indefinate Ban
- Thread starter racer55
- Start date
Species8472
CGN Regular
- Location
- Nipissing Township + 82a
40 years ago as kids my cousins and I used cheap fishing rods with heavy mono and a long steel leader tipped with a big single hook with a small sunfish stuck on for bait. We would reel them in than scoop them up with a heavy net. Dad would remove the hook (carefully with a pair of channel locks) and we than dumped them into an unused cattle trough in the barn with enough freeboard on it to prevent escape. We would flush the trough with fresh water every day for a week or so and than mom made soup out of them.
Haven't done it since I was a kid so no idea on what more recent methods would be. We didn't do it for the challenge or sport - we were hand to mouth poor immigrants and it was about taking advantage of a free resource at that time. Back than you didn't even need a fishing license in Ontario.
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I never knew Ontario had turtles - I'm jealous, there are none around these parts.
Do they do any damage to anything? seen as a varmint?
Or were they hunted purely to eat?
How big (diameter wise) is the average adult?
Any ontario-ite willing to hook me up with a shell?
Do they do any damage to anything? seen as a varmint?
Or were they hunted purely to eat?
How big (diameter wise) is the average adult?
Any ontario-ite willing to hook me up with a shell?
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Can't see it making a huge difference but I am not opposed to the shutdown myself. As all species, it is the disapearing habitat that's the main factor in their decline. Keep putting roads through the habitat also knocks he numbers down.
Species8472
CGN Regular
- Location
- Nipissing Township + 82a
Not a varmint as I have never heard of property damage other than fish stolen off of a stringer. We hunted them to eat only.
Average adult has a shell maybe 12 inches long and a real big one might be 18 inches. I use to have a few shells off of large ones I caught as a kid but pretty sure my wife disposed of them shortly after I got married.
Tons around my land north of home and my hunt camp...... we found a shell in the middle of the woods dogging deer last year, not so much as a puddle within 500 yards of it.....
Obviously I can't catch one for you, but if I see a good condition road kill I will grab it for you
+1. There are far fewer than 20 years ago. I have no issues with the ban.
freezer filler
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Windsor, Ontario
Traps were also allowed. Trotlines are not, neither is shooting.
That was my opinion too... also thought their numbers were down, which from some searching it seems to be true. Nothing wrong with hunting, hunt myself... but not into hunting even something that is somewhat rare.
Sometimes I seem them on the Rideau River bike paths in town... big suckers... also backwoods camping not super rare, but not super common either, they like hamburger. Big slow moving buggers... very cool to see, living dinosaurs.
freezer filler
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Windsor, Ontario
They can move lots faster than most folks give them credit for...but yeah, usually they are not in a hurry.
Wow, I was expecting them to be like 6 or 8" long. Those suckers are big!
Cool I appreciate that.
There is one that has haunted a local fishing spot of mine for years..... we call it "mossback"..... it's the biggest I have ever seen, I would estimate almost 24" across..... will try to get a pic this year...... I can only imagine how old he is....
the spank
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
We were screening topsoil in the pit one spring day and one came out of the topsoil pile which was really nothing more than mud dug from the bottom of an old drained beaver pond. It was big and the shell was completely covered in green moss too. Ugly buggers for sure and they sure have a mean bite and ugly disposition to go with that ugly look if bothered. There has been one at my buddy's cottage near the dock every summer for as long as I have gone there to visit dating back into the early 80's.
I used to work in a local dairy farm, and one day after work, my buddy and I were heading down to the creek to do some mud pout fishing..... as we went down the narrow gravel road to the creek in the truck, there was a big one crossing the road..... we got the bright idea of picking it up with the pitchfork and tossing it in the box and putting it back in the creek...... as we were driving down the road, I had a the small broom we used to sweep hay remnants from the box and I was poking at him with it through the back window...
He decided he was pissed off and like lightening lurched at it and promptly snapped the broom handle in half.....
When we got to the creek, there was much debate on how to get him out of the box as he was now laying on the pitchfork.... so I executed the only solution possible..... I drove about 25 yards from the creek bank, lowered the tailgate, threw the truck in reverse, slammed the gas and when we were within 10 yards of the creek, I slammed the brakes and the turtle (and the pitchfork for that matter) flew out the back and landed in the creek.......
