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Turtles.....

BytorJr

Two Star General
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 28, 2018
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Early morning walk. One thing nice about living around some "green/nature areas" is we have a good mix of wildlife. Birds, mammals, reptiles. Unfortunately we also have homo sapiens.

So, this morning I saw a few rabbits, a couple of which were newbies which are always fascinating to watch freeze up only whey they see your eyes. When I left the house at 5:35 (right before official sunrise) the streets were kind of busy but nothing dead on the streets, especially that I saw having walking right by the intersection of the subdivision on the way out.

When I came back, through the same intersection, maybe 35-40 minutes later I saw something right in the entrance to my subdivision. Some piece of shit had run over a turtle/tortoise. Crushed shell and neck/head sticking out in a last attempt to flee. What grates me is that this was no “I couldn’t see him accident” for I’m sure that :
1) it wasn’t there when I went out as I don't think I'd miss a 15" diameter tortoise walking about.
2) there were tire marks where you could see where they purposely turned to kill it.

Why the F#$k to people do this? It's not sporting, it doesn't bring food to the table, takes an slow growing reptile from the population (one that had been pretty successful based on the size), and ruins nature observing for the rest of the neighborhood. It's not like a turtle is poisonous and will kill you. Granted, they could bite your finger off if you F with it.

I love nature and it's a good part of the reason I moved to where I live. I know folks will say "it's just a turtle" but come on, humans need to be stewards of nature, not destroyers. It's one reason we have limits on game. Acts of cruelty like this just piss me off to no end - special place in Hell I hope individuals who do that.
 
Benefit of the doubt to the driver....

While driving, texting, drinking coffe and shaving/applying makeup they did not notice the terrapin.

As a little good side for you to consider.....leaving Natural Bridge in VA last week, right on Rt 11, a woods tortoise was crossing the road.

I stopped picked him up and brought him to the side of the road he was headed to.

Those little fucks operate on a compass.

If you get one crossing a road its useless to bring it to the tail side of the road. You got to get them to the head side of the road or otherwise they Uturn after you save them and come right back in harms way.

I have to deal with snapping turtles on major highways sometimes. Its a pain in the balls with those fucks.

Only thing I ever use a nightstick for is levering snappers off the road. I know they can be picked up safely in some manner but Ive not practiced it and getting bit in the middle of the highway does not attract my interests. I do the best I can to save those guys but sometimes you have to let luck and nature take its course.

In order to allow you some relief here is some turtle revenge....

 
Benefit of the doubt to the driver....

While driving, texting, drinking coffe and shaving/applying makeup they did not notice the terrapin.

As a little good side for you to consider.....leaving Natural Bridge in VA last week, right on Rt 11, a woods tortoise was crossing the road.

I stopped picked him up and brought him to the side of the road he was headed to.

Those little fucks operate on a compass.

If you get one crossing a road its useless to bring it to the tail side of the road. You got to get them to the head side of the road or otherwise they Uturn after you save them and come right back in harms way.

I have to deal with snapping turtles on major highways sometimes. Its a pain in the balls with those fucks.

Only thing I ever use a nightstick for is levering snappers off the road. I know they can be picked up safely in some manner but Ive not practiced it and getting bit in the middle of the highway does not attract my interests. I do the best I can to save those guys but sometimes you have to let luck and nature take its course.

In order to allow you some relief here is some turtle revenge....


No benefit of doubt here. You could see the tire marks where the very hard turn to run it over was made and the tire marks went right over the poor thing. It was damn near a "U-turn" that was made to kill it. Waste...mean...and not the type of person I want to associate with. There wasn't that much traffic, just more than I thought on July 3 at 5:35 in the morning. I could walk back and forth over 4 lanes multiple times before seeing a car. So busier than I thought for 5:35, but not busy at all. One car a minute tops.

I swear, I don't give mankind much of a chance. I look at the birds in my feeder. Sure there are squabbles at times, but they're not out killing each other (at least at my feeder).
 
Snapping turtles on my property are targets of opportunity. All other turtles are given sanctuary.
I love nature, I live in the woods.
I watch the same skunk roam a field every morning, hes cute.

But snapping turtles.... NOPE!
 
IMHO its insecure little people that are angry and use the vehicle as a weapon to strike out and prove their tough. All they prove to me is that they belong in an institution.
 
Snapping turtles on my property are targets of opportunity. All other turtles are given sanctuary.
I love nature, I live in the woods.
I watch the same skunk roam a field every morning, hes cute.

But snapping turtles.... NOPE!

Speaking of skunks, LOL, the other day I was driving ant there were tow young ones crossing the roadd. One was normal the other was an albino, almost all white. Ive seen albino deer but never a skunk.
 
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Found a gopher tortoise walking down a street one day, scooped him up and called the fish and game guys, told them I found this gopher tortoise on the street in a residential area, come pick it up...they were like ‘why?’ Had to explain to them that its an endangered/protected species and can’t just let it become roadkill. They were like ‘so what should we do?’ I’m like well a street isn’t his natural habitat, maybe put him in one of the 50 ‘protected natural areas’ you guys fence off all over the place, you’re the game guys you tell me what to do with it! ‘Whats his natural habitat?’ ‘...pine forest.’ ‘Oh, ok. We’ll send a game officer over.’
 
Screenshot_20200703-085033_Gallery.jpg

This is the one I see every morning I am home...
Vehicles purposely hitting I am against.
 
Box turtles are saved. Don’t really stop for the snapping ones though. I have relocated a few yellow ear sliders to my place. Had one out laying egg clutches the other day as well. My youngest usually makes their back with a paint marker so we can try to identify the ones we have seen already. Just a few we have seen over the last few months or so here.
 

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Box turtles are saved. Don’t really stop for the snapping ones though. I have relocated a few yellow ear sliders to my place. Had one out laying egg clutches the other day as well. My youngest usually makes their back with a paint marker so we can try to identify the ones we have seen already. Just a few we have seen over the last few months or so here.

My sister lives in the woods up in Arkansas, and does the same thing. She paints a number on the box turtles back, and lets them go. She sees the same turtles year after year.
 
My sister lives in the woods up in Arkansas, and does the same thing. She paints a number on the box turtles back, and lets them go. She sees the same turtles year after year.
I’m born and raised Arkansas. What area your family from?
 
Better than my morning.

I was awaken at 3:30 am by a hellish racket on the patio. It seems a raccoon somehow managed to crawl up into my weber genesis grill and got stuck in the drip pan beneath the burner tubes, flavorizer tubes and grates.

I used the garden hose to open the bottom cabinet - nothing - then gingerly lifted the lid - nothing. With a flashlight, I looked into the cavity, big boy jammed up in there. Teeth, claws and pissed off.
 
That’s funny, I am from Mena. 15 miles east puts them dang close to my sister and BIL where I spend most every thanksgiving. Nice area for sure except all the dang four wheelers up and down the road
 
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Better than my morning.

I was awaken at 3:30 am by a hellish racket on the patio. It seems a raccoon somehow managed to crawl up into my weber genesis grill and got stuck in the drip pan beneath the burner tubes, flavorizer tubes and grates.

I used the garden hose to open the bottom cabinet - nothing - then gingerly lifted the lid - nothing. With a flashlight, I looked into the cavity, big boy jammed up in there. Teeth, claws and pissed off.


Did you consider turning on the gas and pushing "ignite"?
 
FL/GA/AL/MS/LA could have been gopher tortoise. AZ/CA/NV/UT could have been desert tortoise. Both protected state or fed in all areas. Of course they get picked up and moved out of their range sometimes.

ETA - and still a few Texas tortoises left in south TX.
 
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I know they can be picked up safely in some manner but Ive not practiced it and getting bit in the middle of the highway does not attract my interests.
Grab by the back 1/3 of the shell and lift. If it's pissed beforehand, give it a stick to bite... it'll be too preoccupied to swing around on you.

Yeah, I have lots of practice. Even snappers get a pass in my book.

On the flipside, I almost hit a Bald Eagle yesterday morning. Came around a corner and he was sitting in the middle of the road eating a groundhog. I hit the brakes and the sonofabitch stared me down.. didn't move for three solid minutes. Decided to take off and fly right in front of my car about 4' AGL, for about a quarter mile. I immediately realized I failed by not having a dashcam... it was awesome.
 
I’ve seen an osprey carrying a snapping turtle off before, must know something we don’t.
 
That’s funny, I am from Mena. 15 miles east puts them dang close to my sister and BIL where I spend most every thanksgiving. Nice area for sure except all the dang four wheelers up and down the road

No kidding. My sister in on Polk Rd 70, and yes, the 4 wheelers are a real pain sometimes. Since they closed Cherry Hill, the traffic has reduced though. There’s no place for them to buy gas. 😄
 
No kidding. My sister in on Polk Rd 70, and yes, the 4 wheelers are a real pain sometimes. Since they closed Cherry Hill, the traffic has reduced though. There’s no place for them to buy gas. 😄
My kinfolk live in Board Camp right down the road from Wolfpen Gap. I lived in Yocana as a kid for a quite a while and then we moved to the west side almost to Oklahoma at the base of the Rich Mountain range. Lots of good times all around your sisters place. We used to swim at Mcguire Access there on the Ouachita River.
 
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turtles turtles rolly polly turtles eat them up yum make a nice soup
 
Moral of the story , people suck big Donkey Dik and the best you can hope for is that the bottome feeding douche bags choke ta death on one .
 
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going to a match a few weeks ago and the guy in front of us stopped not once but twice to move turtles off the road!!!
 
Speaking of skunks, LOL, the other day I was driving ant there were tow young ones crossing the roadd. One was normal the other was an albino, almost all white. Ive seen albino deer but never a skunk.
That's cool. I've seen one albino creature in my life and it was a mallard. It was around the area for 2-3 weeks of hunting season.
 
Grab by the back 1/3 of the shell and lift. If it's pissed beforehand, give it a stick to bite... it'll be too preoccupied to swing around on you.

Yeah, I have lots of practice. Even snappers get a pass in my book.

On the flipside, I almost hit a Bald Eagle yesterday morning. Came around a corner and he was sitting in the middle of the road eating a groundhog. I hit the brakes and the sonofabitch stared me down.. didn't move for three solid minutes. Decided to take off and fly right in front of my car about 4' AGL, for about a quarter mile. I immediately realized I failed by not having a dashcam... it was awesome.
Driving I-40 from Memphis to Little Rock about 18 months ago I was driving along at about 5 over and out of the corner of my eye this giant thing came sweeping across my line of sight. Next thing I know a bald eagle is sitting in the road about to get some road kill for dinner. I hit the brakes about as hard as possible (fortunately I knew the 18 wheeler was far enough behind to either stop or move over). About 20 feet in front it takes off and damn near didn't get enough altitude before crossing over to Eastbound I-40 and about got hit by the top of a tractor trailer. When the 18 wheeler passed me he gave me a huge thumbs up - I'm sure nobody thought I was not going to hit it. I'd never seen that on such a busy section of interstate.
 
Grab by the back 1/3 of the shell and lift. If it's pissed beforehand, give it a stick to bite... it'll be too preoccupied to swing around on you.

Yeah, I have lots of practice. Even snappers get a pass in my book.

On the flipside, I almost hit a Bald Eagle yesterday morning. Came around a corner and he was sitting in the middle of the road eating a groundhog. I hit the brakes and the sonofabitch stared me down.. didn't move for three solid minutes. Decided to take off and fly right in front of my car about 4' AGL, for about a quarter mile. I immediately realized I failed by not having a dashcam... it was awesome.

I have a number of golden eagles locally, nearly hit one of them while on motorbike last year. Never really get a sense of scale of those birds until one of them takes off and flies about 4 feet above your head.
 
Know a guy that got a call for a swan in the middle of the highway.

I, scratch that, He shows up and there is a big us Trumpeter swan walking south in the south bound lanes median.

Being its name starts with "Trump" it has my hopes to succeed.

He followed it down the median keeping the car between Trump and traffic.

This got stupid so the hope was some direct intervention would get Trump airborne.

Trump decided to cross three lanes on a march .

So for a moment three lanes of Interstate are closed and Trump has potentially stopped all SB traffic from the NE to Florida.

Trump made it across to the BDL and only there decided to make his taxi to take off.

That thing must have flapped for a tenth of a mile before the landing gear where free of earth than it flapped its ass off for another quarter mile before it had gained AAS......Altitude Above Sedan.

Lots of flighty shit killed on highways not having adapted to the tractor trailer entering stage right or left.
 
Know a guy that got a call for a swan in the middle of the highway.

I, scratch that, He shows up and there is a big us Trumpeter swan walking south in the south bound lanes median.

Being its name starts with "Trump" it has my hopes to succeed.

He followed it down the median keeping the car between Trump and traffic.

This got stupid so the hope was some direct intervention would get Trump airborne.

Trump decided to cross three lanes on a march .

So for a moment three lanes of Interstate are closed and Trump has potentially stopped all SB traffic from the NE to Florida.

Trump made it across to the BDL and only there decided to make his taxi to take off.

That thing must have flapped for a tenth of a mile before the landing gear where free of earth than it flapped its ass off for another quarter mile before it had gained AAS......Altitude Above Sedan.

Lots of flighty shit killed on highways not having adapted to the tractor trailer entering stage right or left.
I was reading an article on birds (my new hobby since my best buddy Labrador passed) and how many cats kill a year; but then there were the number killed by hitting glass. It was staggering. But I can see how with reflective windows they think they're just flying to the next tree - primarily because they don't see in our visual range as much as we do (infrared I think).

I remember being on a river fishing with my father and 2 bald eagles started circling overhead, maybe 100 feet over (almost enough to get concerned) and it is truly mind boggling how big they are - I can only imagine a Condor or something like that. But eagles are absolutely magnificent.