FRESH-WATER TURTLES. O 



name of the months contains an ' r.' " Nearly all the other market men 

 explained the situation by saying that "practically all the turtles are 

 used for soups, and few people eat soups during hot -sveather." The 

 situation is perhaps a little more complicated; it may have to do also 

 with capture and storage. In summer occasional snappers are picked 

 up while on their migrating trips ; a few are now and then caught on 

 set lines; and fishermen sometimes catch them in their seines or in 

 baited hoop nets set for fish. It is doubtful whether any of these 

 occasional summer-caught snappers get into the general market. 

 The greater number are released, and a few are locally consumed. 



During the autumn and early winter the snappers collect in con- 

 siderable numbers and hibernate in suitable locations. In the vi- 

 cinity of Muscatine, Iowa, it was stated that a favorite place for 

 turtles to hibernate is in muskrat holes. According to report, as 

 much as 5 tons of turtles have been taken from the various muskrat 

 holes in one season. Our informant also stated that as many as 26 

 individuals have been found in one muskrat burrow, while at another 

 time 1,420 pounds were obtained in one run. From 500 to 1,000 

 pounds of turtle were estimated as a recent catch for one day. 



Along the sloughs of the Mississippi they congregate about and 

 under old logs. A specific instance Avas cited or a fisherman who 

 obtained 20 snappers, weighing from 10 to 20 pounds each, under a 

 log in one of the sloughs of the Mississii>pi River. 



Along the Illinois Kiver, the Cedar River of Iowa, and, indeed, 

 wherever there are springy places near large bodies of water, the 

 snappers "mud up" for the winter. 



It is from their hibernating places that the greater number of 

 .snappers found on the market are taken, and the captors are usually 

 fishermen or trappers. The methods of capture employed for the 

 various forms of winter quarters — whether muskrat holes, old logs, 

 or springy places — are all, so far as could be learned, very much the 

 same. The implement used is a stout hook, made by bending an 

 iron rod at one end, sharpening the short or hook end, and leaving the 

 other as it is or driving it into a wooden handle to make it better to 

 manipulate during very cold weather. If there is much ice, it is 

 cut and tlie hook ]iroboa or prodded about until a turtle, which feels 

 much like a chunk of wood, is encountered. It is then i)ulled out by 

 the hook. It is somewhat difTicult to land large turtles, although they 

 are benumbed and oiler little resistance. 'J'he turtle catchers rely 

 upon their hunting instinct to discover the turtles, and when a good 

 place is found many can be taken from it, as indicated in the account 

 given above. 



Activity in snapper catching may be stimulated or depressed by 

 widely different circumstances. The general wage scale probably 

 has little influence, since fishermen and trappers are as much at- 

 tracted by the fascination of their calling as by its emoluments and 

 are not likely to desert their profession for a l)etter-paying job. A 

 high price for pelts and furs may divert greater attention to trap- 

 ping. One fisherman said that the existence of saloons greatly 

 helped the turtle market, as they dealt extensively in turtle soup. 

 Under favorable conditions the turtle catcher can make very fair 

 wages and still sell the meat at a reasonable price. During the 

 winter of 1918^19 a market man reported: "Turtle meat is the 

 cheapest meat I can buy." 



