FOREST AND STREAM. 
The “Game Laws in Brief” gives all 
the fish and game laws of the United 
States and Canada . It is complete 
and so accurate that the editor can 
afford to pay a reward for an error 
found in it “If the Brief says so, you 
may depend on it” Sold by all 
dealers . Price, twenty-five cents . 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
June 24, 1911.] 
TURTLES IN FISH HATCHERIES. 
Turtles are a menace to fish hatcheries and 
do a lot of damage. They are cannibals when it 
comes to eating fish, and because of their 
murderous inclinations fish wardens and 
students of fisheries are a unit in favor of their 
extermination from hatching ponds. 
At the State fish hatchery at Pratt, Kas., the lake 
is fed from the Ninnescah River and turtles get 
into the ponds from that stream. They are 
known to be fish killers, so means are being de¬ 
vised to get rid of them. There are two ways, 
shooting and trapping, the latter being the more 
efficacious. 
Some time ago a lot of turtles appeared in 
the Pratt hatchery. Prof. L. L. Dyche, State 
Fish and Game Warden, decided to shoot them, 
and since the neighborhood had a young boy 
of some 12 years who was an expert shot with 
the rifle, Dyche found him. 
“Say, son,” he said, “I will furnish all of the 
ammunition for you if you will shoot turtles. 
They are sticking their heads up every morn¬ 
ing now and the shooting ought to be good.” 
The youngster took up the proposition gladly, 
for it furnished fine sport for him. The turtles 
come to the surface and poke up their heads 
and at such times the youngster did his firing. 
When a turtle’s head is struck or knocked off 
by a bullet the body drops back into the water 
immediately. Then in about two days the body 
comes to the surface and floats. 
The youngster shot about 300 times in one 
day. But there were no bodies visible. Two 
days later, however, the water was littered with 
them, and when they were gathered up in a boat 
it was found that the boy had killed eighty- 
seven, a rattling good record. 
The most effective way that is being worked 
out on a large scale is a series of traps to be 
located at the intake of the water from the river 
into the ponds. The trap is a unique con¬ 
trivance. Large boxes are to be built of half¬ 
inch meshed wire. On the river or lake side 
boards some six inches in width are to be laid 
on the sides of the wire boxes, making a sort 
of runway, slanted at an angle of perhaps forty- 
five degrees. Across the top of the boxes con¬ 
necting the two runway planks will be two more 
planks made into trap doors. The planks are 
narrowed and weighted on one end with lead 
and set on an iron balance rod. 
A turtle is a peculiar creature. It likes to 
crawl up on things, and these runways will 
tempt him. The turtle will get up on top and 
crawl out on the trap boards. Another will 
come along and push the first turtle a few 
inches further along. A third will about make 
enough weight to tip up the trap board, and 
down into the wire box the game will be 
dumped. On the four inside walls of the wire 
box sheet metal of some kind will be used as 
lining, over which the turtles cannot crawl be¬ 
cause they cannot get a foothold. 
But the biggest and meanest turtle di them 
all, the old snapping turtle, is a pretty bright 
chap. He doesn’t take to crawling up on boards 
or doing any aerial stunts of that kind. The 
traps won’t work on him once in fifty times 
and other means have been devised by the 
Kansas fish and game warden to capture him. 
He gets into the pond and there meets his 
Waterloo. 
An iron stake is run through a fish and the 
stake is then driven down into the bed of the 
lake near the shore. Of course the whole fish 
is put under water. Right under the stake is 
placed an old-fashioned steel trap securely 
anchored. The old snapping turtle makes for 
the fish and enjoys his dinner, but in probably 
50 per cent, of the cases while wading around 
enjoying his repast he sticks one of his short, 
stocky legs into the trap and is caught. You 
would think that a snapping turtle would fight 
and pull loose, even though it meant the sacri¬ 
fice of a leg. But he doesn’t. He yields and 
quits. When caught your Mr. Snapper is al¬ 
ways a quitter. He is much like a mountain 
lion in that respect. A lion will raise Ned until 
caught in a trap and then he yields like a baby. 
Also your snapping turtle is very much of a 
sucker. Suppose he is fortunate in eating the 
MY FRIEND THE PARTRIDGE 
S. T. Hammond. A delightful reminder of crisp 
autumnal days in the covers. It tells of sport with 
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iscence and personal experience. Cloth. Illustrated. 
150 pages. Postpaid, $1.00. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
Gas Engines and Launches. 
Their Principles, Types and Management. By Francis 
K. Grain. 
The most practical book for the man or boy who 
owns or plans to own a small’power boat. It is motor 
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Cloth, 122 pages. Postpaid, $1.25. 
Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
