Turtles & 22s
 

Last year I bought a small farm (pine trees & pecans) in North West Florida. On the place I have two ponds, a new dug pond and an old 1929 vintage dam made pond of about 1 1/2 acres. Well the new pond has nothing in it except water and not much of that, until I get the pond liner folks out in about two weeks. :( The price of several nice guns we will get that fixed, which is a long story involving a contractor that went out of business.

The old pond is full of stocked fish and the turtles are like a blight, just everwhere. Sunday in about 10 minutes, just after noon, I shot 3, from a standing position with my 512 Remington and a couple weeks ago shot 5 with my Browning Buckmark Target. Turtles with a 22LR are quite a challenge, especially the head only buggers at 100 plus yards.

One word of caution, always shoot to a solid backstop when shooting turtles off of a pond. 98% of the bullets do not stay in the pond. I am very lucky as the old pond is in a depression and shooting from the shore allows the other shore to be the needed solid backstop. Also being a tree farm, I have a 1/4 mile of big pine trees around the pond, so if the bank does not stop the bullet, a tree will. Think safety before you shoot.

I also use my 218 Bee as my turtle gun and it has the added accuracy and range needed for the longer shots.
Best,
Ed

What type of turtles are you talking about? Snappers are a treat....make good soup, too! I'm assuming if you shoot 'em, they sink to the bottom?
Might want to try building a turtle trap or two and catching them buggers......some of the locals might trade you for some fresh turtle meat.
Just a word of caution....check your DNR regulations; in some states it's illegal to shoot turtles, as well as other reptiles and amphipians (Michigan is one such state).
Happy hunting!

I have seen some big snappers out on the road that did not make the crossing, look to be about 20lbs or so. What I see mostly are soft shell in the pond and no where near the bank, the standard scurge of stocked fish ponds. Speaking of the DNR, I do have some long legged, pond wading, crows, that the DNR might get excited about were they to see their fluffy carcases floating around, especially those pond wading white crows. :D
Best,
Ed

I guess those white crows can become a problem, huh?