The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1883-06-13
HOW TURTLES ARE CAUGHT.
AN OLD sKIPPER TELLS ABOUT
THEIR CAPTURE.
Catching Them mt Night on the Florida
Keys-Turtles that Weighed Two ThOu-
sands P0unds-lI Monsters of the Past.

lay the smack off, and late In the
afternoon put ashore in the dingies
and make camp in the bushes Then
one hand takes a walk round the
beach clost to the water in that way
he strikes the tracks up, at once fol-
lows 'em up, and SO finds the nest.
Eggs good p? Wall, it's matter O.
taste. I've seen turtle eggs on the
galley stove forty-eight hours, and
they never changed a bit cookin'
don't affect 'em mite, and the only
way [ ever saw 'em eaten, was when
they were taken out of the turtle half
formed, lookin' like yellow grapes, and
dried in the sun until hard, and eaten
like cheese; they kind O. taste like it..
"Turtles don't generally come
ashore until after dark. Every twenty
minutes or so one of the hands takes a
round, and when he comes to a track
easy to see by moonlight or stars up he
rushes, and if the turtle is layin' she
won't move, and you've got to wait
till she gets through but if she's Jest
through or about diggin' she'll turn
and make tracks to the water in way
rs is caution to sinners. The first
time tackled one she got the start on
me, and | ran up behind jest in time
to catch about a barrel of sand. She
threw it with all her four flippers like
a Mississippi stern-wheel steamer,
film my eyes so l jest sot down and
yelled, while she slid off into the water.
But a good hand will slip up, and with
a grip jest behind the fore Aippers send
big one over. This done, the tlippers
are slit with knife and made fast
by rope yarn, and she's ready to ship
and left right there. If it's a big
turtle the turner gives sing out, and
couple O. Ads go on the run
to give him I've been one O.
these men, and 1 amt no babby,
a-tryin' to lift big loggerhead over, and
couldn't. She struck my mate over
the head with her forenipper the first
time l raised her, and he went down
just as if he'd been sent for, and his
jaw looked like the gang-plank of
tread-mill-all gormed' up. The next
lift she took hold O. my foot; and talk
about bulldogs she nigh on to tuck
me overheard, tho other men beatin'
her with scantlins. But, bless We
she was a-movin' for the water all the
time, takin' us right along, and throw
in sand like a windmill. At last, in
she got, and the only satisfaction l got
was a ride, There was a shoal piece
that ran off about two hundred yards,
and as she hinged off 1 grabbed her
by the back of the neck, and she toNed
me TO the edge Of the channel quicker
than even went through the water
aNre.
- Turtles amt so stupid as people
thinks. I've often watched them, as
sometimes they come up in front of
the camp. lSirst you hear a kind o.
sigh-kind O asthpa-like; then in the
moonlight you'll see black head
a-lookin' round. Up she comes, a
little at time, but afore she leaves
the water she makes sure there amt
no one around; then goes for the
beach, crawls right up to the bush
where the water never reaches and
where during the day it's almost red
hot. Then she picks out a place and
commences to dig with her hind feet.
until hole about three feet deep is
dug, and into this the eggs are dropped
sometimes hundred more or less.
When she's done, she covers it up, and,
instead of goin' right back and there
you see the cunnln' o the brutes-
she crawls along the edge of the bush
always, and then strikes for the water,
perhaps two hundred feet from where
she come up; so all ye know when ye
find tracks is that the nest is some
where between 'em, and a green hand
is like to make a still hunt for it.
Sometimes as many as dozen are
turned in anight, and sometimes nary
one. They like bright moonlight
nights, though. The next morning we
git 'em into the dingy and then rig a
block and tackle and gF 'em aboard
the smack and run for Key West.
Most shippers that make any business
Of turtlin' have crawls on the fats on
the northwest side of the Key.
Crawls? Wall, crawls's place where
turtles can't crawl out. Nothin' but a
fenced in place IN four or five feet of
water, and into this all the turtles is
put to be Kept till called for as Cap
lain Kidd said when he buried the pot
o. gold. On these crawls, or those of
the Conchs, we call when we work up
along. The turtles are taken out and
slowed on their backs and dashed with
water, and live for any time.
What are the CJnchs? Wall,
they're part Of the population of Key
West, ivin' in part called Conch-
town, and supposed to live on conchs
But l never see one eat one, and l
reckon nothin' but groupers would
tackle 'em. The Conchs have curious
way of catchin' turtles with a peg.
Spearin' We might cal it, but the spear
is peg, lookin' jest like about two
inches off the end of a three-sided file.
That ere is made fast to long grouper
line about as big as our cod line, and
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