Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-10
WITH A TURTLE HUNTER.
CATCHING KENTUCKY sNAPFERS TO
MAKE FREE LUNCH OF.
How the Snapper Lies In Wait and Pulls
in the Unwary misunderstanding Up


hoolrs.
A Wild u1allard drake, with curled tail
| and four wives was quietly taxing bis break
fast in the bosom of his family the other
morning among the weeds and willows On
the west bank Of the Licking river, at the
mouth Of Bank Lick creek. BENTON county,
by The ooze here is rich In worms, slugs
and tender shoots Of aquatic vegetation. aud
for time the drake swung himself on his
I axis and wabbied his tail In the air, while his
beak was twittering and sucking in the
sludge under the rivers surface with consid-
cradle concentration 1t plain that he
had struck soft snap and knew it.
Once. when he brought his head above
water to swallow slug and cart little
largesse OF gentle quaci1s into his harem,
something seemed TO take hold OF his legs
from below He quacked franticaliy and
beat the water with bis wings Then his
wings and has back and his head went under,
while his four wives excitedly lifted them
selves into the air and winged their way into
another county
Holy srnokei That must be big fellow"
remarked French Henry as be rowed toward
the spot where the ducks had been feeding.
Henry Is woodsman Of some repute in this
latitude, whose attention fust now is turned
to the turtle harvest. With sixteen foot
s.if. couple Of No 9 steel traps, Flcbert
rifle, carrying % ball. q long handled stable
fork, which he dubbed SCOOP" and half a
dozen three inch hooks attached to as many
sTrong sea grass lines, he was out on turtle
hunt.
The river at this point is from twenty to
forty yards wide, and lips its way over the
bar Of clean sand and gravel which time and
spring freshets have brought down the creek
and anchored here Almost Immediately
feathers began to rise from a spot about
three yards out from Shore and the clear
water became tinged in that place with a
bloody streak. As the skif drew near to the
troubled point we could clearly make out the
form OF turtle anchored upon the sand
about three feet below the surface, and shell
tered from the force of the current by
ledge of limestone. His shell looked about
two feet long by q foot and half in breadth
He held the body Of the mallard under him
while he tore its neck and breast with his
hooked jaws, working with the eagerness Of
vulture and much the same general action,
III his feast upon the warm body of the drake,
as that bird displays when greedily tearing
piece of carrion Of which he expects shortly
to be dispossessed.
''rhey will plant themselves I'm the mud on
the bottom of the river near shore, those big
fellows WILL" said Henry, with their heads
Just peeping out OF their shells, and in the
course of half an hour the current has busted
them with mud and leaves and bits of drift
until sunfish can't tell them from rock to
save his soul, and SO he floats down that way,
with one eye looking out for danger and the
other for grub, and all at once something darts
out from that muddy rock and catches the sun
fish by the side or the back OF the head or the
tail 1t don't make any difference where it
catches him, long as it takes in good
mouthful, because that thing that has darted
out is a swapping turtles head, and whatever
it catches 1t keeps. Then the turtle tucks the
fish under him, just as be has the mallard
there, and tears and swallows like hungry
lion
'He will eat catfish and snakes, and almost
anything that lives in water, and once | saw
one out IN meadow catching grasshoppers-
Straight goods, sure. To see big turtle on
land is enough to make horse laugh. This
one lifted his head and his tail as high in the
air as he could get them, and then, raising
himself on the tips of his toes, be struggled
along for a few yards, when all at once his
strength gave out and down he came kerr
PUNK Whenever a grasshopper would alght
within reach of his head out would go his
beak, and before the hopper knew what hit
him it would be his meat. But this amt
catching turtles, is It'll"
He placed one of the pea like bullets in the
little rifles breach, and laying the gun to his
shoulder sighted along its octagonal barrel.
Instead of pointing toward the snapper the
guns muzzle bore on a floating object about
the size of mans thumb which was rapidly
approaching us from above. With the report
of the gun the object disappeared. and then,
grasping the scoop. Henry leaned eagerly
over the sLiff7s side and looked down into the
water. In less than minute the current
brought with it the body of q second turtle
smaller than the first, which Henry dexter
ously scooped in as it was being half borne by
the current and half propelled by its own dy
ing exertions down the stream. The bullet
had crushed its skull while it was swimming,
as is the fashion Of many inland turtles, with
nothing but the tip of its head above water.
Now, then. for the duck eater Iwant to
take him alive, if l can, as there is not much
market for dead turtles, the dealers not car
ing to take the risk of having stock spoil on
their hands, when it can be kept IN a tank for
six months, at almost no expense, If alive.
The only way TO get him is 10 catch him
in trap, or line, or to scoop him out As
be has enough to sat there for q week, the
first two plans Will hardly work. and while Ia
such deep water as this the scoop is danger
Gus. will try it."
Then with an oar Henry turned up the
black earth along the rivers bank. sending
it in q cloud down the current and COM
pletely hiding the turtle under its dark
mantle.
Don't be afraid: he is not lost. as have
his bearings You see when the water was
clear ne could see every motion | made, ard
had | tried to scoop him out then he would be
of before you could say Boz but now
Henry leaped out Of the skH and into the
cold water, which washed his thighs With
the long handle held firmly IL both hands he
raked the bar with the teeth Of the scoop
until they touched something which his
practiced touch told him was the game.
With sudden shoot forward be lifted the
obstruction, and then putting all his strength
into his arms he cast it from the scoops teeth.
sending it in clean flight of dozen feet out
Of the water hish aud dry on the sandy
shore It was the snapper, with its jaws
tightly closed on the wing Of the dead duck
When taken aboard, end thrown on the
bottom OF the boa, With several of its con-
geners. it made no effort TO escape or to finish
It's breakfast, hu, remained quiet, with the
wing in its mouth and its sharp little eyes
staring.
The Jaws OF the steel traps were now sprung
and fixed In that position and after icing
fastened 20 one end Of ten foot length OF
quarter inch hemp rope, the other end Of