Morning journal and courier., 1889-07-04
TURTLES AND TURTLE HUNTS.
The Way they arc Hunted and Cap tured on the Southern Beaches.
 Frona the Savannah News

The Way they arc Hunted and Cap.
 tured on tho Southern Beaches.
 From the Savannah News
 Turtle hunting and hunting turtle eggs on the beach is a favorite moonlight pas- time with marooning parties, and q. profit able sometimes as it is pleasant, for turtles command . ready sale in the Northern markeo, and during the season are shipped largely by the steamship lines to Now York and other Northern cities. The eggs are an epiourean dish, and much sought after.
 Mir. R. W. Buntz, an engineer of the Central Railroad, came up from Tybee lest night with B. N. Elkins, Joseph Heintz, and A. W. Clark from a maroon on Warsaw, and brought 800 pound turtle, one of four which they "turnsd" on Warsaw beach last Friday night. In addition the hunters had 150 eggs Two of the turtles were sent to Thunderbolt, one was butohsred on the island, and the other was brought to the city and taken to MT. Buntzs residence on York street, where, to gratify the curious, he will keep it to-day and tomorrow. Its fappers were securely bound with ropes. On the way over from Warsaw to the south end of Tybee Island 1t required five men to carry it from the landing and put it on board the train.
 The turtles lay three nests of eggs in a season, depositing the eggs in the sand, carefully covering them up. and skillfully trying to hide all trace of the crawl when | they leave the nest Ths turtles come out | by daylight and moonlight when the tide is about three-fourths ebb, and scoop out 1 the nest just above high water mark. The | eggs, which are the size of a hens egg, are matched by the heat of the sun and sand in fifteen days, when the young turtles scratch their way through the sand and make for | the sea. No matter which direction the lit tie turtle Is turned, if it Is not in the direc- tion of the beach, it faces about and makes for 1t.
 The first nest of eggs is laid during the full moon of May and the first full moon of June, and the two successive nests in the full moon of July and August. This is the last seen of the turtle on the beach. A nest ranges from 125 to 175 eggs, and as all of them hatch that are not discovered or des- troyed. 500 young turtles is the annual prog eny of 8 single turtle.
 There are three species of deep sea turtle. The loggerhead weighs from 300 to 4s0 | pounds. An expert can turn the largest sized turtle on his back by @ dexterous flip, catching 1t by the shell aft, and overturning 1t lengthwise. Once on its back the amphib- ian is helpless. The desire to escape pre-. dominates in the turtle, and he never shows l fight.
 Col. R. D. Walker tells of turtle hunt last season where his party having caught all they wanted one night. found very large turtle, and two men steadied the Colonel on its back, and he rode in triumph to the wa- ter's edge, where he jumped of and gave the turtle It's freedom for the ride.
 The green turtle is another species rarely exceeding fifty pounds in weight. They are principally taken on the Gulf coast. It is
 principally hunted on account of the sxoel- 1 fence of the soup for which 1t is used in ho.
 tels and restaurants, whereas the steaks from | leggerhead are considered to surpass North
 ern beef in esoulence and favor. The soft
 shell turtle does not attain a wei ght greater
 than twenty-five pounds, but it is even more
 sought after than the green turtle, and 1.
 considered quite delicacy by epioures.