Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-17
TuRTLE-HuNT,Ne.
A Profitable Moonlight Pastime with
Mnrnnninr Hnrtiea In Gcnrnin

maroOTinp Parties In Georgia.
Turtle-hunhng and hunting TURTLE
eggs on the beach is n favorite moon :
light pastime with marooning parties,
says the Savannah (Ga.) News, ana as
profitable sometimes as it Is pleasant.
ior turtles command ready sale in tho
northern markets and during the sea-
son are shipped largely by the steam
ship lines to New York and other north
ern cities. The eggs are an epicurean
dish and much sought after.
II. w. Buntz, an engineer of the Cen
tral railroad, came up from Tybee last
night with B. N. EllSins, Joseph Heintz
and A. w. Clark from maroon on
Warsaw and brought 500 pound turtle,
one OF four which thoy turned on War
saw beach Friday night. In addition
the hunters had $50 eggs. Two of the
turtles were sent to Thunderbolt, one
was butchered on the island, and tho
other was brought to the city and taken
to Mr.. Buntz's residence on York street,
where, to crafty the curious, he will
be kept to-day and tomorrow, Its flap
pers were securely bound with ropes.
On the way over from Warsaw to the
south end of Tybee island it 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. The
turtles come out by daylight and moon
light when the tide is about three
fourths ebb and scoop out the nest just
above high-water mark. The eggs,
which are the size of u hens egg, are
hatched by the heat OF the sun and sand
in fifteen days, when the young turtles
scratch their way through the sand ana
make for the sea. No matter which way
the little turtle is turned, if it is not in
the direction of the beach it faces about
and makes for the deep.
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 Au-
gust. This is the last seen OF the tur-
tie on the beach. A nest ranges from
125 to 175 eggs, and as all OF them hatch
that are not discovered and destroyed,
500 young turtles is the annual progeny
of a single turtle.
There are three species OF deep-sea
turtle. One. the loggerhead, weighs
from 300 to 400 pounds. An expert can
turn the largest sized turtle on his back
by a dexterous Flip, catching it by the
she'll aft and overturning it length wise.
o1Cc Oll Ills DtCN bilS dIupulDltU Is nelD-
less. The desire to escape predominates
in the turtle, and he never shows fight
Colonel r.. ID. Walker tells of tur-
tie 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
waters edge, where he jumped off and
gave the turtle its freedom for the ride.
The green turtle is another species,
rarely exceeding fifty pounds in weight.
They are principally taken on the gulf
coast. 1t is principally hunted on ac-
count of the excellence of the soup, for
which it is used in hotels and
restaurants, whereas the steaks from
the loggerhead are considered to sur
pass choice northern beef in esculence
and flavor. The soft-shell turtle does
not attain weight greater than
twenty-five pounds, but is even more
sought after than the green turtle and
is considered quite delicacy by cpl
cures.