Hiking And Hunting — August 10 2019

In Florida it’s always hunting season. In New York even rabbit season closes, and there only a very few opportunities to hunt right now, mostly if a certain animal were a nuisance on ones own property.

Instead I went “hunting” for rabbit and squirrel with my camera. But I bagged only a corvid (crow) and thrush (robin).

However, I was surprised to learn that snapping turtles can be hunted with firearms.

An interesting contrast, since in Florida common snapping turtles cannot be taken at all, if I recall correctly. This is done to protect the larger and more exotic alligator snapping turtle. It’s an indirect protection due to similar appearance (at least while the AST is young/small.)

I once hooked a common snapping turtle in the leg while angling for catfish. It was a task landing it and then another task and a half dehooking and releasing it—as it was not at all happy. A very memorable day for me though, early in my angling career.

Hiking