The "turtle burger" thread got me to thinking...

[jmowreader]

that a proper "turtle burger" should have...well, turtle in it. So off to Da Google I went looking for "snapping turtle season."

I found this:

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/fishpub/summary/repamp.html

which includes the following restrictions: one timber rattlesnake per year, one copperhead per year, and you're not allowed to take reptiles with firearms.

Quick question: is there anyone who's actually dumb enough to hunt for rattlesnakes?

[applegrove]

1. My sister has a cottage in Georgian Bay in northern Ontario. By law, rattlesnackes are a protected

species. When the people come across rattlesnakes on their islands (it is an island community) they put them in a bag and drive by boat to the island which is desolate and the rattle snake drop off place.

[Kali]

2. dried rattlesnake is a popular "health" food in rural Mexico

there was a guy from the poison control center here this summer hunting Mojaves for a venom research project

lots of morans hunt them for thrills, some eat them, some keep them for pets, and there is a good illegal pet market for them too, not to mention skin products and mounted versions for the tourist trade

[marzipanni]

3. My snapping turtle 'encounters'

When I was about ten, living in Massachusetts, my mom, brother, and I were on our way home from grocery shopping when we saw a mail delivery truck pulled over, and the mailman was looking at a large turtle on the road. My brother liked to catch and release non-venomous snakes and learn about animals, and he asked my mom to stop so he could look at the turtle. The mailman told us he was going to catch the snapping turtle and make soup out of it, something he hadn't been able to make since he left Louisiana years before. I felt sorry for the turtle, and wished I could say something to discourage the man from taking it.

When I was in my twenties I was a nurse on Nantucket Island, off of Cape Cod. A boy was brought into the emergency room with a big toe that had been snapped at by a snapping turtle in a pond. His toe required some surgical repair, but a snapping turtle can bite a toe or finger off, so he was lucky.

Video of a newsman holding a snapping turtle- I'm glad he didn't throw the turtle down when it suddenly lunged back toward his nose!
http://www.break.com/index/snapping-turtle-nearly-takes-off-reporters-nose.html

[MilesColtrane]

7. Master Snapping Turtle Hunter Uses His Bare Hands

http://www.wimp.com/snappingturtles/

[madinmaryland]

4. Apparently you can catch 15 snapping turtles a day when they are in season.

:shrug:

[KamaAina]

5. New Orleans is the turtle capital of the Western Hemisphere

it's generally served as turtle soup; if properly done, finished with a dash of sherry.

Perhaps a thicker version, like gumbo, could be used as a burger topping?

[NV Whino]

6. I've never seen a reptile with a firearm

Could be really dangerous to take them. Glad there's a law agin it. :rofl: