Nothing.

But I did see a box turtle crossing the trail. He turtled up when I was trying to get a picture. Waited 20 minutes trying to get him to come out. He obviously was waiting me out. I had other work to do so he won. Came back 10 minutes later and he was gone.

Not exactly a big game hunt but it's that time of year.

What do you think he'll score come Fall ?

quote:

Originally posted by twilli:
What do you think he'll score come Fall ?

Not sure what he'll score. I didn't see him straight on. I'd be proud to hang him on my wall.

Certainly wouldn't go after him with a .223. What gun you plan on carrying?

You certainly wouldn't want to face a turtle charge with a rifle in an inadequate caliber. Be sure to go well armed.

Could this be done with a 30-06?
W

30-06? You gotta be kidding. Take a MAGNUM of some sort.

Reminds me of a desert tortoise shell I found in the desert. Very cool discovery.

That's a doe. No score.

Double rifle needed... In case of charge

Box turtles are really neat little critters. My whole day on Thursday was messed up, because I ran over a female ornate box turtle.

From what I have been noticing over the past 3 years or so, I am not seeing as many box turtles as I used too. The same thing happened with Horned Lizards.

here in socal the horned lizards are suffering because their primary food source, harvester ants, is being replaced by exotics such as argentine ants.

Here in central Missouri there is no shortage of three-toed box turtles. For a couple of months in the spring we could film a lot of turtle porn in our yard. They aren't bashful about where they do it and they stay locked up for several hours. It's quite a show.

Probably a 3 toed. My daughter brought one home a week or so back, she "saved" from crossing the road. I finally decided it had to be a 3 toed by the process of elimination. But the marking on it's hide were yellow, not the white that appears in these pics. We put it back on the other side of the road. It was quite old, probably at least 50 years judging by wear on shell. Hard to get a sense of scale from the pics above, but that is an old turtle too, and about as large as they get, if I'm guessing it's size right.

Years ago, when I was squirrel hunting in NE La in October, a herd of turtles startled me. I, of course, was creeping around, looking up and I kept hearing this rustling of dried leaves. Finally I looked down and spotted a tortoise. Then I heard more rustling, different direction. There were dozens of them in a relatively small area, all headed in the same direction. I've never seen or heard of anything similar, before or since.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Probably a 3 toed

That is what I identified them as in my post.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Years ago, when I was squirrel hunting in NE La in October, a herd of turtles startled me. I, of course, was creeping around, looking up and I kept hearing this rustling of dried leaves. Finally I looked down and spotted a tortoise. Then I heard more rustling, different direction. There were dozens of them in a relatively small area, all headed in the same direction. I've never seen or heard of anything similar, before or since.

You were obviously in the middle of a stampede. You're very lucky you weren't trampled and killed. Very dangerous.

Turtles can't leave their house and go into anothers. Wonder what line they use? The old my place or yours wouldn't work. Whatever line it seems to work from the picture.