- Joined
- Jan 3, 2019
- Messages
- 1,076
Hola,
I was cleaning up some picture folders on one of my laptops last night and I found an old picture circa late 00's. Never shared this before, decided to change that. I've always had a passion for reptiles and herping. Every year, my dad and I go camping on a lake in southern Missouri for a week. One day we were at a marina cleaning fish when I saw this behemoth walking along the bottom in the shallows. It was feeding on some carcasses that had washed over from the fish cleaning station. I ran across the dock and ramp to shore to catch him. He heard me coming and started swimming into deeper water. I wasnt letting him get away, I ended up in the water to my neck, holding a tail that I couldn't even wrap my hands around, trying to get to shore with the business end of the turtle pointed away from me. Not the best situation, but it worked out well. He was massive, well over 60 pounds. For scale, my hands are 7.75" from the base of my palm to the tip of my middle finger. I could only grab 2/3rds the circumference of his tail, his back feet were the size of my hands, and his head was bigger around than my arms. I estimated the shell was 20" (When I got back home, I did some research and found the world record for this species had a 19.5" shell length. Wish I would have put him on the marina scale). Needless to say, after this picture and showing the marina owner, I used a snake stick to clean the leeches off his shell and let him mosey on back into the water. That was one of my best moments in the field and easily the biggest I've ever seen. Thought I'd share.
Thanks,
--Matt