Godwin the Turtleman (1 Viewer)

[dragr1]

Godwin, we've never met, but I just ran across this article about you and an alligator snapping turtle:

http://outdooralabama.com/news/release.cfm?ID=1093

 

[Land Speeder]

Whose holding who?!
That thang huge!

 

[xodeuce]

Saw one of those on Duck Dynasty last night. They look gnarly. I can't imagine catching one.

 

[bamaburt]

I have seen large turtles in the Warrior River very close to the size in the picture. However nothing compared to what we encountered on Lay Lake. We were cruising around on the pontoon boat and I spotted a head sticking out of the water - At first I thought it was a gator. We turned the boat around to see what it was and it was the biggest damn turtle I think that I will probably ever see again. The best way I could explain its size is to compare it to a small blue kiddie pool. There is no way all of it would fit inside one! It had been hit by a prop and was stunned just swimming around in circles and after a few minutes it went back under. One of my most memorable boat trips for sure...

 

[Godwin]

Thanks for bringing this up, I had forgotten ADCNR was going to do a press release on the capture of this turtle. The fact that is captured at all is incredible and that it was caught on a rod and reel.

Working with turtles has been a blast. I did the work on the Tallapoosa and Coosa 8 years ago, the last few I've spent the summers in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta or on the rivers of south Alabama, Conecuh, Yellow, Pea, Choctawhatchee. I've covered some river miles over the years, this stuff keeps me sane.

 

[justbecause]

"In the 1970s, alligator snapping turtles experienced severe population declines throughout much of their range, primarily as a result of unmonitored commercial harvest supporting the soup industry."

you have to be s***ting me. I swear I just now read this....