Put a minnow under a bobber then drag it passed a turtle. They move a lot faster than you think. We thin them but don't try to kill'em all.

Turtles with a .22 is a blast, turtles with a 22-250 is even more fun, but more expensive. It's a great afternoon.

Try with a .17HMR

I have a .17HMR just for turtles!

Man its been tooooo long since if shot turtles in a pond with a 22.

I'm glad she had a good outing. That is a great way to spend time outside.

Same thing happened to my dad's trot-line when I was a kid. Bunch of decent catfish skeletons was about all that was left.

Also recall a video in elementary school of a turtle fishing. Turtle kept mouth open and wiggled his "tongue" that looked like a worm. Fish came to investigate and became lunch. I shoot em sometimes but you can't get em all.

Like most things in moderation they are good for the pond. They eat vegetation...if there are too many in a pond and they destroy the vegetation the fry hide in then yes they could lead to the death of your small fish but not because they eat them but because they leave no where for them to hide and they're eaten by other predators in the pond.

We were hunting turtles on a tank in Oklahoma many years ago. Sometimes shooting a bit flat and the bullets would zing, but no worries, we were in the middle of nothing. All was fun until we walked back toward the truck - windshield and drivers side window were shattered. Hard to explain to the insurance company.

This is why I have a turtle shooting tower blind on the dam of my tank. You get a lot more shooting down on them too.

Ya-know? That's all that counts

Aquatic prairie dogs

My earliest memory shooting was at turtles with a .22 rifle under a bridge with my uncle. (That stream not too long after that became Lake Conroe.) For years as a kid, I’d shoot turtles and rats in a bayou near my house with my first generation Crosman Powermaster 760. I grew out of that eventually so I don’t have the desire anymore...but squirrels and house sparrows eating at my bird feeders is a different thing. My 1200 FPS Gamo takes care of them.

Also used a .22 mag one time. It has a lot more punch on the turtle.

fish killers

Yep, my brother and I spent a morning thinning out the turtles on a pond last summer. In a few days they come floating up and you have an idea of the actual count.

.17HMR is perfect for turtles. His 6.5 Creedmoor was a bit much.

I still haven’t seen any more turtles in the pond. Maybe the wife and her tiny Browning lever gun got them all.

I bet just the mention of her name....has them scambling to the bottom right now.

I bet a case of toilet paper that more show up and she gets a lot more target practice....

Sounds like a good time. Personally on my tanks I have not been able to kill them all and I have tried. They seem to be very prolific in my neck of the woods. Unfortunately the real tank cleaners are cormorants and they are for some reason protected.

SSS...

According to a good friend’s biologist(real biologist)who had his fresh water shrimp annihilated, they are bears of the pond,

What about my real biology degree? Lol

I don't know much about turtles, but it's a myth about them being pond cleaners. You're worst threat to a pond is otters. And most people will never know they had otters, so they blame it on what they can see.

Yessir it is!