Hello,
Turtles are laying eggs on rocky south facing shores right now. I encountered them on two campsites. Both snappers and painted turtles. They are laying them in sunny spots under dirt. I can't tell you what to do out there but it might be the right thing to give them plenty of room and don't trample on freshly dug up dirt on rocky slopes. They come up in the evening.



Tom

I've seen 4 or 5 snappers in the last couple of weeks. Same with painted turtles. Most were trying to cross roads, one on Hwy. 3 in Rosemount. She must have made it, didn't see anything on my way back. One of each in Thompson Park in IGH. Some were laying, some were digging, or covering up. I was told that the hatch depends on the temperature of the soil. Don't know if that is true or not.

Years ago we were camped on Little Caribou (the only time we were able to get that nice campsite) and in the evening we watched this turtle mosey right across the middle of the campsite. She was looking for a place to lay her eggs, and she explored about six different spots before finally settling on an area just below the edge of this bank. It didn't seem to bother her a bit that we were there, had a campfire, and were watching her every move.

Last year our family stayed on Wood Lake for a week. Every night we were invaded by turtles! Bald eagles were eating the eggs when we showed up the first day. A bear came right up to camp and ran away when we scared it - I'm convinced he was looking for a turtle egg snack. One night we counted over two dozen turtles in camp!

I was on Wood last week and the Turtle invasion was a nightly thing. I was sitting down by the water and there were tons of them staring at me from the lake. As soon as I went up by the fire grate they stormed the campsite.

Poor things had a really hard time laying their eggs because the ground was so hard and dry. Many gave up. The most I saw in camp at once was 8, but there was a constant exchange of them coming and going.

Looks tasty!