Large Snapping Turtle

[joelbolden]

Ran across this good sized Snapping Turtle at our local lake today. It's most probably a female based on the the tail length/width. April is the start of mating/egg laying. Shot using the Pixel Shift Resolution setting on my Pentax K-70. Used Lightroom radial gradient edit around the eyes on three of the pics.

 

[smoke665]

The dinosaurs of the new world. We have some that get really large.

 

[K9Kirk]

Why I don't like wading in lakes.

 

[jeffashman]

Very nice! My son used to go noodling (using your hand to find large catfish in old tree stumps and hollows), and I asked what would happen if he ever found one of these things instead?

 

[smoke665]

and I asked what would happen if he ever found one of these things instead?

Considering I've seen them snap through large branches, I would suspect he would be missing fingers. Between the Snappers and Cotton Mouths you couldn't pay me enough to go noodling!