2 turtle hunters pulled from icy northern NJ river

[dogg57]

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. - Two turtle hunters were hospitalized after they fell through the ice in a secluded area of the Passaic River.
Authorities say a 30-year-old woman called 911 around 8:15 p.m. Saturday to report her 37-year-old boyfriend was in the water. The woman then apparently tried to help him and ended up in the water herself.
Rescue crews soon arrived and had to paddle against the current and cut down trees with chainsaws to reach the couple, who were holding on to a tree. Both victims were suffering from extreme hypothermia when they were pulled from the water around 9:15 p.m., but they were treated at a hospital and released on Sunday.
Four firefighters were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/n...urtlehunterspulledfromicynorthernnjriver.html

 

[manumuskin]

I need to be enlightened.How do you hunt turtles in winter through the ice??? This is something new to me.

 

[46er]

I need to be enlightened.How do you hunt turtles in winter through the ice??? This is something new to me.

Since it was the Passiac River, those turtles are probably not what you would consider a real turtle

 

[ecampbell]

I wonder if he also uses her head as a gun rest to shoot deer.

 

[Jersey Jeff]

I need to be enlightened.How do you hunt turtles in winter through the ice??? This is something new to me.

I was wondering the same thing. I've gone exploring along the Passaic River in Berkeley Heights and I've found snapping turtles, red-bellied sliders, painted turtles and a Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) but only in the spring or summer.

 

[Gibby]

Something is funky with their story. The couple was hunting turtles at night, with the temperature in the teens, and in the dead of Winter. They must have blurted out the first thing that came to mind when questioned.

The Passaic River is quite nice once you get above Route 80. It is the last fifteen, or so, miles which has been destroyed by industrial waste. I don't know if the EPA has begun any restoration and cleaning of the lower section of the river. The Diamond Alkali Superfund site is a along that section.

 

[RednekF350]

There is a thread about this incident on New Jersey Hunter too.
Apparently some people actually target them in winter. These are hibernating turtles.
One guy said they used to use a gaff and stick the gaff handle into the river banks until they heard a hollow thud. Then they would gaff the turtle out of the bank.
I have never heard of the practice before this.

 

[manumuskin]

I have heard of that before Scott and know that turtles can be hunted this way in winter when there is no ice but my question is how do you poke the river bottom through ice? Turtles when they hibernate leave a barely visible raised ring in the bottom of the river or lake bed that can be seen with practice.This is from digging in.Poke into this round area to see if the turtle is there or if it is an old bed from the previous year.

 

[dragoncjo]

Is this section of the passaic pretty dirty? There is another species they could be seeking but i dont even wanna delve into it because of the pressure this species already faces.

That style to catch a hibernating animal is chicken shit, i would beat the piss out of someone if i saw them doing that. Snapping turtles soon will be rare, the hunting of them isnt sustainable.

I agree there is something odd about this and gibby, guy, ed probably know what im thinking.

 

[Bobbleton]

still though . . . there are FAR easier times to pull something like that off. If the story is that straightforward, these two are like the worst poachers ever.

 

[manumuskin]

The tactic I described is a method of obtaining turtle meat in a survival situation.I don't know if it is legal to hunt snapping turtles that way or not.I believe bu am not sure that snappers are the only turtle legal to hunt in NJ with a permit but I think you have to use floating traps and release all non snappers..By the way snakes are also quite edible but I feel about snakes and turtles like you do Chris.I'd have to be starving to kill and eat them.I'd axe Bambi much quicker.

 

[Bobbleton]

Ditto that. Bambi is delicious. But Al, what are any of us gonna have an easier time catching? Pretty sure I could survive 12 months on herps if given the correct habitat.

 

[RednekF350]

You only need a fishing license to take turtles and bull and green frogs in NJ. The season is in fact open all year, except for a 2 month window in the spring to allow breeding. Snappers can be taken from freshwater only, above the salt line demarcations on rivers. Crowley's Landing on the Mullica for example is the salt line for that river.

Page 8 of 10 below has the full regs. Guns and bow and arrow are not allowed for snappers but most other traps and tools are okay.

Al, the commercial permit is issued at the discretion of NJFW and allows harvest numbers over the normal daily limit. It has nothing to do with using the basking traps. Most people use underwater fykes for snappers.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2013/digfsh24-33.pdf

 

[dragoncjo]

I'm told they were nature watching and outdoor enthusiasts who look for turtles in the summer. Looks like the story was twisted for dramatic effect, shocking from the media.

 

[manumuskin]

I take it an underwater fyke drowns them? So they would have to check their traps daily to avoid spoilage.Don't exactly know what a fyke is .Just what the fyke is it anyway?

 

[Jersey Jeff]

Is this section of the passaic pretty dirty? There is another species they could be seeking but i dont even wanna delve into it because of the pressure this species already faces.

This section of the Passaic flows in from the Great Swamp NWR, which is still relatively clean. However, Berkeley Heights is a typical suburban NJ town, so I would guess that the Passaic River in that area is loaded with nitrogen from suburban lawn fertilizers and high fecal coliform from Canada Goose and dog poop like most rivers in North Jersey (not to mention thousands of discarded plastic litter).