# New turtle regulations



## trappintees (Jul 12, 2005)

Not sure if everyone seen the new turtle regulations for michigan. I encourage everyone to email the DNR and tell them these new regulations are bull. There report about the new regulations was basically about commerciall harvest and in the end grouped in personal harvest.
These new regulations are a joke.
Here is the email of who was responsible for recommending the new regs.
[email protected]

Here is a letter I sent to Mich Outdoor News. 

The MDNR changed turtle regulations making our harvest limit the lowest of states that allow take of turtles and also the shortest season. They are doing away with all commercial harvest of turtles and frogs. And for personal use the new regulations allow only one snapper turtle per day with two in possession with a minimum shell length of 13 inches. The old regulations allowed 3 turtles per day, 5 in possession with a 12 inch minimum shell. I have been trapping turtles off an on for 15 years and with a commercial license last year. Of all the legal size turtles I have harvested, at least 95% were under 13 inches. A 13 inch or bigger turtle is a large turtle and not the norm. The DNR says that amphibians are generally considered to be on the decline, although they admit they have no significant data on specific amphibian populations. They also compared other states that they claimed have more restrictive possession limits, which I found not to be true for personal take. Indiana's season is open all year with a 25 daily limit and 50 possession with no size limit, Ohio is open all year with no limit on take or size, Illinois is open all year 8 daily take 16 in possession and no size limit, even Ontario has 10 possession with no size limit and has a longer season. When I started trapping turtles you could find a few people around your area that harvested and ate them, now you would be hard pressed to find very many in the state that do either which would account for less turtle being taken now. So I ask why if the DNR is doing away with all commercial take in Michigan which would make up for the majority of harvest, and why if they have no data to back it up, and why if they use comparisons of other states, most of which have more lenient regulations than our old commercial regulations, would they need to further restrict personal harvest of turtles? I understand that this wont get a lot of attention as not many still harvest this animal but these new regulations are unfair and not based on sound science.


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## FixedBlade (Oct 14, 2002)

Sound sience is used in concideration for making laws. It certainly is not the base for laws. Why not put up a poll to see how many on this forum trap turtles? I don't. I have ate turtle and didn't care for it.


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## trappintees (Jul 12, 2005)

OK not sure what your saying but I dont agree with the new regulations. The DNR's reasoning for the new _personal harvest_ regulations was moslty based on commercial trapping affecting turtle populations. I figured that this forum was a good place to post this as its about turtle _trapping_? That and the post about cleaning turtles seemed to show people interested in turtle. 
Dont know how to put up a poll.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

For those that have never tried to clean a turtle or want a different method:

Get a copy of Fur-Fish & Game -April 2008 for an excellent article w/ drawings.


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