- All right, so it's finally spring here in Ohio
and it's Coyote's favorite time of year.
It's snapping turtle season and he's really excited
to catch the first snapping turtle of the season,
but I wanna beat him to it, so I'm out here right now.
He hasn't gotten here yet.
I'm just gonna scope the area.
Wait a minute!
I think I see a turtle.
Oh 100%, turtle, I see its carapace, you ready?
(splashing)
Oh, it's getting away, it's getting away!
Oh got it, oh he's a big one!
Oh he's in the mud, he's in the mud, he's in the mud.
There he is, oh he's all dirty, come with me.
Gotta wash him, where's his head, where's his head?
Oh, there he is,
Carl Junior.
I caught this turtle five years ago.
He was probably 20 pounds, I betcha he's 30 pounds now.
Look at this turtle, hey buddy.
Oh don't get that close to me.
Check it out, first turtle of the season.
Coyote, eat your heart out!
All right, let's go get him up closer to cameras.
(jungle music)
- All right, it is officially spring in Ohio
which means that it is also time for us
to start catching snapping turtles.
Dragon Tails kicks off today.
Now we just got back from Australia
and the marketing team said, "You can go out
"into the field today on one condition."
And I said, okay what's that condition?
The Brave Wilderness Adventure Kit
Reptiles and Amphibians Edition
just came out and they said,
"Here's the challenge, here's your mission.
"Can you take the kit out?"
One of the coolest things in the kit
is the toy common snapping turtle.
"Coyote, can you catch a snapping turtle
"and get a photograph of the toy snapping turtle
"on top of a real snapping turtle?"
And I said, you better believe I can.
So myself and Mario, who's operating GoPros today
and I'll have GoPro too, actually why don't I just turn
it on and get a shot of you Mario filming me.
Hold on, not on yet, there we go.
- Howdy.
- There's Mario filming me, our goal is going to be to catch
the first snapping turtle of the year and get a picture
of a toy snapping turtle on top of a real one.
So stick with us, it's gonna get muddy, it's gonna get wet
and with any luck, we're gonna find some dragons.
Now some people say that the most wonderful time of the year
is Christmas, but as far as Coyote Peterson
and Mario Aldecoa are concerned, the best time of the year
is spring when all of the animals start moving.
Now today, we're at one of my favorite metro parks
in Central Ohio, Blacklick Woods Metro Park.
What, did you see something already?
- [Mario] I'm gonna go grab the other camera.
- Oh, Mario is getting a walking shot of us going past
the camera, I guess we don't want to leave that back there.
We are cutting through the underbrush,
headed down towards the pond.
This will be the very first snapping turtle of the year.
Oh, I'm excited.
Now the only concern that I have right now
is that it is not very warm out and holy mackerel,
I just found an enormous deer antler.
Holy cow, dude Mario, look what I just found.
No kidding dude, look at the size of that shed.
Literally just found this, holy cow.
So you may remember the buddy film that Mario and I shot
this past winter looking for sheds and right here,
on the side of the pond is a huge antler, holy cow.
- That's huge.
- This is one of the biggest antlers I've ever found.
But again, because we're in the Metro Parks,
it's not something that we can actually keep,
but I am gonna turn this one into the visitor's center
so that other people can enjoy it.
- [Mario] Look at that.
- Wow, stuff's already starting to chomp on it.
You can see right there.
Wow, that is a great start to the day!
- See, this gives me confidence because it means
we don't have to go out in the freezing cold
to find antlers, right?
We just go out when it's warm.
- He does make a pretty good point.
Looks like we can find antlers when it gets
a little warmer, this is great.
All right, let's find some turtles.
It's kind of fun filming episodes with just GoPros.
Makes it a little more challenging.
Okay, you ready to get in the water?
- Let's do it. - Here we go.
Your best play is to really just kind of fan out
and keep our wits about us.
- [Mario] Is that movement over there?
- Where?
- [Mario] What is that, or is that vegetation
that's moving, you see that?
- That's some vegetation but that could
be on the back of a turtle's shell.
- It's movin'. - Definitely movin'.
- [Mario] That's not the wind.
- I think that is a turtle, hold on.
Yeah, it is, it is.
I'm going for it.
Got it! - Nice!
- Yes, look at that!
First snapping turtle of the year!
Wow, he is a beaster, look at the size of that dragon!
Wow, he is a heavy boy.
This looks just like the toy too.
Sorry, holy mackerel!
First snapping turtle of the year, there it is.
Wow, hi buddy, I recognize you.
I know you, I've caught you before.
You are looking good and healthy.
I haven't caught this turtle in a couple years.
His name is Carl and oh, he's a good lookin' turtle.
All right, let's get him back over here.
Mission complete in just a matter of minutes
getting out here into the pond.
Our first snapping turtle of the year.
All right, let's get him up on shore and get our photograph.
(splashing)
Okay so, I'm gonna set you here.
You're not gonna get away and go anywhere.
Oh now you just took a mouthful of leaves.
Whew, gettin' muddy, that is the only way
to do it in dragon season, man!
Okay, hand me the Adventure Kit.
Oh, we got some water in there.
So I'm gonna record all my snapping turtle data
inside the Reptiles and Amphibians Field Journal this year.
And our real goal, this is so cool.
This turtle looks exactly like the turtle we caught.
- [Mario] It does.
- That is amazing, they are almost identical.
You could not have planned this any better.
Oh buddy, I'm so happy to see you.
What an awesome turtle, I can't believe it!
It looks just like him, here let me prop 'em both up
on my leg for a second and when people ask,
are your toys anatomically accurate,
I think this pretty much proves it.
Look at the color design of the toy turtle
as compared to the real turtle.
I see, you're very close to my nose.
No, we're not biting Coyote's nose today.
The head structure, triangular in shape,
yellow eyes, dark colored head,
lighter forelimbs and hind limbs,
and the quintessential greenish brown carapace
which of course, as we know, is the top of the shell.
Now if you look at the plastron of the toy snapping turtle,
it's one of the key features when it comes
to truly identifying this as a snapping turtle.
And let's look at the bottom of the actual turtle itself.
Completely accurate in design.
Look at that, toy common snapping turtle.
How cool is this?
(laughing)
Now what we need to do is get the ultimate photograph,
so you can take the photo while I hold onto both
of these turtles because obviously, taking a photo myself
in this instance isn't exactly gonna be possible.
- I don't think you can take any better than this.
- Dude, I'm so excited, it's the perfect turtle
for this shot.
(upbeat music)
Okay, so with every snapping turtle that I catch
and document for the Columbus Metro Parks,
I make sure to take measurements.
This is my little turtle measuring tape,
pretty cool, it's a turtle, in its tail
is the actual measuring tape.
So, I wanna get the length of the carapace,
both the length and the width.
What I'm gonna do to record that information
is actually write it down in my Reptiles
and Amphibians Field Journal.
I have not put turtle numbers into these books yet,
but now that we have them, it's the perfect place
to record all of that data.
Now we need to do the weight.
I have a basic 50 pound scale, I know this turtle
is not over 50 pounds, and of course,
my classic weigh bag that has shown up
in pretty much every episode of Dragon Tails.
Okay ready, turtle going up.
- Okay, you are clear. - Clear.
Oh man, right there, 30 pounds.
This turtle is about six pounds heavier
than he has been in the past.
Oh, there we go, give me that bag back.
All right, well we got our ultimate photograph.
At this point, I think the marketing team
is going to be thrilled.
I have to give you guys a warning.
If you're out this spring and you see a snapping turtle
in the wild, do not try to get your toy close like I did.
They have an incredibly powerful bite
and a turtle this size could easily, I know,
take off a finger and you can even see how powerful it is
when it comes to biting onto Carl Junior.
Can I have this back?
Carl, can I have the toy back?
I guess you like toy turtles just as much as the rest of us.
So guys, if you see snapping turtles out moving about
this spring, simply admire them from a safe distance
and leave catching them and putting
your toys in their mouths up to me.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right Carl, back off into the wild with you.
What a great start to the Dragon Tails season.
Our first snapping turtle of the year.
A 30 pound giant and I cannot wait to see
what sort of turtles we manage to get up close
with the cameras in the coming weeks.
If you are excited for more snapping turtle encounters,
make sure to go back and watch this episode
from our turtle adventures last year.
And don't forget, subscribe and click the notification bell
so you can join me and the crew on our next wild adventure.
(jungle music)