uh?
I got a turtle right here and its buried in these sticks
but I definitely have the back of its tail
he's deep though, I don't know it I'm gonna get him
ah!
he's up underneath this log
Are you messing with me? NOPE! I definitely have a turtle this would be a terrible prank.
ah I'm losing him...wait here he comes here he comes!
look at that there he is
AH!
I'm in a beaver dam trying to get this turtle out of here
watch your camera here he comes
alright got him out got him out come on! He keeps pulling me down...
there he is there he is
NO way! hahahaha
thats what you call digging a dragon
out of a beaver dam! I'm Coyote Peterson
welcome to Dragon Tails!
Roann, Indiana...
is just as one might picture a small peaceful town
set in the heart of rural America
as you enter through the mouth of
an old covered bridge
it feels as if you're traveling back to a time
when life was much more simplistic
a peaceful place where one can stop and escape the fast pace of today
and transcend into the days of old. A time when stories captured our imaginations
grand tales of giant turtles that lurked in the lakes around town
I firmly believe that there is a world record turtle in Roann
Indiana area no one fishes for them to speak of
and they can be there for years and years so its a real good chance
and those who listen believed every last word
we captured cornelius and the giant known as stump beak
these are massive turtles living dinosaurs
modern-day dragons
everyone has a dragon tale but not many people
have the photographs to prove what their eyes have seen
Bill Haywood this one of the rare exceptions
a man who lives for adventure in the outdoors he's been capturing
and releasing snapping turtles for over 40 years
using safe traps bill has encountered hundreds of these prehistoric looking reptiles
but it wasn't until a year ago when a massive dragon destroyed one his traps
bringing him to the realization that he needed to build something
that could capture a legend. yeah if you wanna catch
a big turtle, you gotta bring a big trap
so that's what we did we built a big trap. Bill dreams of landing a world record size turtle
and the good news is that he knows exactly
where one might live. oh yeah he's here I don't think
left he's lived he all his life I'm sure hidden deep in the wilds of Roann
is a forest encompassed lake that has gone untouched by humans
for over 70 years
they never let anybody in here to turtle hunt before
if they live to be seventy/eighty years old there's a turtle here seventy to eighty years old
Bill has gotten permission to explore
and safe this ancient body of water a place where he believes
that a 100-pound dragon is lurking beneath the surface
a place that is known as Lost Lake
you feel like you're going to catch a dinosaur right now?
yes I do I feel like
this that moment jurassic park when they say
loading team step away gatekeeper
move in and so how does this work how are we going to catch world record turtle in this?
the turtles they'll zero in on that bait bucket
so as they try to get in they come to this opening
and theres what theyre zeroed in on...the bait bucket
they'll tear it up getting the fish out of it
then turns around to leave and can't find his way out
and that's the idea the safetrap is that the turtles don't get injured they don't
drown
there's plenty room for them to come up and breath and then you've got a door in
the top
which when we get turtle you open that up and take it out now this is
enormous you could fit a 300-pound turtle inside of this trap
we know the common snapping turtles largest on record United States was 88
pounds
you're thinking there's a hundred-pound turtle living in lost lake, if we can catch
that turtle
we're gonna catch a world record. Alright well lets get this loaded up on the boat
and
head out into the wilds of Lost Lake its the lost world out here
to enter the realm of Lost Lake
we first had to travel nearly half a mile down a narrow feeder channel
kayaking through the duckweed I pictured myself as a character
in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's lost world my mind traveling back 65 million years
to a place in time were giants once ruled the earth
I'm already lookin I mean this turtle could be anywhere out here
be on your guard at any moment you might just see me spring off this kayak
to catch a turtle. We forged over beaver dams
bye guys
thanks man! we encountered snakes
woah it gets deep in a hurry
we even caught our first turtle
as we lived what most would consider a nightmare
you always say we wish we had your job look at me now
with the goal of making it to a prehistoric looking paradise
that could potentially be hiding
within its murky waters an ancient world record sized turtle
its tough to not
jump out of the boat to start...
ah its a log!
I hit that, I thought it was a huge turtle
after two hours of mud
and four beaver dams later we had finally arrived
I can see just through the trees there its Lost Lake
this is we're gonna catch an enormous snapping turtle lets get into it
we made it!
nice work Bill
this is crazy... wow bill you weren't kidding
I feel like we've traveled back in time this is
unreal...huge lily pads
there's a great blue heron flying on the far side there ancient looking trees
and a GIANT dragon
out there in those waters. The folklore is the Indians
up on this ridge right here...they lived there
and they would send hunters down
and they wouldn't come back
that was 100s years ago. So they named it
lost lake that's how it got its name
it is impossible to describe in words what I felt as my kayak
cut across the waters of Lost Lake
knowing that I was the first human other than Bill
to explore these waters in nearly 100 years
we're all anxious to get after this giant turtle and as we search for a place to
set the trap
bill told us about the day that he had his epic encounter
one of the traps when we came back had two nice snappers in it
the other trap had a hole towards the back of it
he almost left an imprint of the shell as he passed through the wire
how big would you say a turtle would have to be to do that?
big as wide as that hole was...you could see that his shell rubbed the sides
I' guessing that hes 100 lbs
you think theres a 100 turtle in here? I really do, yeah...
Bill prepped his secret bait recipe, however the carp is the only part we can show you
as we released the dragon trap into the water my mind raced with visions
of what it would be like if we actually caught a 100-pound turtle
a good set right there. thats perfect
just enough space for the turtles to come up and breath
right up against the weed bed
now the waiting game begins
two and a half hours from now there might be a world record turtle in there
mmm right now
Bill and Mark are taking a break in shade
I just refuse to go in and wait
we've got to trap set I just keep envisioning this moment when
I'm moving in the kayak in all of sudden I see that shadow underwater
just like in Jaws see it going under the boat
jumping in and grabbing hold of that turtle even without the other cameras here
it would still be crazy
I'm gonna keep lookin we're gonna get him
Encountering a snapping turtle
is far easier said done and I'm used to the constant search
cruising the waters on my kayak staking out the lily pads
searching with binoculars for dragons
the waiting game can sometimes feel
like forever
Bills method of encountering dragons is quite a bit different
his strategy is to wait and let the trap
do all of the work
after a few hours had passed we headed back out onto the water
to see if the trial run was a success
could we have captured the legend Lost Lake on our first attempt?
the trap was about to tell us. Could be a world record sitting right down there
could be an enormous turtle in there right now
feel heavy? yeah it does
got one
holy cow look at that!
wow thats a pretty big turtle
holy cow he was no world record but our first catch
was a very healthy turtle
proof positive
that the dragons were lurking in Lost Lake
ah hes slicing me up...razor sharp claws. there you go that is the first
first official dragan
right out of Lost Lake we caught one
earlier in the channel but boy that is a
good-lookin' turtle right there
I can only imagine how big they're growing in here. covered in algae
just like the other one these turtles are ancient
man a sharp beak...beautiful reptile
if this is any indication
as to whats ahead of us I feel really good
about our chances of landing an enormous snapping turtle
now do you consider this a big turtle? no
no not for this lake he's a he seems healthy and fat
he just a really nice looking turtle but um
compared to some of the others I've caught here no he's no comparison
so the monster's still out there that
all right we gotta get the giant trap back into the water
so we can catch the giant dragon I named this guy Randy
cuz you guys know I name them all lets put him back in the wild
and hopefully overnight we get the big boy
here he goes ready? I'm gonna let him just plop off the side
see you later buddy
now the real test could the trap draw in
capture and hold a world record turtle?
12 hours from now we would find out all these years of anticipation this might be
it
oh yeah there's something in there...there's definitely something in there
its huge somethings in the bottom of this thing
geez I've never had this problem before
THATS A HUGE TURTLE!
that could be the 100lb turtle! next time
on Dragon Tails