previously on Dragon Tails
hidden deep in the wilds Roann Indiana a giant snapping turtle lurks in the murky
waters of Lost Lake
the folklore is the Indians they would send hunters down
and they wouldn't come back
Bill Haywood has constructed a giant safe trap in an attempt to capture
and document this prehistoric sized dragon. I'm guessing he's
100 pounds
really? you think there's genuinely a hundred pound turtle in here? I think there is yeah...
we've already proven that it works confirming that Lost Lake is home
to some very big turtles. Woah thats a pretty big turtle
but will it be able to hold a new world record?
thats a huge turtle
day two the trap has been sitting for over 12 hours at this point, Bill how you
feelin
there's gonna be some turtles in it. All night all I could think about was
is there a huge hundred-pound turtle that has gone through the darkness
into this trap after our bait bucket honestly a 100lb turtle would be
unreal bigger than any common snapping turtle that's ever been caught in history
definitely feels like this ancient lake is the place that something like that
could happen
maybe we'll get extra lucky this morning and land a world record
what was going through your mind when you saw
a destroyed trap that no turtle had ever gotten out of before
yet this turtle rips a hole in it that's you know twenty inches wide
oh when we looked into the water I seen the bait bucket was gone I said well
I told my son Keenan I said there's a big one in there the bait buckets tore off
the strap and uh I got ahold of the trap
started pulling it in, it felt awful light
and we pulled it up out of this Blackwater and seen a big hole in the back of the cage
he was gone, it was really really disappointing
wow so only here in Lost Lake have you seen a turtle
destroy a trap like? That's right. okay
well he's out there and maybe we have him in the monster trap that you built
I hope so. Alright well lets go out there and check, let's do this
okay this is the moment of truth I just kayaked out there and that trap
it's definitely moved. yesterday when we left the trap there was just the corner
sticking up
now the whole one side is bowed up in the air all these years of
anticipation and this might be it
look at that you see those bubbles coming up?
there is definitely something in this trap. oh yeah. there's something in there
there's definitely something in here. That could be the 100lb turtle!
Is it heavy? Oh there's something big in there's something huge in there
it's huge, somethings in the bottom of this thing
jeez I've never had this problem before. Holy cow it's full of turtles!
Look at all those turtles! Oh my gosh it's like a crab pot from deadliest catch!
wow how many turtles are in there?
can't tell, look at how big that one is!
huge turtle
wow. holy cow I think
we just caught every turtle in Lost Lake . Bill you need me to come up in the boat?
I think so there's no way. There's three hundred pounds of turtle in here
oh my gosh
holy cow have you ever caught this many turtles before? no
let's try to slide it up. go for it guys
oh my gosh
not sure we're going to be able to get this in here
you guys got it! we're gonna flip the boat
let's go
1-2-3 go!
oh my gosh have you ever caught that many turtles
before in one trap? No I haven't. That turtle right there is HUGE
you've got nine turtles. 9 turtles! Wow! I've never seen that many snapping turtles in one place
before. I have't either
I think we caught every turtle in Los Lake holy cow
well this is insane okay...um. How you wanna do this?
I don't know what we should do? I don't even know what to do right now
we definitely wanna look at these huge ones. maybe like get to the dock and like push this
it on its side?
onto the dock. yeah and then that way we can...
I can climb in there with the? let's just get over to the dock because
I don't think we can do much out here. Bait really works good huh?
yep old-time family secret. It's not a world record but it may be the record
for the most turtles ever caught at once
gonna be fun getting them out of there. Lot of snappers in there
with nine dragons in the giant trap
we carefully made our way back across the choppy waters toward the dock
now it was time to get up close
and personal with our epic catch. this is insane!
Holy cow Bill look at that!
look at how many turtles are in there!
nice job man. This is a dream come true right here I'm gonna get into a cage
full of giant snapping turtles. Oh boy, they're already coming after me
oh he got your leg! yeah he did
that's me in a container full of snapping turtles
ok
yes holy cow that's a lot of turtles
Well you've got a man and nine turtles
this one's really close...really close
in a turtle trap with a buncha snapping turtles
This is a little nuts...Bill we may have caught
a record number of turtles in one trap is kinda what I'm thinkin
got lot of turtles, lots of turtles
we're going away each and every turtle to see how much weight
we have in this trap. How many turtles are staring down at your leg right now?
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
89 turtles 9 turtles all wanting to bite me
right now. Bill I've gotta hand you this turtle. I can't get ahold of him right now.
hold on.....AHHHHH!!!
that hurt
thats what you get for climbing in a cage with a bunch of turtles
a boy...ouch he got me good
woo! the dragon's lair
Dragon's Lair ...only got bit once too on my leg
ahhh!!
not too bad
alright guys you ready we're gonna weigh nine snapping turtles
smallest to largest here we go! thats a little tiny peeper!
probably the smallest turtle I've ever weighed before
turtle number 1
12 pounds
thats a good start for a small little female
next one up turtle number 2
getting these turtles out of here is not exactly easy
thats was close, close to the eyeball
jeez you're feisty little bugger aren't ya?
alright in the bag
he is at 16 pounds
Turtle number 3
19 pounds... nice. Turtle number four
going up 19 as well
respectable respectable another nineteen pounder
turtle number five this one's got some weight to him
24 pounds 24 pounds....
we should
we should film this, I got bit
lets just film this weight with him and be like I just got bit
this is what happens when you handle snapping turtles. This turtle just bit the
top of my thumb off
big time
I tried to....
I tried to just get some of the mud off of him and he just definitely
chomped right through the top my finger deep I mean he
yeah he bit the top of my thumb off. yeah we're gonna have to clean that up...lets weigh him real quick
you guys wanna know what it feels like to get the top of your thumb bit off by a snapping turtle?
it hurts really bad it's probably the worst bite ever taken
actually its not probably the worst bite I've ever taken, it's without question the worst bite I have ever
taken
alright here ready? going up...turtle number 6
26 pounds a bloody
26 pounds. Guys this is why
you don't go out and catch snapping turtles
this is how dangerous this is I took my eye off that turtle for just a second
as I was dipping him the water he turned his head and he literally bit the top of my
thumb off
and it hurts pretty darn bad right now. That was seriously traumatic
and my thumb is pretty sore...um, this is the turtle that bit me
I'm just going to give him what he deserves
immediate freedom this guy's going right back into the water
he is a very very aggressive turtle as they all are
but uh I'm not take my chances anymore
with this beast, alright he is heading back
into the wild ready got the shot yep
alright buddy
look at that he's still coming back after me
feels good to let the turtle go
that bit the top of your thumb off...got two more in there
here we go alright turtle
number 7
30 pounds
biggest one yet
turtle number eight going up
ready
32
32 yep. Alright this is the biggest one that we've caught
this turtles easily over 40 pounds . Drumroll guys...
Turtle number nine
going up here we go ready?
poked a leg out! wow look at that
49 pounds alright Bill so this is the biggest Turtle we caught out of Lost
Lake
Now you don't think this is the guy who broke your trap? No I for sure
I'm certain. I'd say the guy we're after is
probably twice this size. Wow you can imagine a snapping turtle
twice this size? I mean this turtle dwarfs
all those other turtles we just pulled out of the lake. I just can't believe we caught nine turtles in that trap
that way amazing
it really is man your trap definitely gets the job done
these turtles Lost Lake definitely will take your finger
if you're not careful here we go we're going to add up the nine turnovers
we've got twelve 16 19
19 24 26
30 32 and 49
for a total weight of 227 lbs
Bill can you believe that?
200 and 27 pounds worth of turtles
in this trap. I have to question whether or not that is a world
record?
for the number of turtles and weight in one trap. have to look into that something that
we never anticipated
I never heard of anybody building trap this big before
I think we caught every turtle other than the world record turtle well you know what
that means guys
we're just gonna have to come back to Lost Lake for season 2 I think the best
thing to do now
is to let all the little turtles go. The one that bit my thumb off we already let him go
one other climbed out his boat off my kayak and got away
It's a risky game
of hot potatoes right there!
here we go, the two largest dragons back in Lost Lake
see later buddy
ah man what beast 49 pounds
so incredible to get this close to a prehistoric dragon like this
on lost lake
man
high-fives that was awesome! well 227 pounds worth snapping turtles
in your giant dragon trap the world record
the 100 Turtle is still out there somewhere
the common snapping turtle is one of the most unique and elusive animals in the
world
ancient in every regard however
if we wanted to get up close with the largest freshwater turtle in North
America
we would need to travel south into the back waters
of Louisiana
home to a different breed of dragon the 1 and only
alligator snapping turtle!
next time on Dragon Tails