Wildlife on the Farm

We share our farm with an abundance of wildlife. We have 750 acres total and about 300 of those acres are wooded. We have also built 7 ponds across the farm and a wetland. 

As I’m getting older, I get more pleasure in finding pockets of wildlife. Last weekend I was moving some dirt between our house and a pond to smooth out a hill. As I dug in, I found 6 - 2” diameter baby snapping turtles. These turtles were fresh out of their eggs which were right next to them (the eggs were like thin rubber). Diana and I carefully moved the turtles to the tall grass at the edge of the pond. I saw one of the bigger turtles nearby so hopefully they will do OK. 

A couple months ago I saw one of the adult turtles going across our road and put a FF hat on it to show size and posted the pic on Facebook. The turtle got into a hissing/barking match with our dog but eventually kept walking into the woods. I got a lot of grief from people who thought I should have eaten it (turtle meat is good). I explained at the time that I want these turtles to procreate and I want to see lots of snapping turtles in our ponds. Funny how only 2 months later I was blessed to discover a group that had just hatched. They are fun to watch as they are not shy and keep their heads out of their shell and move quickly around.