It was a peaceful evening at the ranch… too peaceful. Suddenly I became aware of a rucus in the cattle pasture. Cows and calves were bawling and running from one fence to the other. Knowing my cows, I deduced something was scaring them, or they had heard a cow circus was coming to town! I checked the paper, nope, no cow circus this week. Something was in the pasture!
Grabbing my .44, I jump in the truck and head through the gate and into the cattle melee. The cows stay ahead of me and run over a hill out of sight. As I top the hill, I see the cows have formed a circle around the offending creature. Still bawling, pawing, and making themselves candidates for a mad cow laboratory, I make my cautious approach. The cows are facing in looking at something when I see something strike from the grass, narrowly missing a nose. What the heck! I give a command only cows undertand and the herd separates to let me get a closer inspection.
Wow! That’s the biggest snapping turtle I have ever seen! Using a scoop shovel, I flip the turtle over and scoop him in the back of my truck. Back at the house, I yell to Honey Bunches, “Put the hamburger back in the freezer, we’re having turtle soup tommorrow”. I look back at the fence where the cows have now gathered and are smiling cow smiles. “You girls did that on purpose”, I think to myself.
