I had an uncle who made turtle soup out of snapping turtles, although I never tasted it, since it sounded like a bad idea. He'd pay us $5 or $10 for a snapping turtle, depending on the size. There were sandy spots along the creek where they would bury themselves sometimes. The wet sand might be indented, and sometimes you could see air bubbling through the sand where the turtle was. Since large snappers were tough to come by, we weren't usually looking of them when we found them, so we wouldn't have shovels or anything with us. So we'd dig with sticks and hands, trying to determine where the non-dangerous part of the turtle was. Those things were nasty, though; it's almost as if they didn't like the idea of being turned into soup.
The last time I was home, after having been away for a long time, I walked down by the creek, and it was hard to believe we used to swim and play there. When I was a kid, it had a sandy beach, and the area around it was kept mowed. We had a rope swing into the wide spot in the creek, and all the kids in the neighborhood (all six of us) used to play and swim there. Well, it seems that kids don't play outdoors anymore, so the banks hadn't been cleared in at least a couple of decades, and it was hard even to walk along the creek banks. The water was black, and there were snakes and spiders. That was kind of sad, really. Although there are at least as many kids in the area now as there were then, I don't know that they ever leave their own yards.
Remembering that this thread was supposed to be about cats catching bats, I am trying desperately to think of a way to end my post on topic but I'm sorry, I can't. I've already told the story of my kitty bringing a live bat in t through the cat, so door, so that won't work.
