Spring is a time of new life, and yet it sometimes takes a few weeks longer than expected to see some manifestations—such as fawns, goslings or even just new blooms on an old tree. One thing I nearly forgot was the movement of certain animals that haven’t been seen since the fall. 

While driving my kids to the babysitter, I momentarily took my eyes off the road to scold the children in the back seat. In the second my attention was split, I hit something in the road which I could only look in the rearview mirror to identify.

Unfortunately, I believe I struck a small turtle crossing the road. Why did the turtle cross the road? I might never know. 

But, I did have a chance to redeem my mistake. Not five miles down the road, I spotted another one halfway across the pavement. With no cars around me, I decided to stop and help this one out. Do I believe in karma? No. Did I feel bad about squishing a turtle? Absolutely. But to complete my penance for this mistake I thought I’d let the rest of the community hear the following public service announcement:

THE TURTLES ARE ON THE MOVE

Now that you know, perhaps you’ll stop for the next scuttling little hockey puck on your road and help him save a few steps on his pilgrimage from one puddle to another. The tiny ones are easy to miss, but just a few days later I happened to be going to my greenhouse when I spied a large stone in the road from a ways away. By the time I got close to it, I realized it was a great big snapping turtle heading from the swamp down to the neighbor’s pond.

Of course, I had to stop and let the boys get a good look before carefully lifting this behemoth to the field he wanted to get to. Unlike his smaller cousins, he was a little less interested in my help. This ol’ snapper was all scratch, bite and go, whereas the little mud turtles and paints typically just hold their arms and legs in while being moved.

This big boy also took two hands to heave off the ground, unlike the palm-sized convenience of those others. I did my best to hold him tight even though his little dinosaur tail was whipping around and his long nails were raking my fingers. I got him to the grass and bid him adios before heading on my way. 

I knew my uncle would probably have wanted that turtle for soup, but I don’t even know if they were in season or not and was also not in the mood to babysit the finger-lopping, hissing, mobile mini-boulder until it could be dealt with. 

The way out here we don’t want to abuse critters, but sometimes part of their life cycle takes them into riskier contact with humans. The same is true for deer, bear, turkeys, squirrels and numerous other native species. We are blessed to have them around, but part of living with them is knowing what they are doing and when. If you aren’t paying attention, nature might remind you to keep your proverbial eye on the road. 

There is a proverb that goes, “Because the turtle does not like to belong to any clan, it always carries its coffin along with it.” Ironically, the proverb refers to the turtle’s self-sufficiency, while I would have been more than happy to keep that first possible road turtle from its demise by assisting it as I did the others. Take time for the turtles, folks, and if your kids are misbehaving in the back seat, tell them to shape up for the critters’ sake.

Hunter Hill is a born and raised local, fluent in the veritable lifestyles of outdoor work and play. He currently resides in the woods of Wayne County with his family and has received award-winning recognition for his column highlighting life as he knows it The Way Out Here.