The Turtle Man: ‘Kentucky’s best kept secret’
With apologies to my old Kentucky home for setting back its effort to overcome hillbilly stereotypes, we present Ernie Brown Jr., the Turtle Man — snagger of snapping turtles.
“I try not to smile cause I got my teeth knocked out by a chain saw,” he explains to the photographer in this piece for Kentucky Afield TV.
Brown, from Lebanon, Ky., calls himself “Kentucky’s best-kept secret” and “the poorest famous guy around.” Brown travels to farms and rids ponds of turtles causing problems such as biting horses and cows.
You can also find an excellent story and video about Brown in the Lexington Herald.
Brown, unlike most other turtle eradicators, works only with his hands. As for the shrill yell he emits with each catch, that’s not hillbilly — not purely a rebel yell, he explains — but half native American, as he says he is.
Though he says the turtles make for “good eatin’,” Brown insists he takes the turtles to ponds where they won’t cause problems. “I’m kind of like a warrior, like Robin Hood,” he says. “I bring a turtle out of this pond, put him in another where he won’t do no violence.”
“I don’t kill it,” says The Turtle Man. “I only catch it. Don’t never torture nothing. That’s my name of the game. That’s how you stay into it. Keep people liking you.”
Posted by jwoestendiek February 3rd, 2009 under Muttsblog, videos.
Tags: animals, catch, ernie brown, hillbilly, kentucky, livestock, ponds, rebel yell, removal, snag, snapping, snapping turtles, swamp, the turtle man, turtleman, turtles, wildlife
Comments
Comment from Allison Raymond
Time January 2, 2012 at 7:01 pm
I watch nearly all of Ernie Brown’s (turtle man’s) episodes. I think what he does for people is so generous, he’s so unselfish and giving. More people should have the heart and goodwill he has. You don’t neccesarily have to go out and catch turtles and get rid of ‘critters’ to do that. Just show a little kind-heartedness towards your fellow man/woman. Keep it up turtle man!
Comment from Mary Schmidt
Time February 4, 2009 at 11:09 am
In my part of the nation, there aren’t that many hills, so we just have rednecks instead of hillbillies. The redneck way of relating to snapping turtles is to shoot them, just because the turtle is around.
This guy seems incredibly brave–a good sportsman. I didn’t see any visible scars on his arms and no mishaps for the Turtle Man were recorded in the video. Obviously, he’s got a lot of skill to be able to grab the tail and not the head of the snapping turtle.
There’s a certain dignity to this guy doing a difficult and potentially harmful task, without high-tech gadgets, armor and so on. Interesting video.