At any point during a summer on the farm, something inevitably gets neglected, ignored or, more likely, forgotten, as the heavy weight of constant labor in the fields consumes all of the time at hand. In this particular season, there was a long period where the war on weeds was of constant focus, and one of the neglected areas was the grass throughout the property surrounding the fields. Since mowing the grass will not help the growth of, say, any crop in the fields, it was left to grow… and grow… and grow… Eventually, with the vegetation anywhere from a foot to three feet in height, I was able to pull out the walk behind brush mower to diminish the size of the grass to something at least treadable.
As I walked behind the purring machine that oddly enough sounds very similar to the sound rumbled in Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine”, I quickly noticed something that was quite disconcerting. The area that was being mowed was the grass inside of the deer fence that surrounds Field 8 out in the front of the farm. While I was able to erect the deer fence earlier in the season to keep out the deer, the lower portion of protection, the chicken wire to be wrapped around the bottom was not installed at that point. This meant that anything that could chew through black plastic meshing could easily gain entrance to the field, which ultimately translates into anything but deer could enter at will.
So, as my path led me around the fence-lined border, a noticeable path made by some type of critter came quickly into view. Just along the edge of the fence was a pressed down path of grass that ran its length from the border of the property to just past the gate opening, maybe thirty feet or so. At first, I thought, “Groundhogs…” in a guttural growl. But, that did not make much sense. First off, there was no existing groundhog hole near the entry point of the fence. Having quite an extensive knowledge of groundhog activity, that mammal was quickly ruled out. The next creatures to jump into my mind were rabbits, those confounded… rabbits! But that did not seem to be the correct trespasser either. In my experience, rabbits do not travel in a manner to leave such a well defined path.
So what could it be? The path was somewhat wide, maybe six inches in width, which seemed quite out of the ordinary. Earlier in the season, a cat had been spotted in the area, but would it create such a path? I admit that I was rather perplexed, especially as my continued mowing revealed the rest of the path. For some reason, the thought of following where the trail led eluded me at first, but once the mower reached the gate entrance, the path veered away from the fence line in a meandering fashion. Whatever it was appeared to have been lost, or drunk! Perhaps the creature could not see over the high vegetation. But the trail was so prominent. It appeared to have been used for quite some time.
One thing that popped into my mind was that whatever the culprit was, no noticeable damage was witnessed in the rows of Field 8. Normally, with such a well trodden path, it will end at a row, of say, beans, and there will be quite extensive damage to those plants. Such was not the case, in fact, the trail eventually led away from the rows of produce. It seemed obvious at that point that the creature had to be on the prowl, for the aroma of fresh organic produce would undoubtedly entice any veggie lover into the beans, or peas, lettuce, tomatoes, melons, etc. No, that aroma seemed not to affect the path of the trespasser through the high grass.
From the gate, the trail led toward the road, in a direction almost parallel to the rows of produce. Eventually, it led to a brush pile that rests atop an area that quickly becomes marshy during heavy rains. And here the trail appeared quite odd. The brush pile is cylindrical in shape, and the path led tightly around the brush pile, almost constantly up against it. The creature had to be off its rocker, for it was travelling in circles! But perhaps it was a cat merely seeking out mice in that dense pile. Nonetheless, there were three more trails that traveled away from the pile. The movement appeared to become more complex as I grew more and more perplexed.
But, as I was reaching the northeast corner of the area near the road, the culprit was spotted, and seen at the same time. Racing with all of its might to outrun the walk behind mower was a rather large turtle. It most certainly had no idea that harm was not coming its way. No, as rapidly as it could move its feet, it scampered toward the deer fence boundary in a desperate attempt to escape. Its silently trundling legs mashed down more of the high grass only feet from an escape from the enclosed area.
The trails quickly made sense in my mind. The width of the trail was from the width of the turtle’s shell. Whether it travelled more than once really did not matter, for one chance stroll through the high grass would reveal the same path. The meandering style of the trail accurately reflected how such a turtle travels. The fact that it hugged the nearest area of moisture also made logical sense. What could cause such a visible meandering trail through high grass? The answer had been found.
Unfortunately for me, the answer remains simply “turtle”. I attempted to look up what type of turtle it was, but that did not result in anything. To explain, I am very familiar with box turtles, or so my mind tells me. This turtle did not fit the description for its shell was not a “box”, but more flat in shape. Of course, I was looking at it from above. Actually, the more I think about what I saw, the less the memory is clear in my mind. Once the native Maryland turtles were viewed on line, the realization that no answer would be found from my inquiry drew quickly apparent. The closest resembling turtle viewed was the diamondback terrapin. This turtle thrives in brackish water surrounding the Chesapeak. Somehow, finding one of those amphibian creatures so far from water does not seem probable. After searching for a while, it seems to me that what I viewed was a type of box turtle afterall. In times of extreme heat, they tend to seek out moisture, which would easily explain the circuitous path around the brush pile, the nearest area of moisture.
In summation, a new entrant to the field has been witnessed, but is it friend or foe? From what I have read, the box turtle, for that is what I am assuming it was, feeds on earthworms and slugs amongst other critters, along with berries, etc. If that is the case, I have easily three bushels of slugs that turtle can feast on any time it wants… if only it can find the rows in Field 8!