Bill and Canaan Haywood have been featured in several international hunting magazines. The father/son duo from Laketon is making headlines again, this time after catching a world-record North American snapping turtle. They caught the turtle in a Kosciusko County marsh – they’re not saying exactly where – on May 25. After a visit from a herpetologist, the turtle’s official overall length measured 50.87 inches, while the shell measured 19.62 inches in length. According to North Manchester resident Ted Rose, a veteran wildlife photographer whose services were used to help document the special catch, the previous record-breaking snapping turtle was caught in Massachusetts in 2000. Rose said he has photographed wildlife for 25 years and has had more than 10,000 pictures published in magazines. He said the Haywood’s turtle was “the most unusual.” Canaan Haywood, 13 at the time, was featured in a Times-Union story on Nov. 20, 2009, after shooting an 18-point buck that scored over 200 and weighed more than 200 pounds.
