re: Is this the kind of turtle some of yall eat?

I prefer the meat on softshells to any other turtle, but the yield on them is much lower than on a snapping turtle (either kind). The size you show there is about the smallest I'll keep. Smaller than that and you don't get a lot of meat for the effort of cleaning one. They clean really easy, and 2 that side will make a fine meal for a family, with some left over.

And who let you put Ultra in a boat?

I'd call that a mature female, so likely in the 7+ year range.

To previous comments concerning age and size, turtles have a high juvenile mortality but fairly low adult mortality. For the most part, when they reach a size like that nothing is going to kill them until they finally die of old age. Also, reptiles tend to have indeterminate growth so they never stop growing. It slows a lot after they get to a certain size, obviously. Older/bigger females produce more eggs, so taking large females can be very detrimental to the population. However, I believe male alligator snappers are bigger than females, which is the opposite for many other turtle species.