Finding horseshoe crabs used to be rather easy as there were so many strewn about on the beaches cooking in the sun or waiting for the next high tide to ride to sea. Now finding horseshoe crabs is more of a challenge, but we enjoyed the challenge at Oyster Pond in Chatham, MA and found 8 in total. Honestly, after dragging 8 on the beach to our towels I would have loved to have asked some of the people staring at us what they thought of it all. Many people freak out at the sight of horseshoe crabs when they are turned upside down and their 8 claws are exposed. They do look like they might want to eat you but they are completely helpless, and harmless. One actually was loaded with eggs but dead, and the task of scraping it's insides out was rather disgusting so we buried it, with the thought that we better bury it very deep or a raccoon or skunk would find it and dig it up. Well, animals have amazing scent ability and the next morning it was dug up and the eggs eaten out. Ugh. At least we were able to salvage the shell which was our original goal.
Most everything has changed on Cape Cod as in all places on earth over the last 25 years, but, seriously it happens so slowly you barely notice until one day you realize things are not they way they were and never will be again. Horseshoe crabs are diminishing in number every year on the beaches of Cape Cod. There used to be so many that we collected new ones every year, however, this year, we will hang on to the 8 we found because now we realize we may not find any next year.