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Snapper

Mike

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,840
223
Up Nort
I let it go. Can't bring myself to eat one. It had creepy crawlys all over it.
 

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Hedgelj

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,145
178
Mohicanish
Must have been the first week we were in our new house. The neighbor was weedeating some of the brushy area behind his house. He came up on a snapper on its nest. He had cracked the shell pretty well and it was bleeding from a few different spots but I couldn't bring myself to kill it for the fact it was on its nest and I didn't want the neighbors to think a neanderthal had just moved in. It was fine a few days later so I dunno what happened to it.


Supposedly there are quite a few coyotes that run through the neighborhood, if one stops long enough in my yard I may find out how well a full basement works as a suppressor through the walkout.
 

Fullbore

Senior Member
6,439
126
South Eastern Ohio
Yeah, for those of you who haven't eaten turtle. You don't know what your missing! They say that there is 7 different flavors of meat on a snapping turtle. I par boil it all, dust it with flour and pan fry it in butter. I like the tail and neck the best. Underneath its shell are back straps that taste like chicken tenders. Darn good eats!
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
I've eaten about everything I think is edible in this state- except turtle. Mason's buddy catches quite a few, he brings it to school and shares with Mason for lunch. He loves it. I used to catch them from mom and dad's pond on jug lines. I would pull them up far enough to shove a shotgun barrel in their face, what a mess. I tried to clean one. It's about the only thing I ever put a knife to that frustrated me enough to throw it away. I need to learn the ways of the turtle...
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
They take about one hour to clean. It's one of those projects that you need to take your time with.
I can gut, skin, and quarter a deer in about the same time it takes me to dress out a turtle. It's just one of those things.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
They take about one hour to clean. It's one of those projects that you need to take your time with.
I can gut, skin, and quarter a deer in about the same time it takes me to dress out a turtle. It's just one of those things.

Don't you have to be careful of the cuts you make you can ruin the meat?
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
Don't you have to be careful of the cuts you make you can ruin the meat?

Yes and no. When you separate the shell to expose the meat and organs you have to separate everything piece by piece trying to keep the individual pieces whole and intact.
In the end you end up with 7 different pieces of turtle meat.
 

Hoytmania

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
11,518
167
Gods Country
I remember hearing that one way to get the shell off is to cut off the head of the turtle. Take your garden hose and stick it in its neck. Put a hose clamp around its neck so that it clamps down on the end of the hose. Turn the water on and watch it swell to the point it separates the top from the bottom shell.