No more Hunting...No More fishing...I'm done with both....

I've had snapping turtle several times and it is good eating. It tastes like very fine, very lean ground sirloin. It is great in soups or stew. I came across one a few years ago on the way to duck spot and it was easily 40 pounds. I saw one when I was a kid that was HUGE. The head was the size of a softball and the shell was just massive. I think we have a season on them here in MA. It would be fun to catch a few, but I have no idea how to clean them.

Nate
 
THere's nothing better than Turtle. I just got one a week ago that went over 35#'s. I catch 20-30 a year. Nothin' better than fried Turtle, and corn bread.

Lance
 
How do clean them? Do you have to pressure cook or par boil the meat to tenderize it? I know of several places where there are some large turtles. A spot just up the road from me has some big boys. Do you use a trap or a trot line to catch them?

Nate
 
Nate, A turtle trap is easy to make. Four 2 x 4" s in a square with long spikes facing inward with a wire mesh loosely covering the bottom. This should be two foot by two foot square. Put meat in the middle and wait. The turtle can crawl in but not out. Check your local regulations on use.
 
Turtle dressing is a mainstay of the Harker reunion every year. My uncles set traps and catch them and my aunts make the big roasters full of turtle dressing. I know it's at least my grandmothers recipe and more than likely, further back than that. When we were little, my dad, his 5 brothers and grampa use to go frogging and turtle trapping. My grampa had a well pit that was about 8x8 and 8' deep. They would put the turtles and frogs down there till there was enough for a big feed...we would all go out to grampas on a Saturday afternoon and they would clean all the turtles and frogs for a big Sunday family feed. With all the aunts and uncles and grandkids that meant about 40 people. We kids would have sticks with turtle heads bit on them and they would bring the frogs up in gunny sacks, lay them on the ground and the kids would catch the frogs and give them to the men to clean. Back then, these turtles were about 20-30 lbs and the frogs had legs as big as chickens. Grampa used to nail the big turtle shells on his barn along with all his deer antlers. Some slugs stole them in the early seventies while he was uptown. Geoff, been so long since I cleaned a turtle, I probably would make a mess of one now. We always either took a stick, let the turtle bite on it..pull the head out and chopped it off or tapped it on the nose(grampa could do that every time) and the turtle would just relax with it's head out..and chop it off. Then flip it over on it's back and with a hatchet, chop the bottom shell where it attaches to the top shell.Next you pretty much filet the topp shell off the meat..repeat with the bottom and then work on gutting,legs and tail.
 
I'm going to give it a go this summer. I think it would be fun. My dad tells a similar story as Lee's from when he was a kid. His pop would catch a few turtles and put them in an old oak rain barrel and would wait a week or so for the turtle to clean itself out and then butcher them for the pot. He said it was good eating. Of course, his grandad would eat just about anything back then.

There are a bunch of swamps and ponds near my house that I know have some big boys in them. I have some 2 x 4s and hardware cloth, so I think I'll make a few traps and see what I can catch.

Nate
 
Nate, my uncles make a barrel shape out of field fence or 6x6 remesh with the opening funneling into the barrel. They use bluegills or some meat wrapped in mesh and fastened near, but not on, the bottom. don't completely submerge the trap so they can get some air and check the traps everyday. Check your gamelaws since there is probably a season on them.
 
We get them around here and they get pretty big.
This one pictured in the water showed up in a pond frequented by both ducks and geese, the geese at the time had young with them and they all disappeared in short order after the turtle started showing.
I would guess the one out of water @ about 15-20lbs I didn't get a full view of the other but it was way bigger.

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Eat lots and "Handle with great care"!!!
 
Those are awesome photos. He looks like a big one for sure. I asked a friend of mine who lives up the road and right above an old shallow quarry that is now a swamp more or less, if I could catch a few turtles. That is where I saw the real big one a few years ago and she said that they have seen a lot of big turtles in there during the summer.

I got bit by a small snapper when I was a kid and it nearly took the top of my thumb off. He wasn't quite strong enough to bite through my thumb nail, so that is probably what saved the rest of my thumb. It bled like a stuck pig though. I remember the trail of blood from my porch right into my mom's kitchen to the sink. They bite hard!

I'll make a few traps and see what I can catch. I think my kids will get a kick out of this. My dad too.

Nate
 
One more thing...those things are fricken fast! They can turn on a dime and chase you out the back of a pickup truck...plus they can bite about halfway over their back. Grab the tail with a Kung-Foo grip and lift it off the ground.
 
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