Turtle time

[Wolfdog91]

That time of the year. Got offa work yesterday around 6am didn't get my boots off before I had a text saying they need turtles gone since they just stocked some fish.
Well lazy me hasn't been caring for nets probably and just about all but one has been dry rotted. So it's gonna be alot of needle work on my day offhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220616/e4433ae73cbdfc93a3c05bb788d3aec8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220616/273bd8992c7d52400411e8030700751c.jpg
But on the bright side I had some forsight to make some bait cages the other night and pick up bait so had that going for me .
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220616/0cfb16daea94c5f99079a6632eca269d.jpg
But yeah got the one good one out in the water and decided to sit around and just watch since the pond was so small due to low water . Less then 30min I come back and there a small snapper , 10 maybe 15 lbs surfacing by and trying to get into the net a so hopefully by the time I go back to check in a few hours he'll be sitting in there with a dozen or so sliders
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Hoping relocating spots are still good since I legally can't keep or seel these critters

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[namsag]

Hey man I ‘ve seen your posts on other forums. I built a trap last year very similar to yours but had no luck catching any, will give it another go here in a couple of weeks.

301300

I strung a wire with gizzards on it across the back of the trap, but when I would check it all the gizzards were gone and nothing in the trap. It is welded wire lined, I don’t know what is getting in there and taking the bait. I think I will try some bait cages this year.

My dogs were going crazy down my driveway last week, went to see what it was, they were harassing a good-sized snapper they had caught out in the open. I got the dogs away from her but will be looking for her in a few weeks.

301301

[Bmi48219]

When we had acreage things were just the opposite, for my wife. Any turtle she saw crossing a rural road was immediately taken into custody for transportation to our stocked pond. From a distance on a sunny spring day the banks of the pond looked like they were lined with dark green rocks.
I don’t think they seriously affected the fish population. The Martens and Minks had that covered.

[gwpercle]

WD91 ,
After you catch them ... then what ?
I enjoy your post and it would be interesting to see how a turtle is "processed" ...
How to get the shell off and the meat prepped for making a Turtle Sauce Piquante or Turtle Soup would be most informative . I can skin anything with fur ... but a shell has me wondering ... how do you get to the meat ?
Gary

[Wolfdog91]

WD91 ,
After you catch them ... then what ?
I enjoy your post and it would be interesting to see how a turtle is "processed" ...
How to get the shell off and the meat prepped for making a Turtle Sauce Piquante or Turtle Soup would be most informative . I can skin anything with fur ... but a shell has me wondering ... how do you get to the meat ?
Gary

Illegal in MS to harvest or sell them so they just get relocated. We are allowed one a year and somtimes I'll give one to a old timer but that's about it

[farmbif]

back when we had fish farm in palatka we would set trot lines and catch soft shell turtles out of the fish ponds. every so often I would take a few gallons of meat to this old time cook at a bar and restaurant in Gainesville and she would bread it, fry it then smother it in some kind of dark onion gravy and cook it till it was tender and very delicious . that lady knew what she was doing. with okra and tomatoes and pile of mashed potatoes, yeah that stuff was real good.

[Kylongrifle32]

They are good eating. Most people will flour and fry them. Then put into a crock pot with water and noodles or biscuits. I prefer it just rolled in flour and fried. Yeah it's tough and chewy but it's turtle. Always goes good with catfish and frog legs.

[namsag]

http://generalhorticulture.tamu.edu/prof/Recipes/Turtle/turtle.html

The old ancestral Louisiana way...

My dad was an insurance agent so he was in the car all day long driving the backroads of southwest Louisiana. In the spring it was common to see them crossing the roads, pretty sure they were females heading to nest. Old dad grew up scrambling for every meal during the Depression, so when he saw a big snapper crossing the road that turtle’s career was over, nesting or not. He would toss it in the trunk, take it home and let it purge a couple of days, and we had turtle sauce piquante.

I saw several this spring out on the roads, and the one in my driveway, but I’m suppressing the old instincts and following the rules. We can harvest come July 1.

[gwpercle]

Illegal in MS to harvest or sell them so they just get relocated. We are allowed one a year and somtimes I'll give one to a old timer but that's about it

Louisiana is different ... How do you get the shell off ?
Gary

[MaryB]

How to clean a turtle, make sure you have a stout knife that can take some abuse to get the shell off. Once that is done I switch to a short filet knife(6") to do the rest. First couple you will kind of hack the meat up looking for the joints, everybody does it so just go for it. Since I usually make it into a sauce piquant to serve over rice or pasta it doesn't matter if it is cut up a bit! I use an old hunting knife for the hard parts, it has a 1/4" thick spine and can handle being pounded on.

One thing I never had was eggs... we always waited until mid July before taking any snapping turtles, in MN you can possess 3 and they must be 12 inches shell length. Season starts July 1st... LOT of abandoned gravel pits around here that are full of them! And some big ones, saw one 2' long last year... old old critter!

https://masterwoodsman.com/2015/how-to-clean-snapping-turtle/

[GregLaROCHE]

Are you talking about snapping turtles? When I was a kid in Pa, we would catch snappers and sell them to the local bar/restaurant. Never thought it might have been illegal. Snapper soup is sure good. It’s been too long since I’ve had some.

[Winger Ed.]

WD91 ,. but a shell has me wondering ... how do you get to the meat ?
Gary

get on youtube and put 'how to clean a turtle' in their home site search engine.

[Markopolo]

Here ya go….


https://youtu.be/gp9rqk6JGgA

I sure wish we had turtles….

[redneck1]

In ohio the season is from July 1 to December. We didn't used to have limits , unsure if that's still the same or not .
They was also the only amphibian it was legal to sell / trade .
Not that you could enough for them to be worthwhile.

A friend did a bbq with one a long time ago.
He cooked it Hawaiian kalua style for 5-6 hours let it cool down then de-boned it rolled it up like a turkey and grilled it .

It wasn't bad , not exactly to my taste though .
My first impression was it tasted a lot like a duck . I don't care for duck myself .

[Tripplebeards]

I got a double on soft shells with fishing poles bottom fishing the other day trying for catfish. Our season is closed for a good month yet so they went back in. We have to wait till egg laying season is over. I use to make a living selling them as a kid back in the 70’s. More work to clean a turtle than a deer imo. I canned a few snappers the year before last. I crock potted them for days switching out the chicken broth daily until it stopped smelling like dead rotten fish. I even kept my snappers in garbage cans for two weeks prior switching out water daily till they crapped out all the funk. Once the meat had zero smell from about 4/5 days of straight croc potting I canned it in big chunks. I added beef broth to the jars and canned. The texture and taste was like tender chicken and or brisket. The meat fell apart is was so tender. I originally left it right on the the bone and tossed it into the crock pot. After a day or two I removed it from the bone and tossed it back in and kept switching out the broth till the dirty river smell disappeared. I’ll be doing a few again this year. If I remember soft shell turtle meat was a little bitter tasting vs snapper.

[contender1]

A big snapper is a heck of a meal.
We always put any we'd catch in a big tub of water that they couldn't get out of for a few days. As mentioned above,, allowing the turtle to purge itself.
Kill it,, & hang it by the tail to bleed out after removing the head.
Flip it over on it's back, & start working it apart. Once it's opened,, you can easily see the meat & as mentioned,, a good filet knife is great for removing the meat from the shell.
Once removed,, a quick fresh water rinse,, then in a crock pot, with BBQ sauce, watered down by half, and slow cooked for about 10-12 hours.
Good eating & the easiest way to cook.

[Thumbcocker]

I was at a gathering where snapping turtle was cooking in a crock pot. I opened the lid and got a whif of stinky pond bottom mud. No thank you.

[HWooldridge]

My aunt and uncle used to eat softshell turtle eggs. I was always assigned to cruise the river banks and look for fresh nests. One day, I found a female just starting to lay so I just reached underneath and pulled each egg out as she dropped them. I don’t recall the exact count but it was around 18-20.

[gwpercle]

In Louisiana all you need is a fishing license to take Common Snapping Turtles , they are plentiful and not in dangered . Alligator Snapping Turtles are getting harder to find and have restrictions .
But the common snapper is fair game .

I want to thank all for posting cleaning and cooking tips , hints and directions ... Markopolo's video answered all my questions ... Loved It !

I'm going to see if I can talk my younger brother into going Turtle Fishing with me ... seems the only times we have caught turtle's is while fishing for catfish .
Gary

[Winger Ed.]

I don’t think they seriously affected the fish population.

Mature fish can live with them.

The destruction of the fishing comes when the turtles push the breeding fish off their nests and eat the eggs.
The turtles will keep the game fish from reproducing.

[Tripplebeards]

Yeah after I can do my turtle meet up and give some cans to my uncles to try I had fun and googled it to see if you can even buy it online. It’s ridiculous priced!!! I think it’s like 25 bucks or more a pound now. Can’t wait till season comes I’ll catch a few snappers and can some up. I did a post under cooking recipes here a season or two ago on a couple that I caught it’s the ones I’m referring to. I can go out right now and catch one in about 10 minutes they’re just not in season don’t know why they do that here other than to protect their eggs because there are more turtles than mosquitoes in Wisconsin!

[jonp]

Im surprised you cant keep and eat them. Where i grew up there were no laws covering snappers

[elmacgyver0]

I thought this was going to be about Mitch McConnell.

[farmbif]

as far as turtles effecting fish populations. we had 20 one-acre-ponds we raised shiners and minnows, mostly shiners. it was a constant thing to get predators out of them to protect our livelihood those turtles gorge them selves on small fish. we had one 1/2 sized pond that was deeper and we kept it stocked with bass and eels. the turtles didn't mess with the large mouth bass as much. but fish that are 5" or less turtles can decimate a population if left unchecked.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve always eaten snappers in a soup with a lot of brown gravy. I love it. You used to be able to buy it canned or you could order it in restaurants. I’ve eaten sea turtle in the Caribbean in a kind of stew. It’s really good too.

[Winger Ed.]

Im surprised you cant keep and eat them. Where i grew up there were no laws covering snappers

It used to be like that all over.

Around here, they haven't been making new ones very fast and are getting kind of rare,
and I think they're protected now.

[johnsonian09]

At the local pond the old Dino snapper knows to hangout where I fish. If I throw back a pan fish he immediately kills it as it hits the water. Kind of interesting to watch.

3 years ago I think some kids released some pet turtles into the pond. I kept catching red eared sliders and painted box turtles. Really pretty.


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[Forty Rod Ray]

“De eats mos’ anyting In Louisiana….. and makes mos’ of taste pretty good……”

Jerry Clower (or should have)

[waksupi]

I used to catch a lot of turtles when I lived back east. My best method was to wire together some 4" diameter logs, into a square about 4' across. Put woven wire formed into a basket on the bottom. Drive spikes on the inside edge, spaced at the distance apart for the size turtles you wanted to catch. Suspend some meat or a fish over the center. The turtles would crawl over the logs to get the bait. When they tried to crawl back out, the spikes would keep the larger ones I wanted in, and the small ones could escape.

For the best tasting turtle, boil the meat and skim the fat that floats to the surface. Then cook the meat however you want.

[Tripplebeards]

I just catch them on rod and reel. Small treble hook and a chunk of fish. Seventeen to twenty pound mono works fine.