Snapping Turtle??

[bersaguy]

How many folks here have eaten snapping turtle?

[No_0ne]

3 hours ago, bersaguy said:

How many folks here have eaten snapping turtle?

You mean intentionally?

[gregintenn]

I can’t make myself get that close to one.

[MacGyver]

I have.  They’re a real pain to prepare - but turtle soup done well is great.

Personally, I like it like they do it at Brennan’s in New Orleans.

The sherry is a must.

https://www.neworleans-food.com/recipes/turtle-soup/

[NoBanStan]

6 hours ago, No_0ne said:

You mean intentionally?

Please let there be a story here involving unintentional consumption of snapping turtle. please....

[bersaguy]

10 hours ago, NoBanStan said:

Please let there be a story here involving unintentional consumption of snapping turtle. please....

According to the folks that have eaten it some say it's a delicacy . I have never eaten it but I sure made a few bucks off of them while growing up.

[NoBanStan]

24 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

According to the folks that have eaten it some say it's a delicacy . I have never eaten it but I sure made a few bucks off of them while growing up.

Definitely not knocking it sir. I just wanted to hear a story where someone ate it without meaning to.

[bersaguy]

Back when I was a kid that loved to hunt and fish I was always looking for away to make a buck for ammo and fishing tackle and we had an older gentleman that lived next store to us and he had a pen built off one of his storage buildings bur nothing was in it. Being nosey, I asked him what the pen was for and he said snapping turtles. He said he use to catch them in the swamp ponds behind our houses but he had to quit doing it as his age got the best of him. He would sell them to people that would come out of the city and buy them. I asked him if he would show me how to do it and he said he would think about it. His concern was my age I was only 12. He finally showed me how to make the lines with steel leaders, treble hooks and 200 pound nylon thread. He said the farmer down the road supplied him with chicken guts from when he cleans chickens so I went as spoke to the farmer and he said he would give me some.

   The next day the old man and I spent making turtle lines and the next day I went and got the bait. We baited 5 lines and the old man and I went and put out the lines. To Be Continued!!!!!!

[bersaguy]

6 minutes ago, NoBanStan said:

Definitely not knocking it sir. I just wanted to hear a story where someone ate it without meaning to.

Sorry but don't know of anyone that ate it not knowing what it was but I am sure it has happened many times.

[DJTC45]

Turtle soup is good, you wouldn't know the difference if no one told you what your eating. It can sometimes be a pain to clean and prep. We did a job at the Nashville Waste building and installing new tanks, one of the guys that was digging an area we're whrre running a new pipe line to tie in dug up two huge snapping turtles he put them in the back of the truck and brought them down for us to see before he released them down by the river. They where huge, he had an old shovel handle and put it next to the biggest of the two, well if that had been an arm it would've taken it off.

[bersaguy]

Snapping Turtle  PART 2

The second day David showed up and we had to take weed wackers and cut a wide path to the ponds to be able to get a cart to the ponds to haul the turtles we caught if any.  The old man worked on fixing the old cart as It had not been used in over 5 years.

  The following day it was time to check the lines. The 3 of us went down to the first line and there was no turtle so we went to the second line and it was pulled tight and had a turtle on it. It took Dave and I to pull the turtle to the bank and it had a shell the size of a dinner plate. Once we got it on the bank the old man produced a club about the size of a police blackjack and told us to pull the head out so he can see it's nose. 1 smack on the tip of it's nose and the turtle was out cold. He said it was better to show you how to knock one out than to try and explain it. We ended the day with 3 turtles, all about the same size. We took them and put them in the pen. Within about an hour they were all awake again. 

   The old man called a few of his old customers and told them he had turtles and by the weekend we had 11 turtles and 2 of them  almost as big as a #8 washtub. Word spread fast around the small town and soon people we getting on a waiting list the 2 big turtles sold for 12 bucks and the rest all sold for $8.00. We caught and sold turtles till everything Iced over.                                                           

[Alleycat72]

When I was a kid I would bow hunt them and give them to a old man that loved them. 

[bersaguy]

There's an old saying,   If a snapping turtle bites you it won't let go until it thunders!!!!

[peejman]

Make sure you know the different between a common snapping turtle and an alligator snapping turtle. 

Alligator snappers are considered rare in TN.  

[bersaguy]

2 minutes ago, peejman said:

Make sure you know the different between a common snapping turtle and an alligator snapping turtle. 

Alligator snappers are considered rare in TN.  

Right!!! They are rare to find one in Tennessee and even more rare in Illinois where we were catching them. We only caught 2 in 3 years of fishing for them and we released both of them back into the bigger swamp lake that we didn't fish in.

[BigK]

On 4/7/2023 at 1:39 PM, bersaguy said:

How many folks here have eaten snapping turtle?

We didn't walk on the bank when we went frog gigging we walked up the  middle of a creek. I won't blame you if you don't believe me, but I've seen my dad gig a snapping turtle in the head more than once. He'd hold it up and I'd whack that sucker off with the machete we carried for snakes. We'd leave the turtle on the bank and grab it on the way back to the truck since they're so heavy. I never watched him dress it, but I've eaten what he called turtle stew. It was similar to a thinner version of what pot pie filling tastes like.

Edited April 9, 2023 by BigK

[Luckyforward]

16 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

There's an old saying,   If a snapping turtle bites you it won't let go until it thunders!!!!

I've always wondered if that is true . . .

There is a very wet common area behind my house and about once  a year snappers come out and into my yard.  A very large snapping turtle - shell was 24" L and 12" W - somehow "rolled" down the hill and was on his back but stuck between two rocks (literally a rock and a hard place).  His neck reach was LONG.  It took a little time to get him turned over and headed home.

[bersaguy]

17 minutes ago, Luckyforward said:

I've always wondered if that is true . . .

There is a very wet common area behind my house and about once  a year snappers come out and into my yard.  A very large snapping turtle - shell was 24" L and 12" W - somehow "rolled" down the hill and was on his back but stuck between two rocks (literally a rock and a hard place).  His neck reach was LONG.  It took a little time to get him turned over and headed home.

That is where a strong stick comes in handy. You make the turtle mad enough to grab the stick and once he does you pull on it and as long as you keep pressure on the stick he can't let go and you could drag him out of the rocks. There jaws lock when you apply pressure and they can't let go until they can relax.

[Luckyforward]

Just now, bersaguy said:

That is where a strong stick comes in handy. You make the turtle mad enough to grab the stick and once he does you pull on it and as long as you keep pressure on the stick he can't let go and you could drag him out of the rocks. There jaws lock when you apply pressure and they can't let go until they can relax.

Thanks!  I will remember that.  After all the rain this week the common area is wet and they get active!  

[bersaguy]

20 minutes ago, Luckyforward said:

Thanks!  I will remember that.  After all the rain this week the common area is wet and they get active!  

Glad I could help!!!

[Jeb48]

Never had a chance to eat any snapper but as is a lot of things they say it tastes like chicken. I do have two stories from my youth.

A good friend, the daughter of one of my Dad' best friends and hunting partner caught one when she about 10 in a creek that was only about 4 feet wide while fishing. My Dad got a call to come out and see it so we did. They had in one of those big round wash tubs and it nearly filled the diameter. Apparently she didn't know what to do when she hooked it and screamed for help and her Dad heard her. The creek was only about 100 yards from her house.  He went runing and lifted it out. Since he had 5 kids they had turtle soup for a few meals. Same girl and I use to hunt with our Dad's, they used us as dogs to chase the rabbits out of the under brush till we got old enough to carry a gun.

 

Different story and different friends, these all guys use to go swimming in several farm ponds that were within a few miles of home, normally nude. One day we were swimming and we saw a turtle head and neck peak out of the water the size of our arm. We decided not to swim in that pond anymore. Never did see the rest of the turtle, we were to busy getting out of the water as fast as we could.

[bersaguy]

13 hours ago, Jeb48 said:

Never had a chance to eat any snapper but as is a lot of things they say it tastes like chicken. I do have two stories from my youth.

A good friend, the daughter of one of my Dad' best friends and hunting partner caught one when she about 10 in a creek that was only about 4 feet wide while fishing. My Dad got a call to come out and see it so we did. They had in one of those big round wash tubs and it nearly filled the diameter. Apparently she didn't know what to do when she hooked it and screamed for help and her Dad heard her. The creek was only about 100 yards from her house.  He went runing and lifted it out. Since he had 5 kids they had turtle soup for a few meals. Same girl and I use to hunt with our Dad's, they used us as dogs to chase the rabbits out of the under brush till we got old enough to carry a gun.

 

Different story and different friends, these all guys use to go swimming in several farm ponds that were within a few miles of home, normally nude. One day we were swimming and we saw a turtle head and neck peak out of the water the size of our arm. We decided not to swim in that pond anymore. Never did see the rest of the turtle, we were to busy getting out of the water as fast as we could.

was a smart move to get out of the water if it was a small pond because they don't like things in their area. They are very territorial.

   Now I guess folks are wondering if I have ever ate Turtle and the answer is many times and no, they don't taste like chicken...LOL. I think I mentioned that my mother was a great cook and she could cook about anything. I asked her if she would cook turtle if I cleaned one and she said yes and the old man stood beside me and directed my work. I took a stick and it mad enough to grab it and when he did I was able to pull his head and neck out of his shell and the old man whacked his head off with a hatchet in one swing. The old man (Gulley) had sharpened 3 knives for the job and had a Hole Saw for cutting the bottom part of the turtles shell loose from the top part after I cut the legs free from the bottom. I was surprised at all the meat that was attached to the legs, similar to the Thighs of a chicken. Once we cleans out the guts and got done carving all the meat out of the turtle I guess we had maybe 10+ pounds of boneless light pink meat. I took it in the house and gave it to my Mother and from then on it was up to her.

   My mother was not much of a soup cook. She was feeding 4 growing boys and my father so she would prepare full meals at supper. I guess I might have been one of the first people to eat Turtle Nuggets but we had Turtle Nuggets, fried potatoes& onions, turnip greens, Fried Corn and fried corn cakes. There was enough meat left for her to put in freezer. I took Gully a plate for supper over to his cottage. He was also surprised to see the Nuggets but the next morning he showed up at our back door with the clean plate and thanked us. After that it became a regular program and he got a plate every night at his door. He was 80 years old and Mom always made to much food so we fed him too.  

[maroonandwhite]

When we were building our house back in 2016 (West TN) this was laying in my driveway as I was walking back.  I assume this is an Alligator snapping turtle???

Edited April 10, 2023 by maroonandwhite

[Smith]

1 hour ago, maroonandwhite said:

When we were building our house back in 2016 (West TN) this was laying in my driveway as I was walking back.  I assume this is an Alligator snapping turtle???

Looks like a common snapper. The alligator has points on it's shell. Looks like armor plating 

[bersaguy]

On 4/10/2023 at 11:21 AM, Smith said:

Looks like a common snapper. The alligator has points on it's shell. Looks like armor plating 

Yep, that's a common snapper and would have been a good eating one. Back before I moved here I use to travel a road often that had a stone quarry pond on one side of it and ever so often I would see a snapper crossing the road and I would stop and move it off the road. depending on which way it was headed would be the direction I would take it. If it was going away from the quarry that meant it was going up to lay it's eggs and if it was going towards the quarry it had laid it's eggs and was going back to the water. I gave the eggs about 2-3 weeks to hatch and the babies would be crossing the road heading to the quarry. I was able to catch 5 of them and several had been hit by cars but I took the ones I caught home and put them in my aquarium  to watch them for a while. I fed them night crawlers and some dead minnows I got from a local bait store. I kept them about a year and then took them to the quarry to  release them but thought it would be better to put them in a safer place so when I went bass fishing I released them in Old Hickory lake.