Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: FlintWalker on June 16, 2010, 03:37:03 am
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I took my boy fishing yesterday evening. He caught several nice catfish and I hung into this big 'ol feller.
The farmer didn't want him in his pond, so I took him home. My Bassett hound (Elmer) didn't know what to make of it. I kept hoping he wouldn't stick his nose too close to them snappin jaws. That could hurt!
My boy said he wanted to eat it, so I reckon we'll have him for supper in a night or two. Should be good ;)
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Yummy! ;D
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I bet that was good! I've never had turtle, but I always did think it would be tasty. How do ya go about butchering one?
CP
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Thats a good one Shannon. What did the boy think about the taste. I personally don't care for it.
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I'll be curious how it tastes for you. As a kid, we always put snappers in a stock tank for a week with clean water before killing and butchering them. The grandparents said it would get rid of the muddy taste. I've always wondered if that was an old wives tale, but I cleaned one the day I caught it a few years back and it wasn't good at all. They're a mess to clean too, not sure I'll do it again. Interesting how the neck meat is white and the legs dark.
George
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I like them but I prefer Soft shell turtles over the snappers. The soft shells sell for around $8 a pound at the fish markets down here.
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Good eatin!! freeze that shell till traping season!!! coon can't resist it just burry a trap under it dont forget to wire the shell to a stake, to use again JW
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Well, don't look too appetizin but how was it ;D?
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Gstoneberg, you're right...cleaning one is a chore.
We haven't ate him yet, but I've eaten LOTS of them. My grandpa used to keep up to 75 or so in stock tanks when I was younger. We'd all light in and clean them in a day. :o Ever see a wash tub full of turtle meat ;D
My Daddy always fried 'em low and slow and they were real good. I went all out on this one. I took every muscle apart and cleaned all the sinew and fat off it. I'll let it soak in salt water for a few days and fry it up. It'll be good ;)
BTW, it DON'T taste like chicken...It tastes like turtle :D
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:) :) Let me know how it is,the last I had years ago was fine. My pond is full of them,no fish just
turtles.I seen a guy skin the neck on a big one like that and used it for a bow grip. That was cool. :) He just wet it and pulled it over the handle ,when it dried it was tight,no stitching. :)
Pappy
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When i was a kid we caught a big softshell, and dad thought he would clean it, even though he has never done it.
Some old timers told him to cut a slot it in near its back leg and stick a water hose in it. They also said he could do the same with a air nozzle. So what does dad do? He tries both. First the water hose, it didn't do the job. Then he used the air nozzle. It stretched the turtle's neck out about 18". Dad then grabbed his axe. ( DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CHOP A TURTLE'S HEAD OFF IF IT IS UNDER AIR PRESSURE!!)
I can still remember dads white shirt ,glasses,hat, the barn walls, and myself covered in red slime!! :)
My brother didn't fair so well , because he was standing right behind the turtle. Everything the turtle ate for lunch the day before hit him in the chest! :)
To this day he will not eat turtle....
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I have cleaned and eaten several turtles over the years.
Not yet sure if it was worth the effort. :D
David
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To Me ....Snapper aint worth the trouble....too much work...and not enough Meat...all Gut and Stink...rather eat Mussel and Crawfish....than mess with a big Aligator Snapper.... ;)
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YUMM!! I love turtles nice catch! ;)
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Turtle stew cook the shell ,after you peel it for the stew bone.What's not to like.
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I had one of those 20 pound snappers as a pet for awhile. Kept it in my bathtub. This was before I had a steady woman.I had to catch it by the tail every couple of days and transfer it into a big wash basin when I wanted to take a shower. I kept going down to the river to catch bluegills to feed it. After a month or so I'd had enough and I took it to the river and let it go. Took two days to clean the tub.
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That one looks to be well fed. I used to know an old trapper up north, who swore that if you take the right cut of meat out of those snappers, that you would be back for more. He claimed that certain parts made good stew, other cuts made a better fry, and the rest goes to the dogs. He passed on before he could teach me the difference. Used to see huge turtles laying eggs along the Penobscot and Sabasticook Rivers, in north central Maine.
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Lombard, he was right. It seems that some of the cuts will taste great no matter how you cook them...amd others you just want to spit out! To me, it all tastes good. It's just that some of the cuts are tough...very tough!
The best meat in the whole turtle is the two little tiny backstraps hiding under a cradle of bone right along the center if the shell. It's hard to get, but it's goood!
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My brother used to catch big soft shell snappers, and he would cut the meat up into cubes, and par boil it, and then deep fry it.
Like we used to cook Armadillos. He said it tasted like beef. He used to eat a lot of them. Before he got into the FD, he operated a drag line, and he would dump a big ol turtle out on the bank, and he would hop out and catch it, and dump it into his cooler, and take it home, and eat it. The Florida Cooter is supposed to be good to eat. I have never had turtle before, but I have eaten a lot of armadillos, or " Land Prawns ", or possum on the half shell, etc. ;D
Wayne
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What's a cooter?...really
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What's a cooter?...really
Shannon....a Florida Cooter is nothing but a Mud Turtle....Like a River Cooter....Red Eared Slider.... or a Painted Turtle....all resemble each other...
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El D, Bingo! ;) Not to be confused with the "Other" one...... ::)
Supposedly, according to what I read, the skin on the neck of an alligator snapper, or I supposed any snapper, was used by the Indians, for bow strings, by spirally cutting a strip from it.
Wayne
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I'll be waiting for the build along on the turtle string. ;)
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I have seen the neck used for a bow grip,it was cool looking and feeling. :) I have one in the freezer now,just ant had time to fool with it yet.
Pappy