I had few hours off early this morning and decided to take a walk.
I have to say it was hard to walk past the carp in search for a turtle. One presented itself after 3/4 mile walk.
I had to follow his bubble trail for about 100 yards before he finally surfaced.
Two more turtles were seen about the same size but were passed on because my hands were full...... Literally.
I'm getting better at cleaning them. This one only took me 1.5 hours. Last year it was 2 hours.
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Charley,
My dad loved to eat snapping turtles. He cooked one up once and took it to our families fourth of July picnic. My uncle said it was the best chicken he had ever had and by the way, how did you get rid of the bones? Good times.
They used to use a big spike in the middle of the table. Slam the turtles upside down on the spike and then start cutting. That was after the head was cut off of course.
Love turtle!
Congrats Charlie! That's quite a beast.
Charlie,
Nice shooting, Turtle soup is great. By the time you get them cleaned you have worked up an appetite!!
Great job Charlie! My grandpa use to take us turtle hunting when we were kids and you just brought back some great memories. Thanks for sharing!
I love turtle soup and it is great on the grill too with some barbeque sauce. Of course you have to pressure cook them a while to tender them up.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Gary, I left the bones in and will cook the meat until it falls off.
Last time I made Turtle I put some in soup that came out great and slow cooked the legs on the grill for 4 hours. They tasted great but were impossible to eat. I now know you have to par boil or pressure cook it first, then fry or grill.
I saw the nail in the board trick on you tube but don't kill enough to have a regular cleaning station. I had to put this one on Ice for a few hours due to other engagements (Johnny cash cover show with the misses and Grandma) and he was pretty much done moving by the time I got ready to clean him.
Congrats Charlie :thumbsup: :clapper:
Pour boiling water over the whole turtle, or better yet, if you have a pot or tub large enough, place the whole turtle into boiling water for just a minute or 2. Remove the turtle from the hot water, hold by the sides of the shell and shake up/down. The entire flesh section will just about fall out.
Ron
Nice shot!
That's a nice size turtle, Charlie. Well done.
Nicely done Charlie
Congrats. That's pretty cool.
Congrats!! Turtle soup one of my favorites!!
Keep going! Turtles are always thick around here, and I have no idea what to do with them. Would love to figure out how to make a meal out of them.
It does not get any better than snapping turtle good shot
Charlie, thx for sharing, quite the critter, would love to know the age of a guy like that.... Did you get a weight on him?
QuoteOriginally posted by fmscan:
Charlie, thx for sharing, quite the critter, would love to know the age of a guy like that.... Did you get a weight on him?
I guess it was about 30 lbs +. It felt like 200 after the 3/4 mile walk back to the parking area.
My shooting suffered today as a result.
We always left them in a horse tank for a week or two to get "flushed out". We talked of turtle soup this morning at Church. My buddies pond is plagued with em. maybe I need to go get some now that Charlie flung a cravin' on me.
Nice job Charlie.
This is great! My son (11 year old) is smiling ear to ear reading this!
Good shot Charlie. Had "turtle " vegetable soup at a trapping convention once. It was really good.
I use to lifeguard at a local hotel years ago and actually held the door open for Mr. Johnny Cash himself. He was dressed in a black trench coat and cowboy boots and was really a tall guy.
Good Shooting,
Craig
That's a biggun Charlie!
Congrats,
Bisch
Nice shooting Charlie !
You are something kiddo......... ;)
Nice shootin bud!!
Looks like a Pope and Younger for sure ... we have a few turtles in the small lake near my house but I never though of shooting one for dinner ... :rolleyes: maybe !
That's a big one, should get a couple of meals! Congrats.
Good stuff bud!!
Nice turtle Charlie. Sure are smelly critters. My Gram was fond of eating turtles in Puerto Rico but Ive never tried em.
The nail in a board to hold them works great. I cleaned 2 last night in an hour. Also using water pressure to get the skin separated from the meat works. If you have Catfish skinning pliers this also helps.
Use to be a restaurant called the "Green Turtle Inn" in the Florida keys. Their turtle was exceptional. They served it with a dark brown gravy. Something special. Can taste it as I type. Thanks for the memories. :thumbsup:
Great job Charlie! We saw a few on the river while bowfishing Sat night.
Nice job.
Just make sure you crack the hinge of the back corner of the mouth before disposing of the head. Those things will snap something in half days after they are dead.
Thanks for the kind words.
Terry, Still chasing Carp? wouldn't want to eat those turtles :rolleyes: .....
Rainman.. 2 in an hour???? man that's fast. I've tried the hose trick but couldn't find a clamp to fit around this neck.
AW, I cut out the meat on the side of the head, supposedly those are the muscles that operate the jaw. On this one, it made for white meat the size of my hand.
This one is in the pot now. I will make some stew and freeze the rest.
Craig, you held the door for mr. Cash? must have been neat.
In NY only legal manner of taking turtle is with bow or gun. Keeping in a stock tank wouldn't seem like a good option if I wanted my arrow back?
Turtle soup used to be a staple at all the local restaurants. It was a favorite food of Pres. Taft who was no stranger to fine dining. If you recall they put a special tub in the white house for him.
After his love affair with turtle the rich started enjoying it as a delicacy. After it became common, most places bought canned turtle and made soup from it.
Eventually Lambs Heads became a cheaper alternative but Turtles still were being hunted in large quantity. My dad used to tell me he caught them as a kid and sold them to restaurants.
They have fallen off the main stream popularity here but are still considered a delicacy in many other countries Like Izzy mentioned.
I am happy I have tried turtle. Although I will not kill a lot, its a nice treat every year.
Never thought of skinning the head CR. Hmmmmm, guess we normally have more than one, which yields plenty meat. I'll have to check it out next time.
I love turtle. Turtle meat is about $19 a pound around here. We catch our own just like you.
Great shooting Charlie, congrats!
I just discovered at Denton how good turtle soup is.
F-Manny
Ever clean a turtle with a paper towel? Just pick up his tail and wipe! Nice turtle. You don't have to walk far with them before they get heavy. Good luck.
What you guys need is a good Cajun Turtle Sauce Picante cooked low and slow in a black iron pot. It comes with a few cold ones to pass the time. Oh my that's good stuff!!
QuoteOriginally posted by Frenchymanny:
Great shooting Charlie, congrats!
I just discovered at Denton how good turtle soup is.
F-Manny
Manny, That was my inspiration to go back and get a one.
I par boiled it last night. Oh Boy! the meat was Great just as is but I reserved the liquid for the soup and will use 1/2 the meat in the soup. the rest will be for another day.
Congrats :thumbsup:
Nice job!
Congrats! Nice shot! Do you have to run them down after you shoot before they get into deep water? I get mine here in Pa on set lines with big hooks.Id imagine there still pretty mobile even after an arrow to head considering how they crawl around my yard even without their heads. I just cooked one last week. I put meat in crockpot with stock and onions and garlic and cooked till tender then pulled meat off the bone and then used the pulled and chopped meat and liquid to make a box of zatarans jambalaya. Really really good! Another great thing about zatarans jambalaya mix is it's cheap. A lot of the nice turtle soup recipes while delicious can get expensive fast buying bottles of Sherry and using a whole pound of butter to make roux etc. the mix is cheap and delicious. Last fall I took turtle bites to deer camp. I put meat in crockpot as above then pinched off chunks of clean meat and breaded and fried them. They were a big hit as well.
Let me know when the rest of the meat gets cooked up, I'll be over for dinner :thumbsup:
QuoteOriginally posted by hedgerowhuntr:
Let me know when the rest of the meat gets cooked up, I'll be over for dinner :thumbsup:
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Jason, the first batch was HUGE. come on over. :thumbsup:
:bigsmyl: That looks SOOOO GOOD!
That looks TASTY!!!!
On top of being a fantastic shot, Charlie is a great cook too!
:clapper:
F-Manny
Awesome turtle!
We can always tell when the kids at school have been eating turtle... My goodness!