Snapping Turtle

[Dean Romig]

This evening Kathy and I took a short walk down River Street and as we were crossing the bridge over the swampy feeder creek I looked down and saw probably the biggest snapper I have seen in almost twenty years. I've caught a lot of snapping turtles in my time and always have given them to people I know who know how to butcher one and how to prepare the various meats in a big snapper. This turtle would go 40 lbs. easily. I've only ever caught one that was bigger but I've seen one that would go close to 60 lbs.
For anyone who may doubt these weights, the record common snapping turtle was something like 64 lbs. taken right here in Essex County, Ma.

So, my point is... do any of you know how to butcher and prepare snapping turtle meat?

[Marc Retallack]

Dean

A couple weeks ago I caught a 20 pound snapper in my backyard. My 6yr old Lab decided it was something his nose told him he should investigate... his nose paid the price.

I gave it to a friend of my neighbor. He told me he keeps them in his bathtub for roughly a month before butchering. According to him, this time in clean fresh water is necessary to flush out the turtle.

Cheers
Marcus

[Roundsworth]

A fair sized snapper was in my front yard a few weeks ago. His shell was 15 inches long and 12 inches wide. I did not waste any time dressing him out and probably made my share of mistakes, seeing as how it was my first. My neighbor downloaded some instructions, with photos, and I used them for reference. He was one tough SOB and resisted every cut, right to the last morsel of meat I removed from his carcass. It was kinda spooky. The pieces of meat were still twitching in the Pyrex bowl! VERY tasty, though. My neighbor made a soup out of it and the meat was very tender.

[Dean Romig]

Their metabolism is incredibly primitive and slow. A turtle's heart, removed from the body and placed in a saline solution, has been known to continue contracting (beating) for seven days.

[Bindlestiff]

Wow, are you lucky! I have been after a big snapper for the last year or so and have not found one big enough. The advice to keep them for a week or more in a tub of clean water is good advice.

There are many u-tube and web sites on how to clean one.

Great soup!

[Marc Retallack]

Mark

I recall seeing the same twitching of the meat from a Mako shark my father and his friend were butchering many years ago. Being the mischievous young boy that I was, I grabbed a piece and snuck up behind the wife of my father's friend who was watching the process. She had her hands cupped behind her back. I don't think I've ever seen someone jump so high in fright as she did when that meat twitched in her hands.

[Richard Flanders]

I used to catch lots of snappers in the 25#-35# range from a lake on the farm across from ours in Ortonville, Michigan. I'd be fishing on a sunny day and could generally see 6-10 heads poking out of the water. Sometimes I'd take my trusty Mossberg .22 with a 6x scope along and do my best C. Hathcock imitation on sniping at their heads sticking out of the water; I got pretty good at that after a time, a red slick being the indicator of success. Between them and the resident pike the nested ducklings on that little lake had little chance of survival. I remember those sunny days as if it were yesterday. I brought a lot of bass and pike home from that lake. When I was able to corner a turtle in shallow water I'd get an oar under it and get it up and into the boat and never did get bitten in the process. I'd put them in the far end of the boat and keep them at bay with an oar as I continued fishing. Carrying them up the steep hill out of the lake and then the 1/2mile across the soybean field to home by the tail was dicey when they were big and required a number of rest stops. They'd have a go at biting me on the leg if I let them get too close as my arm tired. I "stored" them in an empty horse trough and my dad would take them to someone who ate them and I'd get $1, back when a $1 was not at all an insignificant amount for a 12 yr old. If I had them more than a few days I go fishing and bring home small panfish for them. After a day or two of being fed I could tap them on the back and they'd stand up on all fours and put their head out and up high with their mouth wide open so I could drop a fish down their throat, after which they'd retract and swallow then come up for more; they seemed easy to train to that. I tell you, those were the days.... Maybe a good thing I never went into 'business'...! I never personally butchered and ate one but do know that you could cut their head clean off and they would still stand tall on all four feet if you whacked them on the back the next day. Definitely spooky... Maybe global warming will bring snappers to Alaska! I'll be ready with that same Mossberg and my butchering tools if that happens so stand by for upcoming turtle stories from the northland....

I should add that a man who was/is the father of my high school sweetheart and whom I would take fishing on that and other lakes in the area is in the hospital right now, having surgery to remove an infected gall bladder. He's 86 yrs old and of good solid and hard-working Midwestern stock. I got word from his daughter, who I still keep in touch with, and called him at the hospital and we had a good talk about our fishing and water skiing adventures and of his True Value hardware store where I worked for 3 yrs and learned many skills that I use constantly to this day. He still remembers the lure that I caught all the fish with and is like a second father to me. I spent far more time with him back then than with my own father. Marlene said yesterday that when she went to the hospital and asked him if I had called, he just cried. Don't ever underestimate the powerful bond that our dogs, guns, and fishing rods and the times we share with others using them forms. I am already hatching a plot to get Marv back out fishing on that very lake the next time I go to Michigan, before it's too late and I have yet another regret of that type to live with. I've shared an early afternoon Thanksgiving dinner with that family for the past 5+ yrs, which started one year when I just showed up unannounced and was taken in and welcomed like a lost favorite son, or more accurately, like a long lost favorite dog. It is clear to me that there is far more to "family" than just blood and DNA. Every time I regretfully leave that little gathering to get to my family gathering north of there, I have to stop by the road before too long and think about my past with them and and of what I've done right to deserve such a privilege as I've just been granted and to wait for my eyes to clear enough to allow me to drive safely..... and I have to go now because, for some reason, the screen here is getting blurry. I think I'll go clean a gun or wipe down some dusty fishing rods on the wall.... maybe rearrange my tackle box... it needs it...

[Big D]

Snapper soup from Bookbinders Restaurant in Philadelphia was one of my childhood favorites. Too bad they're out of business, and the folks who bought the name and are attempting to sell "Bookbinders Snapper Soup" have missed by a mile.

[10ga Hammer]

This year leaving the Hausmanns Hidden Hollow shoot on Sunday, we noticed this prehistoric monster crawling out of the wetlands across from Flynn Rd. Just happened to have the camera laying beside me and snapped a few pics.
I would guess the shell on this one was about 1 1/2 ft long.

[Richard Flanders]

Where's all the moss they usually acquire?? Cleanest snapper I've ever seen. He must have a good "barber".....or a girlfriend who waxes his shell.