Turtles

[Marshmallow]

I once spent the day with a guy who fed me turtle out of his back yard. He literally caught one of those huge turtles, tied it up on a leash, and eventually cooked it. Where I live, I don't know anyone who eats turtle. Is this something popular where you are? I'm interested in knowing what parts I actually ate.

 

[dinosaur]

Go to that little box on the right side of your screen that says "search forums" and type in the word "turtles", then click "GO". You should be able to find all the info you need.

 

[ChadTower]

Most of the turtles here aren't big enough to be worth it. Only the snappers are big enough. Really, people in this state don't hunt, anyway. Not unless they can sit there with a high powered rifle and bring down something big so they can waste most of it.

 

[rayne]

I have eaten turtle soup but like ChadTower, most of the turtles here aren't big enough to bother. We have those cute little box turtles that kids always like to play with and the hopefully turn loose.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

We have snappers that are plenty big enough to be worth eating, down here. They aren't too hard to catch either.

They are a royal PITA to clean, though. The meat is very good, better than gator IMHO, but not as good as frog's legs.

Love turtle soup, but I rarely bother going to the trouble of getting a turtle and making it from scratch.

 

[JeepThrills]

A friend of mine use to make it, but I never had the desire to try it. He would make soup with the meat and then keep the shell to use in his artwork.

 

[Tristan]

I have to agree about the superiority of frog's legs to turtle. They used to be a favorite food of mine, but then a frog decided to adopt me. Seriously, he parked himself on my back porch and would stay for hours. He kept coming back for months until I guess he met his maker. At any rate, frog's legs hold no appeal for me anymore.

 

[aldove]

I never tried eating turtle meat to be honest, but I'd like to give it a try. So how do you cook it the easy way? Do frog legs taste better than turtle meat?

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


We have large snapping turtles around here, too. The larger ones are used to pull Amish buggies (which is where the "Slow Moving Vehicle" triangle sign came about).

 

[littlefire]

I think turtles are too cute to eat. They are not popular to eat where I am from, but it makes sense to eat them in the wild just as much as it makes sense to eat rabbit and deer.

 

[dinosaur]

I think turtles are too cute to eat.

You've never seen a thirty pound alligator snapping turtle.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

True that! When they get as big as a mahole cover and can bite a broomstick in two, they are wayyy past cute!

 

[huullk]

Most of the turtles here aren't big enough to be worth it. Only the snappers are big enough. Really, people in this state don't hunt, anyway. Not unless they can sit there with a high powered rifle and bring down something big so they can waste most of it.

 

[dinosaur]

People in this state sit there with a high powered rifle and bring down something big so they can waste most of it.

I'm curious. How do they go about wasting most of it. A high powered rifle won't do it. FMJ's make a nice neat hole. Even soft points don't create much tissue damage. A properly placed shot won't lose any meat unless you're fond of heart (It does make good chili.) So what do they do, cut off a haunch and leave the rest for the buzzards and the coyotes?