if caught, would you eat…

…snapping turtles out of the river? a few days ago when i was shore fishing 8 hours of good fish was finally interrupted by a sheepshead. i have pulled it out of the water as i turned around to grab my pliers when i heard my friend freak out and tell me to move. id say a good 30# snapper had followed the sheepshead to shore and was coming up after it. finding a better alternative then just using it for bait, i fed the snapper the sheepshead. wrong choice. next thing i knew 2 more snapping turtles in the 10-15# range came paddling up to us, ruining the bite for the day. i did some research when i came home though and found out you can catch em after mid-july and turtle tastes really good. so, would you trust a snapper to eat out of the st croix? i know the carapace min is 12″ and max is 16″ for them.

Yes cuz you have to purge them out before cleaning anyway.

of course, atleast 7 days in a 55 gal drum with clean water every other day. season opens in three weeks, hopefully ill be able to get a 10#er and not attract in the 30# beasts that look like they came out of the neverending story and belong talking to atreyu.

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…snapping turtles out of the river? a few days ago when i was shore fishing 8 hours of good fish was finally interrupted by a sheepshead. i have pulled it out of the water as i turned around to grab my pliers when i heard my friend freak out and tell me to move. id say a good 30# snapper had followed the sheepshead to shore and was coming up after it. finding a better alternative then just using it for bait, i fed the snapper the sheepshead. wrong choice. next thing i knew 2 more snapping turtles in the 10-15# range came paddling up to us, ruining the bite for the day. i did some research when i came home though and found out you can catch em after mid-july and turtle tastes really good. so, would you trust a snapper to eat out of the st croix? i know the carapace min is 12″ and max is 16″ for them.

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Yes, turtle soup is awesome.
Check out this link. Interesting cleaning technique.

Heck NO…. The only turtles this fat boy eats have chocolate, carmel, and nuts in them.

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Heck NO…. The only turtles this fat boy eats have chocolate, carmel, and nuts in them.

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Heck NO…. The only turtles this fat boy eats have chocolate, carmel, and nuts in them.

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I love to see them and I’m not afraid to pick them up but I gotta go with Buzz on this one.

any suggestions on removing the back meat from the shell? all ive found so far is “take a prybar to the vertebrae.” that doesnt sound like it will save much.

Spike the turtle shell upside down, use a butcher knife and small hammer to break each side of the rib bone. When done, slide a knife under the ribs and meat, filleting this portion out. It’s called the loin by the way.
And yes, you should let the turtle purge itself for a few days but 7 is overkill and can cause sores on the bottom shell which will kill the turtle and or sometimes transfer to the meat.

What does purging do?

(cleans them out) POOP

They empty themselves of all poop and pee so in case you get funny with the knife there is less chance of ruining the meat. You still have the bile to watch for though.

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…snapping turtles out of the river? a few days ago when i was shore fishing 8 hours of good fish was finally interrupted by a sheepshead. i have pulled it out of the water as i turned around to grab my pliers when i heard my friend freak out and tell me to move. id say a good 30# snapper had followed the sheepshead to shore and was coming up after it. finding a better alternative then just using it for bait, i fed the snapper the sheepshead. wrong choice. next thing i knew 2 more snapping turtles in the 10-15# range came paddling up to us, ruining the bite for the day. i did some research when i came home though and found out you can catch em after mid-july and turtle tastes really good. so, would you trust a snapper to eat out of the st croix? i know the carapace min is 12″ and max is 16″ for them.

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Yes, turtle soup is awesome.
Check out this link. Interesting cleaning technique.

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I’ve actually did this. It works awesome! And the turtle meat is really good. Tastes like chicken.

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Heck NO…. The only turtles this fat boy eats have chocolate, carmel, and nuts in them.

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I love to see them and I’m not afraid to pick them up but I gotta go with Buzz on this one.

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Snapper does sound pretty good but I dunno, I’d really like to try some turtle soup first, before going through the trouble of catching and cleaning one