Turtles

Heres something to try to keep the mid-winter blues away. Down here in Iowa a few guys hunt turtles when thier in hibernation. I was brought up around a couple of guys who hunted turtles and did alot of smoking fish. What they used to do is probe the areas along creeks and rivers with a turtle probe, creeks seem to hold turtles better than rivers. Where they used to probe was along the creeks and small little inlets , maybe only 2ft’ by 5ft’, streches of mud banks, small streches of inside or outside turns in the bank. Small ones where the conditions were just right with a little winter sun it would keep these areas a little warmer. You guys have seen these areas, snow along the banks, then a warm spot where there was black silt or dirt but now snow. These are the areas where its a little warmer for the turtles. These areas look warmer to the eye. They make thier own probes by doing this. A 4′ steel rod 1/4″ to 3/8th” in diameter. On one end they thread the shaft about 21/2″ long. Then take a nut and turn it onto the shaft, then a washer, then a bigger washer onto that one. Take a 2″ by 2″ by 12″ long and drill a hole in the center the size of the rod. Slide the 2″ by 2″ handle onto the shaft, then another big washer then the smaller washer then double nut over the shaft tightening one nut against the washer then tightening the last nut against the first one to keep the handle from loosening and coming off. On the other end you weld a 10ot or bigger bait holder hook, stainless steel works the best, to the end holding the eye along side the shaft and up about an inch, welding here at this spot. If you weld the eye to the very tip of the shaft it will bend and break off when your probing in the mud, use the support of the rod shaft and hook shaft to keep it from bending. Whats to be done is start probing through the mud until you feel a dull shell sound, like would be made when touching the turtles shell. A rock is a solid sound, tree limb is similar to the turtles shell depending on how its been preserved. After you think it may be a turtle probe left and right until theres no contact with this object, this will tell you the size of the turtle. When trying to pull it out remember which side of the shaft the gullet and barb is sticking out from, marking the handle with a small screw on this side helps, then put the hooks tip under the edge of the turtles shell and start pulling up. Working from one side to the other until you’ve worked it loose and twards the top of the mud. Ideally if you can hook the skin of the legs or head and pull the turtle sideways up through the mud this is a better way. Turtles hibernate with thier limbs pulled in all the way into thier shell. Pushing up and down softening the mud around the turtle is how you work them too the top. When thier out and in your hands rinse them in the water by where your standing. Its easier done here in the creek then at home after the muds dried and hardened on the shell, legs, neck and tail. When your pulling them up twards the top remember that your feet are going to be going down in the mud a little at a time and if you try too turn and walk a guy could get wet this way by falling over. I’ve done this. Good turtle hunting!

I once saw a program that had a guy using this method for catching turtles. It was very interesting.

Gator Hunter

OK, Mr Mdan…Great job on instructions for making tools, hunting and cleaning the mud off. But now you have to finish this sport for me. What do you do with them next? How do you know what kind of turtle you are pulling out of the mud? You’ve grabbed my interest!

I started fishing for cats this year, may as well add turtles to my list!

Look for snappers , they are the best!! Then you make a nice turtle soup w/them. Don’t ruin the outer shell, they make great wall clocks..Especially the bigger ones. What you do is Glaze the shell over..Then accurately glue on clock numbers (however you’d like). After you pick up a clock ticker/hand timer thingy …you can drill a small hole in the middle of the shell and mount the clock ticker/hand thingy on the backisde of the shell. They turn out really nice…Even if you’re forced to put them up in the garage!!

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I started fishing for cats this year, may as well add turtles to my list!

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Sounds like a good idea Brian………..no casting involved!

Truthfully, if you do this, I’d like to tag along! Sounds like fun and I’ve been wanting to do the “turtle thing” for years!

I used to go with my dad and his friend. His friend was the good turtle hunter and got three one afternoon. My dad got a few also but not as many as his friend did. I’ve only gotten a few since then but I haven’t hunted turtles for a few years now but thinking about doing it again. We used to eat the softshells to but mostly found snappers. Cut open the turtle from its sides using a pointed knife inserting it between the top and bottom shell also cutting the skin away from the legs so we could open the two halfs, we used a screwdriver to pry the shell apart too. After its opened cut the meat from its top shell and around its legs and neck and tail. Theres is 7 diffrent kinds of meat in a turtle. Thier out there, some areas are better than others. When a guy gets an eye for where turtles are at they can drive by an area and know its worth stopping and checking. If an area holds them in the summer they will hibernate there in the fall. The ones we found weren’t over 1 1/2 ft down and we always had water filling up the hole were we took them out from.

If I remember correctly, when the mud starts to dry above the turtles there is a deppression left in the dried mud. That is how they know where to start poking for turtles.

By the way, I’ve eaten turtle meat. It is very tasty. Cleaning a turtle, on the other hand, is a really tough chore. My Grandmother used to clean and cook turtles when I was younger. If she ever found out that we caught a turtle and didn’t bring it to her we’d never hear the end of it.

She would only keep snappers. I don’t know if shoft shells are eaten.

Gator Hunter

Without saying it tastes like chicken, could you describe it? I picture a fishy taste. I’ve heard of turtle soup, but imagine there are other ways you prepare it. I’m grinning like the village idiot whenever I’m out hunting or fishing, so another excuse to get out there would be great. Any size or species restrictions?

Bookbinders soup is available at Byerly’s. Turtle soup is one of their varieties.

After checking with the chef,(my mom) she told me the way she used to prepare it was to clean it real well and let it soak for a day in some water. Then boil it to get all the fatty and undesirable tissue off the meat. Then roll it in flour and brown it in an fry pan. Once that’s done Put it in the oven and let it cook so the meat falls off the bone. Frying it won’t get it done. This is the only way I’ve ever had it and strongly suggest giving it a try. On a side note, soaking it over night prevents the meat from ‘crawling’ out of the pot when boiling it. According to my mom and grandmother fresh turtle meat will twitch and jerk when boiled fresh thus giving it that crawling effect. Creepy…..

You know how much folklore there is with a snapper. If you didn’t let it hang for 2 days it wasen’t dead yet. Or if you tried to clean it befor the sun went down you couldn’t because it was much harder, or if you waited until after dark you could put a stick in its mouth but befor and you couldn’t get its mouth open even after the head was cut off, that kind of thing. Im sure turtles are built with nails that won’t bend and it dosen’t surprise me a bit that the nerves would twitch when cooking. Ours looked like they never did but you can never tell. What our meat tasted like was roast beef and roast beef chicken cross. Some tasted like a cross between roastbeef and crawfish too. Most of what I remembered is that it was really good with lots of short bones when rolled in flour and fried.

Snapping Turtle IS delicious!
There ARE several different flavors of meat,all good.

They DO grow slowly!
Taking them in this fashion reminds me of shooting denning bears or taking large flatheads out of wintering holes. I’ll stick to hook and line, thank you………B

Hmmm, we were doing good until we got to the twitching part. I think if a limb started crawling in the frig, there would be more than the clock out in the garage!

I don’t understand the “shooting bears in the den” post. Isn’t that allowed? Next I ‘spose “noodleing” for catfish will become not “pc”.

Stillakid, you’re going to have to find someone else to tag along with. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that I maimed (sp?) you with my turtle pole. I think it would be easier to duck from an oncoming 1/4 oz jig than to run from a turtle pole. Besides I would have a hard time making it look like an accident!

Nope, I think I’ll stay with fishing…maybe tag along with MikeW. He knows how to hookem with a jig. Something I haven’t mastered yet!

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Hmmm, we were doing good until we got to the twitching part. I think if a limb started crawling in the frig, there would be more than the clock out in the garage!

I don’t understand the “shooting bears in the den” post. Isn’t that allowed? Next I ‘spose “noodleing” for catfish will become not “pc”.

Stillakid, you’re going to have to find someone else to tag along with. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that I maimed (sp?) you with my turtle pole. I think it would be easier to duck from an oncoming 1/4 oz jig than to run from a turtle pole. Besides I would have a hard time making it look like an accident!

Nope, I think I’ll stay with fishing…maybe tag along with MikeW. He knows how to hookem with a jig. Something I haven’t mastered yet!

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Is that applause I hear for you Brian?
WOW!! If there’s a danger of getting stuck with a turtle pole, I’m NOT getting into a boat with you!!! Sheesh…………..with friends like this, who needs emenies?

Big B…………..I hear you on the “where’s the challange” thought. In my mind, the two are different though. A turtle is vulnerable…………all the time. If you’re targeting them, they’re pretty easy to get and once found, easy to obtain. Knowing what a snapper encounter can be like, I have a little less sentiment over the hibernation technique. I’ve taken summer snappers up to 30lbs (in play) and if I’d wanted to kill any of them, no problem. But……………..any chance they have to getting to me, they get big and can do some permanent damage…………and I’d like to see that reduced.

Bears? well…………..we bait them and use dogs …………….which isn’t the same as other big game hunts so to me……….there’s not a lot of difference in how to take a bear. You get to use more than just your “smarts” and a weapon. The bear will be defenseless anyway if your technique works.

Flatheads in wintering holes? I agree those should be left alone and not intentionally targeted.

Side note: How’s Little B doing? Any updates for us? I was thinking about him yesterday and wondering if he’d had a chance to sign up for the free Pradco lures? If not, maybe we can email James and have the Webstaff put in an entry for him on future opportunities? Just a thought. Later!

I ran into a couple of turtle wranglers at the 494 landing on pool 2 this year. It was about sun up and they where just loading up some steel cages into the back of there truck. No turtles that morning. I had never seen anyone that hunted turtles before.

I know theres a few commercil boys that have traps out for turtles down by Prarie Duchien. The commercial fisherman that lives by the mississippi bridge on the right, just as you get into prarie coming from Iowa usually has turtle meat forsale in the warmer months, he still might have some.

I trap a few turtles during the summer. I’m sure I could get a lot more, but I usually try and get around 12 of ’em, gives us enough for most holidays and get togethers. Snappers and soft shells are both good eating, but snappers yield a lot more meat. Another thing to remember is that I dont persue them until after the middle of june to give them time to get out and lay there eggs. Good luck.
Dave