Turtles

[gerardplauche]

Anyone here set turtle traps. Lately I set out a few just to see if I would actually catch anything. There were a couple that I had a hard time picking out of the water. I probably averaged over 20 turtles per trap! :shock:

 

[Beef11]

What do you do with the turtles? Are they snappers?

 

[gerardplauche]

We cook them in a sauce (if they are big enough to clean). I'm catching all kinds; red streakers, alligator snappers, loggerheads, soft shell. One of the alligator snappers was 45 lbs.

 

[Stepper]

How do you make a turtle trap and where do you set them at ? And how do you clean turtles ? And are all turtles good to eat ?

 

[Horticattleman]

Loggerheads are the best. I know this sounds strange to some of you, but remember that these are Cajuns we're talking about. We'll eat just about anything....its all how you cook it. ;-) I remember the days when I was young and sitting in an old cypress pirougue with my grandfather pulling it as he walked in the water with a stick feeling on the bottom. Every now and then he would hit something and you'd heard a distinctive hollow thump. He'd squat down and carefully pull up an alligator snapper and flip it in the boat with me. That thing would be hissing and I'd just poke at it to keep it away. Sometimes we'd fill the boat, well at least until there was just a little room for me! It was always my job to let the turtle bite a stick and stretch its neck while he chopped the head off when we got home. We seldom clean em anymore because its soooo much work. You have to crack the shell fro the sides and scrape all the meat off. Its really good and an old traditional dish here. I've seen some in excess of 150 lbs. easy. I miss those good old days.

 

[Anonymous]

What do you bait your traps with?
We normally use the remanants of fish we have cleaned.
We have baited floating traps with Choupique heads and nearly sank the trap with all of the turtles that had to get a pice of that Choupique!

 

[angie1]

I've not heard of anyone eating turtle in Mn., but have family in Michigan that set traps and eat the snappers they catch. Like Sugarman said, they too use left overs of fish they catch. I was there once when my uncles were cleaning them. One uncle handed me the turtles heart. It beat in my hand for the longest time ~ till I got sick of holding it and tossed it in the water. I wouldn;t have believed it if I hadn;t seen such a thing.

It seems like a lot of work to clean and cook them, but they are good enough to eat.

I am the type that stops on the road to toss them off though. Painted and snappers. The snappers are never grateful.

I also do shell repair.

 

[gerardplauche]

The loggerheads are the best. The are the largest and have the most meat. They largest recorded alligator snapping turtle is in a restaurant near my folks house; it is over 500 lbs and 150 years old. :shock: I am still not sure why we call the alligator snappers "loggerheads" in Louisiana. Loggerhead turtles are really a salt water turtle (a completely different type of turtle), but for some reason, we ignore that in Louisiana. But they are good to eat. If you do not cook it right, the sauce can come out very oily and it will give you 3rd degree heart burn.

We bait the traps with chicken parts - the cheap way. ;-)

 

[Horticattleman]

The loggerheads are the best. The are the largest and have the most meat. They largest recorded alligator snapping turtle is in a restaurant near my folks house; it is over 500 lbs and 150 years old. :shock: I am still not sure why we call the alligator snappers "loggerheads" in Louisiana. Loggerhead turtles are really a salt water turtle (a completely different type of turtle), but for some reason, we ignore that in Louisiana. But they are good to eat. If you do not cook it right, the sauce can come out very oily and it will give you 3rd degree heart burn.

We bait the traps with chicken parts - the cheap way. ;-)

:nod:

 

[TexasBred]

What do you bait your traps with?
We normally use the remanants of fish we have cleaned.We have baited floating traps with Choupique heads and nearly sank the trap with all of the turtles that had to get a pice of that Choupique!

Heck I didn't think there was any part of a fish a cajun lost except the smell.

 

[MistyMorning]

Gerard.....I can just see the next thing those crazy friends of mine will bring me back! Alligator turtle? Is that some kind of Jurassic Park like creature? :shock:

Angie...folks do eat snapping turtle here in MN...lots of old timers talk about it and say it's awesome. Never had it myself though.

 

[gerardplauche]

Misty - You should definitely give it a try. I don't know about MN, but in LA you can buy turtle meat (red streaker) at the butcher. It's a little pricey, about $10.00/lb.

 

[angie1]

I've had it. As I said before ~ will try eating anything once. My family in Mi deep fries it in batter. I wouldn;t say its awesome, but its not bad by any means.

My dad caght a large snapper, and put it in the fish house till he could get around to cleaning it. I opened the fish house door. That's as close as I've ever come to eating it here in Mn.

 

[Horticattleman]

What do you bait your traps with?
We normally use the remanants of fish we have cleaned.We have baited floating traps with Choupique heads and nearly sank the trap with all of the turtles that had to get a pice of that Choupique!

Heck I didn't think there was any part of a fish a cajun lost except the smell.

:lol2: :lol2: :nod:

 

[spoon]

There's a guy around here that goes around catching snapping turtles out of peoples ponds for them. He stays busy and he loves the meat. He catches them with a limb line on baited hooks. Then there's the guys that like to go noodling for turtles. They ain't right in the head.

 

[TexasBred]

The loggerheads are the best. The are the largest and have the most meat. They largest recorded alligator snapping turtle is in a restaurant near my folks house; it is over 500 lbs and 150 years old. :shock: I am still not sure why we call the alligator snappers "loggerheads" in Louisiana. Loggerhead turtles are really a salt water turtle (a completely different type of turtle), but for some reason, we ignore that in Louisiana. But they are good to eat. If you do not cook it right, the sauce can come out very oily and it will give you 3rd degree heart burn.

We bait the traps with chicken parts - the cheap way. ;-)

Gerald my dad always called them loggerheads too. Never knew why cept their head is big as a log. Never eaten turtle but hear it's really good. Someone told me there was several kinds of meat in a turtle or at least it tasted like different meats. beef, pork, chicken, etc. Any truth to that?

 

[Anonymous]

TexasBred,

Everyone in LA, including myself, will tell you that there are 7 different flavors of meat in a turtle. The only way I have cooked/eaten it is in a sauce piquante and it all tasted the same. It is good eating-

 

[gerardplauche]

I will agree that different turtles taste like different meat. Loggerheads are a very red meat, while streakers are a white meat. Loggerhead is the best tasting, in my opinion. If you decide to cook some up, the most important thing is to brown your meat through-n-through. If not, the sauce will be very greasy.

 

[3fifty7]

Anyone here set turtle traps. Lately I set out a few just to see if I would actually catch anything. There were a couple that I had a hard time picking out of the water. I probably averaged over 20 turtles per trap! :shock:

Maybe if you count stripped head turtles, bragging about that is like counting "pull-dos"when you go duck hunting. :cowboy:

 

[Jogeephus]

Only time I've eaten it was when my grandma made some stew out of one grandpa shot in the pond. He was a big snapping turtle. I had to fish it off the bottom with my hands and feet. Grandpa said he hit it in the head and for me not to worry. I was a scared youngun but am so glad he was a crack shot cause that sucker could have taken my hand off. As I recall, the meat tasted like stringy chicken in the stew but it was good.