EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Not hogs or dogs but Loggerhead Turtles

Heres a few pictures of what Thre and his buddy have been catching in south Louisiana.  This is a honda 500 fourwheeler and the other picture is of the turtle in a full size chest type freezer.  Ill let Thre tell yall how much they weighed and all the particulars.   Oh and for the record Louisiana is the only State that there still legal to harvest and sell as food.
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f279/mwgarrett/turtles.jpg)
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f279/mwgarrett/Turtle03.jpg)
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f279/mwgarrett/Turtles02.jpg)

dang  thats a big ole turtle..........

Good alligator snapping turtles man!  Might want to change that "loggerhead" thing or the federal game commission might be knocking on your door tonight! ;D  Maybe it's the local name, but true Loggerheads are ocean turtles and highly protected.

I'd love to hear yall's recipe for turtle if you get the chance, I can eat it, but never been in love with it(kind of like gator) ;D

You are correct Noah. They are Alligator Snapping Turtles and yes around here we call them Loggerheads. They eat pretty good. The bigger one which is 130lbs. I'm going to mount. We catch them pretty regular around this part of the country.

Where all is there meat on a turtle, I can see quite a bit in the neck in the pics but is there more that has been harvested off of already?  HOw long do you think it takes for a turtle to hit 130lbs?
MG

Them are some big turtles!!!!  :o

I have a few questions Marvin.

How do you catch those things? Are they any good to eat?

How do you cook them?

We used to use trot lines with pieces of raw chicken for bait....any tough meat that'll stay on a hook really..... We get softshell turtles primarily but do get a few snappers....get some water lizard by-catch sometimes ;)  I've always just fried it, like fishy tasting chicken....yum ;D  Heard of using it in soups/stews, never tried it, would probably be better.

Here's a good how to on cleaning them....

How to Clean a Freshwater Turtle


1. Put live turtle in a 55 gal. drum for 7 days, to allow it to empty it's system, it helps with the smell. Keep fresh water in the drum. Scoop out the feces with a net.

2. Using channel locks, hold him tight by the mouth with neck stretched out. Cut off his head.

3. Hang him upside down to bleed out for about 30 minutes.

4. Put him on his back, cut claws and feet off.

5. Cut skin around shell top and bottom, cut and pull skin away from shell on the front legs until skin is removed.

6. On the soft shell belly outside edge of shell, cut through soft shell contact points and remove.

7. Remove guts and innards.

8. Remove front legs, may need to twist to break the joint.

9. Cut and peel skin from back legs and neck.

10. Remove back legs and neck, again twisting to break joints.

11. Leave meat on bone, but try to remove as much fat as possible.

12. Wash with cold water, repeat until clean.

13. Freeze submerged in water.

(http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp85/cryward/chanceshogpicturesmay09001.jpg)      this one was southeasttexas style we caught this one about a week ago pretty cool turtles you got threre.

   Those are huge!!  I bet that turtle is at least 75 to 100 years old.  There is one in captivity that is over 100 years old and not that big but close.  Just imagine in the wild it took that rascal a while to get that big.  Nice Alligator Snapping turtles.

next time yall get one of those, i'd like to buy tha shell from you.

Holy Crap!!!!!!

Yea those r nice ones there im from south louisiana but live in east tex now me and my dad used to cath em all the time. U should keep the shell and shine it up they look perty cool and a ton of peeps ask about them .