How to clean a snapping turtle

Somebody told us the best way to clean a snapping turtle was to cut its head off, stick a water hose down the hole and lock it on with a pipe clamp....

They were right! Took the skin right off the meat, it was a nightmare cleaning the turtle we didn't do this on.

BTW before you go and make snap judgments about things like this (like some morons who posted insulting comments lately which I deleted) consider that if you eat meat, this is what it takes to prepare it. Meat doesn't magically materialize in the grocery store. Somebody is killing an animal and cleaning it... and doing it correctly is gory and it takes work. So if you don't eat meat don't bother commenting at all (and think about the canines in your mouth and why they are there) but if you do eat meat and have a problem with this.... maybe you should think about killing, cleaning and preparing it yourself for a change... maybe you might learn something and stop making such stupid comments and judging people who have the decency to do the dirty work themselves, and consider that we respect the animals we eat more than you do because we know the life we took and what it takes to add it to ours.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• snapping turtle
• fishing
• cleaning game

[lol6thkid]

I have a snapping turtle, and frankly I feel like we are in a foreign country eating a dog, snapping turtles are capable to being trained, mine is trained very well so obviously they are capable. things such as this are what caused them to become threatened for a while

[Cliftyman]

Things like this are not what caused them to be threatened. Snapping turtles were caught commercially and canned and sold in the southeast in the early 20th century and during that time too many were caught.  This was the first time in about 15 years that we caught any and ate them (3 of them) out of a private farm pond. There are loads of others left in the pond.

[MrBully117]

i wonder how it taste doesnt look clean or safe to eat tho

[Cliftyman]

Taste is very good....a little tough if you don't prepare it properly though. As safe as eating catfish if you clean it properly.

[Cliftyman]

If I was killing them for the heck of it I'd agree that'd be bad... but we eat all we kill, that's how I justify it. We put them out of their misery quick by shooting them in the head with a .22 after we catch them. The .22 kills them instantly and then you can stretch their necks out easy and cut them off with a filleting knife.

[coffeeexmachina]

Hehe, 0:46 "We need to do a deer like that..."

[Cliftyman]

22LR to the head, died instantly

[swfishing1]

Great idea and time saver

[SurvivalistWannabe]

Pretty cool.

[gf3030]

Love snappers, got to be the best tasting meat ever. Cant wait to start trapping again, last season my buddy and I trappes almost 100 in 1 day. Had them all cut up by the end of the day.

[SvddenDeth]

@Cliftyman how fast did you kill it

[RighteousBigot4u]

I have not had turtle yet but I plan to , I made a friend years ago up in Northern Mn who swore big snapping turtles were about the best eating animal you could find, he said they have about 5 or 6 different flavors, from parts that taste like beef liver to parts that taste like lobster.