hunting turtles?

N

nc527

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Mar 22, 2009
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I have a camping trip on the river next weekend, and when I scouted the place a couple weeks ago, there were atleast 20 big turtles sunning themselves on the bank. I am not sure if there is a turtle "season" or what. Couldnt find anything about it. I would like to take a couple to eat, because I have eaten it before, and it tastes good.

I was wondering what the best way to dispatch a turtle? SHould I use a .22, a shotgun? bow with field or flat points?

Also, how do you clean and prepare turtle?
 
Check the hunting regulations first. Pull the head out and cut it off. Keep fingers away from snapper heads cut off.
 
go to Barnes & Nobles & pick up a copy of april Fur-Fish& Game. there is a very comprehensive article on turtle taking & food preparation.---dennis
 
Take a hook, line and a milk jug with rotten meat and you will get a snapper, B careful they can take your fingers off.
 
My grandpa and I used to trap them out of his farm ponds. He had a cylinder made of chicken wire, about 1.5' around and 3' long. One end was blocked of flat with wire, the other had a funnel shape also made of chicken wire. We would tie a line to it, throw in some old meat and bones and chunk it out in the water. Come back the next day and real it in. The turtles go in through the funnel and can't find their way out. We never ate them though. It was more about pest eradication for him. Picking them off with a .22 is more fun though.
 
Don't eat box turtles. Poisonous mushrooms are a part of their diet, and there are deadly oils in them that will kill you as surely as the mushrooms.
 
turtle eating may kill one in canada but in southern u.s. they are eaten regularly. louisiana & east tex. boys actively pursue these critters.the turtle i've consumed did'nt even make me burp.--dennis
 
DennisStrickland said:
turtle eating may kill one in canada but in southern u.s. they are eaten regularly. louisiana & east tex. boys actively pursue these critters.the turtle i've consumed did'nt even make me burp.--dennis
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i think he meant box turtles as in the land turtles not the turtles you find in the water which most if not all people eat. our pond is loaded with snappers and cooters... yes i said cooters :D:p
 
Snappers and cooters ?

Ive eaten snappers but i have never eaten a cooter or a box.
 
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We cant keep them off trotlines. Catch about half as many turtles as catfish.. Throwlines tied off the bank baited with cut bait will usually catch all the turtles you can handle.
 
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