If you don't know how to properly clean and prepare this animal it can be a time-consuming process. That is why we have found these simple instructions to help make the process go a little smoother.
How to Clean and Cook Turtles in a Few Easy Steps
Getting Everything Together
You will need a fillet knife, meat cleaver or hatchet, wire cutters, protective gloves, heavy-duty kitchen shears, a couple of sturdy sticks, pliers and possibly a serrated knife. You should also have a couple of feet of thick gauge wire. Think of the wire from a hangar as an example. You also need a large bucket, preferably a 55 gallon drum and some patience.
The first step is to place the caught turtles into the drum and fill it with water. Flush and change the water daily for up to a week. Turtles will ingest the clean water and it will help to cleanse their system of impurities. The amount of time that you will need varies on the quality of the water at the site where the turtles were caught. This is not necessary, but it is very beneficial. It will reduce the amount of stink and crud that you need to remove as you are cleaning them, their meat will be free from more contaminants, and the finished product will taste better.
Don’t worry about feeding the turtles while they are being cleansed. If some of them start to die off, then you can simply prepare those first.
Cleaning the Turtle
The first step is to remove the head from the turtle. Place the turtle on its belly on a flat surface and hold it down. Take extra care if you are working with a snapper to avoid injury. The best way to coax a turtle to stick its head out of the shell is to use a stick. Place the stick horizontally across where they tuck their heads into their shell and move it near and far to coax the turtle into biting it.
Pull on the stick as the turtle has a firm grip around it until as much of their neck is exposed as possible. Give it a good whack with the hatchet or cleaver, and use enough force to get it done in one strike. This will minimize the mess associated with blood spattering all over the place while also preventing the turtle from thrashing around. It’s also the humane thing to do.
So what do you think? Have you caught and prepared turtles before? If so are there any tips and tricks that you have that we could benefit from? Let us know in the comments below and don't forget to share this post so others can benefit from it.
Baychang Jer Lor
Please don’t put something on my page that I can’t delete. I have no desire to see you kill Turtles
Corey Weaver
Then unfollow the page or adjust your settings so you don’t get Post notifications from them. It is not on YOUR page but ont THIER page and then advertised out to the people following the page. You had to have done that so undo it instead of complaining about your mistake. What your are asking them to do is like sitting in a cafe and asking other patrons not to drink tea in your presence — remove yourself from the situation instead of complaining about the place.
Iver Mccracken
have eaten turtle when I was young…dimly recall dad doing the butchering…dinner was good, honestly..I do not think I would do it now, but we can’t see what tomorrow may bring, either.
We always give them to my buddy’s uncle. He puts them live in a polymer 55 gallon barrel with fresh water. He drains it and sprays it out every couple of days until the water is coming out clear and without a stink. Then he butchers the turtle and makes a soup.
Thank you for the survival tips! This is a great post
Lol David Singer we fucked up hahaha
You want to try some
I still think about the snapper who got away as I lay awake at night.
I still think about the snapper who got away as I lay awake at night.
Keep it up! Wicked
Being from south Louisiana this is a diet staple.
Jason Powell
Nope, I’ll pass on that one.
Gross
Amanda Barnett-Guidry
Due to declining populations of snapping turtles some states have them listed as a protected species. I would caution anyone to first check with your wildlife resources office.
If you are hungry enough, you will clean, cook and eat a turtle and swear it was a delicacy!
I love fried turtle I can’t open and clean one but sure can cook it my whole family loves fried turtle
Xtine Bell thought you’d like this lol
I make a mean snapping turtle soup. This one doesn’t look big enough to eat.
“Don’t worry about feeding the turtles while they are being cleansed. If some of them start to die off, then you can simply prepare those first”
Starving an animal to death is exceptionally cruel and while I can say that leaving them in water for a week to clean them out is good advice, letting them starve is not only just rotten and inhumane, but it causes the animals flesh to become tough. Snapping turtles will eat just about anything, you can feed them scraps of vegetables and even fish heads and guts so there is no reason to let them starve.
Tried it once, sent me on the verge of barfing – no thanks.
Mary Bias
Kevin Caoimhín Smith next menu item
Lol David Singer
First boil turtle meat down with potatoes n crab boil to preferred taste, until potatoes are done, then remove the meat n batter in fish fry or flour n fry. Mash the potatoes up n use the water to make a gravy with. The crab boil (however much you decide that suits your taste) helps remove the gamey taste n adds a bit of zing to the flavor. Good stuff when cooked this way…