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My grandad always used groundhog,he would take the insides out and save the liver he said that was the best bait ,then he would cut the rest up in chunks with a hatchet bones and all and put it in a mason jar and bury it in the ground for a while don't remember how long till the odor got unbearable I suppose. He did not skin them either. This was then used on his outlines.

He would clean his turtles by scalding and that would loosen the outer skin and the outer dark layer of the shell,under that outer shell layer the shell is pure white,and the restaurants in Harrisburg that he sold them to, the restaurant owner wanted the shells to cook with the meat he said that was where the flavor was.

I never cooked the shells with my meat, I just put the meat in the crock pot until it falls off the bone then cut up into small chunks with a pair of kitchen scissors. If I had my way I would let the skin on but the wife will have no part of that so instead of scalding mine I just skin them.

I use the meat then in a vegetavle soup instead of beef.

Pan fried turtle is excellent also if they aren't too big and tough.

Just picked Mom's brain & this is whut she remembers...give or take a lil of course.

2-3 lbs turtle meat
1 cup onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 choped green pepper
4 tbsp flour
1/2 stick butter
4 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped
2 tbsp veg oil for browning meat
2 stalks celery choped
1 sprig thyme
1 small can tomato paste
2 qt hot water
1 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste


Cut turtle meat into pieces. Fry in shortening till litely brown. Add onion, celery, bay leaf, thyme, green pepper, tomato paste, lemon juice, sherry, Worcestershire sauce, butter, salt, pepper, and flour. Stir well. Add water and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Diced potatoes & white corn can also be added to your liking to get some more veggies in.

Makes about 8-10 servings. If make a larger amount just increase the above proportionately.

Thanks Loggy,I will be trying that this summer at camp this summer in the dutch oven over the campfire.I taught my nephew how to catch and clean them last summer.We made beer battered snapper nuggets. He and his sister ate the whole turtle!

Your welcome sorefoot. It's a very simple recipie that Dad used in making barrels of snapper soup over the years.

Those beer battered snapper nuggets sure sound yummy!!

My Mrs bak when we were first dating visited my home while Dad was cleaning/cooking whole snappers & she still talks about the smell plus was shocked seeing the operation her not coming from a family who enjoyed the finer culinary things of this World!! Told her that was her chance to exit which im thankful she didn't!!

My wife won't eat turtle. She got nosey and came out to watch me cleaning a bunch. When she saw the feet moving and the heart beating after they had hung for an hour on her clothes line(she didn't see that part). That was it for her.

I love catching snappers! Here a couple I got a few years ago.

Some nice snappers there!!

Anyone know what the market is for snapper meat? ive read that if you get a $50 permit you can sell them in PA i just dont know what the steps are or who to sell it to. I catch a lot of snapper ( as you can see in the avatar)and i'd love to get into selling them as there are just too many around my way. If anyone on here does it and could shoot me a PM about it i would really appreciate it!

my brother used to catch snapping turtles using hooks and heavy lines tied to gallon milk jugs. if the pond was too deep to wade he used his fishing pole to snag the line attached to the jug and to pull it to shore. then he would fetch the turtle back to shore. just watch that the turtle doesnt bite you.