Turtles

[Mike Lyons]

I’m been trapping some turtles to eat.  I hate throwing the shells away.  What kind of stuff did the old timers make out of turtle shells?

[Kevin]

Greetings,

Madison Grant's hunting pouch book shows a turtle shell shot holder on page 186.

Kevin

[Bob McBride]

Native Americans used small ones for medicine bags, rattles to tie around their legs for dances, they were used in Asia cut into combs.... can’t think of anything else. Knee pads? 

[Frank Barker]

I have seen hunting pouches made out of them.....

[Brokennock]

Small ones make a good slate, or pot, style turkey call. Do make yourself aware of applicable laws and ordinances regarding their use and transportation of the shells or items made with them. Some places get pretty touchy about possession of these things.

[Tim Crosby]

    The shell has a shell on it that will come off with time, the shell itself is made up of segments that will also come apart. I have always found it hard to make anything out of them.

  Tim

 A Story:

 I was probably 17 or so and had a girl over to eat Supper with us. She was eating and talking away, she turned to my Mom and said. “this is very good, what is it”. My Mom, who was pretty much a “Tom Boy” looked over at me and said,”do you want to tell her or do you want me to” at this the girls says, “WHAT is This?”. At my reply of "Turtle", she jumped up from the table, was out the door and in the car in a flash. All she said was take me home, when I got home my Mom, Dad and Brother said they didn’t think they had ever laughed that hard before. Except for at school I never saw the girl again. We used to eat a lot of Snapper in stews and soups, still do when I come across one.

[Marcruger]

Tim, that girl wasn’t the one for you brother. 🙂

[rich pierce]

If you get a big snapping turtle I’ve been hankering to make a bowstring from the neck skin. If you could skin it as a tube and dry it I’d buy it from you. Heck I’d buy 10 of them. Just “case” skin it, pack the tube with dry grass, and let the tube dry. The technique for making the bowstring is to spiral cut the neck skin. It would look pretty gnarly on a native bow.

[Mike Lyons]

If you get a big snapping turtle I’ve been hankering to make a bowstring from the neck skin. If you could skin it as a tube and dry it I’d buy it from you. Heck I’d buy 10 of them. Just “case” skin it, pack the tube with dry grass, and let the tube dry. The technique for making the bowstring is to spiral cut the neck skin. It would look pretty gnarly on a native bow.

Rich,

I've tanned a few reptile skins.  I would imagine that borax would do the job well using the technic you mention.  If I get a few, I may try tanning one in the Lutan F solution with a few different hides.  Anyhow,  I'll throw some lines out this weekend and see how I do.

[rich pierce]

No tanning please!  The first Americans used rawhide only for bowstrings.

[Mike Lyons]

No tanning please!  The first Americans used rawhide only for bowstrings.

Got it

[Daryl]

    The shell has a shell on it that will come off with time, the shell itself is made up of segments that will also come apart. I have always found it hard to make anything out of them.

  Tim

 A Story:

 I was probably 17 or so and had a girl over to eat Supper with us. She was eating and talking away, she turned to my Mom and said. “this is very good, what is it”. My Mom, who was pretty much a “Tom Boy” looked over at me and said,”do you want to tell her or do you want me to” at this the girls says, “WHAT is This?”. At my reply of "Turtle", she jumped up from the table, was out the door and in the car in a flash. All she said was take me home, when I got home my Mom, Dad and Brother said they didn’t think they had ever laughed that hard before. Except for at school I never saw the girl again. We used to eat a lot of Snapper in stews and soups, still do when I come across one.

Sorry, no turtle stories.
When I was a kid, late elementary school- grade 7 or 8, I used to take a variety of sandwiches to school. Dad, always tinkering with cooking, made up a head-cheese block out of squirrel, rabbit, grouse, pheasant leftovers in the freezer. It was a big block and fantastic sliced for sandwiches.   Gave 1/2 my sandwich to girl friend one day and she remarked how good it was- then- "what is it?". Some of the meat was light coloured, as in the grouse and some of the bunny meat and dark, the squirrel and pheasant. When I told her, she just stared at the remainder of her sandwich for a time, then wolfed it down - then said "I don't care - THAT was good!" just the right amount of salt and gelatin. Dad was a good cook --- most of the time.

[Craig Wilcox]

When I lived in the Creek (Muskogee) Nation, an artistic Creek would buy small - less than 5" - box turtles.  He was always asking folks to pick them up off the road instead of running over them.  He was a champion stomp dancer, and did indeed use them for rattles.  Generally in the spring/very early summer, the turtles will go a long ways looking for a mate.

[hanshi]

When I was still a kid we lived next door to a older couple and the man liked to make turtle mull.  He's have a crowd over by evening enjoying the mull and, of course, beer.  He would keep snappers and possums in cages and fatten them up for consumption.  I would sometimes bring him possum, rabbits and such.  This was when I tasted my first possum.

Not turtles but a treasured aunt & uncle came to eat dinner with us one evening and I wanted to surprise them.  I BBQd deer chops, made a pot roast and did another , now forgotten, venison recipe.  They had no idea what they were eating.  About halfway through the meal my uncle says "these are the best BBQ pork chops I've ever tasted".  The roast was also mentioned as well.  At first they didn't believe me.  I swore that all the meat dishes WERE indeed venison.  Wild game is often a pleasant surprise for those who haven't eaten it previously.

[Mike Lyons]

I’ve eaten turtle my entire life.  Stick a garden hose in their neck,  tie it with wire,   turn it on low and let it blow up like a balloon.  Soon as it pops,  skin and clean it.  Roll it in in egg and flower and brown it.  Then stack it in the pressure cooker.  It’s about the best eating meat I’ve ever had.  Muskrat might have it by an edge.

[JohnnyFM]

Any car in the vicinity of Mike Lyons house.  Reported man down with shrapnel wounds.  Says his turtle blew up. EMS and county bomb unit notified.  Whoop WHOOP

[Kary]

I’ve made dream catchers from the really large shells.

[B.Barker]

They are great to use for flat sets when trapping coyotes and fox.

[Clear Spring Armory]

I have afew snapper shells I've saved to make a "calender". Seen a few on pinterest, don't really think they are historically correct. But they look scrimshawed and each segment has a different image, like a corn stalk or something, representing a month or period of the year ya know. As mentioned, the thin colorful skin on the shell was removed and the scrimshaw was done on the white underside.