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Step 4Remove the meat
Start by laying the turtle on its back.
Note: While cutting-try not to open the organ sack. Try not to stab anything that looks like a little water balloon. Chances are, no matter what it is, when your knife pokes it, one of the foulest mixtures of liquid hell will pour out. Just avoid stabbing at the turtle in general.
Cut around, and remove the bottom plate. A serrated knife/saw comes in handy at times here.
Then, cut the back legs and tail off the top shell in 1 piece. Cut the front legs and the neck off.
Throw away the carcass (the shell and guts). You can look in the stomach to see if you can find your bait and hook. Here, I found the hook, with the whole liver still on it, in both stomachs, unharmed in each of them! (Both meaning both turtles, not two stomachs in one turtle).
You can either skin it, or cook it with the skin on (in a soup, maybe?).
Once you've skinned it (sorry, no more pictures), if it's an old granddaddy snapper (12 + pounds or so), parboil the meat first, to tenderize it. After that (or if it was a younger turtle), you can roast/fry it just like chicken. Or make the ever-popular turtle soup.
Note: While cutting-try not to open the organ sack. Try not to stab anything that looks like a little water balloon. Chances are, no matter what it is, when your knife pokes it, one of the foulest mixtures of liquid hell will pour out. Just avoid stabbing at the turtle in general.
Cut around, and remove the bottom plate. A serrated knife/saw comes in handy at times here.
Then, cut the back legs and tail off the top shell in 1 piece. Cut the front legs and the neck off.
Throw away the carcass (the shell and guts). You can look in the stomach to see if you can find your bait and hook. Here, I found the hook, with the whole liver still on it, in both stomachs, unharmed in each of them! (Both meaning both turtles, not two stomachs in one turtle).
You can either skin it, or cook it with the skin on (in a soup, maybe?).
Once you've skinned it (sorry, no more pictures), if it's an old granddaddy snapper (12 + pounds or so), parboil the meat first, to tenderize it. After that (or if it was a younger turtle), you can roast/fry it just like chicken. Or make the ever-popular turtle soup.
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Do you mean bleeding the turtle out, then cleaning it the next day? If you're looking at doing that because of time, it would probably be better to leave them in the bathtub full of water or in a trash can with water in it. I would try to avoid leaving the dead turtle with its organs in there for too long, as it could taint the meat (both in flavor and possibly with pathogens).
Good luck, though! They can be "good eatin'!"
http://courses.science.fau.edu/~jwyneken/sta/SeaTurtleAnatomy-Urogenital_System.pdf
this is a pdf file. a picture is on page 7 of 13 that shows the folicles as well as the shelled eggs.