When I was a kid we thought they were tasty. Supposedly, alligator snapping turtles can live to be 200 years old. I remember reading many years ago about one being caught in Louisiana with flint arrowheads in its shell. The biggest I recall that we caught was close to 2' in dia.. We kept trot lines out in the Saline river a free flowing small river that was about 4 miles from the house. Big flatheads were always the best followed by channel cats, but sometimes a snapping turtle would still be on when we ran em in the early mornings. I was 7 or so and Dad used a hand ax and a rope getting him back to the truck. May have towed him back, too long ago to recall. For lack of a better description rib meat, and legs were fine eating. Soup and fried turtle tenders, wish I could go back 65 years for a mess.
RonR
