EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Picked him up the  other day. Gonna throw out the first pick for those who have never seen an actual SadiousRiberbottomous. For those older hands who know...Shhhhhhhh fer now.  Let's have some fun.

Alright gents.....

What's the common name for this East Texas demon?

Enjoy

(http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h450/YELLOWBLACKMASK/1051099348_photobucket_237190_.jpg)

Looks like a skull from a logger head turtle

Some skull from another planet the "Predator" collected.  ;D

I bet that one weighed 75lbs

Would it rhyme with aggilator slappin myrtle?


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X2 on the slapping myrtle/ logger head, that skulls in pretty good condition, did you find it or boil it?

Y'all want to see some pictures of some nice SadousRiverbottommous  we caught through the years ?
  And yes Myles, that's skulls in great shape, a nice representative of a Riverbottommous.

Heck nah gents....

Hybrid cross of a one eyed bald eagle and a snaggle toothed bobcat.  :o

Sauce picaute!!!

Alligator Snapper all day!

Nice skull!

Myles, are Riverbottomuses any kin to South American Siamese Fighting Pelicans ? They sure do look a lot alike .

We'd love to see them pics from years past

I do!!

Aight.....Aight.......guess you guys are on top of yalls Tortoise Game. :laugh:

Here is the rest of him.   Gives ya a whole new spin on Catfish Noodling.  Hehe

(http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h450/YELLOWBLACKMASK/1051099348_photobucket_237241_.jpg)

Good reason I don't stick my hands in holes haha!

Ya, it would suck to have a Logger Head like that clamp down on you.....

(http://)(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/eelcat1/565_zps0f61dc17.jpg) (http://s1185.photobucket.com/user/eelcat1/media/565_zps0f61dc17.jpg.html)
(http://)(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/eelcat1/564_zps6d013cad.jpg) (http://s1185.photobucket.com/user/eelcat1/media/564_zps6d013cad.jpg.html)
(http://)(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/eelcat1/023.jpg) (http://s1185.photobucket.com/user/eelcat1/media/023.jpg.html)

             These are some I caught from the late 70's to 80's. South La.   Myles I know you guys like noodling
              but I would be too scared to try that down here with all the gators and turtles and such.
                I kept all the shells and skulls but the skulls disappeared. 

Man that's an awesome skeleton!

Mighty fine cooter specimens Jimco!

Only seen two in my days that would be a comparison.  One was already dead and tried to float him back in behind my flatbottom. Was as wide as transom but lost him on an underwater stob.

Second was in a lil small creek slap on the middle of a switch cain thicket. By his size..... I recon he probably was in his prime when he bit  Robert E Lee's pinky toe off. :laugh:

Soooo I let him see a few more decades.

Any yall Cajuns eat them cooter stew strips?

X2 jim, nice loggers.

I aint no coon ass, but spent a many a summers in miss n we ate them in stew with the eggs if there were any and even boild n the stir fried the meat with rice n a lil watered down brown gravy. To bad aint many biggun around anymore. I caught crossing the road at my house, back last summer. Threw him on my wheeler n hauled him to my pond. His shell was 10-12" across n boy was he a mean rascal. Now im seeing a decline in my painted turtle counts n aint seen my baby bass i had. I think the sucker ate n ran off w/ o paying his bill

Not many people fish them anymore. You have to get in some really remote backwoods swamps to find them.

Yes, they are a delicacy. Turtle Sauce Piquante cooked for hours served over rice .  :P

            (http://)(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/eelcat1/SaucePicante.jpg) (http://s1185.photobucket.com/user/eelcat1/media/SaucePicante.jpg.html)

Riddle me this?

What color is the meat?   Never sawed into one personally.  But heard some wild rumors.

Some of the meat is red, not as red as deer meat, but the consistency of deer meat. Some of it is translucent (some say white),
like frog legs, real fine meat  and some is a mixture of the 2, about the look of chicken. The front and hind quarters are red meat
transitioning into the clear meat.   We don't keep any under 40 lbs because they are all head and shell and they yield little meat,
just seems a waste for the little meat you get.  Now the bigger ones, I remember the one in the top pic was 110 lbs,  He yielded
65 lbs, of meat (on the bone) after we cleaned him. Every thing is done with him on his back. After bottom shell is off everything
is right there. Skin and cut each leg quarter out then the tail then the neck. A lot of meat in his neck running into his head.
Now everything is separated from the shell. Cut the feet off at the joints then you have to skin the hide off each piece like a deer.
You can't pull the hide from the meat , it has to be skinned. You can clean a big logger head pretty quick.

They are very simple to clean. If you look at the pics you see his bottom shell connects to the top by just a little piece on both sides.
You cut that with a hatchet then skin the bottom shell off, takes about a minute. 

I mainly catch them on lines tied to a tree along an old natural bayou in the swamp. I bait a hook with a piece of carp and gently push
it into the sediment a few inches...  I also was taught by my grandfather how to pole them out of their caves with a hook pole during
the cold winter months when they are hibernating. They dig holes in the bank and they pile on top of one another to hibernate.

If you notice on the pic of Myles shell, there are 3 rows of "spurs" on his back. if you catch a large one and his spurs are tall and pointed,
there are probably not many turtles in the area. If you catch one that his spurs are worn down and rounded off, there is a good population. If you catch one that the rows of spurs are slap worn down , then you have a lot of logger heads in the area.  When they
are hibernating they pile on top of one another and that's what wears them spurs down. The more turtles in a hole the more they wear
each others spurs down .

Learn something new everyday. Thanks for postin that mr. Jim


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Dang right.....great story..pics and info.

Am always willing and eager to learn more about Cooter.

Guys for what its worth, I see the term loggerhead being used in a here a couple times.  Loggerheads are part of the marine mammal protection act, and a federal offense to harass, harvest or even posses their shell/remains.  Just sayin.

Loggerheads aren't listed in the act, so as far as I can tell Bon-appetite.

When "cooter" is on the menu, it's always a good night

That's right. A Loggerhead is a sea turtle. Where I'm from Cajuns always called Alligator Snapping Turtles
Loggerheads also.

That's what we call them is loggerheads. Been a while but I have had a few meals of them myself. We use to catch out of bayou  here close.


Shotgun
Arkansas

Gotcha,  I didn't know that.  Down here we actually get them from time to time.  And ive had to explain to people why they couldn't keep the shells.

Yep. Same here.. slang for Aligator Snappers round here is Loggerheads also......but ain't much salt water round East Texas river bottoms.   ;D

Mr. Jim I am amazed at that first pic you posted.  You looked just like David does now.

That first pic was about 32 yrs. ago.  I was in my early 20's. That young'un in the second pic is Kip. He's
about 20 now.  And that's ole David with me in the third pic. He's 27 now.