Nebraskaland

20 Nebraskaland • June 2022 always try to include the entire family on these hunts. Our kids are raised the same way." Kim got into the swamp when she was a teenager, but prefers to be "the bag lady" — running the gunny sack up and down the bank wherever it's needed. She also holds another important job. Since the passing of her mother, Ernie, Kim has taken over preparing the family's favorite meal. The Ruttens' steamed turtle recipe is tried and true. Anyone who is willing to taste it will not be disappointed. An Underutilized Resource "A lot of people won't try turtle just because of what it is. It doesn't sound good to eat something that comes out of a muddy, stinky swamp," Kim says. The old adage that turtle tastes like shrimp, goat, pork, fi sh, lamb, beef or chicken is not true. Thankfully, snapping turtle meat is not the Frankenstein of the swamp. Instead, it's more like the pig – swamp pig. Slow-cooked the way the Ruttens do it, the look and taste is akin to slow-cooked pork. It's chewing on the odd-looking reptile bones that screws with your head. For over 10 years, Ben has demonstrated snapping turtle processing at the Missouri River Outdoor Exposition at Ponca State Park, and his slot arguably draws in the largest audiences each year. At home, Ben can clean a turtle in under 5 minutes, but he takes it slow at Ponca. A turtle will butcher out about half its weight, he says, so a 20-pound turtle will give you approximately 10 pounds of meat and bone. He gets three pieces from each leg and cuts the neck and tail in half so they fi t into the pan better. From one turtle, Ben can get 16 pieces of meat. Despite the grisly sight, Ponca Expo goers — young and old, male and female — continue to be mesmerized each year. Many are even brave enough to try a piece of Kim's steamed turtle, and no one has ever had anything bad to say about it. Ben thinks his demonstrations are popular because they're just diff erent. "It's something people think they might want to do, because they've all caught a turtle on a fi shing pole once or twice, or seen them crossing the roads. They think, 'Well, if it's worth eating,' then they might want to try it. It's a resource that is underutilized," Ben says, although he's not sure if anyone has ever made the leap to actually go through with it. He has seen many repeat audience members over the years. "It's a job to do it, and if you don't clean them right, trim them up good, they taste bad. And then you got to cook them right, because they're so tough. If you don't steam them, then you can hardly chew them," he says. "I'm probably pushing 800 turtles that I've cleaned in my life." When the Ruttens were still throwing large parties, Ben might clean 30-40 turtles a year. Now, he only cleans a few each summer and can still put all his nephews to shame. "I get tired of watching them so I do it," he says. The best places to look for snapping turtles are in bodies of stagnant water with duckweed and other vegetation on the surface, says Ben Rutten. Hunt where the water is about 2 feet deep, because turtles can easily swim away in deeper areas.

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