Turtle meat is relished in many cuisines for its delicious flavor, a fact that Dick Shenal of New Washington, Ohio, knows very well. He and his brother, Jack Shenal, who are natives of West Virginia, have been turtle hunting for years by way of the almost-lost method called "noodling."

Dick says this practice of "noodling" was done by "our grandfather who passed it on to my father and he in turn passed it on to us. Noodling is crawling on all fours along a riverbank searching for snapping turtles under banks with your bare hands."

Dick, who once lived in Mathews where he taught Industrial Arts and served as assistant football coach at Mathews High School (1958-1960) writes about a weekend of noodling with five other friends, including his brother Jack, in the Petersburg and Moorfield areas on the upper Potomac River.

They start around 9:30 a.m. and "we like to finish around 4 p.m. because turtles begin to come out from under the banks to feed. It is wise not to confront them he...