Cut a gash in the underside of the fish from the anal opening to the head. Cut the throat where attached and remove and bury all the entails. Rinse fish to get rid of any blood clots. Wipe inside with a clean cloth. Cook approximately 10 minutes per inch measured at the thickest part. Firm flesh fish can be grilled but soft flesh fish should be baked or fried. If fried, skin and bone the fish first.
Rub the outside with fat or oil. Salt and pepper the inside to taste. Grill 4 to 6 inches over hot coals for 10 to 12 minutes turning carefully 3 or 4 times with a spatula. The fish will darken and blister in spots but it will stay moist on the inside.
Cut large fish into 1 inch slices or fillets. Dip in water and then coat in flour. Add salt and pepper. Place in hot frying pan containing 1/8 inch melted fat, oil, or shortening. Brown one side, then turn and brown the other side, allowing 4 to 6 minutes cooking time per side depending on thickness of fish.
Cut off and keep only the hind legs. Wash in cold water. Turn skin down and strip off skin like a glove. Boil and eat the legs. (Or cover the legs with boiling water and then drain quickly. Shake legs in flour, salt, and pepper in a plastic baggie. Let stand 15 minutes. Fry in hot oil for 3 minutes until brown.) (The leg glands of some frogs cause diarrhea.)
Boil until the shell comes off. The meat is then cut up and used to make a soup using any edible plants available. (Note: Older turtles have tougher meat and they should be boiled longer to tenderize the meat for eating.)
Drop live crayfish into boiling water as soon as possible after catching. They spoil very quickly.
Some snails are edible. However, most wild snails cannot be eaten because they can carry parasites and those parasites can be fatal to humans.
Very few snakes are poisonous but all snakes should be treated with respect. A head shot with a 22-bullet or snake-shot is usually adequate. Or hit the snake on the head with a rock or a 6-foot pole to stun and kill it. Cautiously cut off and bury the head of all snakes. If the poison of a dead snake gets into a cut or scrape it can make you sick. Cut the belly of the snake from where its head was towards its tail. Use your finger to strip out the entails as a single piece. Strip off the outer skin by pulling from the top towards the tail. Wash the remaining meat in clean water. Snake may be broiled or grilled whole (or diced and boiled). Or cut into 3” pieces, dip in milk or water, roll in flour and/or corn meal, add salt and pepper, and deep fry in hot oil.
The following bugs are edible: ants, grubs, slugs, and earthworms. They may be eaten raw (but not alive) or cooked. Nobody I know likes them raw, so the best solution is to dice them into small pieces and cook them in a soup with some other type of wild food. Grasshoppers can also be eaten if you first remove the legs. The legs contain tiny barbs that can get caught in your throat. Don’t eat grasshoppers raw because they occasionally contain tiny parasites (which will be killed if you boil the grasshoppers in water). NEVER eat flies, ticks, mosquitoes, centipedes, or spiders.