Blood/guts queasiness

Regenerative Subsistence Fauna Food
#1

So, while some of my group have expressed interest in hunting, me and the other girl in our group are all about taking care of the skinning/tanning/butchering part. The only problem is, both she and I are so blood/guts queasy, I at least can’t even watch the cheesiest B-horror movie without turning away. So, we’ve been brainstorming some ideas as to getting over this–by watching, youtube vids of people skinning/tanning, taking part in cadaver observations, and starting small, like with snakes–Sorta like how in jr. high Biology class you start out with dissecting a worm, then move on to frogs in HS, and then to cats in some schools, etc. Plus snakes are so plentiful where I’m from, then we could move up to fish, rabbits, etc.

Anyway, does anyone have more ideas to contribute, or any stories of getting over such queasiness?

I didn’t know which forum this is best belonging; feel free to move.

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#2

When i first poked a stick at a dead deer i found it sortof made me feel real uneasy as well. I felt how truly detached my perception of the world had become. Almost as if i was doing something forbidden or unholy by interacting with this deer. No better yet, it was as if i was breaking taboo. That was exactly how it felt to me. I guess im not really afraid of blood and guts, but i do feel that i have to break this taboo. Talking is good, interacting and doing these things with friends that you trust and feel comfortable with should open up a world of exploration.

cheers!

#3

sunflowersFTW!,
I think you ridea of starting with small creatures and building up might be a good way.
Basically the more you do it the more you get comfortable with it.

I had someone make a wierd comment to me once. They had hit a deer with their car and it was crawling across the pavement into the ditch when I came along. They were just freakin’ out, not knowing what to do. So I got my knife out of the truck and cut the deers throat then asked them to help me put it in the back of my truck. They said somethng like “I guess I’m just not heartless enough to do something like that”

Being heartless has nothing to do with it. I have deep love for deer. In situations like that the kindest thing to do is take care of what needs to be done, deliberately, with no hesitation. I’ve seen people trying to club deer with tire irons after hitting them with their car but being such weenies about it that they ended up hitting the poor deer on the shoulders and across the nose.

So don’t worry that if you get comfortable with dealing with blood and guts that you will get more hard hearted. I’ve hunted for many years, I still feel sadness whenever I kill something. I skin, butcher, and tan hides. It just makes the connection more real and solid. Good for you for wanting to move past your block!!

I posted a link to a deer skinning article with pictures that I wrote here somewhere. I think it’s in a thread called “deer”.

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#4

I was/am blood gut queasy too. I’m still getting over it.

The way I’m getting over it is to take it slow. I only skinned my first squirrel, I didn’t gut it and make it food. My second squirrel I gutted and cooked. Both times I wore surgical gloves and I put about an hour between killing it and working with the body. That separation of time allowed me to start thinking of it as an object and not a living thing. Which of course is contrary to rewilding philosophy, and I hope I can slowly work this mental block out of the process. For now I work around it. More immediately, the next time I intend to use no gloves and just get my hands bloody.

In general, the way to get over a fear is to gradually expose yourself to that fear in small, manageable doses. It should always be a little beyond your comfort zome, making you a little queasy, but never so strong as to make you truly panic, which would reinforce negative associations and be counter-productive. After several exposures at that level you should no longer have as strong a reaction, and you can proceed to a stronger stimulus.

#5

Another idea for a first baby step: Instead of buying already cut up chicken parts at the grocery store, buy a whole chicken and dismantle it yourself. It’s not the same as butchering, but it does give you a feel for the animal as an animal, not just an ingredient. It also saves money, although you have to set up a little haz-mat zone in your kitchen.

#6

Goz, I haven’t hrd z phrase ‘baby steps’ n awhile. Thanx fo sharin & awesom idea, Starfish.

#7

Yeah starfish, I agree, that is a really great suggestion for people to get used to the idea of taking apart an animal for eating. Simple, easily available, minimum of messyness to start out with.
Cool.

#8

I have considered catching and eating squirrels, there are certainly enough of them in my area, and it isn’t the blood and guts that stops me, its the taboo that timeless mentioned. It would just feel so weird, so unnecessary, to kill a squirrel and eat it, everyone around me would think that I had gone crazy, my ability to fit in would fall to zero, I don’t think even my family would understand, they weirded out enough by my look into wicca. On second thought, I think my close family might be alright with it after a while, they would still be weirded out, but they would accept me, they’re good like that, but it still feels so weird. It feels like it is so unnecessary now that we can get our meat from the supermarket - no civilized person should have to kill. I know I just have to break that taboo, but that is so much easier said than done.

I also have an uncle who hunts and I think that it might be looked upon that i was playing around in something I wouldn’t really do and just kind of trying to do something that i had no real understanding of - making a fool of my self.

I know that didn’t have much relevance here, i just had to say that.

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#9
So I got my knife out of the truck and cut the deers throat then asked them to help me put it in the back of my truck...In situations like that the kindest thing to do is take care of what needs to be done, deliberately, with no hesitation.

Dude. I love this story. I only wish when faced with the same situation I won’t be the wussy with the tire iron. :smiley:

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#10

new.orangutang,

i don’t mean to belittle your concerns about breaking out of your accustomed ways. you don’t see me hunting squirrels at this point, either.

but someone kills the meat at the supermarket. and any “civilized” person who saw how it happened, and how that animal lived her life. . . :’( :’( :’(

well, that civilized person might see hunting wild meat in a new light.

#11

Starfish, your idea is brilliant! Me & my friend will definately do that this summer, in addition to skinning and butchering snakes.

As for the posts surrounding the “taboo” of taking a life, that’s never been such an issue for me. I just get physically nauseous at the sight of blood and innards. Even when I bleed I can hardly stand to look at it. However, I have some friends for which that is an issue, so I will definately take those words to heart if they come to me with those concerns. Thanks guys!

#12

@new.orangutan: if you have a good relationship with your uncle, why not go hunting with him?

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#13

Just a few words of encouragement here. For me, going out and hunting a deer, bringing it home and being able to take care of all the skinning butchering, cutting and wrapping and then being able to serve beautiful juicy roasts to my family and friends is one of the coolest things I do. When that all comes together I feel more a part of the big scheme of things than just about any other time. I love being able to do that and I am so grateful to the deer and all the spirits for allowing me the privilege of taking part in that. One of my favorite times each year is hunting season.

Cutting meat with family and friends is such a great thing to do. I have a friend that I have hunted with for several years now. He’s 73. He raises beef for his living and does slaughtering for others. He also cuts hay for a few farmers. We get together and cut our deer at his place. He and I cut, his wife wraps, we have a great time and we just split whatever meat we cut between us.

Another old guy that I know used to cut wild game for hunters. I did the skinning for him and used to help him cut sometimes. He’s about 75 now, we used to have a lot of fun at his shop that he had behind his house. Hunters would come in at all hours with their deer or elk or moose. When they did we would all stop and help them bring the animal in. Then Bob would get out the whiskey (I’d have a coke cause I don’t drink alcohol) and we’d listen to the story of the hunt. Like hunters have probably done with each other for thousands of years.

It would be quite a sight sometimes to come in and see a dozen deer and maybe an elk or a moose hanging there ready to be skinned. A lot of work for me but it was beautiful too. To me it represented the abundance of what creation provides for us and how some of us still participate in that harvest.
Hunting is a beautiful thing.

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#14

Thank you, yarrow dreamer, timeless and heyvictor for your support.

Yarrow dreamer, what I meant by the “civilized people don’t kill animals” is that they don’t do it as part of their everyday activity. Sure they may do it as a job, though even that segment is reltively small and different, but that job stops when they go home. They don’t carry that on into their everyday lives - it is just a way of making money, and so it is different, it is not even really about killing the animals, it is just about doing a job. At least that is my sense, are your feelings different?

I totally agree that hunting is better for all involved, but it is so much harder, and I mean that not physically or at least not just physically. For me at least, I would have to break out of the everything is an object mindset, which I have done mostly, but it’s still there, hanging around subconciously, and I fear that if I go into hunting with that mindset it will be worse in soem ways than getting meat from the supermarket. Maybe that is just fear, I don’t know.

Thanks for the stories of hunting heyvictor, I understand the value and beuty of it, I think, as much as an ‘outsider’ can.

Timeless, I feel like, I don’t know, that’s a good question. I just… hmmm… oh, shaca.

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#15

heyvictor,

Just a few words of encouragement here. For me, going out and hunting a deer, bringing it home and being able to take care of all the skinning butchering, cutting and wrapping and then being able to serve beautiful juicy roasts to my family and friends is one of the coolest things I do. When that all comes together I feel more a part of the big scheme of things than just about any other time. I love being able to do that and I am so grateful to the deer and all the spirits for allowing me the privilege of taking part in that. One of my favorite times each year is hunting season.

As a man who has hunted whitetail deer in Wisconsin (Deer hunting is a huge tradition up here) for over twenty years now, what you said in the above quote and the rest of your post really resonated with me. Thank you for saying it.

Two years ago I harvested a whitetail doe with my rifle right before dark. I remember dragging her up over the crick bank and looking at the starlit sky saying to myself this is what it’s all about. This is heaven. About a hour later my dad and brother-n-law stopped by and we cut her up. I’ve always enjoyed the cutting up the deer just as much as the hunt. I have known a few hunters who don’t.

Also, some of my fondest memories have been cutting up deer with my two grandfathers, uncles, cousins, and father. I can only imagine how magical it must have been for indigenous cultures with authentic kinship bonds.

I’m really thankful the deer are still on this journey with us. Here is an article by Richard Nelson talking about the importance of the hunt and the tradition in Wisconsin.

http://wnrmag.com/stories/1998/dec98/nelson.htm

take care,

Curt

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#16

[quote=“heyvictor, post:3, topic:778”]I think you ridea of starting with small creatures and building up might be a good way.
Basically the more you do it the more you get comfortable with it.[/quote]

I’m in agreement. I’ve been observing my dad fillet fish since I was 5 years old. When I filleted my first walleye I felt absolutely no queasiness, in fact it was more like an enormous sense of accomplishment mixed in with excitement about the challenge. This week, I learned how to skin a rabbit from TrollSplinter and I was just fine. He was surprised that I didn’t feel the slightest bit icky about my first rabbit. My response was, “Well, you know, fish. It’s just like a fish.”

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#17

599×599

#18

that picture is fucking sweet.

#19

I found this out yesterday, and thought I’d share. If you ever have the chance to skin a weasel, remember that they REALLY smell. I’d somewhat suspected it would, since I’d read that weasels often leave a skunk-like scent.

#20

SunflowersFTW, the first thing I killed was a rabbit, my brother Devan wanted to skin it so I got lucky and got to watch instead of do. The smell was new to me and hard to handle (I wore a bandana with essential oil over my face! How things have changed. :)) but my brothers curiosity was infectious. We could move the limbs and watch the tendons and muscles “work”, see the shit in the intestines and the full little bladder, pull out the lungs and see where the arrow had pierced through. It was beautiful and intimate. The guts on old road kill still get me a bit queesy, but my curiosity hasn’t gone away. Maybe if you treat butchering as learning/play time the queesyness can be overcome? Good luck finding what works for you.