Comments on: Meeting My Meat

By: redwing

redwing — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:49:04 +0000

so this is pretty far after the fact, but I feel pretty weird about eating roadkill I find in the city. I have no idea what the squirrels I’m picking up are eating day to day, and it sketches me out. do you know a secret I don’t know, or are you just more “gutsy” than I am?

By: Cece

Cece — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:52:30 +0000

nice

By: woogie

woogie — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:38:07 +0000

while i really enjoy the fact that you can demonstrate how to utilize and honour the flesh that is usually just ignored or cast aside…
i have a problem with the fact that no mention is made to use the innards or bones.
it makes the rest of the animal seem disposable.
to honour you must use all parts of the animal and let nothing go to waste.

By: Galdr

Galdr — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:15:30 +0000

Eating road-kill meat is a good practice; it costs you none of your pretend fiat currency and very little of your time and energy. But the jack-booted government cogs will take issue with anyone they catch doing it, for some reason. We raise our own animals (goats, on a rotating, sustainable plot-schedual) that we slaughter in a ritual fashion. Other than hunting, it’s the only way (in my experience) to ensure the animals are respected and treated well in life, and are granted a quick humane death. The spirit of the animal is honoured and our children, who participate in the raising and slaughter, gain a relationship with their food, something that is sadly lacking in today’s consumer-centric world. we taech our children that we are not only stewards of the land, but PART of the land.
Thanks for helping to get that message out, Scout.
til ars ok friÃ°ar!

By: MattK

MattK — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:58:32 +0000

Thanks for the desensitization!

By: Liana

Liana — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:41:01 +0000

About a month ago, my boyfriend and he caught a big catfish. I decided we should eat it, because eventually I was going to need to learn what it’s like to catch and kill my own meat. We had the fish in a bucket for a little while, it looked sad and I had this really somber feeling take over. I sat over the bucket w/ the fish and was just thinking thoughts in my head directed towards the fish, how grateful I was that the fish was giving it’s life to nourish us, and that I wanted to kill it in the quickest most humane way, and appreciate the meal. We took the fish out of the bucket, laid it on a table, and clubbed it with a baseball bat. 2 quick hits just to make sure, and it was instantly dead. I began gutting and filleting the fish, this part was hard and took a while because it was the my first time butchering any animal. I grilled it, and ate it. My boyfriend decided he didn’t want any so I ate the whole thing myself. Even though I was sad for the fish when I knew we were going to kill him, I was somehow happy and enjoyed and appreciated that meal more than any other I’ve had. When I was preparing the fish, much like you described with skinning and butchering the squirrel, I didn’t really feel sad for the fish until later. However, it wasn’t a guilty sadness, it seemed more like respect, because I do feel better eating an animal that has had the chance to live wild (and even had a chance to escape and continue living) compared to farm animals of the industry. I drove past a truck of pigs on the highway the other day, and just looked at them for a while, wishing that they could have at least lived in a pasture rather than a big factory like they probably did.

I’m also going to start keeping garbage bags in my car, in case I happen upon any road kill so that I might take it somewhere discreet to butcher it. I brought this up to my parents (not that I would be doing it, but how I felt about it) that roadkill should be used for food, and how that animal’s life shouldn’t go to waste if we’re going to kill other animals for food anyway, they couldn’t really argue with it.

Anyway Scout, your experiences are motivation and inspiration for the things I want to learn and be able to do.

By: Tim MacWelch

Tim MacWelch — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:21:26 +0000

Dear Mr. Scout,
Thank you for being brave enough to be yourself. I was wondering if you could help me promote a primitive skills gathering. I have a few ideas that I would like to mention to you. I hope to hear from you soon.
Tim

By: Urban Forager

Urban Forager — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Thank you for this website. I was gifted a raccoon last year that had been raiding a henhouse and had to be put down. That’s when I found out how much I love coon meat. On my way home from an unfortunately unsuccessful deer hunting trip yesterday, I picked up two large male raccoons, both roadkill. I will use the meat for our second Wild Foods Feast. I firmly believe in honoring the lives that were given so that I could eat. I thought what better way to give meaning to a stupid accidental death like that, than to use it for sustenance. You completely rock, man, and I agree with you a hundred percent.

By: chickenwing

chickenwing — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:34:30 +0000

poor squirrel…

By: coyote 3 feathers herron

coyote 3 feathers herron — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:46:44 +0000

I liks reading the post on roadkill meat. I live a semi-primitive life, so an ‘free’ meat is a god thing. I keep my eyes open for possable meals. Deer are great bcause there is lots of meat, but one needs some kind of storage place. Squirrels make a nice one person meal. I once got a turkey, but the best was a baby fawn. One needs to be in a scouting mode because the ‘athorties’ might not approve. I think they make laws to tun us all into criminals.
It is dishonnoring in my eyes to let one of the furred or feathered rot in the ditch if they can be eaten by someone if they understand the honnor way or not. However, one must use caution and common sence and know when it is too late to partake of the meat.
Living the Honnor Way, Coyote

By: Hugh

Hugh — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:29:22 +0000

Bravo! I have yet to dine on roadkill, but the thought has crossed my mind. I recognize that it is a valuable skill when times get rough, and rough times are coming. Honoring the life that was lost is vital, as it recognizes that we, like the squirrel, are just cogs in the wheel of life.

I think I’m going to enjoy your site for a long time. Thank you for posting this. For those that have never eaten squirrel (a huge majority, I suspect), please tell us how it tastes.

By: How To Age Roadkill 101 | Urban Scout: Rewilding Cascadia

How To Age Roadkill 101 | Urban Scout: Rewilding Cascadia — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:47:18 +0000

[...] more information check out my blogs â€œMeeting My Meatâ€ where I skin and butcher a roadkill squirrel and read about â€œHow I Painlessly Lost My Roadkill [...]

By: Urban Scout

Urban Scout — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:50:17 +0000

Hey Cehualli, yeah… Cars are aweful things. I have had many close friends die in car accidents. When I skinned & butchered my first roadkill deer I tossed and turned all night as I felt myself getting hit by a car and the g-forces of the accident. I’m glad I can use the deers body to learn more about rewilding, but I also want to honor the deer’s life by working to end car culture! I didn’t say that in here about the squirrel, but the same goes for her too.

By: cehualli

cehualli — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:11:28 +0000

Eating meat is not something I currently partake in, but my reasons deal mostly with the cognitive dissonance involved in doing so in the modern world – creatures live in often horrifying ways, sometimes never seeing the sun or feeling the warm earth beneath their feet, only to have their lives cut short by the grinding cogs of the industrial meat machine.

As such I wish to voice respect for your reclamation of the victims of car slaughter, and your respect towards the life your food lived, which is so vitally important to being human, and so frequently forgotten.

I do appreciate the skinning tutorial as well. Very helpful.

By: Urban Scout: Rewilding Cascadia » Blog Archive » The Need For Anti-Agricultural Propaganda

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:30:32 +0000

[...] Often people say that I “talk” more than I “walk” without thinking about the importance and need for talking about things. People need to understand this stuff. I sacrifice my own relationship with nature by sitting inside thinking and writing so that people will learn why civilization doesn’t work and what does work. I get off on thinking about this stuff and writing so I don’t think of myself as a martyr. It just really upsets me when people don’t see the value of talking about things. I keep talking because of the shit I see in the media projecting a fucked up world view. [...]

By: yexxle

yexxle — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 11:49:20 +0000

Pardon the late arrival of my comment. I have just begun the initial stages of exploring all that makes up primitivist culture, and so did not stumble upon your blog until now.

I must say, an entry like this finds me quite interested. My first thought wandered off to thinking of the reaction OTHER people would have over such photos and descriptions. I could easily see the words “this stuff disgusts me” coming my way. To which I would retort: “Do you eat meat? If so, someone has done this same act to each morsel of meat you have ever eaten. Not to mention, the animals you eat are most likely raised in an environment where they are treated like shit before meeting their demise.”

Personally, I will find my first skinning to be satisfying. Not for the joy of the kill, nor for any sense of amusement from the act itself. The satisfaction will come from my appreciation for the animal, and the simple fact that there exists an “honouring” act that must be performed before the meal. It will most definitely be more rewarding and humane than grabbing some horribly mistreated carcass from some aisle in a grocery store.