The New Zealand Hunters Who Eat the Raw Heart of Their Kill

Would you eat the raw heart of a freshly killed animal? Plenty of hunters in Aotearoa do just that.

It can be tricky to find official citations of heart-chomping in history – with many US hunting articles making vague reference to it as a “Native American tradition” as if the Indigenous groups in America are one conglomerate culture. 

This article (from the aptly named themeateater.com), highlights the fact that many hunting traditions didn’t originate as part of ancient practices, as early colonisers of the 1600-1800s would’ve been the first hunters in their family lines. 

Anthropologist Marc Boglioli told Meateater that, in neo Euro-American hunting, “our practices are not collective rituals perpetuated by large, culturally defined groups with shared identities.” 

But even without clear historical origins, the eating of the heart can still be a ritual with personal value – and it’s something many hunters in Aotearoa have embraced. 

Tom, 25, from Whangarei, was first introduced to the concept by a group of hunters in their 70s who’ve upheld the tradition for decades. 

“I wouldn’t do it every time, it’s a celebration of hunting your first animal,” Tom told VICE. “They were, like, welcoming me into the club.”

After shooting his first deer on a hunting expedition, the animal’s heart was handed to Tom without warning and he was told to take a bite.

“I didn’t think they were actually gonna make me do it,” he said.  

According to 25-year-old Wellingtonian, Gus, biting into the heart of your kill is “part of tradition”. Gus’ first kill was a wild bore and, yes, he ate its raw heart after he shot it.

Meanwhile, Andrew*, 28, from Taranaki, said he and his mates “did it for a laugh”.

“It’s like testing if you’re man enough and you don’t wanna be the guy that doesn’t do it.” 

Unsurprisingly, it’s a controversial idea – even among avid hunters who are used to the guts and the gore. 

New Zealander Johnny Yulie made global news in 2016 when he posted a picture of his 8-year-old daughter Chloe taking a bite of a deer heart. The picture was met with many negative comments and assumptions that Yulie had “forced” his daughter to take the bite. 

But, as he explained to BuzzFeed News, Chloe was the one driving the idea. 

“She wanted to do it when she saw a picture of her uncle biting the heart of his first deer,” said Yulie.

And what is it like to bite into a raw heart? Tom described his experience with the freshly killed deer as “wet, slimy [and] bloody.” 

“It was a massive heart. Like, you can hold both your hands up and it'll feel heavy. And to sink your teeth into it, you really have to try. It is tough.”

“Once you sink your teeth in your mouth fills with blood if you get into an artery and get into a chamber,” he said. 

But the brutality is the part of acknowledging the reality of eating meat, Tom explained. 

“It's quite a primal thing to hunt. It's not something everybody wants to do, or feels comfortable doing. But I feel like there's something to be said for hunting your own meat. And If you don't even know what it looked like, if you're buying a package steak from the supermarket, you don’t appreciate what that animal has been through,” he said. 

“It’s almost a spiritual thing.”