Bullets causing lead poisoning in our game meat?

[Hunting the North]

I just read an article in our St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer press telling how the the State of Minnesota pulled 12,ooo pounds of hunter donated venison from the state sponcered food shelf program. Apperently traces of lead were found in ground meat by the North Dakota Department of Health that exceeded the states safety levels.

The hunter donation program is new to our state and onlystarted last fall, and allows hunters to bring in their legaly tagged deer to state certified butchers thatturn overthe meat to local food shelves. The program is funded by additionalfeeson hunting licences (mostly on out of state licences)
What are your thoughts about that? I know California no longer allows lead bullets, but I don't know if that is the only state with this policy. I sure hope it doesn't go that way here.

Here is the link to the article.

http://www.twincities.com//ci_8903438?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com

[oldelkhunter]

Sounds like bull**** ..I am betting someone found a piece of bullet fragment and or a bullet was ground up and then this was reported it to someone else. They see what is happening in the asylum known as Kookafornia and soon it will be legislated that no lead bullet must be used in the dispatch of game animals.

[bronko22000]

Lead poisoning can only be caused by ingestion, either by inhaling vapors or actually eating contaminated meat. And children are more prone to lead poisoning than adults. This is the main reason that lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting. The dabbling ducks were found to be eating the lead shot as they fed.
A good, reliable bucher will remove all damaged meat and discard it. But occasionally a stray bullet fragment will get by. But to remove 12,000 lb of perfectly good protein in insane. I sure hope they didn't just throw it out and that they tested more than one sample.

[Doe Dumper]

Get ready boys they are laying the groundwork for our next intercoursing...

[halcon]

All I can say is people like Barnes bullets have got to love it .ActuallyI believe the lead ban for hunting bullets only applies to the California Condor range not the whole state .

"10/14/2007
Disregarding a plea from his own Fish and Game Commission, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Saturday a bill that would ban the use of lead ammunition for hunting big game in the California condor range."

I believe you would have to be a poor butcher to get that much lead in game meat ,sounds like bull

[Paul L Mohr]

Wouldn't be an issue for me, I have never had a bullet stay in a deer yet. They all go right through both sides. And where I shoot them you aren't eating it anyway, unless you like deer ribs?

Paul

[salukipv1]

haha! I was thinking barnes too! what are they all copper? brass? I just knew they were lead free/pure copper/brass w/e.

Does sound like BS to me too, less youre grinding up venison killed with a 12ga pheasant load, doesn't make sense........a slug, bullet, if you dont use the meat surrounding the bullet, how is the rest of the animal going to get lead in it?

Sounds to me like that would be more of a environmental cause...than bullet/hunter.......which I could believe this mroe than anything......dirty water.......dirty rain.....etc......

less everyone is supplemental feeding/micronutrients.......is lead in fertilizer?

[USNRETHunter]

It appears that this was caused by a scare tactic put out by some anti-hunter group with no basis in reality behind it. When the "news" hit, Iowa initially put a hold on the venison in food pantries (provided by the completely hunter supported HUSH program, Help Us Stampout Hunger). After pulling ten samples of ground venison and testing for lead, they found that 8 samples had no detectable lead and two had detectable, but less than 1 ppm, they canceled the hold. I believe several states are still in over-reactionary mode.

Link Added:
http://www.iowadnr.com/news/08apr/lead.html

[TJEN]

Lead posisoning is not from eating a lead fishing sinker, or lead shot. Its from chemical alted trace lead like in paint, leaded gasolines, vapors of lead from pistols fired in indoor ranges etc. not from shot or bullets in game.
What passes for science these days has no perspective or objectivity. And useully only self serving motives even from those who think there doing good. Personal the wild game shot and eaten is way better than most of what else we eat from a chemical contamiite stand point.

[SwampCollie]

ORIGINAL: bronko22000

This is the main reason that lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting. The dabbling ducks were found to be eating the lead shot as they fed.

That was the main THEORY that caused the lead ban..... but to this day it remains just that... a THEORY.

No doubt that if a duck ingests a pellet of lead, it will get lead posioning.... thats a fact. The gizzrd of a duck is so strong that it will actually even grind up a steel pellet.

Here is where the theory comes in.....

The Study (which was done in the 50s and whose specific name escapes me at the moment) suggested that the yearly die-off of waterfowl in the pacific northwest states (later found to be caused by a bacteria and now considered as annual as dieing salmon after migration) MIGHT be caused by lead shot ingested.

Anyone who knows about settlement can tell you how long it takes a lead pellet to sink too deep into the bottom to be reached by a duck bill. If there is any current at all.... 2 weeks MAX. In soft tidal areas.... as quick as 48 hours.

In turn, they bring out steel shot... which has been responsible for the wanton death of more waterfowl than lead shot will ever be. Estimates for lead shot pellet ingestion in waterfowl ranged from 1.5-3% of the annual kill. Combines kill a hell of a lot more ducks than that. Steel has come a long way in 20 years, but it still cripples up ducks that ought to be dead in the air... and several more are hit and never fall at all... but go off and die. I guess thats why eagles are making a strong come back. Give and take...