Those of you from the upper midwest may have heard all of this but others may not.
About 2 months ago a professor at the University of North Dakota xrayed several packages of venison from the freezer. As he is a hunter - self assessment - I am not sure if it was his freezer or someone elses. What he discovered was that more than 40% of the packages xrayed contained at least trace particles of lead. This fact was seemingly independent of what cut of meat was being considered. My first assumption was that he was looking only at ground venison from near the wound but that was not the case.
ND, Minnesota and Wisconsin have robust programs for hunters to donate venison to food shelves. As you might imagine, the good professors findings have created quite a flap. ND summarily destroyed all of the remaining venison in the food shelves. Recently Minnesota, after xraying their own samples of venison, arrived at strikingly similar if not higher percentages of contaminated venison. All of the venison in Minnesota food shelves has now been destroyed also I believe. Wisconsin is reported still studying the issue.
Am I correct that California banned lead bullets for hunting some time in the recent past. Up here on the tundra we have assumed we are immune from that type of legislation. The Minnesota DNR is at the very least broaching the topic of bullets which contain no lead. We are not immune on the Tundra I fear.
I for one am not quite sure what this will all mean ultimately. This revelation might die a quiet death, OR NOT. I am not even entirely sure it should die a quiet death. Of course I will not quit hunting deer as I like venison and the hunt too much for that. I may rethink what I consider to be the optimal shot placement, however.
I hope there are readers who have more expertise regarding lead poisoning than I possess and that these readers will weigh in. I think it is important for us to be able to discuss this topic knowledgably when it comes up from the antis - and it will.
Good shooting and good hunting.
Lefty