Lead shot on meat

[dkloos]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I have never really hunted before. If you shoot an animal with a round made of lead, won't this round contaminate the meat of the game if it is lodge inside of it? Is there a way to go about shooting an animal to lessen this risk? As i said, im a newb. Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

No it won't hurt the meat or you. You would have to eat an awful lot of lead filled game before it would cause any harm to you. A lot more than you are likely to shoot and eat in a lifetime. :imo:

 

[roundball]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I have never really hunted before. If you shoot an animal with a round made of lead, won't this round contaminate the meat of the game if it is lodge inside of it? Is there a way to go about shooting an animal to lessen this risk? As i said, im a newb. Thanks :thumbsup:

And even if you would prefer not to eat any vension of a deer for example where a lead ball had passed through, if you shoot a deer in the heart lung area, none of the rest of the deer would be affected...example, the hams, backstraps, and tenderloins are all back on the rear half of the deer...which contains the greatest percentage of the best quality useable meat anyway

 

Only if you eat the bullet/ball and throw away the meat... :kid:

Vic

 

Only if you throw away the meat and eat the ball/bullet... :kid:

Vic

 

[bob1961]

my buck i got last nov that i shot with my bow i found with my teeth a .22 air rifle pellet in a steak from it's hind quarter....thought a filling or tooth fell out..............bob

 

[Ridge]

I was eating a piece of deer roast once and bit down on what looked to be a .243 bullet. It had mushroomed nicely. Darn near broke my tooth too.

 

[longfowler]

OK, here's a funny story for ya about eatin' lead. a few years back I had to get an xray as part of a checkup on my kidney stones... and the doc looked at the pictures and asked "have you ever been shot?" well I remembered that bird season had just started up here, and sure enough when I looked at the xray there was a beautiful picture of a #4 copperplated shot. The doctor told me to chew my food beter and gave me a clean bill of health!

 

[sidelock]

Plese do't pay no tension to whut these here not heds seys bout led pison. It's dedly""""" .I seen lots'o critters ded frm led pison. So be kerful and sta home all huntin seson er yu mit get it 2 specily if yu eat say 25 ton o led shot meat. :kid:

 

[sidelock]

Hi Longfowler--- I was shot in the face with a load of 71/2 about 1970. Went to the Doc. to see where they ended up in my face. 16 shot split even between left and right of my nose except one in the corner of my eye which the doc removed. Left the others in------- no neg results and they have all desolved???? gone away anyway. This lead s - - - is just another PC (not period cor) argument of todays time. I worked in the chemical ind. as a eng for 27 yr and heard all of it. :imo: :m2c:

 

[arcticap]

There is no such thing as a dumb question. Particularly when I shoot small game using a shotgun, the shot can basically hit the animal in 3 places.
The first 2 places is the 1. head & neck or 2. body cavity. Any lead shot in these areas isn't a threat since I don't eat these body parts (due to taste or contamination) and they are usually discarded after the animal's dressed.
The 3rd place the shot can be found is in the eatable meat or just below the skin. The telltale sign (but not always) of lead shot entering the meat is hemorraging (bloody, bruised meat) which is often visible when the animal's skinned is removed. This shotgun damaged meat can be carefully removed and inspected or probed for any remaining lead shot. When I skin an animal, some lead shot is found just below the skin. If I feel that there is any chance for lead contamination, I'll remove a razor thin section or small wedge of meat that had come in contact with the lead shot and then wash it thoroughly. The effects of lead in the body are cumulative and I try not to put my family at risk. If I see any small wound channel in the meat, I may probe it to see if there is any shot in the meat prior to cooking. If I cut a slice into the meat there is no harm done since it is often getting cut prior to cooking anyway. If there is any residual hair or contamination of the meat from leaking internal organs, I wash the meat thoroughly prior to refrigeration or cooking. I may even screen the broth of soup stock to remove any additional hair I may have missed. Lastly, I often wear a pair of vinyl or rubber gloves when I work with raw meat to keep blood born infections from being transmitted through open skin cuts and wounds. These are destroyed by thoroughly cooking the meat.
I hope this answers your concerns and questions about how to reduce the chances of finding lead shot in your wild game. It's not only about removing lead shot from your game but helping to eliminate other contamination as well. :blue:

 

[sidelock]

To be perfectly safe from cleaning and eating game meat some folks drink a quart of chlorene afterwards. :relax: :results:

 

[Slamfire]

I'd worry a whole lot more over the mercury contained in amalgam tooth filling's than a lead shot which you'd probably find when eatin' and spit out. :winking:

 

[arcticap]

I think that it's somewhat important to not be negligent & unethical by not making any attempt to remove lead contaminants or lead pellets from game meat that could be served to women, children, friends or strangers. Since it's against federal law to hunt ducks with lead for their species health, then it's easy to understand why anybody should make a reasonable effort to help keep any of it from being unnecessarily ingested by another human being too. :imo:

 

[oomcurt]

Well...I am sure that most all hunters that use lead, or shoot any game that could have been wounded at some time by lead in any projectile..are well aware of any problems..real or imagined. There is far to much hoopla on "health" regarding the way some folks almost make it a crusade to "protect others". High time folks got off that kick and let individuals decide for themselves what is or is not acceptable. The last thing we need is more meddling by some antis or the gov't. This does not only apply to our interests...but over all. Frankly I am amazed at the ease in which some folks are being duped into all this...think back..your grandparents and even further...seems to me they were a hell of a lot healthier than most folks today and they didn't have near the medical care. High time to get off this thing we have today about "hazards".

 

[roundball]

I agree that sometimes we get overwhelmed with too many people trying to "help us"...

On the other hand, while there's always the rare old individual who lived to be 100 that makes national news, the average life expectancy back then was decades less than it is now...

 

[waksupi]

Lead will kill you when it is in the body. Grandad got shot up pretty bad in WW 1, and carried lead the rest of his life. It finally killed him at around 76. If he hadn't warded off ill effects of the wound with occasional doses of cigars and whiskey, it may well have killed him sooner.

 

[oomcurt]

Yeah...but who wants to live forever..I sure don't. I live my life the way I see fit..could not care less what any doc or medical journal says...much less what some gov't agency tells me re my health. For that matter...my grandparents on both sides lived the same way...one grandma died when she was 97...one grandfather got remarried at 83 and lived to be about 90, if I recall...but that doesn't say everyone will live that long. The point I was trying to make..I cannot imagine anyone enjoying life..and at the same time wondering and worrying about what they eat, drink, smoke or whatever..geeeze.

 

[THBailey]

Hangfeyr- The only dumb question is the one that is not asked. Stuck in and around the tongue in cheek above is some sage discussion. My $.02 worth would start with the observation that standard big game cleaning/butchering practice includes cutting out the wound channel and all blodshot meat around it. If you leave the bullet in your carcass you are not properly doing the job. More to the concern of your question, a few years ago, when at the ER for other reasons, I was having some blood tested. I asked the doc to also test me for lead in my blood. The doc asked why and I explained I was in my 5th decade of life and had been a hunter and shooter since age 6. I had consumed harvested game, including beaucoup ducks and geese from the lead shot era, my entire life. I target shoot 10 or 12 times a year. In addition, I have melted lead three or four times a year to cast bullets, fishing sinkers and decoy wieghts. And perhaps the worst, I am an avid freshwater fisherman with the terrible 40 year old habit of biting lead splitshot closed. The blood test came back negative, no trace of any lead.

 

[sidelock]

Hay Rick--- whisky is not a curative---- its a preventative. If your Grandpaw had used more of it when he was young he may have lived to see 80. :thumbsup: