Bird shot in my Buck!!!!!!

[patton1]

I shot a nice BT buck on Christmas day and took the cape to the local taxi.  As we was skinning the rest of the skull he found a couple of BB's under the skin.  Well I was butchering him the other night and this buck is just riddled with bird shot.  I found 15-20 BB holes in the backstraps alone. I tried to cut around the holes as much as possible because they were filled with black blood.  He must have been shot at pretty close range because the BB holes go pretty deep into the meat.  Some people are just ignorant. 

The meat should be OK to eat, right? I would guess it's steel shot but it worries me a little bit that it might be lead.

[lewy]

That sucks, do you have any pictures?

[patton1]

That sucks, do you have any pictures?

Of the buck, yes.  Of the BB's no.  I wish I would have taken some but I didn't think about it until after.  They were black and so was the blood inside the holes.  They were little BB's like those in a small game load and felt pretty hard.  I should have taken some pics but it kind of slipped my mind.

[luv2hunt]

Bad enough trying not to chomp on a bb in upland birds let alone a deer...I would think the meat will be fine reguardless of lead or steel. just my

[D-Rock425]

What area did you kill the Buck in? Any duck hunting spots around?

[high country]

get outta my flowers you sunbitch!  I can hear my wife now.....lol.

[D-Rock425]

get outta my flowers you sunbitch!  I can hear my wife now.....lol.

[singleshot12]

I found pellets and bird shot in a couple bt's I've got.. It would bother me too if it was lead and it looked like the shot had been in there a couple years. Best way to tell if it's lead or not is to squeeze one with a pair of pliers.

[patton1]

I got him on Whidbey Island.  My guess would be the flower bed situation.  No duck hunters in the immediate area.  I did push on  a couple of the BB's with my knife on the table and they seemed pretty solid.  They definately looked like they had been in there for a while though.

[luv2hunt]

I found pellets and bird shot in a couple bt's I've got.. It would bother me too if it was lead and it looked like the shot had been in there a couple years. Best way to tell if it's lead or not is to squeeze one with a pair of pliers.

Good point... Never thought about how long the lead could have been in the deer. I guess I was thinking about short term like when you used to be able to kill waterfowl with lead.

[CP]

You need to throw out any meat that is close to the wounds or that is discolored in any way.  Steel or lead, it doesn’t matter, there will be bacteria and all kinds of nasty micro critters in there.   

[C-Money]

If you think it was small bird shot, I would think it was lead. Like said before, take the time to cut all the bloodshot meat out. What a shame, sorry your deer was blasted befor you got to him.

[billythekidrock]

If you lived close to a rez it would be .22 rounds in the neck.

[400out]

A member on here took a festered 22 round out of his buck last year 

[NWWABOWHNTR]

I killed a cow elk a few years back that had a lead "buffalo" bullet lodged in the neck meat.  I just cut out all the meat around it.  WIth bridshot I doubt it went too deep,  like said before cut out the wounded areas, and you should be fine.  Damn shame as that is a nice Whidbey Buck

[Boss .300 winmag]

I shot a buck on Whidbey that had a .177 lead pellet in it, probably a little ol lady geting them out gardens.

[dontgetcrabs]

I found pellets and bird shot in a couple bt's I've got.. It would bother me too if it was lead and it looked like the shot had been in there a couple years. Best way to tell if it's lead or not is to squeeze one with a pair of pliers.

You can also use a magnet.   

[huntndad]

We killed an elk a few years back with BB's all through one of the hind quarters.  We did everything we could to clean them out, and ended up making most of that quarter into burger.  It became obvious as soon as re started to run some meet throught the grinder that we missed a few. 

[patton1]

It sucks!!  My grandmother called poison control and they suggested trashing it especially if I thought it was lead. They said it could definately spread throughout the meat.  I really don't know if I want to take any kind of risk with it.  This deer is filled with BB's and many of them are down to the bone.  If it was one or two BB's I'd cut around them and keep it but they are everywhere.  I just can't believe the stupidity of people.  Even if I was to keep it, my wife won't eat any of it now and she sure won't let the kids eat any of it.  I can't blame her.   

[cascademountainhunter]

I've found .22 bullets in one my blacktail before. And like some .243 or somthin close to that in a montana antelope.

[singleshot12]

It sucks!!  My grandmother called poison control and they suggested trashing it especially if I thought it was lead. They said it could definately spread throughout the meat.  I really don't know if I want to take any kind of risk with it.  This deer is filled with BB's and many of them are down to the bone.  If it was one or two BB's I'd cut around them and keep it but they are everywhere.  I just can't believe the stupidity of people.  Even if I was to keep it, my wife won't eat any of it now and she sure won't let the kids eat any of it.  I can't blame her.   

Do you have a dog you could feed it too?  If the shot isn't lead should be fine,, heck if you don't want the meat I'll take it for my dog,hate to is it go to waste.

[sakoshooter]

Bad enough trying not to chomp on a bb in upland birds let alone a deer...I would think the meat will be fine reguardless of lead or steel. just my

I agree. Cut it up and eat it. It'll be fine.

[birdwacker]

I was cutting up the backstraps on a whitetail buck I shot and found a broadhead that just missed the spine perfectly healed up.

[shoot-em-dead]

The doe I shot this year in the battleground unit was peppered by bird shot in the front shoulder. I'm not worried aout eating it at all. P.S.- it tastes great

[ICEMAN]

Hell, I would eat it. Spit out the shot as you encounter it.

How many of us were raised on wildgame with lead shot in it? Lot's of us.

Over hyped and over worried fears about lead shot IMHO...



For my job, I had a blood test/exam for lead done on myself just three years ago....and nothing, zero, nada...

[Heredoggydoggy]

Don't hunt so close to Aunt Martha's garden and you won't get birdshot in your deer.  I think this lead shot phobia has gotten way overblown.  Hell, I used to give Chukhars to my neighbors and her boys would hold contests to see who got the most shot pellets in their bird that they were eating.  And they both grew up to be just fine....mostly.

[Armadillo]

yeah every season i find pellets in my bird meat, always have, always will

[patton1]

Personally, I wasn't worried about it all.  I'd just cut around the BB's and nasty blood as much as possible and figured it would be fine.  I know I've eaten game that had been shot before and never thought much about it.  It wasn't until after I talked to some other people that I started to think it could be an issue. My family is more important to me than wasting some deer meat and I just want to make sure I'm doing what's best for their health.

[singleshot12]

Well you probably could of been issued another tag if the meat is considered inedible, but you only have tomorrow left to hunt I think.. PM me if you do decide to chuck it, I'll take it off your hands and  feed it to my dog.

[Alchase]

Go ahead and eat it, while growing up my sisters and I use to concider it the lottery when we found shot in the ducks and geese we were eating for dinner, lol.

You will be fine, the lead did nothing to us......You will be fine, the lead did nothing to us,
uh wait what

[iceman91m]

Personally if I were ever out in the woods and saw someone shoot any animal out of season or anything of the sort I would take the liberty of breaking every bone in there body that i could break without leaving too many prints....    So hopefully no one on this site would ever think of doing anything like that!!!   

[ICEMAN]

Personally if I were ever out in the woods and saw someone shoot any animal out of season or anything of the sort I would take the liberty of breaking every bone in there body that i could break without leaving too many prints....    So hopefully no one on this site would ever think of doing anything like that!!!   

Wear gloves, you can break as many bones as you want...

[link]

I was rifle elk hunting several years ago with my uncle. He shot a really nice five point bull in some reprod. Got up to it and one of the back legs, all the way up to the hip was nothing but skin and bones. After getting it home, we found a muzzleloader bullet high up in the leg. That was one of the nastiest things I've ever seen. It was green, yellow and full of all sorts of clots and puss pockets. We did not end up eating that elk. Called the gamey and he offered a new tag, but said he would have to take the antlers. My uncle ended up just keeping the antlers.

[Band]

Personally if I were ever out in the woods and saw someone shoot any animal out of season or anything of the sort I would take the liberty of breaking every bone in there body that i could break without leaving too many prints....

Are you talking about any animals or just those you hunt for?  How about if I pepper a mouse or a racoon with birdshot for causing problems in my garden?  Where (on which animals) do you draw the line?  Should we all draw the same line as you?

[link]

Personally if I were ever out in the woods and saw someone shoot any animal out of season or anything of the sort I would take the liberty of breaking every bone in there body that i could break without leaving too many prints....    So hopefully no one on this site would ever think of doing anything like that!!!   

Yea, that would really be worth it. I would hope you're joking.