Venison concerns?

[katie]

I love to hunt and love to eat venison.  My kids have been raised on it.  I have always taken pride that the deer I eat lived a healthy life in the woods and fields.  A better life than the cows that provide beef sold in the stores.  
Lately I have started to re-think my views on meat quality. I sit and watch the neighbors fields get sprayed and sprayed with chemicals. We live in the midwest so our deer feed on corn and soybeans.
I am a homesteader and work hard to grow non chemically treated veggies, organic chickens and eggs. Then I feed my kids venison grown on genetically altered chemically treated crops.  Feels a bit strange.
I do believe that my hunting is essential to help keep my local deer herd healthy and in check so I am in NO WAY saying we should not hunt!  Just wondering about meat quality and health. Anyone else have this concern? Thoughts?

[TraditionalGuy]

Good questions. I hunt the west coast, so don't have to deal with the GMO corn issue, but I have often thought of it as I plan to re-hunt whitetails again in the near future. I was raised on venison and always thought beef tasted funny growing up. And that was long before the gmo feed and massive amounts of hormones. Now with the way some of us go out of our way to eat only organic free range raised animals, could it possibly be that game animals are less healthy? I'm hoping someone with more knowledge of the situation can chime in. This is very a interesting topic to me.

[RedShaft]

We now have cwd and rite in the area I mainly hunt.
I haven't read up on I much but it is a concern. When I seem your post I thought you was from pa. Cause it's a big thing now. Last year they started seeing cases. Has allot of folks worried.

[Alexander Traditional]

I don't know how animals process these chemicals in there bodies,or how much of it gets in the meat. I've thought about the water they drink also. I know they talk about fish that get larger in the sea like tuna having higher levels of mercury. I think this stuff is just all over today,it's the world we live in. I think the more careful you are you will get less,but are always going to be ingesting something that's not good for your body.

[Sarah]

Definitely this is a concern. My brother in law hunts here in central PA and also in Iowa, and there is a visible difference in the color and fat content of the meat (from the grain-based vs greens-based diet). There is no doubt in my mind that this translates to the chemical composition and nutrition of the meat.

Still wouldn't keep me from eating it though, like all things, in moderation.

[LB_hntr]

I think that your concerns are very valid.  I personally feel that 90% of cancers, diseases, and problems that both people and animal are caused by the crap we do to our food and water. Its a shame it is this way and that you and all of us have to deal with this. Makes me wonder how our children's children will remain healthy. But I would hope that the lower amounts of toxins we get thru wild meat would help us build an immunity towards them. That's how I justify it in my mind. I need to eat meat and think its a requirement for healthy living. And from the meat choices we have available I will take venison over beef any day and still believe that is the safer healthier choice.

[nineworlds9]

This is a great thread and extremely important.  It's bad enough we have to worry about GMO supermarket foods.  Now comes "Attack of the Monsanto-Deer!!"  LOL.  I dunno.  More urban deer seem a definite concern.  I wonder if the more rural stock has got to be better than what we buy in the meat section by a long ways?  I hope so anyway.

[Blackhawk]

I agree this is interesting, but I have another thought regarding possibly tainted venison.  If there were any validity to this, why haven't the rabid anti-hunting crowd jumped on the bandwagon?  It would seem this to be a perfect tactic to slow down or even ban hunting in some areas.

[dirtguy]

I look at it this way:  The beef animals are having the stuff fed directly to them.  The deer still eat a variety of plants, including natural materials like acorns, nuts etc.  

You are still better off with the venison.

[Roger Moerke]

I agree with dirtguy, I believe if you are putting up your own food rather it's vegetable's or your own meat and or fruits, your better off.

Now if I see a sick deer cow, squirrel or whatever no thanks. Like the say knowledge is power so if we know how to provide our own food even if it comes from a store and its fresh its better. If we rely on other to put in a box it's probably not that good for you.

[doug77]

Katie, our deer meat has to be way better than any store bought meat. I understand where you coming from.

Like other have said corn/beans are only part of what they eat.


doug77

[Joeabowhunter]

Originally posted by dirtguy:
I look at it this way:  The beef animals are having the stuff fed directly to them.  The deer still eat a variety of plants, including natural materials like acorns, nuts etc.  

You are still better off with the venison.

x2.

[old_goat2]

Well, what are you gonna do? It's still has to be way better than the beef that gets fed on that stuff at the feedlot plus other additives.

[katie]

I agree that they have a varied diet and that helps.  My set-up allows me to raise grass fed beef it I choose.  That is where my questions arise.  I would much rather hunt my red meat than raise it;)  Just wondering if raising my own beef would be healthier.  

[doug77]

Yes raising you own would be better, but you have to buy orgarnic(sp) calves/cows to start with and they are not cheap.

doug77

[Easykeeper]

I need to get one first, then I'll worry about what he's been eating.  I got skunked last year, hopefully I'll have something to worry about this year.

I'm just being light, I think your concerns are valid and like others have said the issue is much bigger than what the deer are eating.  I also agree that even if the deer are feeding heavily at times on treated crops their meat is still healthier than commercial beef, if nothing else at least it's leaner.

[Todd Cook]

I to have thought about this. I love the idea of completely organic, untainted meat, but I'm not sure it's even possible. Most water sources nowadays have at least some contamination. acid rain; even our air is not as clean as it once was.

Now that I've upset everyone, the upside: Deer are browsers by nature, and most of the year eat more native plants than anything else. I say eat as clean as you can and be happy. Venison is much leaner than beef also.

[WhiteBeard121]

Would you be able to feed your stock 100% on organic grown feed, or would there be times you had to supplement their intake with "other" feeds. Lets say you feed our stock with 100% organically grown feed. What about rain runoff from the surrounding area? It will contain some contaminates also. We can scare ourselves to death worrying about this kind of stuff. The deer are healthier by a long shot than the beef in the market (even what they call 'organic beef'). It's part of the world we now live in and it's not going away. If someone is on a public water supply that is getting it's source from surface water, there are pharmaceuticals in there that would give you pause every time you raised a glass of water to your lips. Fortunately, right now it is listed as parts-per-billion in concentration. I talked to a Phd at a local University with a serious agriculture department(and an avid hunter)about wild game and he indicated that the data he'd read did not make him give up his venison or other game animals. Maybe in another twenty to fifty years we'll all have something to be concerned about. The water supply, whether it be surface water or ground water under the influence of surface water (GWUISW) is a great indicator of precursers we need to be immediately concerned about. I guess we have to ask ourselves if we are comfortable enough with our wild game to continue eating it. I truly believe it is hands-down much safer than 99.9% of the beef, pork and chicken (especially chicken) available at the market.

[ChuckC]

Of all the things that I eat, venison and wild meat is the least of my worries.

ChuckC

[Sam McMichael]

I have never understood what the genetic alteration actually does to the grain and subsequently to the meat of animals that feed on it. What are the health hazards?