Handling and Eating Game Meat
Get the Lead Out
Health risks due to lead poisoning from consuming game meat are low for most people; however, switching to non-lead ammunition may be an option that’s right for you.
Science tells us that ingesting lead can cause potential human health problems over time. Additionally, lead-based ammunition can cause adverse impacts on non-target wildlife from lead ingestion while scavenging.
Hunters themselves are conservationists, maintaining species populations and protecting habitats. By switching to non-lead ammunition, hunters can support wildlife by reducing the risk of lead poisoning to non-target wildlife such as eagles and other raptors. For more information on risks to humans and wildlife, visit the Sporting Lead-Free and Hunting with Non-Lead websites.
Visit the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website and read the articles on Lead in wild harvested game and Lead in Indoor Shooting and Firing Ranges.
To help reduce human and wildlife health impacts, you can:
- Use lead-free shot or bullets. There are many non-lead options now available.
- Hunters who use lead ammunition should choose quality hunting-grade ammunition with a “bonded” or “partition” construction. Avoid frangible bullet types.
- Use careful shot selection. Bullets that strike the lethal area (heart/lungs) are less likely to fragment than bullets that strike more heavily boned areas.
- Bury or pack out your lead-shot gut piles to avoid lead ingestion by non-target wildlife.
- Avoid eating game meat from animals harvested with lead bullets if you are pregnant. Children younger than 6 should also avoid it.
Disease Exposure
Hunters can be exposed to diseases when in the field hunting mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn, moose and bighorn sheep.
Abdominal Worms
Abdominal worms live in the abdomen of Colorado deer and more rarely, other species (elk, moose and bighorn sheep). Infections are more common in fawns and yearling deer than in adults. Transmission of worms is through mosquitoes that pick up immature worms while feeding on infected deer and pass the infection to other animals. Worms are frequently seen by deer hunters on the surface of the mesentery in while field dressing animals. The number of worms in the abdomen rarely exceeds about 30, with higher numbers suggesting the deer may have been in poor condition or poor health. The deer abdominal worm does not cause significant disease in deer, with severe cases resulting in only minor irritation in the abdomen.
What to Look For
- Thin, slender worms, often curled up on the surfaces of organs, in the abdomen of deer.
- Mineralized (dead) worms in the abdomen of deer.
- Worms are approximately 5-10 inches long with a whitish to clear color, tapered ends, and bodies that are often curled.
Risk to Hunters
Deer abdominal worms do not pose a threat to human health and the presence of these worms is considered a normal finding. Hunters are reminded that parasites are a normal finding in all wild game and that proper cooking of meat is always recommended. Although small numbers of abdominal worms are not a concern, in rare cases of severe infections (more than 30 worms, especially in adults) this may indicate an underlying problem with the health of the animal. CPW recommends that any sick animals should not be consumed.
Risk to Hunters
Disease in humans resulting from Chronic Wasting Disease exposure has not been reported to date. However, there may be a small risk from eating meat from infected animals. Although CWD exposure has thus far not been associated with cases of prion disease in humans, public health officials advise against consuming meat or any other tissues from animals known to be infected.
Strong evidence suggests that abnormal proteins, called prions (pree-ons), cause chronic wasting disease in deer and elk. Prions naturally accumulate in certain parts of infected animals -- the brain, eyes, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils, pancreas and spleen - relatively early in the course of disease, well before the animal is visibly ill. However, abnormal prions also can accumulate in a wider variety of tissues and organs, including kidney, lung, heart, and muscle.
- Do not consume meat or organs from animals known to be infected with Chronic Wasting Disease.
- Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, pancreas and lymph nodes of harvested animals. Normal field dressing, coupled with boning out a carcass, will remove most, if not all, of these body parts. Cutting away all fatty tissue will remove remaining lymph nodes.
How to Minimize Exposure to Chronic Wasting Disease
Public health officials recommend that people avoid exposure to CWD-infected animals.
- Hunters not to shoot, handle or consume any deer, elk or moose that is acting abnormally or appears to be sick.
- When field-dressing game, wear rubber gloves and minimize the use of a bone saw to cut through the brain or spinal cord (backbone).
- Minimize contact with brain or spinal cord tissues, eyes, spleen, or lymph nodes. Always wash hands and utensils thoroughly after dressing and processing game meat.
- Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed.
- Knives, saws and cutting table surfaces can be disinfected by soaking in a solution of 50 percent unscented household bleach and 50 percent water for an hour. Thoroughly rinse all utensils in water to remove the bleach. Afterward, allow them to air dry.
Similar Prion Diseases
Chronic wasting disease belongs to the family of prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Within this family of diseases, there are three that affect cloven-hoofed animals:
- scrapie in domestic sheep and goats, which has been recognized for more than 200 years
- bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle (sometimes referred to as "Mad Cow Disease")
- chronic wasting disease in deer, elk and moose.
There also are two main forms of prion disease that affect humans:
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which occurs naturally in about one out of every one million people in Colorado and elsewhere around the world
- Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which has been linked to human exposure to the large-scale outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle herds in Great Britain and Europe.
For more information about prion diseases, please visit the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environments website.
Deer Adenovirus
Deer adenovirus causes death by damaging blood vessels in the lungs, intestines, and/or other organs in deer (mostly fawns), elk, and pronghorn in Colorado. Deer adenovirus is the cause of adenovirus hemorrhagic disease and was first detected in Colorado during the winter of 2015-2016. Like other hemorrhagic diseases, deer adenovirus attacks the blood vessels of affected animals and may cause bleeding into the intestine. Transmission of deer adenovirus is
through direct contact, and outbreaks in Colorado have been associated with congregation of animals both naturally on winter range, and artificially due to illegal feeding practices.
What to Look For in Dead Animals - Mostly Young Animals
- Bloody diarrhea
- Sores in the mouth, drooling
- Neurologic signs including seizuring
- Animals found dead with no signs of trauma or other cause of death
- Fluid (arrow) around the lungs and heart
Risk to Hunters
Deer adenovirus is not known to cause disease in species other than deer and other cervids. Cattle and other domestic species do not appear to be susceptible to the disease. Although there is no known human health risk from the virus, hunters are advised not to consume meat from animals that were found dead or seen to be ill or acting abnormally prior to death.
Hemorrhagic Disease
Hemorrhagic disease is a fatal viral disease in white-tailed deer, and a sometimes fatal, but less severe disease in other species (mule deer, elk, bighorn, sheep, pronghorn and bison). Hemorrhagic disease is caused by two closely-related viruses, epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus and bluetongue virus. The disease is transmitted by biting midges, usually in the late summer and early fall. Mule deer bucks that have survived the epizootic infection may have abnormal antlers with retained velvet that are not shed annually, and are covered by bumpy growths.
What to Look For
- Multiple dead white-tailed deer, especially near water
- Dead animals during the fall season
- Edema (fluid) under the skin of harvested animals (particularly pronghorn)
- Cracked and sloughing hooves
- Abnormal antlers with retained velvet
Risk to Hunters
Neither viruses are transmissible to humans. Both viruses can be transmitted to cattle, but disease is typically mild. Bluetongue virus causes significant disease in domestic sheep, and sheep are usually vaccinated against this virus. Although hemorrhagic disease is not a concern for human health, multiple dead animals can be a sign of other dangerous diseases. If hunters observe multiple sick or dead animals in an area, do not harvest animals from that area, do not handle dead carcasses and report dead animals to CPW.
Safely Handling Game Meat
Most of the time, properly handled and prepared game meat poses no greater risk than domestic meat of causing or carrying disease that could make humans sick. Hunters are encouraged to contact their local public health department or CPW office for information on wildlife diseases where they plan to hunt. Public health officials recommend the following precautions when handling and preparing game meat:
- Do not handle animals that are obviously sick or found dead. Report sick or dead animals you find to a CPW office near you.
- Keep game cool, clean and dry.
- Do not eat, drink or smoke when dressing game.
- Use disposable gloves when cleaning game.
- Wash your hands with soap and water or use alcohol wipes after dressing game.
- Clean all tools and surfaces immediately after use. Use hot soapy water, then disinfect with a 10 percent chlorine bleach solution.
- Cook game meat to an internal temperature of at least 165F to kill disease organisms and parasites. Juices from adequately cooked game meat should be clear.
- Do not eat raw portions of wild game.
- Keep wild bird carcasses away from domestic poultry.
- Do not feed raw wild game to domestic pets.
Donating Game Meat
Donation certificates are required for all donations. Certificates must contain:
- names, addresses and telephone numbers of donor and recipient
- donor’s hunting license number
- species and amounts donated
- date the animal was taken;
- donor’s signature.
The certificate must stay with the meat until the meat is completely consumed. Donor and recipient are subject to all bag and possession limits. A like license is a license for exactly the same species, sex, season and method of take as the donor’s license.
Ways Hunters can Donate Game Meat
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Donate up to 20 pounds
Hunters can donate up to 20 pounds of unprocessed meat, to someone with and without a like license anywhere.
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Donate More than 20 pounds
Hunters can donate more than 20 pounds of unprocessed meat, to someone without a like license, only at recipient’s home. Hunters can donate more that 20 punds of unprocessed meat to someone with a like license, anywhere, only if the recipient’s license is unfilled, and the recipient’s carcass tag is on the meat. This establishes recipient’s claim to his/her portion of meat and voids his/her license. Donor’s tag must remain with his/her portion.
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Donate an Entire Carcass
Hunters can an entire carcass to someone with a like license if the recipient’s license is unfilled and the donor’s carcass tag and recipient’s like-license carcass tag is on the meat, voiding both licenses.