Almanac: States aim to keep venison donation program despite lead discovery

Five Midwest states, including Minnesota, hope to continue venison donation programs this fall despite the recent discovery of lead bullet fragments in some donated venison.

The lead-venison issue -- and what it means for deer hunters, wildlife agencies and venison-donation programs -- will be discussed this week in Bloomington by officials from Minnesota and four neighboring states.

Wildlife, health and agriculture officials from Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin will attend, as will representatives from hunting groups, ammunition manufacturers and deer processors.

"We want to come up with guidelines to allow these venison donation programs to continue to function next fall," said Dennis Simon, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife management section chief.

"And we'd like to reach consensus with the five state agencies about the message we want to send to hunters for their personal handling of venison this fall. We'd like to get a consistent message out there."

Simon said he believes there will be a venison-donation program in Minnesota this fall.

Minnesota officials announced in April that they found lead fragments in 25 percent of the ground venison sampled from Minnesota foodshelves. Food shelves destroyed remaining venison and recipients were told to discard it. The testing was prompted after North Dakota found lead in its donated venison.

Last month, the North Dakota Department of Health began testing the blood lead levels of 680 residents to compare lead levels of those who eat venison with those who don't.

Minnesota also will conduct its own tests on lead fragmentation this summer, shooting deer carcasses or other dead animals with high-power bullets, shotgun slugs and muzzleloader slugs, Simon said.

Officials will use X-rays and tissue samples to determine bullet fragmentation. "It won't be a definitive study," Simon said. But should provide some guidance for hunters.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that it plans to open 24 million acres of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands to haying and grazing this summer.

While some conservation groups pointed out that such disturbances can improve grassland habitat, others expressed exasperation with the loss of wildlife habitat.

"It seems like conservation keeps coming out on the short end," said Tom Landwehr, assistant state director of The Nature Conservancy. "In promoting corn for ethanol and prompting high prices through subsidies for commodity crops, it's getting too expensive to feed cattle. Now we have to gut our conservation programs to meet the needs of agriculture."

Ducks Unlimited applauded the action, saying it was better for wildlife to have disturbed CRP lands than bringing marginal cropland into production.

The haying and grazing will be allowed "after the primary nesting season ends for grass-nesting birds," the USDA said, ending Nov. 10. But Landwehr said it's unclear when mowing and grazing will actually begin, and thus what impact it might have on duck and pheasant reproduction.

Late mowing also would leave little habitat for nesting next spring, and it could limit hunter access this fall, Pheasants Forever said.

New research shows Minnesota's historic wild turkey range likely extended farther north than originally thought. (See accompanying map.) Turkeys likely flourished as far north as the Twin Cities and possibly farther, said Jenny Snyders, a graduate student at Minnesota State Mankato. Snyders reexamined historical accounts of turkey sightings. Over the past 30 years, turkeys have been trapped and transplanted, so their current range now includes much of the southern half of the state.

•Minnesota turkey hunters had another record harvest this spring, killing more than 10,000 turkeys. That easily tops last year's record of 9,412 birds. The season ended Thursday. The final tally is expected this week.

•Talk about a man bites dog story: Conservation officer Kipp Duncan of Duluth got a call about a deer that was attacking a dog and charging a woman who was trying to get her newspaper from her mailbox. The deer recently gave birth and was aggressively protecting its fawn.

•Ten anglers in three boats on Fall Lake near Ely got swept into rapids last weekend after their motors wouldn't start, requiring some harrowing rescue work by county, DNR and U.S. Forest Service rescue teams. No serious injuries were reported.

•Conservation officer Dustie Heaton of Willow River observed five wolves in her yard recently, one of which was standing nose-to-nose with the family Labrador.

•The walleye bite is improving on Lake Mille Lacs, but a lot of fish in the protected slot are being caught, reported officer Dan Perron of Onamia.

•And then there was the woman who called officer Phil George of Mantorville about a squirrel that followed her into a store and wouldn't leave her alone. The squirrel was captured in the basement and returned to the wild.

•The walleye bite has been very good on Lake of the Woods and Upper Red Lake.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com