North Dakota's biggest "hunting holiday" -- the annual deer gun opener -- begins at noon Friday with the North Dakota Department of Health advising pregnant women and children under age 6 to not eat venison harvested with lead bullets.

The department also recommends older children and other adults should take steps to minimize the exposure to lead after a study of processed venison samples was conducted November 2008 through February 2009.

The study by the Department of Health and Department of Agriculture shows 5.94 percent of the ground venison samples collected from the meat processors contained lead fragments. The study involved 404 samples of ground venison from 54 meat processing plants in the state.

The study followed the distribution of guidelines to meat processors regarding the processing of venison shot by lead bullets.

"The study showed us that with the guidelines out there for processors, not only the professional ones, but the home ones too, there is still the possibility for lead in your venison," said Sandi Washek of the Department of Health. She said the department is encouraging the same recommendations as it has in the past in that children under 6 and pregnant women are most as risk if exposed to lead.

"The rest of the population, it is still personal choice," Washek said.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department Director Terry Steinwand said his department has always said to take adequate care of venison after it's been killed, just for quality of taste issues.

From a simple recommendation standpoint, the department has said hunters should generously trim around the wound site to minimize lead contamination to the meat, Steinwand said.

"You choose whether or not you're going to eat that venison. Once you have shot it, it is your deer," he said. "This is a personal choice issue."

He too said children under 6 and pregnant women probably should not eat venison shot with a lead bullet. Anecdotally, the lead contamination doesn't appear to be a pressing issue in the public's mind,

Steinwand said. In conversations with retailers who sell ammunition for rifles, they haven't seen a groundswell of hunters switching to copper bullets.

"None of them have seen the difference in ammunition sales," he said.

Dr. Andrea Grondahl of the Department of Agriculture agrees the issue is a matter of personal choice

"There is a risk there, but there is a risk with everything in life," Grondahl said.

The guidelines the ag department provided meat processors basically encourages them to take extra precautions, she said.

Grondahl and Steinwand do express concerns, however, about deer that are shot in the hind quarters.

"The information we have today is it's really hard to cut away tissue to make that carcass useable," Grondahl said of deer shot in the hind quarters.

The Associated Press reported this past Thursday the Sportsmen Against Hunger Program is again accepting deer shot with lead bullets.

The program that is administered by the North Dakota Community Action Partnership only accepted deer shot with arrows last year, fearing that firearm-shot deer might contain lead fragments.

"Community Action has been working with the departments of health and agriculture to make sure that what they are doing is the right thing," Grondahl said of this year's collection effort.

The food program hopes to get 700 deer from hunters this fall. The guidelines the ag department provided meat processors focuses on primary points that hunters who do their own processing also should follow.

*Try to determine the path of the bullet and if the bullet contacted any bone.

One recent study in Europe indicated a larger extent of lead contamination when the bullet contacted the vertebrae.

*Trim a generous distance away from the bullet wound channel and discard any meat that is bruised and discolored, or contains hair, dirt, bone fragments or grass.

*Use care when selecting venison for grinding.

*Periodically check meat grinders for lead fragments.

*Avoid or minimize batching of multiple deer to avoid cross-contamination.

Grondahl said the meat processors across the state were really good in providing state officials with the meat samples.

"We didn't really come in with any preconceived notions," she said of conducting the study. "We just wanted to know what was out there."