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John Kerry, when he was running for President, said that he wasn’t a radical environmentalist rather he just believed that forests should be kept healthy in part so that Americans are able to hunt animals, fish and drink the water from our rivers. He pointed out that almost all rivers in the lower US are seriously polluted.
And half the country called him a radical environmentalist, an elitist out–of-touch with real Americans.
Not a hunter (yet), but I am a crop geneticist. There have been “do not eat” advisories for venison posted due to PFAs in Maine, for example.
Ultimately, this is the kind of thing where the local DNR is probably going to be the best source of information available on whether any particular population of deer is safe to eat.
It is possible for deer to be unsafe to eat, but, I haven’t seen any evidence that that is always true… or at least, I haven’t seen any reason to think that venison is less safe than anything else now that we live in a historical era where PFAs are literally raining from the sky.
The DNR in my state monitors for it. They test the livers because that’s where it builds up the most. So far it’s either not detected or only found in very small levels (and would be negligible in the actual meat).
Even if there was an issue, I’m not sure that deer would have substantially more exposure than livestock/crops in a given area. It gets into wells and tap water as well.
I think your statement about hunting, fishing, and environmentalism might be anecdotal because my experience has been the opposite. They are very aware of algae blooms due to fertilizers in the Great lakes, pcbs in our rivers, and industrial issues that have a negative impact on the things they’re interested in. As for the safety if meat, what’s the other option? All meat and vegetables come from this planet, there’s nowhere to “hide” from the environment.
I am a hunter and dietitian and my meat is almost exclusively wild game. Departments of natural resources monitor for safety of animal consumption and will put out warnings for issues. Make sure you get it checked for CWD if you’re in or near a positive area (even though there’s never been a case of it jumping to people).
I absolutely trust the venison I kill, process, and eat as much if not more than what I could get in the grocery store.
You obviously have not heard about chronic wasting syndrome. Otherwise, you would never get close to any deer, elk, or moose. Specially in the US. It’s not an issue in Canada YET. If that jumps to human population it would not be fun. Prions are scary as shit and we have no medication for them.
Here is the link for your amusement:
https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/index.html
I live and hunt on the east coast, and the state department of game and wildlife is usually very on top of testing the local herds and warning about unsafe populations. They even have an email list with regular updates. Your state may have something similar.