About a month or so ago the health department posted that there are high levels of e coli in the creek that runs through my property. Would it still be safe to eat the deer that drink from this creek? I think as long as I cook it to above 160 it kills the e coli, any thoughts on this?
I'd say the ecoli warning is really only something for humans to worry about for drinking or perhaps being in and around. Deer and other critters live in that habitat and likely are already used to consuming it without problems of getting sick. In the case of it affecting the meat I don't see how.
I think you're fine as long as the water doesn't get on the meat somehow. By drinking it, the meat doesn't become contaminated.
The exact opposite is in fact true. What an animal eats or drinks is critical to its health and the health of those that come into contact with it. Deer can and do carry Ecoli. Mad cow disease is a perfect example of what an animal eats infecting it and potentially those that consume it. You need to take precautions when touching deer meat and make sure it is prepared in a way that will minimize the risk of illness. That basically holds true for all meat. But, wild game is not in a controlled environment so it is especially true in the field.
We are talking about ecoli. Not mad cow or cwd. Venison doesn't become contaminated with e coli from the deer drinking water with ecoli or food with ecoli. Now if you skin the deer and than rinse the meat off in the water with ecoli, then you have contaminated meat. If you break open the digestive system while gutting the deer, you can contaminate the meat. But that will be the same no matter what the deer was eating.
Cattle and deer can and do become infected with the Ecoli bacteria by the food or water that they consume. Then they become carriers and then we are at risk. So yes, deer can become contaminated with Ecoli from the water the deer drank, or the food it ate.
Basically every animal is a carrier of ecoli, it lives in our digestive systems. The meat of the deer or cow does not become contaminated from the animal eating or drinking something with ecoli. The meat becomes contaminated from contact with a contaminated surface, and it then becomes dangerous if not properly cooked, Solid pieces of meat (steaks or chops) are less of a risk because the ecoli contamination would be on the surface and once cooked is killed. Ground meat is more dangerous because if it doesn't get cooked throughout, there is contamination inside due to being ground and mixed.
Call the DNR. I had a deer with a weird cyst in the hind quarter a couple years ago, it oozed puss when I was butchering I called the dnr and they put me in touch with a dnr biologist who helped me decide if the deer was safe to consume.
All I am saying is that the OP needs to be extremely careful when handling a deer from that area. To field dress a deer that carries the pathogenic strain of ecoli and not spread it is far easier said than done. A small percentage of deer actually carry the strain that will be a problem.
This is what I found online, "internal temperature of 145°F, which will kill any salmonella or E. coli on the surface (still a concern). Ground pork, like ground beef, should be cooked to 160°F." So I'm thinking as long as I can bring the temp up to 160, it should be safe
