Do Not Eat Deer From This MI Area, Officials Warn

With deer hunting season just around the corner, Michigan health officials are warning hunters not to eat venison from deer killed within three miles of Clark’s Marsh in Oscoda Township.

Officials believe deer from that area are contaminated with various harmful polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), which reside in the animals' liver and muscle tissues, according to a 2021 report.

Officials are also warning people not to eat fish and other aquatic or semi-aquatic wildlife taken from Clark’s Marsh. This includes fish, aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals (including muskrats), amphibians (including frogs), mollusks (including snails), reptiles (including turtles) and arthropods (including crayfish).

PFAS and PFOS are often called "forever chemicals" because they don’t degrade in the environment or in the bodies of people exposed to them. They are associated with several negative health effects, such as liver damage, high cholesterol and reduced fertility, according to health officials.

There are three separate health advisories currently in effect for Clark’s Marsh:

• A Do Not Eat fish advisory in effect since 2012.
• A Do Not Eat deer advisory issued in 2018, updated in 2019 and again in 2021. The 2021 update shrank the five-mile advisory area to a three-mile advisory area.
• A Do Not Eat resident aquatic and semi-aquatic wildlife advisory in effect since 2019.

Deer hunting archery hunting season begins Oct. 1 and firearm hunting season begins Nov. 15.