A Nelson researcher is warning hunters that eating game meat killed with lead bullets could make them sick.

Dr Eric Buenz from the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology is part of a group of researchers trying to find out whether traces of lead can be found in game meat.

Most hunters used lead ammunition, which could leave hundreds of fragments scattered throughout the animal's carcass, and could be unknowingly ingesting lead, he said.

"That's one of the nefarious things about lead - if you eat a large dose of it, you might feel bad immediately," Buenz said.

"But the bigger problem is that it's sequestered and kept in your bones. And when it's kept in your bones and your other soft muscle tissue, it's able to slowly leach out, so your body has this elevated, level of lead for a long time.

"When you have that elevated level of lead, it hurts basically every internal organ."

Buenz said he was involved in the case of a man who was suffering with "an odd case" of gout.

"Normally, you would have gout in your small joints, but he was having it in his larger joints.

"When we got him off using lead ammunition, his lead levels went down, the gout went away. It's not something that, if you went to your GP and said you were having gout in your larger joints, it's not the first thing that comes to mind - are you eating lead-shot meat?"

Buenz is asking hunters to send in a sample of frozen mince meat from an animal they have shot with lead or lead-free ammunition, so researchers can analyse its lead levels.

Lead particles detected in mince meat of an animal shot with lead ammunition. Photo: Supplied / Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology

The research, which is part of an international consortium researching the use of lead ammunition in hunting, has just received an $8000 funding boost from the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust.

Buenz said overseas studies have detected lead in 10 percent to 50 percent of meat samples tested.

Lead-free ammunition typically cost more than that with lead, which often put hunters off making the switch, he said.

"The cost of non-toxic ammunition always comes up," Buenz said.

"And I always say the same thing, which is that you're quite happy to spend $200 in petrol to drive to the place that you're going to go hunting, but you won't spend an extra dollar or two for the one bullet you might need to harvest the animal.

"That doesn't make sense to me. The cost of the bullet in the entire process of going hunting is really, pretty insignificant."

Buenz said switching to lead-free ammunition was an easy fix that would eliminate the risk of lead poisoning.

Anyone wanting to take part in the study can contact the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology on [email protected].