Is there a way to tell if meat has been deliberately poisoned?

[misterW]

I take my dog now and then to play/walk w/ a friend's dog who she has known since they were puppies. It is a fairly isolated area -- no houses nearby, although there is a hunting cabin back in the woods. There is also a huge field that is great for running in.

Anyway, I get there, and I let her out. She sniffs around a bit and then I see that she has found something -- an enormous chunk of meat about 50 feet in from the road. There are many hunters in the area and it is not uncommon to find remains where a deer has died and never been found or where it has been gutted in the field. However, I am immediately suspicious because I see no signs of entrails or other remains anywhere. How did it get there? And why hasn't it been eaten? I get to it before my dog eats it and as I take it away, I see that it is the liver of a deer. Although these may be left behind when a deer is dressed in the field, I would expect to also see entrails nearby, which I don't.

As we walk, I think about it and two possibilities come to mind:

(1) the meat is bait for coyotes, who will then be shot
(2) the meat is poisoned and left for coyotes

On the way back from the walk, what do we happen to come upon -- a dead coyote!

Not clear upon examination whether or not it has been shot. There is a small amount of blood on its side, but difficult to determine if there is an entry hole due to the hair. It is lying in the open; I would have suspected if it was poisoned that it would have crawled away somewhere under cover.

Anyway, my concern is that somebody might be poisoning coyotes and that my (or someone else's) dog could easily eat the poisoned meat. There are a number of dogs that use the area.

I still have the meat. Any way to determine if it is poisoned?

[Lauri & The Gang]

The only way is to have it tested at a lab.

Some animal could have carried it to that location for a nice, quiet meal and then got interrupted.

[misterW]

Yes, it is certainly possible.

It is just the combination of the unusual meat find plus the dead coyote that makes me suspicious.