When I was with FWS, I captured a golden eagle near pdog town with lead poisoning. It survived after a trip to the Recovery Center. Who knows how many just die out there.
Lead fragments in hunter harvested deer
- Thread starter Paisano
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When I was with FWS, I captured a golden eagle near pdog town with lead poisoning. It survived after a trip to the Recovery Center. Who knows how many just die out there.
Based on how many ranchers I've heard complain about raptor populations, apparently not enough.
Based on how many ranchers I've heard complain about raptor populations, apparently not enough.
Take their guns. Oops I forgot about the felon, rancher loophole.
Irrelevant
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https://hunttoeat.com/collections/n...-91193861&mc_cid=b4416806f5&mc_eid=8b642c818c
New collaboration between Hunt To Eat and the non-lead guys. I'm not a huge fan of the design though...
New collaboration between Hunt To Eat and the non-lead guys. I'm not a huge fan of the design though...
take their guns. Oops i forgot about the felon, rancher loophole.
bring back 1080!!!
VikingsGuy
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Ya lost me
belly-deep
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Aka “the good stuff”
Jape
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Never even considered this was an issue before this post. Thanks for sharing.
Dont need to. Fly bait and xylitol are now being used for the same purpose, albeit illegally.
Bigjav
Active member
In my neck of the woods in Comiefornia we were FORCED to use copper bullets years ago for the condors and now because of the raptors the rest of the state will belong for the ride within two years. Personally if I could go back to shooting traditional ammunition I would do it in a New York minute. I feel copper bullets don't expand enough and shoot way different than traditional ammo which requires trying different brands of ammunition to see which shoots the best out your gun..However that's easier said than done as the majority of sporting good stores have a very limited selection of lead free ammunition and to top it off the new gun laws prohibit a person from ordering ammunition online unless its through an FFL further adding insult to injury!!!
Bigjav
Active member
You must be mistaking California for a state with a high hunter success rate where noncompliance can be a factor. Plus every time I run into a Warden while hunting they check all of our ammunition for compliance
Thanks for sharing. I had never considered this and will start looking into different rifle ammo this season. Also will try steel shot on doves this season. I prefer close shots with #9 shells but I wonder if steel with #9 will have the knock down or if it will result in winged birds? I dread hunting squirrels with steel shot though. You lose the ability to reach out and touch one, and even have seen too many run off with close range shots. I will consider more into looking at the high dollar non toxic shells though.
Agree with many that have said they are more concerned with lead affecting wildlife more than myself. One thing I might try this season is to keep a trail camera with me to leave over gut piles. It'll be interesting to see.
Agree with many that have said they are more concerned with lead affecting wildlife more than myself. One thing I might try this season is to keep a trail camera with me to leave over gut piles. It'll be interesting to see.
ChrisS
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I switched to all copper last season and the one buck I shot with copper didn't take many more steps.
There has been some interesting research done over the last few years that suggests that leaded gasoline plays(ed) a strong role in violent behavior in young people reflected in the violent crime rate. As leaded gasoline was phased out, many countries, including the US, experienced a drop in the rate of violent crime ~20 years later as children-->adolescents with low concentrations of blood lead.
Lead is pretty toxic stuff.
There has been some interesting research done over the last few years that suggests that leaded gasoline plays(ed) a strong role in violent behavior in young people reflected in the violent crime rate. As leaded gasoline was phased out, many countries, including the US, experienced a drop in the rate of violent crime ~20 years later as children-->adolescents with low concentrations of blood lead.
Lead is pretty toxic stuff.
Give Bismuth a try! It's closer to the density of lead than steel. I used it last fall in Iowa on pheasants and was happy with it. It's not lead cheap, but not super non-toxic expensive either.
https://www.cabelas.com/product/KENT-BISMUTH-SHOTSHELLS-PER-BOX/2263462.uts
VikingsGuy
Well-known member
I am non-lead on rifles, and try to be on shotguns, but I have found the later difficult. It's not just cost, but availability has sucked and I have struggled to find the shot size, load weight or velocity options on the shelf that match my hunting style. Maybe I just need to start loading my own shot shells too, as I have become much happier about shooting rifle copper as I have started reloading centerfire.
I have considered reloading as well. It is very expensive and difficult to find the right loads for my 16 gauge. Given I have two cases of lead #6s sitting in the basement, it'll be a couple of years before I seriously entertain making the transition. Until then, I just cuss whenever I flush mallards off a creek while hunting pheasants and quail.
scubohuntr
Active member
Mammals react a bit differently. A coyote takes big bites and gulps them down, so lead fragments in the meat remain lead fragments in the digestive system. Most pass through harmlessly. Birds run food through a gizzard that grinds it up (because most birds have no teeth). Grinding greatly increases the surface area of even very tiny lead fragments, making them more accessible for oxidation. Carrion birds have extremely acidic digestive juices, and acids increase the solubility of lead. The issue with lead is that it is very hard to dissolve it. It's almost completely inert in its metallic form. The lead paint issue came about because lead in paint is not metallic lead, it's an oxide which is quite soluble. It also happens to be very white and extremely opaque, which made it perfect for high-coverage paint formulations.
High school physics will tell you that a copper bullet cannot carry the same inertia downrange as a lead bullet of the same volume and shape. Most copper bullets are somewhat longer than lead bullets of the same caliber, which allows for a higher ballistic coefficient at a given weight. So potentially a copper bullet could maintain a bit more velocity downrange, but it will never overcome the energy deficit of the lighter mass. Particularly in smaller calibers, there should be an accuracy advantage to monometal bullets because the tiny variations in jacket thickness are proportionally higher in a tiny bullet. Solid metal=no jacket to worry about. All these differences are quite small, actually. I will most likely be going copper for hunting bullets this year. I have a few thousand lead bullets left; most of which will probably go downrange this year. I don't see switching for range use; just for final sight-in before hunting. Copper bullets are still too expensive for the amount I shoot.
huronmtns
Well-known member
I'm wondering why we don't hear of ravens being effected by lead poisoning. These birds clean and consume the majority of the gut piles here around the Great Lakes. You will often see 30 or more of these birds at a kill site and have the whole mess cleaned up within a day. I have never found or heard of mortality caused by lead. Any thoughts?
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