The lead shot thread got me thinking about this again, and I really didn't want to steer it away from the intentions of the original poster. A quick Google search doesn't turn up much in the way of unbiased information or studies, most of the articles are from the humane society, NY Times, or something similar.

I hear people say things like one piece of lead shot can kill a hawk, or eagle, but they don't give any hard evidence or specifics, like does the lead have to be dissolved into the blood stream and how is this accomplished. I would have thought ingested lead shot would have simply passed through the digestive system. The raptor populations don't seem to be suffering any either. The referenced raccoon and possum deaths that were attributed to lead shot because they had no firearms wounds, appears to me to be a very unscientific leap to a conclusion. They could have been exposed to lead in many other ways besides exposure to lead shot. I have seen small herds of cattle wiped out by lead poisoning, so I realize the dangers of heavy metal poisoning, but the livestock was usually exposed to something stored in an old building that was left opened, or demolished.

I also remember biting open , and closed, many many split shot in my youth, with no noticeable effects. I also grew up in the age of lead paint use, and honestly I see more developmental, mental, and emotional issues in todays youth than I saw in my generation. My dad tells about dusting tobacco plants with arsenic lead when he was a kid, he says it had a sweet taste, he is 78 now. Now it seems that everyone is afraid to touch a lead wheel weight without rubber gloves.

So my question is how toxic is lead, really? And within that, how much damage is really done to the environment by lead shot and lead bullets?

I have often wondered the same thing for many of the same reasons as you. Hopefully some of the T-man members have knowledge on the subject and can answer.

If you visit this page it has links to a majority of the studies used in most articles:

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org...an_Health_Risks_from_Lead_Ammunition.pdf

equally interesting read:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5161761/

tastes like chicken to me.

Do a study.

As I understand it, It's the Lead Oxide that's toxic, ( grey patina), shiny lead, (base metal) is very stable. unless in powder form.

I reloaded for years when I shot trap started feeling iffy so I went to the Doc and no levels to worry about in my system so it must take a lot to get a elevated reading maybe. Turned out to be Giardia a few pills and it was better.

Seen a kid about 2-3 years old at the trap club sucking on a empty shell I told his mother that the shell has lead and mercury in the prime she just said he will be fine.

A trap shooting club I belong to had to give up the range because it fired over a marsh. The lead shot supposedly killed bottom feeding birds. Also supposed to kill loons.

When birds eat lead shot it gets worked over in their gizzard so if there is oxidation on it, that layer is ground up and it becomes more readily available for uptake by their system. Shooting on outside ranges with fresh air does not pose too much risk, but I spent a good deal of my youth shooting indoors on old, outdated, decommissioned armory ranges. Several people on my team have been diagnosed with acute lead poisoning. This was found later in their lives (late 20s early 30s) when their memory and motor function started to have problems. Lead is even more readily absorbed by the systems of young, developing children. Lead poisoning is no joke.

Birds eat gravel and it stays in their craw/ gizzard to grind the food up. When we eat a rabbit or pheasant with a pellet in it. It goes right through. It gets ground up in a bird, Eagles eating crippled waterfowl shot with lead died. Dabbling ducks picking up gravel in a lake or marsh picked up lead and died. Lots more Eagles around since we had to start shooting non toxic shot.

Did the mom have all her teeth? She sounds "blessed".

My mother spent 4 decades printing lead cable terminals. She seems fine.

I suppose it depends a lot on how fast said lead is coming your way as to how dangerous it is.

If you go to your city or village and ask if they do a lead and copper test every 3 years it will be yes. You can no longer find lead water joints and more. Contact the Peregrine fund and ask what the number cause of death is in the Condors that have been released to the wild. There is a vet school in MN. that can tell you all about lead. Raptor are different than other birds, they have a crop. The food goes into the crop then into the stomach as needed, the lead stays in the crop. I think in any case we all can find people that work with or around lead that never showed any effect from the lead. I know people that have smoked two packs of cigarettes and lived to be 90 years old. One the other hand I have known people that smoked a half pack a day and died of lung cancer at the age of 30. The data is there, believe it or not. Lead is not good for wild life. JMO.

I have lead rat shot from a 22 in my hand, showed the box that said it was lead and not bismuth to the dr. He said it was no big deal, they leave lead in people all the time. I know lots of old timers with birdshot in them from when they were kids. They seem to be living a long life.

A liberals wet dream

I read a study that was done in either south or north Dakota and lead was not even close to the culprit i was made out to be. I would worry more as a human about all we consume in toxic materials on the produce we eat and the water we drink.

I read a study that was done in either south or north Dakota and lead was not even close to the culprit i was made out to be. I would worry more as a human about all we consume in toxic materials on the produce we eat and the water we drink. I did have a grandfather that worked at Sherman Williams paint factory that did loose his life because of the lead in paint. Not sure what he did or how they used the lead Im guessing it would take a lot though.

There is a girl that just went through a month of de-toxifying from lead poisioning.
She worked at a paint ball range cleaning the guns...........seems the million balls shot per month that came from china and were never tested for lead.
(wonder where all those paint cans you turn in for re-cycling go)

Google is not your best choice for looking up "trendy" topics......maybe by page6 you are into some of the indepth studies.

There are fields here where the winter frost action pushes the spent lead pellets to the top and returning geese pick these up because they are just the perfect gizzard grinding size. Then they fly north and the grinding works all summer putting lead into their systems, when they return in the fall their levels are past human consumption eating levels, BUT, they advise only to eat one wild bird a week.

Northof50, is lead shot still legal for waterfowl hunting in Canada?