I wonder how much more lead is lost fishing than rifle hunting. It seems much more likely that Eagles especially would be eating fish with lead rather than gut piles. When everyone is out hiking/hunting in the fall they are likely finding more Poisioned Raptors
You should see the videos of the guy who scuba dives in rivers here in Wisconsin to recover lures and stuff. He pulls out pounds of lead sinkers and jigs every time. I'd bet lead in the water outweighs lead in gut piles 100 to 1.
I would be surprised if there were 100 pounds in deer gut piles in the entire state
175,667 deer were harvested in the 9 day gun deer season 2021 if the average weight of a rifle bullet is 140gr and most bullets retain >90% of their mass that would leave <14gr of lead in a deer that would be a little high because the bullet could just as well have shed it's jacket as the lost weigh but just for rough figuring.
since I need a number to run this 14gr
so 14gr X 175,667 deer would be
divided by 7000gr in a pound = 351 pounds if lead state wide if a full 10% of very bullet remained in gut pile.
the reality is however you have all the neck shot deer that don't count , all the people already using a lead free bullet . your handgun hunters that send the bullet without enough velocity to fragment and a huge number of deer that don't get gut shot , followed up by all the people who go grab the tractor and haul the deer back and gut and skin it and put bury all the guts
then what about all the gut piles that the raccoons , coyote , wolves and fox eat before any eagles would even have a chance.
If the guy you know pulls out pounds of lead in a single dive I would guess it is more like 10,000 to 1
which would of course fit , it is never about going after the largest possible source , it is about going after the source that fits your agenda.
