I’ve been hearing this since I was a kid. It would seem the raptor population is increasing in numbers, almost to the point of needing managed.
I’m sure the lead free crowd will say it’s because of steel shot, but they can’t eat ducks year round.

I will worry about lead shot and bullets once they get the lead out of water pipes and food. As far as lead killing birds or wind generators, I would bet feral cats kill way more birds and other wild life. I go way, way out of my way to kill cats.

If non lead mandates where ever passed,it would probably kill 90% of the dove hunting around here.Alot of kids are introduced to wing shooting and shotgun hunting through dove hunting.probably have a crippling affect on shotgun ammo producers as well.

Would also probably be the final nail in the confin for the 16 gauge that alot of us still enjoy wing shooting with.28 gauge and 410 would also.tough enough to find variety in those eaven in lead.

Bird hunting, any type, would become for the rich only. No way I could afford any other than lead shot. I guess you could shoot steel, but again, it’s way more expensive than lead and less effective.

Is this from the same study group that blamed the deaths of the California Condors on lead ammunition? Which btw was later proven to be a lie, but it hit what they wanted accomplished, a lead ban on Commifornia. The actual cause of death was indeed from lead. Lead paint that was sticking to the flesh of animals while feeding chicks in their nests that happpened to be atop old abandoned military structures and such. They never bothered to let the media know about that of course…. How can they claim such nonsense when the raptor population is so high, and the bird flus kill way more migrating birds than humans could shoot in a decade yearly…. But keep on with spreading our foes propaganda. Might as well call for a trap ban while you are at it…SMH

To my knowledge the professor that published the original research paper that started the whole lead is bad deal was completely full of holes. No pun intended. Then the anti hunting folks took it and ran

Anti lead = anti shooting period...The push behind anti lead is agenda driven.

It’s all about control.
I’m an avid duck hunter, and am old enough to remember ducks dying by the thousands of lead poisoning from consuming lead pellets that built up on the bottom of marshes where a lot of hunting took place for many years. It was happening. No doubt. Steel was the only alternative when it went mandatory in 1986 I believe. The technology wasn’t there in the beginning. Also hunters weren’t used to shooting it and tried to shoot it through the same guns/chokes as lead. The ammo was horrible about crippling birds. It slowly improved over the years to the point that today’s waterfowl ammo is very good. Specialized chokes and a multitude of nontoxic shot options have added to the effectiveness as well.
All that being said, there’s a heck of a difference in the necessity of controlling the depositing of thousands of pounds of lead pellets in the bottom of a marsh and the tiny amount of lead deposited in a deer carcass. We have many wildlife areas that ALL species of wildlife must be hunted with nontoxic shot. Really? A single shot at a turkey is going to deposit enough lead to be harmful? Or a handful of shots at a mess of rabbits?
We excepted it for waterfowl, now they are taking it to ridiculous extremes.

Not shooting ducks/geese on the water probably does more for getting lead out of their reach than about anything else.

You don’t think that shot falls in the water when fired into the air at flying ducks?

Good post and spot on.

I was and still am VERY suspect of the fact of ducks eating lead pellets from the bottom of sloughs…. Not saying they were not dying, but quite possibly something else was at fault…. Prior to us discovering avian bird flu a decade or two ago…. Lead in a slough or gravel bottom would very quickly settle into the muck, it would not just lay on surface to be skimmed up. Any lying on weeds would quickly fall out once disturbed one would think. Remember, they only tell us what they want us to believe, which has happened far too often since the 70’s/80’s…. My opinion of course, but lately it’s been falling in my favor way more often than not…

Not generally in the shallow end of the marshes.

The recent tests on the Bird Flu DNA show that it has been around for a very long time. It's very likely been the culprit of large die offs of waterfowl for a very long period of time, it's just nobody knew about it.

Keith

I see no shortage of Raptors here ,Bird Flu will and has killed many more than lead

Hope you dont make any decisions

It was 100 percent happening. I helped collect dead and dying mallards by the hundreds. Every one of them had lead pellets in their gizzards.
This was in the early 80’s. Biologists were hunters back then in this part of the world. They weren’t jacking anyone around in those days.
It was a real deal going on back then.
This lead in rifle bullets BS is a different scenario.

We can agree to disagree and both be ok. I respect your thoughts, but still don’t buy the lead bs lock stock and barrel. I don’t see skeet and trap courses loaded with dead and dying birds or mammals and the concentration of lead there is massive…. And much more easily accessed. My .02. Back to work fellas.

Oh, I make lots of decisions.