Lead Free Ammunition on your next hunt.

[FalconerKitty]

This video has a compelling argument regarding lead ammunition and it's effects on our wildlife. I only want to kill the animal I'm hunting, not have secondary poisoning of our eagles, vultures and other scavengers on the offal left behind. The Peregrine Fund held an important conference on lead ammunition and it's effects on non-target wildlife. The proceedings are on their website www.peregrinefund.org.

Just read the lead precaution literature that is included with your gun service manual and you will see just how we need be extra cautious about the use of lead ammunition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHZGQ8i8AwI

[PA_RIDGE_RUNNER]

I truly believe that the jury is still out on just how the birds of prey are getting lead poison. I have eaten most of the animals I have shot over the years to no ill effect. Nope I ain't buying into that just yet.

[Strut10]

Nope I ain't buying into that just yet.

Nope.

Me either, Paul.

[FalconerKitty]

I hope you have looked at the video and read the conference proceedings and studies before you made your decision. Lead ammunition is causing secondary poisoning of our scavengers. Especially birds, which are more sensitive to lead poisoning than mammals. Birds have less 'sophisticated' livers than mammals. A compensation they have to be able to be light enough to fly. That is why they are extra sensitive to toxins. (Canary in the coal mine is the prime example). I have a good friend who is a competitive high powered rifle marksman. He is also a falconer and worked with a wildlife rehab center. When he saw the lead poisoning of our raptors and eagles from ingesting lead fragments from wounded game and offal from field dressing. He became convinced of the dangers of lead ammunition.

[Ethan Givan]

I cant see how there is that many animals being shot but not recovered by hunters. Honestly how much game do you shoot and not recover a year? Very little, if any. Then even if you do lose an animal, if it dies in the woods scavengers probabaly wont get to it because its harder for them to find it. We can also rule out all game lost to archery, and waterfowl because no lead is involved in either. I think this is all a little far fetched. Sounds like an off the radar way to make things harder for hunters IMO.

[FalconerKitty]

Again, look at the facts before you make up your mind. The proceedings were started by a falconer who also gun hunts pronghorns. When he x-rayed the carcass, and saw all of the lead fragments in the meat that he fed his family, he was concerned that he was harming his family. Also, look at this site: www.projectgutpile.blogspot.com. Started by gun hunters who worked with raptors and saw first hand the dangers of lead in the environment from spent ammunition and offal from field dressed game. I hunt, with guns, bows, hawks, hounds, terriers. Not everyone hunts with a firearm.

Firearms manufacturers are seeing the big picture. They have already started to make non-toxic ammunition.

[92xj]

I toss lead shot in the air to watch the birds catch it.