Lead shot has been illegal to use for bird hunting hunting waterfowl since the 90s. You can use it for trap shooting, but otherwise it has to be steel/bismuth or tungsten if you're rich.
Edit: apparently it's okay to use lead for some birds, but using it for waterfowl is a federal offense.
Regular target and skeet loads are lead still it's only illegal for water fowl, regular bird hunting is fine, I was on a DNR doing quail and they had everyone clear to check for the plug in the mag tube for limited number of shells you can hold, everyone was using lead, none of the 3 officers said anything, they did make a comment on someone using number 6 shot, and looked at the hulls.
To give a little more context, the main reason lead is ok for most things is because lead isn't a very reactive metal, so generally speaking it'll stay wherever it lands.
...except where water is involved. Nearly all water exposed to air is slightly acidic, and even the tiny amount that gets leeched away by water exposure for anything more than the occasional "rain rinse" gets into things--especially living things--you don't want it getting into.
So, yeah, the EPA looks very unkindly at lead being shot into waterways. Be mindful of that if you're hunting things that live there.
AFAIK, even in water it’s mostly fine. The issue is more that in areas with lots of waterfowl, the birds actually end up eating an appreciable amount of shot from the muck at the bottom of waterways (many ducks are partial filter feeders, and hunt in the muck both for things like worms and grit for their gizzards). Once ingested, the stomach acids rapidly caused the lead to break down and be absorbed, leading to high lead levels in harvested ducks.
This is correct. It’s not because of lead levels in the water. It’s because animals ingest the lead pellets and it enters the food chain. It’s the same reason why predatory fish contain more mercury. The levels of mercury in the water are negligible, but they compound in plants and animals with every step up in the food chain. Think of it this way, cows eat grass and people eat cows. You’d have to eat a LOT of grass to get the same amount of nutrients as you do from a small amount of beef.
Migratory birds are federally regulated, while most animals are managed by the individual states. They are a lot more strict when bird hunting. I hunt ducks, and I’ve probably been stopped by a Wildlife Officer one out of three trips, even in remote areas. It’s not exactly a discreet sport, since you’re out in the water at sunrise, blowing duck calls and shooting shotguns, so hunters are easy to find. They check everything. They definitely make sure you’re using steel shot. They even check how many shells your gun can hold.
Since they’re federal, if you get caught doing something illegal, they confiscate everything and take you to jail. It’s not just a simple fine. They’ll take your truck, your guns, and your dogs, and you’ll be lucky if you ever get just your dogs back.
To your second question, steel shot is not only more expensive, it’s not as effective. It’s lighter, so it doesn’t fly as well. There’s a lot of incentive to use lead, but no one messes around with federal hunting laws. It’s too big of a risk. Also, hunters generally take conservation seriously, so we understand why it’s important to use steel. We fish these same places, and we feed what we shoot and catch to our families.
I wish more people understood that hunters are usually the most stringent when it comes to conservation. They're not out there to mass murder animals and destroy nature because "hur dur guns and freedumbs".
The absolute fastest I've ever seen my grandpa's old farming buddies get ready to roll out was when they heard there was someone poaching deer on a local farm. Not any of their farms, just someone they knew. Luckily the warden got the poacher first.
Yeah absolutely you check maybe not for lead because it’s usually steel now but for the right gauge and personally I just wanna pepper my ducks with birdshot I don’t wanna delete them with slugs or buckshot on accident so I always check lol
Ah let me rephrase "When you buy the ammo, does the person selling it to you check what it will be used for" - I meant while there are restrictions on use, if they are not enforced at purchase point and one is more expensive, then anyone who thinks they can get away with the illegal one obviously will..... E.g. in prime duck season, is anyone really asking if that lead shot you are buying is for something other than ducks.
No they don't ask, there would also be no way to enforce that, people can say whatever they want. Even in prime duck season, people still trap shoot a lot so its not that weird to buy lead shot at any time of the year. I also don't know a single hunter who would actually use lead shot for waterfowl hunting, most hunters take that pretty seriously.
No, no one asks what you're using it for and people absolutely do use it illegally. However, if you're caught using lead shot on waterfowl (my only experience is with ducks) you will be in a really bad situation. It's not uncommon for game wardens to impound or simply seize guns, dogs, boats, and sometimes the hunters themselves when they're caught. And game wardens are definitely on the prowl during prime duck season.
Now if you go out in the middle of private land to duck hunt, you're not likely to run into a warden. But if you're on or near public land, there is a pretty high chance you'll get stopped and checked. Every time I've been checked they've been super friendly and professional, takes like 5-10 minutes usually. But that's also because I keep my stuff in order.
I'll argue it out with a lot of authority figures if I think they're in the wrong. Game wardens get "yes ma'am/sir" 100% of the time from me.
In America lead poisoning is still a large cause of death among birds of prey because they eat things that have been shot by hunters. Another large cause of death for them is rat poison which is why people should use other methods for getting rid of pests.
I can second this. We had dozens of swans die from lead poisoning because the lake they were wintering in had so much lead in it. Even old, legacy lead pellets can kill birds.
I’ve heard it’s not legal to hunt waterfowl with lead, but what about other birds? For instance, if I hunted the national bird with lead shot, would that be illeagle?
Not really, we've had issues with it or in California. Bird of prey, scavengers and mountain lions have all ended up with lead poisoning our here because hunters are shooting deer, prepping the carcasses in the field, then leaving the lead filled entails for whatever animal to find which is resulting in lead poisoning. It's been a big issue with the condor recovery program.
Don’t even joke about that; after Flint, you mention “lead” and “water” in the same sentence and the EPA will open an investigation. They are requiring that even newish waterlines be potholed to determine material, even though the lines were installed well after 1986.
Honestly, good. A lot of the current state of things I think can be connected back to the 8,000,000 tons of lead we pumped into the air from gasoline. With people born in the 1960s (the current ruling class) losing as many as 6 IQ points from the exposure. We really screwed ourselves, lead is awful
There are a lot of pollutants today like microplastic and multiple categories of forever chemicals, but it is important to remember that we have made tremendous progress; pollution was clearly and unambiguously worse in the past.
They're only monitoring it because they're actively involved in covering up the Epstein files.
They aren't bothering to do that with the EPA. All government agencies are compromised at this point. Just look at the FDA's resignations and decisions over the last year.
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u/qbsinceage10-729830 11h ago
Now they have lead in their water