Craig, you misunderstand. I'm not "passionate" about how bad lead is for waterfowl. That fight is over. Finished. We don't shoot lead at waterfowl. But you do need to help Keith understand that waterfowl are more susceptible to lead poisoning than upland birds because there was much more concentrated lead shot fall where the birds also concentrate, and because of how they feed. Pretty basic stuff. Plus, as Tall Timbers reported, hardly any quail found with lead in their gizzards.
Re waterfowl, have you looked at the studies on waterfowl closely enough to be able to state that the ONLY evidence of lead poisoning was lead in their digestive systems? No blood tests done to detect elevated blood levels? Those are being done on eagles. If quail were significantly impacted by lead poisoning, don't you suppose they'd notice it at Tall Timbers . . . given the fact that their birds are exposed to much more heavily concentrated shot fall than are quail in typical upland hunting settings? 8,000 shells fired on less than a section of land. Not as concentrated as on a heavily hunted waterfowl area or dove field, but very heavy shot fall by upland standards. Waterfowl and doves migrate, so you've got more to shoot at when the latest flocks show up. With quail and other upland birds (other than doves and woodcock), hunting success on heavily hunted ground declines as birds are shot, and you don't get a "resupply" until the following season.
You're telling me the feds are in on a conspiracy? Concerning what? Lead poisoning and waterfowl? Show me the proof. A study by someone in the field showing that lead shot was not a major cause of lead poisoning in waterfowl. And just who am I demonizing in the bird hunting community? I'm DEFENDING the continued use of lead shot for those birds we can still legally shoot with lead. Until someone shows me that ingestion of lead shot is killing lots of upland birds, or is killing some species with declining numbers, or is killing eagles. Nothing I've seen shows me any of that.
