Keith, the majority of road-killed deer I saw in northern Wisconsin had bald eagles doing the cleanup. Our problem in that part of the country, obviously not related to condors, didn't have anything to do with either cattle or gut piles. Rather, with wounded and unrecovered deer. That's where the eagles were picking up the lead fragments.
Larry, I wasn't talking about bald eagles. I was talking about condors. But I did not know there were no cows in Wisconsin. I wonder where all that cheese comes from??? But you seem determined to make the case that lead poisoning in bald eagles is caused by lead bullets from hunter's wounded and lost game. I guess we need to ask you for the same proof that we should be asking the other anti-hunters about.
So many bald eagles. Wow! One or more feeding on the majority of road killed deer in northern Wisconsin. That's a LOT of birds. They hardly sound threatened or endangered when you tell us that story. The 'possums, crows, magpies, and other carrion eaters must all be starving from being pushed aside by this gigantic population of lead-starved eagles.
I think it's time to throw the B.S. flag on this one. With so many eagles eating so much road-killed deer meat, it would stand to reason the more likely source of lead in their systems is from automotive paint chips. But I don't believe that either. Now how about showing us those poisoned eagles containing bullet fragments from hunter's guns. I'm talking fragments of lead, copper jackets, little plastic Nosler ballistic tips, etc., not some blood tests from the Audobons. We've already discussed the invalidity of isotopic analysis and the poor bio-availability of chunks of lead which soon pass through the digestive system. So let's see your forensic evidence done by non-agenda driven pathologists.
This is what I meant when I said we all need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot over this issue. Shotgunners placing the blame upon riflemen or vice-versa isn't going to prevent the eventual ban on all lead ammunition.
