Is shooting lead pellets safe for the enviornment?

Here’s a sample study, that is commonly referenced, to show how deadly lead shot is..

Lead shot ingestion by mourning doves on a disked field

Abstract
Previous field studies of hunter-harvested mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) have reported the percentage of birds with ingested lead shot as 0.2–6.5%. To reduce the uncertainty concerning the number of doves that ingest shot, we conducted an experiment to test the proportion of mourning doves that ingested lead shot on the bare soil of a disked field (typical of a managed dove field) to simulate more natural feeding conditions. In each of 3 treatment groups of 80 birds, we exposed 35 birds to low-density lead shot (1.5 million shot/ha), and 35 birds to high-density lead shot (29.5 million shot/ha), and 10 birds served as controls (no shot). We dosed 5 positive control birds with 2 lead shot each in trials 2 and 3. We scattered lead shot and mixed seed on the loosely packed soil of treatment cages and after 4 days of exposure, 2.9% of doves voluntarily ingested ≥1 lead shot. The proportion of birds that ingested shot when exposed to the high-density shot treatment (4.9%) was not different (P = 0.098) from that of the low-density shot treatment (1.0%). Lead concentrations in liver, kidneys, and blood reached maxima of 94.402 ppm, 346.033 ppm, and 13.883 ppm wet mass, respectively. Differences in delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) activity, packed cell volume, and heterophil:lymphocyte ratio (H:L) were greater posttreatment in doves that had ingested shot than in those that did not. The risk posed to mourning doves from lead shot ingestion can be reduced by banning lead shot on management areas or dove fields or disking fields after hunting season to reduce shot availability. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.


And here’s my analysis of it..

1 oz. #7-1/2 (338 pellets) is a typical “dove load”

1ha = 10,000 square meters..an area of 100m x 100m..or to visualize..about 2.5 football fields side-by-side.

Low study shot density..1.5 million shot/ha..or 150 shot per square meter

To reach this density there would need to be 4,438 discharges of 1oz “dove loads” or 178 boxes of 25/box dove loads

So about a half of a load of #7-1/2 shot per square meter at the low study shot density.

High study shot density..29.5 million shot/ha..or about 2,950 shot per square meter

To reach this density there would need to be 85,799 discharges of 1oz “dove loads” or 3,432 boxes of 25/box dove loads at ~$20 each..or $68,640..about what a normal hunter shoots over their 100mx100m dove food plot during the 30 day dove season.

So about a 9 rounds of #7 1/2 shot per square meter at the high study shot density..or about 2 #7-1/2 shot per square inch

Are those really realistic shot densities? C’mon man!!

Dove trapped in cages for 4 days and only 2.9% ingested more than 1 shot at the “low” shot density..and only 4.9% ingested more than 1 shot at the “high” density.

2.9% of 35 birds is 1 bird. So, only 1 bird in the entire cage voluntarily ingested ≥1 bird-shot. Keep in mind these are trapped birds. The control birds were force-fed 2 pellets.

Cage size not specified in the study abstract..but 35 birds in a cage of unknown size.

Birds don’t intentionally ingest round stomach stones to grind the seeds in their crop. Round stones are not as effective as rough or sharp stones in grinding seeds. Round stone are regurgitated from the crop because they’ve been ground smooth and do not function as well as the rough ones. So you’d have to ask yourself, why would caged birds ingest lead shot? Was that all that was on the cage “floor” for them to utilize as stomach stones?

Since 1991, a Federal ban on the use of lead shot in hunting migratory birds has been in effect…BTW
 
God put lead, asbestos, oil, and everything else on this earth. Not for our harm, but for us to use and not for our detriment. Here's a thesis about lead written by an expert, and don't listen to those alarmist environmentalists.

"Much of the information out there about lead poisoning is nothing more than alarmist science. I work in a toxicology lab and am always amazed at the bad rap that lead gets. Let's look at a few things:

- The lead in lead paint is in the form of organic lead and lead salts, NOT METALLIC LEAD. Both organic lead and lead salts are easily absorbed if you eat something contaminated with it or put your fingers in your mouth after handling something contaminated with it.

- Lead poisoning of waterfowl after eating the metallic lead. This is actually true and why I think so many folks are so scared of metallic lead. But there is a big difference between waterfowl and humans. Waterfowl have gizzards. The lead shot that the bird eats gets trapped in the gizard and very slowly erodes, is converted into bioavailable lead salts thanks to digestive acids, and is absorbed into the circulation. This can only occur because the lead shot gets stuck in the gizzard and is continuously ground releasing microscopic lead particles into the digestive tract.

Humans do not have a gizzard and thus a lead pellet and other metallic lead will pass thru quickly and no harm will come of it.

- But I know PB enthusiasts that have suffered lead poisoning from handling lead bullets. No you don't. The biggest problem that PB enthusiasts have with lead is from the propellant. When the propellant burns it gives off vapors of lead salts (again, not metallic lead). These lead salts are dangerous and why you should not routinely shoot a PB indoors, except in a very well ventilated range.

- What about lead dust? What if you inhale lead dust?

Have you ever seen lead dust? I bet you really haven't. It is still lead and no matter how fine a dust particle it is ground in to, it is still many, many, many, many, many times heavier than air and immediately falls to the floor. Now I'm sure that you could devise a way to inhale lead dust, but it would need to be intentionally done.

- What about that black stuff I get on my fingers after handling CPL and CPH pellets. That stuff is not lead (IIRC it is actually graphite) and even if it was lead your body has no easy way of absorbing metallic lead.

- Lead vapors, what about lead vapors? I heard they are extremely toxic. And if we are melting lead to cast our own pellets, or bullets, or fishing sinkers, then we will die.

No you won't, unless you have a really, really hot smelting furnace. Lead melts at 328 Celsius (622 F) but doesn't vaporize until around 1,700 Celsius (3,092 F). Now should you actually reach the vaporization temperature, you will have a problem.

I could go on, but will stop at this point."
 
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studies are always funny. they started with birds that were shot with a shotgun and determined that lead was the cause? ya don't say.
then they force fed live birds lead, in which the birds clearly tried to avoid, and they determined lead was making them sick? really. oh and to simulate natural feeding habits they locked them up, lol. of course the important info such as bird heath and weight as well as pellet size and composition (bird shot isn't pure lead) seem to always get left out.
so from these studies, I'd say lead is not as much of a problem for the environment as people are.
 
studies are always funny. they started with birds that were shot with a shotgun and determined that lead was the cause? ya don't say.
then they force fed live birds lead, in which the birds clearly tried to avoid, and they determined lead was making them sick? really. oh and to simulate natural feeding habits they locked them up, lol. of course the important info such as bird heath and weight as well as pellet size and composition (bird shot isn't pure lead) seem to always get left out.
so from these studies, I'd say lead is not as much of a problem for the environment as people are.
Right! And those stories about poor kids in the ghettos getting lead poisoning is BS too. I was raised in a farmhouse that was probably 250 years old which, I'm sure, had lead paint all over it. Funny, I never got the urge to gnaw on the windowsill.
 
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A very intelligent person in the government predicted world will end in 12 years (and that was two or three years ago), so I don’t think it would matter if we paved the streets with lead.
I've yet to find a very intelligent person in the government, and since I've been on this planet, we're suppose to be extinct 3 times or was it 4, it's been a while. I remember something from a long time ago that lead in the environment encapsulates as it oxidizes. My grandfather and uncle made bullets, very very very good bullets, cream of the crop match grade, they didn't die of lead poisoning, just old age.
 
Thanks to the environ-mentalists we have reduced acid rain tremendously, obviously it is still not eliminated. Sadly I can't find more update to date map but I'm hoping it's even less yellow and red. The map shows rain water acidity level across the country.
View attachment 347464

A map from 1996 for comparison:
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Here is how acid level affects lead and lead oxide:
View attachment 347463

Lead/lead oxide/PO(pink line) is basically insoluble at PH of 6-9 or close to dark green area. But PO will become exponentially more water soluble at PH of 5 and lower or tan to red on the map. Obviously a few pellets here and there won't do much, a few pounds of small lead pieces(large contact area) over the years could be a problem. Everyone can order a kit to measure lead and other heavy metals in your drinking water, I recommend everyone test their water for just for a piece of mind especially if you are drinking ground water near any sort of industrial activities. We have the technology, what you do with it is up to you.
i reside in a formerly agricultural area, Prune trees and Apricot's as well as Cherries, the stuff they put on the trees is in the soil and in our ground water, I'm not horribly worried about my pellets. Oh and I forgot the old gas stations with leaking tanks, one site hasn't been touched in 40 years do to contamination.
 
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The push for copper bullets is biggest in the west where condors range. The endangered California condors. I cannot find the paper - it is more than 15 years old - where a couple of veterinarians got in on a cull deer hunt. They ex-rayed the carcass and found lead fragments, The gutted the deer and found fragments in the gut pile and in the carcass that were invisible to the naked eye. All lead bullets left an exit wound in the critters. Unfortunately, condors are very sensitive to lead - and there was enuf in a gut pile or in an unrecovered critter to poison them. When gps-collared condors stop moving, they go out and pick them up, remove the lead from their system and return them to the field. Bald eagles are also susceptible to lead poisoning and the timing is consistent with deer hunts creating gut piles. This is becoming an issue in at least half a dozen states. Some eagles are rehabbed, some are put down, and many are not found. the ONLY weak link in this science is that one cannot say the lead from hunter A's bullet caused the poisoning in eagle B.

Copper bullet performance on game is outstanding; I hve taken more than 20 animals with Barnes bullets. Antelope, deer, elk and even a bison. Recovered only 2 bullets, both muzzle loader bullets from bull elk Once you switch you won't go back

To the original posters question: the lead from your shooting will not likely have a detrimental effect unless the lead gets eaten somehow, most likely in a carcass. A bullet trap removes any doubt.
Interesting how they are worried about lead and Eagles but not them being sliced and diced by those above ground food processors.
 
It is always good to remember that the media aka journalist started from its founding in this country promoting political agendas, not for knowledge and truth. Thats why the the Papers were named, The Democrat, The Republican, The Federalist. Nothing has changed over the years. It is still up to the individual to gather knowledge for themselves in spit of what these journalist are doing to promote their owners agenda. Plus creating fear sells along with causing division where there is none. I'm sure their great People in real life. lol