Originally Posted By: BrentD
How rare is rare?

How rare is rare enough?

The long version
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_wildlife/lead/bulletstudy/resources/publicsummary.pdf

The short version
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/lead/short-summary.html


That's step 1. Step 2 is to determine whether those lead fragments pose a danger to humans. (The North Dakota test, in which some 80% of those tested ate game shot with lead, would seem to indicate it does not pose a danger--unless one eats a whole lot more game than those tested did.) Step 3 is to determine whether those lead fragments pose a danger to upland game (they don't scavenge, so we can eliminate that one) or predator/raptor SPECIES. In the latter case, there is evidence that INDIVIDUAL raptors/scavengers can get lead poisoning from unrecovered carcasses, although there does not appear to be much evidence that any otherwise healthy SPECIES (the condor being an exception because of its endangered status) is declining in numbers due to the ingestion of lead.

Given the way many buffalo hunters operated back in the mid to late 19th century, taking only the hide and maybe the hump and the tongue, you'd think that if lead fragments were a threat to the predator/raptor species, we would have wiped out a bunch of them, wholesale, back then--given the number of carcasses left lying on the plains. If someone thinks the prairie dog shooters are a problem, they ought to think on the buffalo hunters.