Thanks for the useful contribution to the discussion, Keith. The first 3 sentences of that quote represent the position of those who think we should switch from lead to nontox for everything. Not my position. I haven't seen evidence of any good reason we SHOULD switch to nontox for upland birds. In fact, one of the points I made in my articles on lead vs nontox is that there have never been any blind studies done comparing the effectiveness of lead to steel on upland birds. (Pheasants would be a good place to start.) Therefore, we don't know whether we might in fact end up with more lost cripples shooting steel in an effort to get rid of lead shot that does not appear to be harming either upland birds or any other species of wildlife. Therefore, I have no idea what the "score" would have been if I'd been shooting steel. I see no reason to do so for upland birds, other than around wetlands where it's more likely to be ingested by waterfowl.
I'd be glad to continue the discussion, Keith--but elsewhere, in a topic devoted to the lead vs nontox issue. Here, it seems to me, we have plenty to discuss just focusing on LEAD shot size for pheasants.
