Rookhawk, you agreed earlier that game managers have to concentrate on the welfare of species, not individual animals. So can you tell us which species of birds (other than the condor) are so impacted by lead that they can be shown to be in decline--as waterfowl and bald eagles were shown to be in decline prior to the 1991 lead ban? And I would note, once again, that bald eagles--which certainly live in the West, and which certainly eat carrion of whatever kind--have made a near-miraculous recovery as a result of the CURRENT lead and DDT bans. So why do we need to expand the lead ban??
Ben, aka Grouse Guy . . . You do remember, do you not, that your own MT Fish & Game Dept stated: "Lead presence and accumulation under extremely low levels of lead shot use has not been established as a significant environmental concern." You have any more recent "good science" . . . you know, studies that focus on birds IN THE WILD, not chukars on a preserve in eastern Canada or something like that?
This time around, I can guarantee you that you pro-nontox types are not going to sell hunters a bill of goods, without the research to back it up. You'll see repeat after repeat of what happened in MT, if and when a game agency decides to expand lead shot restrictions without demonstrable good reason for doing so.
