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Snipe may well go along with doves, mainly because they hang around wetlands. Maybe sandhill cranes too. Of that list, woodcock would be by far the biggest hit for hunters. However, given how and where woodcock are hunted, USFWS and the state game agencies would have a very tough time making a case that there's an issue with significant spent lead deposit, or that wetlands are involved.

Michael Yardley is one of the UK's top gunwriters, shooters and general defenders of the faith. Below is a link to an article giving his perspective.

One of the issues he raises, that gets overlooked too often, is that beyond the question of how steel affects the gun, how would it affect the sport of clay shooting?

As he writes, "We might also consider the implications to clay shooting. If lead were banned, sporting clay shooting would become a very different game. The challenging, rangy, birds seen at today�s shoots would have to go � you just can�t hit them consistently with steel. Some forms of trap shooting would be severely affected too."

Yardley's article: http://www.positiveshooting.com/NonToxicShot.html

DGM,

Thanks for the link to Yardley's article. This is one of the best FACTUAL writings I have read on the use of non-toxic shot.

Mark

To Yardley's point that banning lead would change the sport of sporting clays, it would not only change the guns & targets, it would change the courses. One of Marty Fischer's comments on the Foxhall situation is:

"Some have suggested that steel loads are unsafe because of pellets richocheting off of trees and coming back to the shooter. When I designed the course at Foxhall, that was taken into consideration, and no targets are presented where any trees will be shot in the normal course of fire"

Marty is one of the most respected course designers in the country, and I don't know if the "no trees" policy is a set in stone rule at all "steel only" courses he designs, but if "lead free" means "tree free" I know most of the venues and targets I like most would be ruled out. I suspect flat surfaces such as rabbit targets and pond targets might be ruled out in many cases as well.

I think of most of the courses I shoot at: Hausmans, Deep River, Homestead, Orvis Sandanona, M&M, Lehigh Valley (which also shoots at old stone buildings), Old Forge, Dover Furnace (which has rocky hillsides) my two local county courses, and most resort courses; all except possibly Pintail Point (which does have water and flat surfaces) have lots of trees, ponds and flat surfaces --- the very things that make them interesting places to shoot.

For me, trees and terrain are what make these courses most interesting to shoot, asthetically pleasing, and frankly, cooler in the summer.

If that were all gone, it would be a much less interesting sport, and I suspect in much of the country, particularly along the east coast, a much less accessible one as well.

But I do shoot golf! You would be surprised how far that little ball flys when I hit it at 25 yards with a 240 grainer from my .44 mag putter! Just a little humor to brighten everybody's day.