Originally Posted By: Stan
Originally Posted By: L. Brown
Originally Posted By: Grouse Guy
I've been hunting on FWS properties for decades with non-toxic ammo. Easy to do and it is a non-issue to me and many. Kinda like if you are anti-abortion don't have one. The rest of you can and should stay home.


If one is hunting upland birds and you're not around wetlands, nor around fields where doves congregate and there's a lot of shot fall, there's not much reason to use shells that are ballistically inferior to lead.

I expect the incoming director of the USF&WS will reverse the ban with a stroke of the pen. Certainly should do so.


Doves?

SRH


Right. The two situations in which nontox requirements for upland birds seem to make sense are on public lands where waterfowl or doves are hunted. All federal Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA's), for example, require nontox even if you're hunting pheasants and not ducks. Pretty much all state-owned wetlands in Iowa have the same restriction. The situation with doves on public land is similar: You can have a whole lot of shot fall in a relatively small area. Much higher potential for the birds to ingest spent lead shot. The Wisconsin DNR restricts dove hunting on DNR lands to nontox only. Seems reasonable to me. Private land, I'm not in favor of any restrictions on lead when hunting upland birds.