doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com EPA bans lead shot use with depredation permits

Here we go. Time to sell the old doubles before all lead is banned.

http://www.shootingwire.com/story/231545

Another great improvement in shooting. Take the cost of shell and increase it to three dollars a shell. Or shoot steel and get a black plastic gun that hold more than two shells. Just another backdoor effort to stop all hunting and or all shooting.

Our government is riddled with ID ten T problems

Just another example.

Well, it really means that crop depredation will increase since nobody's going to shoot non-tox at nuisance birds.

Do you guys not get your shooting bodies lobbying against this sort of crap before it becomes law...what a mess...I hope the UK doesn't go this way in the same way!

B

Here is a quote from the article linked above :

Citing the need to prevent lead toxicity hazards to wildlife, the Federal Government's primary wildlife management agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has banned the use of lead ammunition for hunting nuisance birds. The decision was published by FWS as a final rulemaking action in the Federal Register.


Does this ruling take effect immediately? Does it tke effect at the beginning of the next years hunting season? Anyone want to take a guess?

thanks.

This isn't good news, but it isn't as bad as it may seem. Note that this ruling only applies if you need a depradation permit. There is a fairly long hunting season on crows most places, so it does not apply when hunting crows during the open season. And if you read your state regs, you may find that some of these "nuisance birds" are unprotected species--which means you would not need a depradation permit, and you could shoot them any time you want, with any kind of ammo you choose. In Wisconsin, for example, starlings and sparrows are unprotected species. No closed season, no depradation permit required.

And in the real world, most of the enforcement of this rule is going to fall back on the states. Most places, assuming you're talking rural areas, I think you'd look long and hard before you'd ever find a state game warden who'd bust you for shooting a few crows out of season if they were nuisances. Or critters like coons causing problems around your place. Always a good idea to get to know the game warden in your part of the country, but I'm pretty sure that's what you'd find in most cases. If you have a particularly "by the book" federal FWS warden in your area, that would be a different story.

Larry, I agree in what you said. My thoughts, the FWS agreed to this just to appease the anti-hunters, tree huggers, etc., and to stop them for awhile looking to use this non-toxic shot on everything.

Here in Pennsylvania, and in most states the only unprotected birds you can shoot are the European Starling and European house sparrow. Crows have a season here to.

The general word "blackbirds" is too great, and really needs to be defined. At one time , I believe in Louisiana, Red-Winged blackbirds had a bounty on them for destroying rice crops.

I find it hard to believe that there is a potential for lead poisoning in a field due to nusiance bird shooting. I guess to prove that on their be-half that they should pick an area and have the ground sifted for lead and make a determination. How much to you think that would cost them?

Farmers here are the only ones allowed to determine "crop depradation" and are allowed to shoot birds, deer if deemed so, but I still believe they have to contact the game commission to do so. I don't think that includes a group to do so.

I guess they never looked into the harmful effects of fertilizer or they would try to ban farming.

In defense of the lead ban, nuisance animal hunting kills thousands of birds of prey in the US each year. So does leaving out gut piles from big game. The western US varmint hunter is to blame the most for loss of gun privileges in this case.

If you put everything you shoot in a garbage bag and haul it away, no problems. Its the schmucks that kill recreationally with wonton waste that will end our sport.

I've personally seen raptors dying of lead toxicity and it is a shame. A golden or bald eagle must die because some ass had to kill hundreds of animals with an AR and leave them out to disease other wildlife. That activity does not represent the conservation minded gentleman hunter that most on this forum represent.

Incidentally, a piece of lead the size of a grain of rice can kill the largest raptors in America when ingested.

The NRA has been active on the issue of lead.
http://www.nraila.org/legislation/read.aspx?id=6004

As to lobbying, this is an agency that used an internal process to pass a ruling. If some one is not sitting there...

On this one, I believe they were blind sided in part because the USFWS has administered the Pitman-Robertson money for so long. Honestly, there is more lead involved in lead sinkers for fishing than what this addresses. Although even that has come under attack.

Pete