I’ll add that I have already taken steps to remove lead from my deer hunting fodder. Being a muzzleloader enthusiast I can be fussy about what I put down the barrel to kill deer with and choose to shoot Barnes copper bullets, the XPB pistol bullets actually. So, eagles can gnaw away at the pile left in the woods. At the range though, I sling copper jacketed lead bullets since I observe very few birds picking thru the remnants of the back shops looking for heavy grit.
Now in the yard things get less picky. Squirrels, rabbits, chippers or an occasional woodchuck….. all are active targets, year round. The pellet gun shoots lead pellets. The .22 shoots lead bullets that fracture. in Either instance, significant lead is left in the deceased and sometimes I don’t get around to picking up the carcass for a half hour or so and in that down time I have witnessed both large hawks and eagles come swoop along and snap up the unlucky rodent’s remains. I guess, after seeing what’s left after either raptor enjoys its take, the lead has been consumed. Now these big birds seem to have a remarkable memory when it comes to patrolling a yard that has freely offered up some vittles and they return to check things out on a regular basis. They all fly just as well they did prior to getting the free meal and none of them act weird or fly into the sides of trees or chase cars so just how much lead do they have to eat before they actually get goofy and possibly croak from lead ingestion?
As for the swans, they seem to prefer areas when guns are not booming when there’s a hunting season and after the guns stop and things freeze up where the swans might like to forage by tipping any shot left there by hunters would have to be non-toxic by law. Lead went away on any water a swan will use maybe 40-50 years ago and would be covered by muck. And I can’t think of any sane angler who’s sit on three feet of water to fish for anything while losing jigs or sinkers. And I cannot say I have ever seen a swan “dive” for food. Maybe they do…. I’ve never seen the act. And loons. It seems that if a loon ate a dead fish that had a sinker or jig in it, it could die, sure. But crows stop and dine on car killed goodies all the time and get smucked by traffic. Why not have the uproar over this act? Dead bird is a dead bird in my book and if cars are killing as many birds as lead supposedly is, then ban or outlaw cars as well.
All this furor is generated by green people, rich ones, who have nothing to do with their time but look at picture books and say to the kiddies, “let’s go see a real birdie. Then stumble across a dead one and need to find a party to blame for what Mother Nature has done. Fortunately sportsmen/women are handy targets.
I wonder how many of these self important people sit their 4 and 5 year olds down and explain where hamburger or hotdogs or a chicken patty come from after spending a morning in the birthing barn at the county fair?
