Why the USFW should ban the use of lead for
all migratory bird hunting and not just waterfowl!
by
Stream Systems

Did you know that over 3 MILLION of our ducks and geese (along with other waterfowl) die EACH YEAR from Lead poisoning?

To give you a small example, below is a research scientist in a walk-in refrigerator full of dead Swans - all died from Lead Poisoning. This is just in one small area in Washington....can you imagine what is happening all over the world?

Try visualizing 3 MILLION!

FROM THIS	TO THIS! Courtesy of The Trumpeter Society http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/washington/lead.htm

Shocking isn't it??

These birds are not dying from being shot, they are dying because they ingest (eat) the Lead that is scattered around our shorelines, rivers, streams, and farmlands! Much of this Lead comes from the small "BB's" in a shotgun shells used by hunters, shooting ranges, target practice, and even fishing sinkers.

This Lead is polluting our environment to such a degree that other animals are dying from it, including the rare and endangered California Condor....and very little is being done to stop it! The reason....people are not seeing the destruction first hand. In other words, you don't wake up one day and find a bunch of dead birds in your backyard or falling from the sky. And if you did, you probably wouldn't know they died from Lead poisoning.

A little background:

When it was determined that Lead was killing birds at an alarming rate, the United States Fish and Wildlife (USFW) which is a Federal Organization, enacted laws making it illegal for any hunter to use Lead while hunting migratory birds. However the USFW and States Governments still allow the use of Lead for hunting doves, quail, rabbits, pheasants, and many other birds and animals. This is just plain stupid.

To illustrate this fact, imagine two hunters walking side-by-side, one shooting pheasants, the other duck hunting. The duck hunter can't shoot any lead or even have it in their possession, and yet the pheasant hunter can have all the lead on them they want, and shoot it in the same area as the duck hunter! The fact is, Lead is toxic regardless of what is being shot!

When the USFW made it illegal to use Lead for waterfowl hunting, shotgun shell manufactures started to make "non-toxic" shot by making the BB's out of Steel. To determine the difference between a shot shell containing Lead and a non-toxic shell containing Steel, all the Game Officer needed was a simple magnet, as Lead is virtually non-magnetic.

With advancements in technology, shotgun shell manufactures started to make other non-toxic shot, such as Bismuth, Tungsten Polymers, nickel/bronze, and other metals, however many of these are also non-magnetic just like Lead. This could create a lot of problems for Game Officers because their magnets wouldn't work.

To solve this problem Stream Systems invented a device called the HOT*SHOT that electronically scans a loaded shotgun shell and helps a game officer identify what the shot metal is.

Game Officers found the HOT*SHOT to be simple to use, accurate, and affordable. From this alone it sold strictly by word-of-mouth and is currently sold through-out the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Without it, a Game Officer is at a major disadvantage in trying to determine what is Lead and what is non-toxic shot.

Game Officers also discovered in using the HOT*SHOT that many individuals were so intimated by this “High-Tech” device, that they admitted using Lead right on the spot! This saved the Game Officer from having to appear in court.

The HOT*SHOT provides a great solution and creates a “win-win” situation for the Officer, Environment, and even the hunter, as Game Officers don't have to cut open their expensive shells to determine the contents.

Of course there will always be some individuals that will try to circumvent the law and continue to use Lead. This includes buying a box of non-toxic shot, shooting them, and reloading each shell with Lead and passing it off as non-toxic. However with the HOT*SHOT, this tactic can normally be discovered.

At one time, the HOT*SHOT was 100% accurate, until the USFW started to approve non-toxic shot that didn't read correctly in it. In those cases, the USFW approved a "field test" that requires the use of a very strong rare-earth magnet.

The problems with rare-earth magnets is that they cannot be used to identify most non-toxic shot, and are dangerous! For instance, they should not be used around anyone with an implantable medical device, computers, credit cards, and they have such a strong magnetic attraction that they can cause physical harm, including pinching fingers and shattering upon impact to another object.

Our plug checkers contain a rare-earth magnet (N-52 neodymium), which is very small and posses no real hazard as it is used to identify Steel and is incased in a vinyl cap. The rare-earth magnets required to identify non-toxic shot are a lot bigger, stronger, and hazardous.

Many of the State Game Officers (and even Federal Officers) we have spoken with are so concerned about the safety issues surrounding rare-earth magnets that they refuse to use them. All this does is make it more difficult for a Game Officer to identify Lead.

To make things more confusing.. rare-earth magnets come in a variety of sizes and compositions, such as Samarium Cobalt and Neodymium Iron Boron and they all come in different field strengths. The USFW doesn't specify what type of rare-earth magnet should be use in those special cases. .

AND if that wasn't enough, when the USFW approves a non-toxic shot, they don't provide the "common name" of the shot you see at that store, such as "Heavy Hitter". Instead they just list the approval of metal compositions. Example might be 50% tin, 10% steel, 40% Tungsten.

This makes it nearly impossible for a Game Officer to know what "Heavy Hitter" is made from let alone what field test to conduct on it. And again, it results in limiting their ability to identify Lead.

Moving Forward:

One of the questions we get asked a lot is; “Can the HOT*SHOT be modified to read these new non-toxic shot types or perhaps just Lead"?

The short answer is "NO".

The reason is, the technology used in the HOT*SHOT has its limits, and this is what makes it affordable. There is no way a device that uses this technology can just identify LEAD and distinguish it from all other metals. If it were that simple, there would be no need to have $30,000 analyzers that are required just to identify Lead.

A better solution would be to require all Shotgun shell manufactures to either modify their shot so a simple magnet can be used or the HOT*SHOT. One may think this really limits the shell manufactures, but the fact is, you can have the best and most advanced non-toxic shot and it isn't going to make that big of a difference in your ability to down a bird. If a hunter wants to improve his kill ratio, then they would be better off spending their money in taking classes in hunting techniques then spending it on fancy non-toxic shot.

In making this suggestion to a major Shotgun shell manufacture, their response was that you cannot stand in the way of progress. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I thought the reason for creating non-toxic shot was to remove the LEAD. How is it progress if the non-toxic shot they make is hard for a Game Officer to distinguish it from Lead? It's not progress, it's profits. If Shotgun shell manufactures really cared about our environment, they would stop manufacturing Lead...period!

The bottom line is that if you make it so difficult for a Game Officer to identify LEAD in a shot shell, they will just stop checking and this will ultimately affect our Environment.

Conclusion:

The NUMBER ONE goal of the USFW "should be" to protect our environment. This means they should do everything in their power to ensure Lead is not contaminating our environment. Instead they continue to allow the use of Lead for hunting many other animals and birds. They also approve non-toxic shot that makes it very difficult for the average Game Officer to differentiate it from Lead.

I can assure you that the only ones that are benefiting from the laws adopted by the USFW in regards to the use of Lead , are the shot shell manufactures and some hunters...and its at the expense of our environment.

Therefore I question to whom does the USFW have a responsibility to...shot shell manufactures and hunters, or our Game Officers and their ability to identify Lead and deter individuals from using it?

Since we have argued this point endlessly with the USFW and have not influenced their decision, we are now hoping articles such as this will put public pressure on the USFW to act responsibly and OUTLAW THE USE OF LEAD FOR ALL MIGRATORY BIRDS UNDER THEIR JURISDICTION!

We also request that you write your local congressman and tell them Lead should be outlawed for hunting and fishing.

Since States can be more restrictive then the Federal regulations when it come to the use of Lead, we urge you to write your Governor and political leaders and tell them they should ban lead for hunting and fishing.

If you'd like the comment about this article, please do so on our forum

GET THE LEAD OUT!

Stream Systems