The Condor Corridor Was Just the First

[DrMike]

Like banning lead sinkers for fishermen, there are groups that appear to work overtime to ban all lead in hunting bullets. The Center for Biological Diversity appears to be at the centre of efforts to advance this particular concept. Hunters need to be aware and push back. It would be a good thing to write representatives and Senators expressing the position of sportsmen throughout the nation. Look for this concept to be adopted in Canada, especially in British Columbia that seems to want to prove how progressive we are.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...nvironmental-groups-effort-to-ban-toxic-lead/

 

[widgeon]

I dealt with this in Ca. for the last several years. The "unleaded" zones seem to be primarily in the coastal range, which is where most of the hog hunting takes place . Last I heard, most deer hunters were still using lead core, but it sounds like Ca. is trying to go completely unleaded. Some of the private clubs and ranches have already switched over.

 

[DrMike]

Another article on this subject. There are some good points in this review of the issue.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiep...talists_whine_to_epa_to_attack_hunting_rights

 

[SJB358]

Another article on this subject. There are some good points in this review of the issue.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiep...talists_whine_to_epa_to_attack_hunting_rights

I think the funny part of this is actually how many bullets are found in gut piles of animals? I mean in todays world, where the 30-06 is on the small side of cartridges used by alot of hunters, I would bet most if not the majority of bullets fly right through most game taken.. I think it is kinda crap to be honest. Nothing against all copper bullets, but there can't be that many gut piles contaminating the buzzards!

 

[DrMike]

Yes, Scotty, but the eco-freaks worry about buzzards. People, not so much.

 

[widgeon]

Maybe someone should do a study on how much habitat and native flora were negatively impacted while said anti's were scouring the landscape for gut piles.

 

[DrMike]

I am distrustful of the designs of this current administration. They appear to be capable of drafting legislation based on fantasies proposed by all sorts of fringe scientists, and sell it to the majority of those benighted souls who live in the cities and believe that hamburger is manufactured out of carbon dioxide at a plant in Kansas City.

 

[widgeon]

I am distrustful of the designs of this current administration. They appear to be capable of drafting legislation based on fantasies proposed by all sorts of fringe scientists, and sell it to the majority of those benighted souls who live in the cities and believe that hamburger is manufactured out of carbon dioxide at a plant in Kansas City.

:lol:

Well said DrMike. Brings to mind SOYLENT GREEN.

Maybe their time would be better spent trying to find a way to turn those gut piles into energy. It is renewable. :mrgreen:

 

[DrMike]

Maybe their time would be better spent trying to find a way to turn those gut piles into energy. It is renewable.

Or turning them into sausage for non-hunters. :grin: Oops! They are likely already doing something similar.

 

[Guest]

Anyone who hasn't seen Soylent Green, read Aldus Huxley's Brave New World, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and a short story by Kurt Vonnegut called Harrison Bergeron, needs to make those things a priority in the very near future. These are all adult-level books, and you'll at least have to get past the vulgar tone of Huxley's work, but they all are pertinent to today's dealings. In fact, looking at the history of the US since the 1960s shows a strange parallel to Huxley's Brave New World in at least a few areas. We're not incubating fetuses in varying degrees of chemical bath to impact intellect, drive, and ambition, but we are certainly doing those things post-utero in many respects. Some days I feel guilty for what we as a nation are leaving our children. Thankfully, my wife and I are tipping the balance by at least one soul, in that we've had three children, who are all likely to grow up to be conservative of mind and conscience, but I think conservatives ought to be having 10 kids per family, if only to tip the balance beyond recovery for the left! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[DrMike]

Excellent points, dubyam. It has become a brave new world, and that demands minds that anticipate and act rather being compelled to react. Conservatives need to avoid being in the position of always having to react.

 

[PJGunner]

That second article where it stated Arizona gives coupons for two boxes of ammo for one box of component all copper bullets is quite accurate. If you want to hunt the Kaibab National Forest or the Arizona Strip country just north of the Kaibab, which is considered part of the condor flyway, they ask you to VOLUNTARILY use all copper bullets like the Barnes TSX. Problem is that policy cost me one of the nicest bucks I've ever seen. Nice chance for shot at 75 yards but if I'd taken it, the half dozen does standing behind that buck were the problem. That TSX bullet would have passed clean through the buck and taken out a doe for sure. That was the only decent buck I saw on the whole trip. Then I had to cut the hunt short due to a family emergency.
If the wife and I can draw for the Kaibab this year, I'll bring some big garbage bags to put the guts in and leave the TSX bullets at home.
I did read a report on another site, not sure if it was Accurate Reloading or 24 Hour Campfire about what was found in the condor's guts and it was not lead. Seems like all those dead birds were eating beer and soda can tabs, tin foil gum wrappers and other shiny objects. To be blunt, lead did not have a damned thing to do with their deaths. :x While some lead was found in them, the lead was not the cause of death. I wish I could find that article again.
Paul B.

 

[DrMike]

Paul,

I did a search and found that almost all the current literature repeat one another. The original article reporting death by lead may be more difficult to track down. There is a lot of anecdotal data presented, but little hard data. Interestingly enough, much of the data is presented by (wait for this), the Center for Biological Diversity (e.g. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/condor-lead-02-10-2009.html). A report in the Grand Canyon News spoke of six birds that may have had lead poisoning out of a total of thirty that died (http://grandcanyonnews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=9362). It was interesting to note that only one bird had bullet fragments, but two had lead pellets from a shotgun. One had eighteen pellets, and another had six. The juveniles are more likely to die from ingesting trash than from any other cause. Twenty-six percent of juveniles had lead toxicosis demonstrated in their carcases. The higher incidence of lead toxicosis reported in adult condors may be related to their longevity rather than acute poisoning.