By Jess Garby
With big-game rifle season approaching, hunters have an opportunity to protect the wildlife they value. Lead bullets, even copper-jacketed ones, fired from high velocity rifles fragment on impact, losing up to 40 percent of their mass when they hit an object. As many as 200 fragments disperse throughout the carcass, often not visible. The fragments permeate the meat you bring home and riddle the gut piles and carcasses left in the field.
For scavengers like Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, and other raptors, those gut piles are a vital winter food
source. Unfortunately, when birds ingest lead fragments, they suffer from poisoning. Every year in Montana,
overwintering eagles test positive for dangerously high lead levels, and many die from acute poisoning. Hundreds more raptors fall ill.
Simply switching to lead-free bullets makes a difference. A voluntary program, Sporting Lead-Free, aims to encourage hunters to switch to lead-free bullets, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the blood-lead levels of eagles frequenting the area. Lead-free bullets are available in factory-loaded ammunition and for handloaders. Lead-free ammunition costs about the same as premium lead bullets.
Give our eagles and other wildlife a break and consider switching to lead-free bullets.