A big part of the reason we have to shoot non-toxic shot.....

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Is because lead ingestion supposedly killed some eagles. I'm not hearing much about this over the news and I'm guessing they aren't going to ban wind turbines anytime in the future......

http://news.yahoo.com/study-wind-farms-killed-67-eagles-5-years-160226373.html

[wayne goerres]

Maby they can start makeing them out of nontoxic materials.

[Mills Morrison]

A conservationist friend of mine told me several years ago that wind turbines killed birds.

[Dean Romig]

Yes Mills, that's true and especially so for birds that are migrating as they tend to fly higher on their migratory routes. Local songbirds tend to flit from tree to tree and generally don't fly high enough to be hit by a blade.

[CraigThompson]

While what I'm gonna say has nothing to do with turbines . I can remmember when Lordship shut down and the Great Eastern was cancelled for a number of years until they brought it to Greenbelt at the old Beretta Gun Club . And I understand they were putting x amount of tons of shot in the water each year . I also remmember when they shut down the old trap fields at the Ann Arundal Gun Club for the same reason .

Now I realize the magnitude of shot skeet and trap clubs can dump in a marsh or waterway can be immense ,whats considered an acceptable level for wildlife and human alike ?

The reason I ask is this . I hunt the Blackwater NWR each year and the Chincoteague NWR the years I get drawn . And ALL of the areas in both places are open to LEAD buckshot and slugs . Now granted there might be lets say 1,000 loads of buck and slugs shot on each refuge yearly . But wouldn't that be the same thing ?

I mean it's kinda like the frickin condor in Cali or whatever it is they forbid the use of any lead !

[Bill Zachow]

Chevron was sued by the government for serious money because approximately 20 birds died in a oil catch/recovery pond where Chevron was drilling a new well--North Dakota, I think. Yet the ground California wind farms is littered with dead birds and the wind farms are exempt from prosecution.

[Daryl Corona]

The reasoning for banning lead shot for waterfowl was that it was thought that the fowl ingested the spent pellets as grit, making them weak and vulnerable to the eagles. The eagles then ingested the pellets through eating the fowl, became sick and died. The main reason for the explosion in the eagle comeback was the banning of DDT. Period! I don't think that the larger buckshot and slugs will be available to fowl to ingest so you should be OK Craig. As far as I know Craig, rifles are legal in Dorchester and Worchester counties in the marshes where you hunt. Good luck.

[CraigThompson]

The reasoning for banning lead shot for waterfowl was that it was thought that the fowl ingested the spent pellets as grit, making them weak and vulnerable to the eagles. The eagles then ingested the pellets through eating the fowl, became sick and died. The main reason for the explosion in the eagle comeback was the banning of DDT. Period! I don't think that the larger buckshot and slugs will be available to fowl to ingest so you should be OK Craig. As far as I know Craig, rifles are legal in Dorchester and Worchester counties in the marshes where you hunt. Good luck.

Rifles are legal in Dorchester but not on the Blackwater !

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I believe in parts of California, you even have to shoot lead free rifle bullets and buckshot. Something about crippled game being eaten by condors or some other overblown liberal tall tale.....

DLH

[Ed Blake]

Maybe a condor will get whacked by a wind turbine. Keeping my fingers crossed....

[Mills Morrison]

Apparently wind turbines have killed 73 Bald Eagles, according to a news story I saw. That should get some attention.

[Dean Romig]

Apparently wind turbines have killed 73 Bald Eagles, according to a news story I saw. That should get some attention.


No sympathy from this quarter.

Bald Eagles are responsible (more responsible than lead ingestion) for the declining loon population on my lake in Maine. I have seen eagles snatch loon chicks from between their parents.

[Mills Morrison]

Let me clarify my last post. It should get attention from the people who are excited about green energy and think it has no impact on the environment at all.

[Richard Flanders]

Some large wind farms have people whose job is to count, document and collect? the songbirds killed by the blades, the number of which is huge. Unfortunately I can't remember what I've read but they kill many many thousands per year in places. What a surprise that this is not a well known fact, eh? I have a study in my files done by an Ak fish & game biologist friend that shows what the ingested pellets do to ducks. He went around the flats collecting livers and gizzards from hunters for a few years and cut the open to see the damage. It's pretty surprising how many pellets they ingest and most impressive what it does to their livers - they are a mess - black and pretty nasty looking. I never much believed in the non-tox shot issue until I saw his study. The area he did the research in is mud flats across from Anchorage with shallow water where the shot is relatively easy for them to find and ingest. In deeper water I don't see it as much of an issue. There's no questioning that ducks ingesting lead shot is an issue - it is, period. It kills them if they ingest enough.

Dean. The 'vintage' lady I hunted ducks with recently dislikes loons because she has seen them snatch up baby ducks from the lake she lives on! That was as new one on me but does not come as a surprise. I've had them come up and try to snatch grayling off my line as I reeled them in.

[Dean Romig]

Everything has its price, both in our world and in the world of the wild as well.

[Mills Morrison]

A conservationist friend of ours was taking a group of nature lovers on a tour to view Red Cockaded Woodpeckers which are endangered as many of you know. They found one sitting on a pine limb and were enjoying it when a hawk swooped in and took the woodpecker off for lunch.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

You won't see much about this wind turbine issue on the national news I'm guessing. It's a no touch situation in the current liberal atmosphere because it's "green".

DLH

[John Dallas]

No doubt lead pellets are bad when injested. , but I suspect that probably about the same mortality exists for non tox shot crippling., Net result is fewer ducks. We would be better off by taxing the use of waterfowl lead shot which would be priced like non-tox (at least steel) and using the "tax" to buy/lease/improve breeding grounds for waterfowl (can you say Ducks Unlimited?) Loss of habitat is much more important than a few lead pellets

[Dean Romig]

John, that would very likely be a workable solution if politicians didn't always seem to have their hand in the till either to line their own pockets or the pockets of their favorite 'special interests'.