GH Pheasants
 

I took my GH 12 gauge Damascus out for pheasants yesterday in the Sacramento Delta.

The 111 year old Parker has 30 inch barrels and letters with factory F and M chokes.

The RST light (1 1/16) 2 1/2 inch loads worked very well, with 7 1/2 lead.
The paper hulls do smell nice...

This GH is all original and has evidence of very little use. The research only says that it was shipped to the Parker headquarters in New York City in Feb. of 1905.

Patrick

I really like your photo...well done!

Patrick, I'm still fairly new to California. I've not used my Parkers on land close to where I live (Marin County) because the preserves I know about don't allow the use of lead shot. Is there a place that allows its use? If so I'd love to hear about it.

John

CA and Lead
 

John:

We were at Hastings Island, near Rio Vista. They plant birds, and so were allowed an extra few years to stop using lead.

Here is a quote from the CA Fish and Game Code:

Phase 2 – Effective July 1, 2016, non-lead shot will be required when taking upland game birds with a shotgun, except for dove, quail, snipe, and any game birds taken on licensed game bird clubs. In addition, non-lead shot will be required when using a shotgun to take resident small game mammals, furbearing mammals, nongame mammals, nongame birds, and any wildlife for depredation purposes.

Phase 3 – Effective July 1, 2019, non-lead ammunition will be required when taking any wildlife with a firearm anywhere in California.


Best, Patrick

Boy, I'd sure like to see the "science" behind this piece of legislation.

John, this is California we're talking about. Science is irrelevant (logic too in most circumstances) when trying to figure out the reasoning behind the screwed up legislation found here. For a country boy from Alaska it's a tough pill to swallow. I get the fact that we don't want diver ducks eating lead shot but man!

The Science Behind Banning Lead Shot
 

First, I own a modest (by the standards of this group) collection of SXS, the vast majority are Parkers and none can shoot steel. I do more skeet than hunting nowadays but cussed when lead was banned for waterfowl in 1991 and when California set the rules banning all lead in 2017.

However, at the risk of bringing down the wrath of my fellow members, I must admit that, as big as a pain in the behind the new laws are to those of us who shoot vintage guns, I can see the point.

First, lead is toxic and the shot quickly gets into the system, especially in the areas of concentrated hunting (clubs and public waterfowl areas) via the raptors and many mammals who feed off of the wounded birds. Upland game hunters loose birds, even with the best of dogs. Also, many hunters will take long shots and wound birds, like it or not. A hunting license does not require an IQ test.

I saw many raptors circling the local pheasant hunting areas recently, feeding on lost birds. I like watching raptors and have really enjoyed the come-back of the Falcons and other species that occurred after DDT was banned. I also remember back when Red-Tailed Hawks were called "chicken hawks" and frequently shot at in the countryside.

There are, albeit very expensive (especially for those who do not reload) alternatives to lead. At the prices, you might think RST was substituting gold for lead...The flip side is that we use very few shells when hunting most upland game other than doves. The expense is usually minimal in contrast to that of that Parker in your hands, your dog, and all of that gear.

I Goggled up the subject and here was the first of thousands of hits-it summarizes hundreds of studies and lists, a few pages down, over 150 wild animals that are poisoned by lead shot:

https://www.peregrinefund.org/subsit...7%20Tranel.pdf

I doubt that many will agree with me, but I have come to believe that for hunting areas it makes sense to get the lead out-as we did with toothpaste tubes and tetraethyl lead in gasoline.

Respectfully,
Patrick

Patrick - very respectfully and not uttered in wrath - California is just the place for you.

Studies have shown that lead from lead shot does not leech into the eco-system, even in the tons of lead shot laying on and in the ground at trap, skeet, and sporting clays fields. High tension wires, wind turbine blades, high-rise buildings and skyscrapers, trucks and cars on the highways and byways... are all far more responsible for the millions of deaths of our feathered wildlife than lead shot ingested in the wild.
Raptors and other birds and animals of prey are another story - lead ingestion may be a problem for them.
California is often the leader in the country for legislating against the shooters and hunters of that state and it is often done through knee-jerk reaction to the hyperbole of the misinformed.

I apologize if I have ruffled any feathers, and I'll delete this post if any of the moderators feel it is inappropriate.

Best, Dean





.

Huge swaths of Federal land in Alaska have been declared off limits for lead shot for any hunting, including the entire North Slope north of the Brooks Range and the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta in the southwest. They'll eventually figure out a reason to do the same with the Seward Peninsula and the coast connecting it to the YK Delta through Unalakleet. Then they'll work on the Interior. They seem to do this without any public comment and it seems that few people even realize it has happened.

CA and Lead
 

Dean:

Your points are well taken without offense. I agree about the high numbers killed due to wind power, etc., and would add that the most, by the tens of millions, of small wild birds are taken by domestic cats.

As for the trap and skeet ranges, that was not the subject of my comments and the use of lead has not been banned at ranges. I remember that our trap club would periodically mine the fields to recover much of the lead. I assume that if there was a leaching problem to be proven, our liberal lawmakers would rush to ban lead there.

I also agree that such laws present additional problems for Deer, Elk etc. hunters who do not want to use the alternatives to lead. I collect old Winchesters (1892, 1894) and only shoot at the range-with lead.

Anyway, I also can go on about the laws here-like what a hassle it was to get a CA Certificate of Eligibility but the fact remains that I was born here in the '40s and with all of it's laws, still like the state. California is not just the place for me, but here I am.

Thanks for your usual polite manner and informative comments on this sensitive subject,

Patrick