Tungsten Fishing Tackle

So one of the sites I follow on FB is called Wild Heart Ranch. They are here in Oklahoma and they rehab wild critters and release them back into the wild. The volume they handle is pretty amazing. And they're not tree huggers in the classical sense, but they do feel 'called' to do what they do. More power to 'em. Its one of the reasons I follow what they do, their commitment for little or no reward other than the completion of their work each time they release one. They're not anti-hunting people either. They did get featured on a NOVA episode about interspecies relationships here while back and they didn't come off looking like the typical "Okies After a Tornado" when one of us is on TV.

Reason I bring it up is they posted a story this morning about a bald eagle someone brought them that has lead poisoning. The owner said it was a very common illness among the raptors they had brought to them and that the mortality rate is 100% when they see it. She believes the most common point of lead pollution that affects wildlife is lead bullets in abandoned or lost game and from fishing tackle lost in waterways. I have to be honest that in my part of the country, its not something that is on anyone's radar. there's not much visibility to lead poisoning as a problem nor is there any real non-lead tackle thats visible on store shelves. A few google searches did make it clear though that in other states its a big problem and there are even talks of lead tackle bans in some states. There's definite links to loon population declines, for example in Minnesota.

I bring it up just to ask y'all's opinion on the issue. I admittedly don't know if there's science behind any of it. Are we being irresponsible by using lead ammo and lead fishing tackle? I guess that's the bottom line question.

Thought it might be a good topic for a day when the NOVAs are getting their vaginas frozen.

BKB

Personally, I share your concern for wildlife, but in my totally uneducated opinion, I can't see how fishing tackle could make that big of an impact. I mean, how many fish swallow split-shot? If it's a lost lure with lead in it, I'd think ingesting the lure would be the least of a raptor's worries.

I know raptors WILL eat carrion if available, but don't they prefer to catch their prey alive? (I'm talking eagles, hawks, owls, etc) I believe a Vulture is also considered a raptor, but all they eat is carrion. Why aren't they dying off from shot/injured/lost prey?

I'm probably much too ignorant of the subject to comment, but with my limited knowledge and trying to think it through using common sense, I'd have to lean more toward chemicals than lead. Who knows?

Raptors are some of the biggest carrion eaters there are. They hang around the chicken houses in NW Arkansas like they're a KFC. (Now I got your attention!) And what is true for our area may not be true for others! Minnesota would be my example. They have MANY more fishermen and Woem per capita than Oklahoma. So there's more fishing pressure on all waters like in multiples. Its one reason they stock so many more fish than we do. So in those waters, I can see where the link might be logical. I'm like you on my local waters though. Someone would have to show me. And yep I was bornded in Missouri.
BKb

In admittedly ignorant in the science behind it. But, I guess you'd have to call me somewhat skeptical that any individual raptor to eat enough bullets or shot to die from lead poisoning. If you run across any real data in your search for truth, I am open to reading it.

Here's something I found from your state.
http://wildlifecenter.org/sites/defa...n-on-Lead4.pdf

So let me ask this semi-shit disturbing question: Given how toxic lead is to wildlife and to humans, what is the acceptable level of lead to leave behind when we go home from a visit to woods or waters?

I know I've made it a habit to never leave fishing line behind anywhere. Sometimes its unavoidable. Shouldn't we have the same awareness with lead? How much more would you be willing to pay for alternatives if they were available?

BKB

Them tree huggers and whale kissers have always got to find something to bitch about.
Lead is a natural element and is in Nature in its purest form and yet animals and human alike have evolved.
Note to self: stock up on lifetime supply of fishing weights at BP

As a duck hunter who has to use non-toxic shot, I've often wondered why lead in fishing tackle wasn't addressed as well since lead shot is only banned in hunting waterfowl. If lead shot is so bad that you can't hunt waterfowl with it, why can I shoot as much or more shot into the environment shooting at doves, pheasants, rabbits, or turkeys?

The science of waterfowl ingesting lead was pretty clear, all the way back to the 30s. And its pretty well accepted science that the waterfowl comeback in North America is due in large part to the lead shot ban in '92. Another big part of it is habitat so that can't be argued either. I was a steel shot hater when it came out. The first products were useless nad to boot if you were a serious waterfowler you had to almost change shotguns or shoot the barrels out of the old ones. It was tough. Plus it seemed to most hunters that cripple rates went up. And they did for a time, and now according to surveys, the cripple rate is actually way lower than it was with lead shot. Steel cuts. Leads knocks down. That's the only way I can boil it down in my mind from experience using both.
And no Larke, lead isn't just laying around on the ground or in water waiting to be ingested.

FYI, Obama's EPA has flatly rejected calls for a nationwide ban on lead fishing tackle and upland game ammo. There's a bill either passed or waiting to be passed in Congress that basically says it can't be banned unless there is some validscience behind it.

BKB

A few years after the steel vs lead debate had heated up we had a management hunt that was wrapped up in wildlife biologist checking everything imaginable. I spent some time watching and asking questions with one of them and the subject of lead shot came up. One of the biologist said he'd personally inspected or witnessed the examination of over a thousand ducks and geese. He said the only evidence of lead poisoning was when it was propelled at about 1200 fps.

Now I believe in humanity and am quite certain that no activist or crusader would skew facts in their favor. Right?

Anyway color me skeptical on the lead poisoning issue. And I also believe in global warming, the greenhouse effect, the polar ice caps melting and the Easter bunny

It'd prolly be a greater risk for wildlife to be drinking out of the Flint River. ;)