Dove how much lead

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Share This Story. The hunters didn't know which loads they were using, and neither did the trained and tested observers with them. The shells were coded so only the researchers conducting the study knew which load had been fired. The project saw hunters fire 5, shells, bagging 1, doves. Data indicated hunters killed, wounded and missed almost exactly the same percentage of doves no matter which of the three loads they shot or whether they took shots 30 yards or closer or more than 30 yards.

While federal rules mandate use of non-toxic shot when hunting ducks or geese anywhere in the country, that nationwide requirement doesn't apply to other migratory game birds under federal authority. But incontrovertible evidence that lead shot is toxic to birds that ingest the toxic pellets and to the predators that might eat those lead-poisoned birds, and the availability of non-toxic alternatives has seen federal and state wildlife official move incrementally toward getting the lead out of dove hunting.

Use of lead shot is prohibited for all wingshooting on federal wildlife refuges, waterfowl production areas and some other federal lands. And dozens of states require use of only non-toxic shot when wingshooting on state wildlife management areas and other state lands. Some require non-toxic shot when hunting snipe, rails or sandhill cranes.

Earlier this month, officials with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officially proposed restricting dove hunters on the agency's wildlife management areas or the private lands the agency leases as public dove hunting fields to using only non-toxic shot, size 6 and smaller.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department requires use of non-toxic shot when dove hunting on many of the agency's WMAs, but not on the leased private lands in the state's public dove hunting program. Using shotshells loaded with lead shot is perfectly legal for most of the nation's million or so dove hunters, and certainly for the , or so dove hunters in Texas, where almost all hunting occurs on private property.

There are no proposals - official or otherwise - to impose a nationwide switch to non-toxic shot for doves and all other migratory game birds.

For me, the choice to switch to all non-toxic was an easy one to make. A box of size 6 or 7 "steel" dove loads can be bought for the same price as a box of lead dove loads. Hunters were paired with observers who had undergone specialized training and proficiency testing in gauging distance of doves at which hunters shot and whether the bird was hit, wounded or missed. Observers also measured and recorded the choke constriction of hunters' shotguns and, after each shot, asked the participating hunters, all of whom were volunteers and represented a cross-section of Texas dove hunters, how far they thought the dove was when they took the shot and if the bird was bagged, wounded or missed.

The study involved 28 hunters in and 32 hunters in Those hunters fired 5, shots, bagging 1, doves. Necropsies of 1, of those doves, involving X-rays of carcasses to count pellet strikes, location, penetration and bone breaks, were conducted in Oregon at facilities overseen by Tom Roster , one of the nation's premier shotgun ballisticians and one of the study's five authors.

Some of the project's findings mirror those of previous studies on the ballistic qualities of lead and steel shot, hunter perceptions and shooting skills. The study indicated steel shot, which is considerably harder than lead shot, generally threw tighter patterns than the lead loads at all ranges through most choke constrictions. The one-ounce load of size 6 steel patterned tighter than the other two at all ranges and through all choke constrictions.

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