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Wildlife agency takes up lead ammo ban this week(MT)
billingsgazette.com ^ | 8 February, 2010 | JENNIFER McKEE

Posted on 02/09/2010 4:17:45 AM PST by marktwain

HELENA — Rob Domenech and his research associates didn’t know what they were looking for when they started testing the blood of golden eagles along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front three years ago.

What they found was lead. In some cases, lots of it.

“This was kind of a shock to us,” he said in an interview from his Missoula office. “We never considered it.”

Domenech, executive director of Raptor View Research Institute, was one of hundreds of people to send comments to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in what has become a controversial proposal to ban lead shot on state-owned wildlife management areas.

The commission meets in Helena Thursday to consider on the idea.

Unlike the vast majority of the commentators, Domenech and his associates say they support such a ban, or at least, they say, there’s enough question about the effects of lead on wildlife — and people — that Montana ought to begin educating hunters about the benefits of lead alternative ammunition.

Gary Marbut, executive director of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, said that the agency made no scientific case in favor of the ban and that hunters and gun owners have reason to be suspicious of such proposals.

(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Montana
KEYWORDS: banglist; eagle; lead; mt
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Another end run to make ownership and use of firearms more difficult.
1 posted on 02/09/2010 4:17:46 AM PST by marktwain
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To: marktwain

I understand this lunacy in CA, but MT?????


2 posted on 02/09/2010 4:18:45 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (If guns cause crime, then all of mine are defective!)
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To: marktwain

Ya...so whats the normal lead level in a captivity bred eagle?


3 posted on 02/09/2010 4:22:23 AM PST by mo
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To: marktwain

Yeah, because IF there is lead in the blood of wildlife, it MUST come from ammo. I mean, it doesn’t occur naturally in the environment or anything.


4 posted on 02/09/2010 4:24:25 AM PST by Ghost of Philip Marlowe (Prepare for survival.)
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To: marktwain

BTW..IMHO these issues ARE related at some level....

http://www.examiner.com/x-2206-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m1d22-Federal-government-responds-to-Montana-Firearms-Freedom-Act


5 posted on 02/09/2010 4:24:29 AM PST by mo
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To: marktwain

“Lead shot is already illegal nationwide when hunting waterfowl such as geese and ducks, which were known to accidentally ingest lead shot collecting in the bottom of lakes and rivers.”
I don’t buy the ingesting part. I do know this. We winged a hell of a lot more ducks with steel shot than died from lead ingestion.
Don’t know the rules now as I haven’t hunted in a few years, but you could hunt along a river, creek, pond with lead shot as long as you weren’t hunting waterfowl.
As far as this occuring in Mt. the demographics are changing there. More and more libs are moving there after fouling their nests elsewhere. Mt. has a democrap governor and don’t forget that asshat senator max baucus.


6 posted on 02/09/2010 4:26:36 AM PST by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: marktwain

You’re right, nothing more than an attempt to make it more expensive and difficult to own and use a firearm. Further it will further reduce the number of hunters which will further reduce gun ownership.


7 posted on 02/09/2010 4:29:18 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: marktwain

In the case of eagles, most of the lead passes through. It is not the residue that kills them.


8 posted on 02/09/2010 4:30:30 AM PST by Lion Den Dan
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To: marktwain

Yeah... and their gw data was just as accurate. LIARS ALL!

LLS


9 posted on 02/09/2010 4:33:16 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussama will never be my president... NEVER!)
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To: marktwain

One of the Left’s favorite tactics is called, “gradualism.” Animal worshippers from the cities are proud of that tactic. Compromising with them against other firearms owners is the wrong thing to do.

Anti-Second-Amendment organizations should not be allowed to have so much control over government. They’re lying about lead, of course. Lead is heavier than surrounding water and soil. It sinks quickly.

Here’s another example of successful gradualism from the left aided by hunters themselves (city hunters).

Large bore revolvers can be carried easily—even during chores—and effectively used with wide, flat-nosed lead bullets by a well-trained farmer/rancher to defend against large bears. Rhetoric from kooks with attachments to brand names and the like aside,...

Shooting Holes in Wounding Theories:
The Mechanics of Terminal Ballistics
http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/wounding.html

Bears don’t immediately charge after being hit with a round from any very noisy weapon. Such loads are more often humane for defense than the less predictable, often under-penetrating commercial hollow points, etc. Ruger Blackhawks in .45 Colt, for example, can safely fire heavier bullets as fast (fps) as a .44 magnum with less recoil. The same revolvers can fire the heaviest bullets (needed for adequate penetration in large and sometimes dangerous animals) at higher speeds than a .44 magnum.

Yet the city boy hunters have already joined the left in several states to outlaw hardcast bullets for hunting. Helping the enemies of our freedoms by compromising with them is not the way to avoid having your freedoms violated.

Left-leaning politicos from the cities should abandon their pursuits of control against residents of remote areas—especially in their efforts to stop rural residents from defending themselves.


10 posted on 02/09/2010 4:43:25 AM PST by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
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To: marktwain

Always follow the money.

HELENA — Rob Domenech and his research associates didn’t know what they were looking for when they started testing the blood of golden eagles along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front three years ago.

Just what organization, would pay someone for such a study?

Yewreeka! It’s the motherload! Ropes, ladders, tree and mt climbing stuff, some scientific equipment, we gonna get rich testing eagle blood. No one ever thought of it before.

You, or you, or friends of yours, ever think of starting a lucrative research agency, testing eagle blood in MT?

You can bet your bottom dollar, that Rob and his research associate knew exactly what they were looking for when they began this exercise, they knew from the beginning was designed to bring them before the MT legislature.

I don’t mean to sound skeptical, or demean the study, but just be forthright and tell me who is funding this study. How you are managing to eat, and pay rent and all the travel, while you are doing this study. Oh and how you get an eagle to sit still for a blood test. There are a ton of Federal rules regarding eagles, are all of them being followed?


11 posted on 02/09/2010 4:50:45 AM PST by wita
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To: mo

You can add the State of South Dakota to the list.


12 posted on 02/09/2010 4:55:56 AM PST by wita
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To: marktwain

Evidence (extreme examples) to back up something in my comment that was intended to provoke more thought on evil alliances against Second Amendment rights. Too many hunters are narrow-minded due to their personal brand preferences (and too much television).

Gun Notes: The .45 Colt - Dissolving the Myth, Discovering the Legend
by John Linebaugh
http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm

And for those who don’t like reading such head-hurting technical material,...

Buffalo Bore
http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=38
Heavy .45 Colt +P - 325 gr. L.B.T.-L.F.N.(1,325fps/M.E. 1,267 ft.lbs.)

“These Heavy .45 Colt +P loads are safe in all LARGE FRAME Ruger revolvers.
(includes Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, all pre-2005 Vaquero, Bisley, Redhawk)
These Heavy .45 Colt +P loads are NOT intended for the New Model Vaquero (small frame).”

The point here is that we shouldn’t help any left-leaning organization outlaw any Second Amendment rights of others.


13 posted on 02/09/2010 4:58:15 AM PST by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
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To: wita

“Just what organization, would pay someone for such a study?”

There is millions of dollars of grants available that these “scientists” live off of. They are leeches that don’t have any real jobs, but their “research” is done to provide more grant money. Scientists are a joke, right along with lawyers and used car salesmen.


14 posted on 02/09/2010 5:02:08 AM PST by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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To: marktwain

And also, BTW, jacketed/copper/brass bullets cause significantly more recoil than lead bullets of the same weight and aren’t safe in maximum loads (i.e., with equal maximum charges) for lead bullets (fact known by capable handloaders). It simply takes more pressure to push them through a barrel.


15 posted on 02/09/2010 5:02:28 AM PST by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
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To: marktwain
From the posted article (emphasis in bold mine):
"And Steven Helgerson, the state’s medical officer, said no studies have shown a link between humans eating wild game taken with a lead bullet and elevated levels of lead in the blood."


16 posted on 02/09/2010 5:05:08 AM PST by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
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To: caver

There is millions of dollars of grants available that these “scientists” live off of.

Exactly, and they and theirs need to be brought out of the darkness into the light of day, even more than they have been.

You can see a pretty good list every time the credits roll on a PBS or National Geographic documentary. For years I have tried to get my wife to STOP her subscription to National geo. I graduated in Geography in the sixties, and Geo was a joke back then.


17 posted on 02/09/2010 5:18:56 AM PST by wita
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To: marktwain
First, I'd like to see their sample groups, their data, and their research techniques. Second, I'd like to see their experiment replicated a few times to support their hypothesis. Third, if waterfowlers are poisoning golden eagles with lead shot, as good stewards of nature and the second amendment, they shouldn't even wait for a ban but should move quickly to remedy the situation on their own. the Golden Eagle is an awesome creature and deserves to be protected.
18 posted on 02/09/2010 5:25:23 AM PST by RC one (WHAT!!!!)
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To: marktwain; Travis McGee; Squantos; hiredhand
HERE is a great thread on the topic of "lead free" ammo from 2001.

TMG, Squantos, hiredhand: Do you know what happened to FReeper hopalong?

19 posted on 02/09/2010 5:39:46 AM PST by Carry_Okie (They were the Slave Party then; they are the Slave Party now.)
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To: marktwain

Yeah, those raptors really have it out for those of us that like guns and hunting.


20 posted on 02/09/2010 5:45:24 AM PST by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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