That headline is nothing new. Ad I’m not sure how most of you will take this article. I don’t see it as them trying to legislate but trying to get hunters to be more aware and let them make their own decisions. But it’s clear that it is happening.
Side note…if you saw the real paper with the guy in the kayak who found the eagle in the miss river up by Monti…that was me who took the picture. I actually got to hold the eagle. But it was so far poisoned it had to be euthanized.
There was just an article this week in the local paper about a trapper who found 4 dead eagles in the Reno area. 3 of the 4 were already determined to have died from lead poisoning and the 4th was in the lab for testing.
Gotta agree with the comments in your referenced article about burying gut piles.
Very cool story with a sad ending.
Was there a wound in your eagles chest?
Who doesn’t like eagles?
I reload my own and have had excellant results with the Barnes X all copper bullets. I have just a few lead bullets left and once used I will go back to the Barnes.
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I reload my own and have had excellant results with the Barnes X all copper bullets. I have just a few lead bullets left and once used I will go back to the Barnes.
I don’t think copper is the solution. The Barnes X bullets have been known to have difficulty holding a tight group. Barnes addressed this by coming out with the XXX. Personally I can’t say they are bad, but I haven’t been 100% satisfied with them. I’m surprised the industry hasn’t starting providing Non-Toxic bullets like they do Non-Toxic shot. Sure it’s more expensive but that’s something we as sportsman need to step up to the plate and do for our sport. Otherwise the anti’s will be all over this.
I’m sure it’s not helping that people are shooting junk bullets that companies make. Bullets that fragment on impact. I’m not recommending shooting solids, but a better constructed bullet would help.
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Was there a wound in your eagles chest?
No.
My question is… exactly what is the concentration of lead fragments in the gutpiles?
In the 40+ years I have hunted all the bullets have either penetrated though the gut completely or ,if placed correctly,ended up under the skin on the far side.
Even my cast 44 bullets would pass completely though…
How much lead is dispersed when the bullet is passing through,and not staying in the animal?
Not an argument…a serious question….
Something fishy here…Mudshark brought up some good points…
1) You do not leave a deer carcass in the woods…who butchers their deer in the woods???
2) Gut Piles??? Eagles are meat eaters… I’ve never seen one eat intestines and offal. Crows, Raven, Magpies, Vultures etc practically live on gut piles, they must be allergic to lead.
3) In winter, road kill is a normal staple of eagles, since the lakes are frozen and they are primarily fish eaters.
There are many sources of lead out there… I have also used Barnes X and Triple Shock bullets for several years in my .280 and 7MM08 deer rifles. Sub MOA groups and one shot kills. I am reluctant to believe bullet fragments are the largest souce of lead in the diet of an eagle. 
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I am reluctant to believe bullet fragments are the largest souce of lead in the diet of an eagle.
I was thinking the same thing when I was reading the article this morning 
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Very cool story with a sad ending.
Was there a wound in your eagles chest?
Who doesn’t like eagles?
maybe the guy that watches them take 
what few hen pheasent’s we have left 
A few Xrays of eagles that have died from lead poisoning
Bullet Fragments in digestive system
Solid bullet in digestive system
Single lead shot in digest system
Eagles are carrion eaters. Not trying to sway opinions one way or another but having witnessed it a number of times, eagles absolutely will and do eat gut piles. It is not a stretch whatsoever to believe that fragmented bullets end up in the guts from this.
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Eagles are carrion eaters. Not trying to sway opinions one way or another but having witnessed it a number of times, eagles absolutely will and do eat gut piles. It is not a stretch whatsoever to believe that fragmented bullets end up in the guts from this.
For those of you who are like me and have to look it up:
carrion = The decaying flesh of dead animals
I would expect to hear the same about turkey vultures. Are they? 
My uncle worked at the raptor center for many years. He said that certian eagles would eat certain things. Some liked fish, some liked chicken. And they would only eat the parts they preferred. Some liked the heads, some liked the guts.
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I would expect to hear the same about turkey vultures. Are they?
Yup, same with loons, hawks, condors, and whatever else may accidentally come upon lead, whether in a carcass, or just a sinker sitting on the bottom of a lake. Eagles just get more press since they are our national symbol.
Here is a loon with sinker in its digestive system
A condor with lead shot in digestive system
*NOTE* There are LESS THAN 200 LIVING CONDORS in the wild!!
Why would fish eating loons eat a sinker at the bottom of a lake? It looks like a jighead to me. I bet it ate a fish that broke someones line, so it was swimming around with a jig in its cheek.
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Why would fish eating loons eat a sinker at the bottom of a lake? It looks like a jighead to me. I bet it ate a fish that broke someones line, so it was swimming around with a jig in its cheek.
They not only eat fish, the also eat frogs, crayfish, mussels, leeches and aquatic insects. They root around on the bottom searching for food, I’m sure a sinker feels like a snail or whatever to them.
Loons don’t eat fish big enough to break your line, small perch are about the biggest fish you will see them eat.
Here is a picture of the sinker that was removed.
I stand corrected.
So a few garbage eating eagles die from lead poisoning. Not like it’s the end of the world.
If they had whiskers, no one would care.
Granted I do not hunt much anymore but wasnt lead shot banned a while ago? Do people still use it?
It can still be used on private property in SD. I’m not sure in Mn. This conversation appears to be more directed at deer hunters though. I wonder just what the real damage is to these birds on an annual basis? I’m all for doing what is right, but I also live in the real world. Sorry, my skepticism might be at an all time high due to the “invasive species overrun” on our lakes in Mn. 
Let me play the devils advocate here—-there are more eagles now than there have been in many years. A few die from injesting lead—-SO WHAT??? Some die from hitting power lines and I am sure there are some that die from other man made obstacles but lead is suppose to be some big deal. I got into it with a Raptor guy in Sioux Falls a few months ago. He was carrying on about lead and how he had watched an eagle die from it and it was horrible and how all lead should be outlawed. I explained that nature was cruel and I am sure that the rabbit being torn apart by an eagle was cruel to some and he smiled at me real big and said “I think that is beautiful”. Are we making a mountain out of a mole hill with this whole lead thing. You have to figure that the more eagles there are that more will die from various causes—be it lead or fishing line or accidental collisions with man made obstacles. I spend a lot of time on the river and there is no shortage of eagles at all. I understand that we have to monitor their numbers but is it worth getting to worked up about because a few eagles die from lead?
You and I think alike Rich. You just said it more better. 
And what about the poor mergansers?
Is it that big a deal for at least some of us to voluntarily bury a gut pile? Not saying make it law, but more like CPR…for the common good and at least a small bit of common sense. Seems suggestions that MIGHT do some good are rejected too often because “we’ve never did that before so why should we start now?”.
We have a lot of eagles in our area. I’ve heard of them taking the family dog right off the back porch. I say good riddance!
Hopefully everyone that gets the joke and understands it is in jest. This may be the first disclaimer I ever felt I had to put on a post.
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