Some miscellanea - lead ban news, the future of hunting, etc.
Taking a step away from philosophizing and solving the problems of the world, I wanted to hit on a few relevant things that have come along while I was gone.
First of all, the North Dakota Department of Health released more of their preliminary findings from the blood-lead study (they took blood samples from 738 individuals to see if eating wild game harvested with lead ammo impacted the amount of lead in their bloodstreams). In short, the study did, indeed, indicate that people who ate wild game that was killed with lead ammo had a higher blood-lead level than people who did not. The lead level appeared to be elevated more in people who had recently eaten “tainted” game than in those who had not eaten it in a while… which may suggest that we may be able to process some of the lead out of our systems.
It is relevant to note that in no case did the lead level exceed the minimum “dangerous” level as defined by the Centers for Disease Control. It should also be noted that some of the people who ate “tainted” venison had lower blood-lead levels than those who ate none at all, since findings are adjusted for other potential sources of lead exposure.
At any rate, the State is using the results to make some basic recommendations, including the suggestion that pregnant women and children under six should not eat venison taken with lead bullets. And of course the HSUS is stepping up their call now for a total, nationwide lead ammo ban. The US Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) responded to the HSUS call with their own statement.
USSA Senior Vice President Rick Story states, “HSUS should stop hyperventilating and actually read the report since it makes clear that the average level of lead in the people tested is actually lower than the level of the average American. That fact completely undermines its call for banning traditional ammo.
Story continued, “It should come as no surprise that America’s leading opponent of hunting, fishing and trapping has mischaracterized the findings of the CDC report. It will resort to any means necessary to deny the rights of sportsmen.”
Read the ND Department of Health findings and summaries in their report, Lead and Venison Update. Regardless of how you feel about the lead ammo issue, this report does have a lot of great information.
Next up, kind of a quickie…
I know I write a lot about the future of hunting, and it’s definitely a concern I think all of us share. We all theorize on why hunting seems to be a diminishing practice, and I think that we’ve hit on a lot of pretty valid reasons. Dave Hurteau, in his Field Notes blog, has queried several people of influence in both government and the hunting industry, asking what they think is the reason for the decline. Check out the responses he got. It’s some pretty interesting stuff, but it also validates what most of us already thought.
Finally, just paging through my latest edition of Boar Hunter magazine, and wanted to mention to all of you that this magazine has been running some really great articles on the spread of feral hogs throughout the country, and how the states and federal government are looking at controlling it. It’s pretty important reading, because one big aspect of it all is the fact that, as of right now, sport hunters aren’t doing enough to make a difference. In fact, in some cases, sport hunters are hurting control efforts. If we don’t step up and do more, we’re likely to see more state and federal intervention, as they did in Kansas, by shutting down all sport hunting, and paying government contractors to perform eradication and control measures.
Anyway, if you don’t already subscribe to this magazine and you love hunting wild hogs, I’d strongly recommend taking a look… if for no other reason than the great coverage of the issues surrounding the spread of these animals. And no, I don’t get kickbacks or any other renumeration for plugging this magazine… just they’re doing a great job on the topic.
Quite simply put!
Why do we not lobby the State of California: (the “only” state in the union that does not allow us to) Hunt Wild Hogs at Night, Over Feeders and then take them with a knife.
That would keep em’ under control somewhat because Wild Swine by nature are: Nocturnal!
November 19th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[...] residents, some of whom had eaten venison harvested with lead ammo and some of whom had not. I reported on the results of that a little while [...]
December 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm