Claims of lead in grizzlies questionable

Letter from the NSSF to the Billings Gazzette:

Readers of the Nov. 13 article “Study shows elevated lead levels in grizzlies” should question the report it is based on and the motives of the researcher. The “study” was conducted by Tom Rogers, a University of Montana graduate student who has close ties to an organization, the Peregrine Fund, that aggressively advocates the banning of lead bullets for hunting. Two of the researchers who are mentioned in the article as associates of Rogers are members of the Peregrine Fund, and one of them, Derek Craighead, is on the board of directors.

Some claims in the report bear more scrutiny. No scientific determination has been made as to what an “elevated blood level” of lead is for grizzly bears. Rogers used the level for humans. He claimed that “In humans, 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter is currently considered an elevated blood level …”

According to the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control, the recommended threshold for an adult is 25 mpd; the 10 mpd level is for a child.

Most of the hunters and outdoor shooters that I know are actually very conscientious stewards of the environment. If the lead issue could be proven to be bad, I would guess that many hunters would play along. But the methods being used are questionable in a lot of cases.

What would the Peregrine Fund think of a lead study conducted by the NRA?

I don’t know the answer to this question. I do know that people have been using lead shot for centuries with very little in the way of evidence of anything wrong.

The story the letter is responding to is here.

Be sure of your target and what’s behind it:

The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that a hunter who shoots and injures someone because he or she didn’t properly identify the target can face an aggravated assault charge.

In a case arising out of Lamoille County, the court upheld the aggravated assault conviction of Eric Patch, who was out partridge hunting in November of 2006 when he saw movement in a tree, fired his 12-gauge shotgun and hit a deer hunter.

Jeff Soyer agrees with the ruling. So does Murdoc.

Bear Hunters Harvest Stands at Fifth Highest So Far

Pennsylvania Game Commission preliminary bear harvest figures show that 2,946 bears were taken during the recently completed three-day season (Nov. 24-26), and an additional 68 bears were harvested during the two-day archery bear harvest (Nov. 19-20).

That’s a lot of bears. The largest was a male that weighed in at 716 pounds.

Outdoor Life’s Deer of the Year 2009. Entries due by January 15th.

Mountain Lions Feast On Deer Kill

Mountain Lions Caught on Film

Outdoor Life has the photos from a motion-sensitive camera spying on a trio of cats getting a late night snack in South Dakota.

Very cool, though the reader comment

It’s too bad that it’s a precious deer and not Tom Daschle

was just plain out of line and I won’t repeat it here.

Question: What’s up with the whole “catamount” thing, anyway? Is that truly the same thing as a mountain lion? I’ve always thought so, but I was just recently told that they weren’t quite the same.

Those watching things closely may have noticed a trend:

• Gun sales jump (Utah)
• Area gun sales spike (Alabama)
• Gun sales rise in Ohio, stay flat in Ross County (Ohio)
• Gun sales shoot up after Election Day (Colorado)
• Gun sales up, supplies down (Texas)
• S.D. gun shops see rise in sales (South Dakota)
• Gun, ammo sales increase in Churchill, Lyon counties (Nevada)
• Local gun sales increase since election (Arkansas)
• Gun sales shoot way up (Maine)
• Hawaii gun sales shooting up
• Fear Fuels Gun Sales Locally (West Virginia)
• Gun Sales Are Up Since Obama Election (Kentucky)
• Fear of ban increases gun sales (Mississippi)
• Finger on safety as gun sales shoot upward (Idaho)
• Gun sales rise as owners fear stricter controls (North Carolina)
• Gun Sales Boom Ahead of Obama Presidency (Tennessee)
• Gun Sales Booming Since Presidential Election (Nebraska)
• Gun sales, permits climb following election (North Dakota)
• Gun Sales Rise As Buyers Anticipate Political Change (Washington)
• Gun Sales Shoot Upward in Springfield (Missouri)
• Madison gun sales soar (Virginia)
• Some stores see surge in gun sales (Pennsylvania)
• Firearm sales surge following election (Wisconsin)

These are all from the past two or three days and aren’t simply re-runs of AP items in different papers. All of these have considerable, if not exclusively, local content. I could easily have included many, many more.

No doubt, the media coverage is feeding the flames a bit. As is the fact that hunting seasons are kicking off or underway in most states right now. But the trend is unmistakable.

It doesn’t seem to be localized to the bitter, clingy parts of the nation. Or to the red states.

Ride Fast to Bill Schneider, who took exception to the term “Fudds”:

Some, a small minority, may have jokingly called you Fudds, or maybe mocked you. Your guy, Zumbo, called me a terrorist. Who’s the nasty bastard now?

Like I said recently, the whole Fudd thing is pretty dumb. I don’t think it’s all that terrible (certainly not akin to “terrorist”) but it’s also pretty dumb and very unconstructive.

There’s nothing the Brady types like more than to see gun owners shooting at each other.