Legal steel, legal lead

Dakotazeb said:
It sucks when a game warden doesn't even know the laws and regulations of his/her own state. :eek: As onpoint posted and I read, it states it pretty clear in the Hunting Handbook that lead is okay in Minnesota on state owned public land when hunting upland game.

Now South Dakota is another situation. You CANNOT use lead on most state lands such as Game Production Areas. The use of lead on Walk-In Area is okay.

Moral of the story is: Know the laws of the state you are hunting in. (Be a good Idea for the CO's to know them also).
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AMEN Zeb, it's pretty sad when the law, doesn't know the law.
 
Great white hunter said:
Have you guys ever had the law enforcement or anyone for that matter check the type of ammunition you had?
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Yes several times with as said a magnet. Even had one take a bird from us to have it looked at for lead shot. That was odd I thought. But duck hunting, had them look for lead as we walked back to the truck. A friend had 1 lead shell mixed in his pocket and forgot, he got a fine for that. So I would not have lead on your person if you have ducks in the field. At least not around here.
Zeb, LOL. A few years back they made some confusing changes the warden did not understand. He got hundreds of calls. When I asked he said the judge was tossing out all cases regarding the matter because he could not even understand the interpretation.
 
mnmthunting said:
I thought all Federal NWR's require non toxic for all bird hunting.
All other federal lands open to public hunting such as National Forests and BLM lead is allowed for up land, same thing for state owned land, except for State owned Waterfowl Production areas, non toxic only.. If Your hunting waterfowl on any land You can NOT have lead on you. Your truck Yes.
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We can use lead on NWRs if only hunting upland on some refuges here. You get an odd look when you check in to hunt pheasants only around here and an even odder look when you check out and tell them you bagged 2 roosters.:eek: They want to see the birds everytime just to remember what a rooster looks like.:D
 
Swaping shells from my vest everytime I go from jumping ducks,to chasing pheasants is just a hassle.

I only use lead for pheasants late in the season once ducks closed,and if I'm hunting an area that doesn't have any waterfowl production areas.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
Swaping shells from my vest everytime I go from jumping ducks,to chasing pheasants is just a hassle.

I only use lead for pheasants late in the season once ducks closed,and if I'm hunting an area that doesn't have any waterfowl production areas.
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I started doing the same thing about 10 years ago.

I don't like using steel shot for wild pheasants. It has a difficult time doing the job lead once did for me, but it's not worth it to me to switch back and forth-- taking a chance with leaving lead in my vest or belt by accident.
 
1pheas4 said:
I don't like using steel shot for wild pheasants.
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I don't either especially hunting places where your opportunities are fewer. I've been using tungsten blends like winchester xtended range,and remington wingmaster hd more so then steel but neither of them are going to be made anymore. The price of the remaining high density loads like hevi shot,and kent tm are getting to be to expensive for me and I believe in spending the money for good ammo but there becomes a point when you just can't justify the cost.

$2 a shot hurt a little but I can eat that cost but $4+ a round is just to much.
 
We have to ware blaze orange when hunting small game/upland birds in Mn but not for waterfowl. My waterfowl jacket has steel in it and my orange vest has lead.

In South Dakota when I use to hunt pheasants there. I just shot steel only. Nearly all public land is non toxic shot mandatory.

I have many older quality shotguns with fixed chokes. they will never see steel shot or and other hard type shot. People need to realize that mandatory steel shot will eliminate 100s of 1,000s of guns from being used in the fields of this country. I would consider it one of the greatest success's in "GUN CONTROL" .

Wait until they ban lead bullets and a box of 223 for that high capacity AR-15 costs $50.00 for 20 rounds. Ah yes....another effective "Gun Control" measure. The 1,000's of rounds you all bought up becomes obsolete in one sweep of a pen.

We can spray billions of gallons of poison's on our crops every year. That runs into our rivers, streams and lakes. That goes into our aquifer. That kills our bee's and is now suspected to cause many, many other problems with fish and wildlife but how dare hunters that are barely a blip on the radar compared to these farming practices...SHOOT A FEW ROUNDS OF LEAD SHOT ACROSS MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF ACRES OF LAND.

Onpoint
 
It has been mentioned more than once that on "most" state land in SD it is unlawful to use lead shot. I would disagree with that. Is it not true that lead can be used on all state land except Game Production Areas? I enjoy shooting older firearms that are not tolerant of steel shot, refuse to pay the outrageous prices of hevi whatever and really have a problem with the whole "lead shot is killing everything" stance and find the results of steel far less than lethal. I find plenty of public land to supplement the private land I hunt by looking to walk-in and school lands. Lets not lead people to write off all the public land, that just makes more people believe that the demise of lead shot is all but inevitible.
 
lead shot

won't make any difference when the ban lead shot cause by then the democrats will have taken all our guns away anyway. they, right now are trying pretty hard and they now have a crack in the door

cheers
 
mnmthunting said:
I thought all Federal NWR's require non toxic for all bird hunting.
All other federal lands open to public hunting such as National Forests and BLM lead is allowed for up land, same thing for state owned land, except for State owned Waterfowl Production areas, non toxic only.. If Your hunting waterfowl on any land You can NOT have lead on you. Your truck Yes.
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I am pretty sure CMR Refuge in Eastern MT doesn't require steel shot for upland hunting. I would check first if going there, since I shot steel doesn't matter to me. I don't know any other refuges in MT that don't require steel.
 
i dont think "taking our guns" is going to happen.i'm hearing noises about that now.its political suicide.
mostly what you hear is magazine limits,background checks,etc.those our the same old ideas that don't work any way
i would say if you have to shoot steel part of the time, you might as well shoot it all the time.
does any one have trouble swiching back and forth between steel and lead,as far as wing shooting is concerned.
does it really matter?steel kills as well as lead,for the most part.i think there is a self imposed mental handicap given to steel shot,it works fine
i understand that nice, old ,fixed choke doubles should not have steel shot put through them,but those require a special circumstance
 
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BrowningCitori said:
I am pretty sure CMR Refuge in Eastern MT doesn't require steel shot for upland hunting. I would check first if going there, since I shot steel doesn't matter to me. I don't know any other refuges in MT that don't require steel.
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Yes, I believe you are correct. I hunt the CMR every year for upland and waterfowl. Have used steel only for a long time.
The Regulations say "non toxic must be used for waterfowl and no lead on you while hunting waterfowl" No lead restrictions on upland. Go figure?

I know that on NRW like Bowdoin and Medicine Lake there are reminder signs about every hundred yards. "NONTOXIC SHOT ONLY"
There are no such signs at the CMR.
 
I think the difference is CMR is "huge", and a lot of the upland hunting is a long way from water and any ducks! North side is pretty arid, most years, and south in the bluffs, sometimes you can't see Ft Peck.
 
oldandnew said:
I think the difference is CMR is "huge", and a lot of the upland hunting is a long way from water and any ducks! North side is pretty arid, most years, and south in the bluffs, sometimes you can't see Ft Peck.
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Yeah, and the CMR is not managed at all, for waterfowl. There really is nothing for natural wetlands or potholes. Sage hills and Breaks on both sides. 1,100,000 acres. The big lake is not good waterfowl habitat. There are a lot of man made stockponds in the coulees. These are excellent waterfowl production areas. And early season waterfowl hunting, both honkers and puddle ducks:thumbsup:

In the hunting Regs, says, Pheasant hunting is allowed on th e CMR. I ain't gonna say there are no pheasants on the CMR. :confused:
But if You can find one I'd be REALLY surprised. :eek:
 
mnmthunting said:
Yes, I believe you are correct. I hunt the CMR every year for upland and waterfowl. Have used steel only for a long time.
The Regulations say "non toxic must be used for waterfowl and no lead on you while hunting waterfowl" No lead restrictions on upland. Go figure?

I know that on NRW like Bowdoin and Medicine Lake there are reminder signs about every hundred yards. "NONTOXIC SHOT ONLY"
There are no such signs at the CMR.
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That is exactloy how it is on MN state owned public lands, Well I am 90% sure any way,LOL:D :rolleyes:Laws. I think if it is a dumb law, it sure shows up in mass confusion. Why do we put up with it?
 
quail hound said:
We can use lead on NWRs if only hunting upland on some refuges here. You get an odd look when you check in to hunt pheasants only around here and an even odder look when you check out and tell them you bagged 2 roosters.:eek: They want to see the birds everytime just to remember what a rooster looks like.:D
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Look at Section 551 on page 31. https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=54748&inline=1

(5) At Grizzly Island Wildlife Area and on all
national wildlife refuges listed in Section 552,
only steel or other nontoxic shot approved by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may be used
or possessed in the field.

Also, http://www.fws.gov/cno/hunting.html

Use of Non-Toxic Shot

National Wildlife Refuges in California and Nevada require use of non-toxic shot (as described in 50 CFR20.21(j)) for hunting waterfowl, upland game birds and small game. While the Service encourages the use of non-lead ammunition for big game hunting there is no prohibition on lead in slugs/bullets for big game hunting on refuges that conduct big-game hunts. Refuges in Region 8 that allow big game hunting include: Clear Lake NWR (antelope), Sacramento River NWR (black-tail deer) and Desert NWR (bighorn sheep).



The way I read it all NWR are nontoxic shot for everything. From what I have heard you can't have lead shot on you at all, even in your vehicle when on a NWR.
You can use lead for upland on CA state wildlife areas, but not on the NWRs
I would hate to see you get in trouble.
 
Thanks for the concern but evey year I check multiple times to make sure I'm in the right. San Luis is the only NWR I hunt (the rest are WA's). I've asked every warden I've ever seen out there and they've all said lead is ok for upland only. I rarely hunt San Luis though (and only Salt Slough when I do) I guess if I had to the 5 or 6 shells I shoot out there wouldn't kill me if I had to shoot non tox.
 
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