Non Toxic requirements

B

Bird Buster

Active member
What public lands there require non toxic shot to be used? The regulation book just states "Non-toxic shot is required to hunt small game on most public lands". Wow that is pretty vague, I would guess waterfowl hunting areas? Heading up there in a couple weeks for first time trying to plan on what ammo to bring. Thanks
 
Bird Buster said:
What public lands there require non toxic shot to be used? The regulation book just states "Non-toxic shot is required to hunt small game on most public lands". Wow that is pretty vague, I would guess waterfowl hunting areas? Heading up there in a couple weeks for first time trying to plan on what ammo to bring. Thanks
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Wondering which "regulation book" your reading, because this is straight out of the 2024 Hunting & Trapping Handbook. THAT is the regulation book you should be reading.

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A5 I was looking at Page 28 of the Hunting and Trapping Handbook under Pheasant Hunting. I did not scroll to page 78 where you are listing that. Just seemed odd under the pheasant hunting section under Resident Only hunting, it specifically says "Non-toxic shot is required to hunt small game on most public lands." This truthfully is pretty inaccurate and confusing, why not say see page 78 for Non toxic requirements.
 
To be perfectly honest, if I was constantly hunting various types of public land, I'd just switch over to 100% non-toxic shot. Going back and forth based on what type of public land it is would not be worth the headache. I could see myself using lead shot where I wasn't supposed to and getting cited for it.
 
Buy steel and be done with it. Cant remember the year but believe it was the second of the new law a warden searched my whole vest and found two of a couple dozen shells were lead. $75 ticket I believe. Have not bought lead since. I use #2 or #3 3in Federals and like them for all birds I hunt. Usually just under $20 a box. Ive not found a reason to switch to the fancy boss of blind sides but Im sure their good also if you dont mind $2 or more a round.
 
chad.vis said:
Buy steel and be done with it. Cant remember the year but believe it was the second of the new law a warden searched my whole vest and found two of a couple dozen shells were lead. $75 ticket I believe. Have not bought lead since. I use #2 or #3 3in Federals and like them for all birds I hunt. Usually just under $20 a box. Ive not found a reason to switch to the fancy boss of blind sides but Im sure their good also if you dont mind $2 or more a round.
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With 7 out of 9 areas above not requiring non toxic, no need to buy steel and be done with it. It may be your choice, but steel is last preference for me.
 
Bird Buster said:
but steel is last preference for me
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I get it. I don't care for steel either. If I had a choice, I would not choose that.

But for logisitcal purposes, if you're moving from one type of public land to another, I could definitely see it being a problem. Heck, Chad posted above how he had 2 lead shells in his vest unknowingly and was cited because of it. If you want to specifically keep track and constantly change out shells, I think two vests would be the route to go here.
 
Put your shells in a quart bag. One bag is non-tox, the other is lead. When you get back to the truck, take the quart bag out of your shell pocket and set it in the truck. When you park at a spot, grab the correct quart bag. Or just do what I do and load your gun with lead and keep your bismuth in the shell pocket for reloading. When I get back to the truck the unloaded shells go back in the box and the bismuth stays in my shell pocket.
 
This thread has kind of gone off course. I have plenty of Hevi-Shot if I need a Non Toxic option, it patterns great too. Too many people making assumptions here. I plan to use No-Tox where required and none where it is not required and yes I don't plan to pass up WPA's and GPA's.
 
No assumptions here. Just would hate to drive by a great looking spot and not be able to hunt it. We hunted mostly CREP and WIA last year but hit one WPA that was loaded. And I'll for sure use lead where allowed.
 
The majority of my hunting is with non-tox. But I love to shoot lead wherever I can. With a bag of lead & a bag of bismuth, it takes literally seconds to change out what's in my vest & gun for the other type. Been doing it 100% successfully for many years. WPA & GPA bismuth. Everything else lead. And I don't have a plug in my gun. I very, very rarely need 4 shells, but I want to have it if it's required. I have zero need to be prepared to shoot a duck, as where I hunt, those opportunities are as rare as, or rarer than, needing 4 shells.
 
I use the quart bag method. Don't forget to change out the shells in the gun when you switch load types
 
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