Lead contamination in hunted meat

Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by tristor on Thursday December 09, 2021 @04:45PM (#29503376)

Most families that hunt for meat, including mine, are not wealthy. We are not talking about sport hunters, we are talking about subsistence hunting. It's still very common in large swathes of America. Just looking around for the lowest prices possible, the cost of steel shot is more than double the cost of lead shot for #3 shells (commonly used for waterfowl). For #00 shells (used for deer and medium game) it's more than three times as expensive. Ammo costs add up quick, as you need to practice with the same shells you hunt with.

Working in tech, I can afford to buy higher quality and more expensive things, and the ammunition I use is no exception. But for many people it's not really within their budget. Lead is cheap, it's one of the main reason its used to make projectiles in the first place.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by jabl on Thursday December 09, 2021 @05:36PM (#29503975)

> the cost of steel shot is more than double the cost of lead shot for #3 shells (commonly used for waterfowl). For #00 shells (used for deer and medium game) it's more than three times as expensive.

That's surprising. In bulk, steel is a fraction of the cost of lead (usually, though at the moment the market seems a bit crazy). Is steel shot seen as a luxury product for hippies with money, or where does the difference come from?

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by voakbasda on Thursday December 09, 2021 @06:04PM (#29504297)

Supply and demand. Demand is low, for all the reasons mentioned. Lead shot benefits from economy of scale.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by chmod600 on Thursday December 09, 2021 @05:18PM (#29503752)

Why does hunting and practice ammo need to be the same? Is subsistence hunting that precise?

And if you can use cheap ammo for practice, then I would guess the price of ammo for actual hunting wouldn't be very significant. A dollar extra per animal or something?

I don't really know, just trying to understand.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by kache_ on Friday December 10, 2021 @11:57AM (#29512153)

A few dollars is make or break for the week for a lot of rural folks. When I was getting my hunting license, speaking to other people there made me realize how much of a (privileged) bubble I lived in.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by robobob5000 on Thursday December 09, 2021 @05:32PM (#29503915)

different ballistic trajectories. You need to zero your rifle with one ammo type. This may be different for shotguns

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by chmod600 on Thursday December 09, 2021 @05:44PM (#29504076)

Isn't that for long-range? I guess so, I just didn't know that was a major factor for typical hunters on a budget (who probably have cheap scopes anyway).

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by stefan_ on Thursday December 09, 2021 @04:57PM (#29503504)

Geez, wait until they see the bill for cleaning up all the lead in the environment from their shooting.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by thghtihadanacct on Thursday December 09, 2021 @05:52PM (#29504159)

LoL, if they are subsistence hunting they arent using a machine gun. There wont be lead all over as they shouldnt be taking more than one shot in the first place.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by jeffbee on Thursday December 09, 2021 @04:54PM (#29503470)

Yeah but none of those things are reasons to permit releasing all that lead into the environment. Every bird that you take with lead shot poisons another generation of fish and their predators, which isn't really fair to fish and fishermen. California banned leaded ammunition and as far as I have heard that did not increase the rate of childhood malnutrition or whatever.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by tristor on Thursday December 09, 2021 @04:59PM (#29503525)

I'm not advocating that people should use leaded ammunition, so I'm not sure what argument you think you are trying to make? I'm advocating having a bit of empathy for people who don't make tech salaries and buy all their groceries at whole foods. The posted article looks like primarily an anti-gun hit piece, and your reply also reads as an uncharitable take that is placing a lot of blame and responsibility on individuals who, for the most part, are just trying to feed their families.

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Re:Lead contamination in hunted meat by jeffbee on Thursday December 09, 2021 @05:15PM (#29503715)

I don't see the hit piece aspects of the article at all. Perhaps you did not read it. It seems quite factual and even-handed.

Anyway I have a feeling that you are radically over-estimating the size of the subsistence hunter population. It is a vanishingly small slice of what is already a tiny fraction of the American population. Last I heard only 3% of Americans ever hunted, and it was yet another one of those things that has a real strong positive correlation with household income.

If you really want to empathize with subsistence hunters then your beef is with wacko preppers. I didn't even notice the price difference when I switched to copper rifle loads but after COVID-19 started the price of a box of rifle cartridges tripled.

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