Why we must steel ourselves for change
The whole question of non-toxic shot has caught the shooting world on the back foot. I want to dispel some of the panic and confusion in relation to shotgun shooting with steel, which is the option most likely to become our new normal (bismuth and tungsten being the other, more expensive, options).
Concerns about the ingestion of lead shot by wildfowl were first noted in the US more than 100 years ago. These amplified in the 1970s and, supported by academic research, led to the banning of lead shot over wetlands in some states. From the 1977-78 season, non-lead shot use was mandated in 23 states in designated noted zones corresponding to flight paths of waterfowl; by 1984, it was 33. In 1991, the ban became national and is extended in some states now to include upland hunting.
The Danes first banned lead over ‘Ramsar sites’ (wetlands of
