buck460XVR
New member
Didn't know the Feds had banned leg hold traps, hunting with dogs or the use of bait(exception being the baiting of waterfowl). Thought those were state and or regional regs that did not ban hunting, but only prohibited methods that are determined locally or culturally to be "unethical". I know here, we still use leg hold traps, along with hounds for bear and fubearers. Baiting for deer, while frowned upon by many of us, and altho once illegal, is now a popular method of hunting them. Many times these bans are proposed and backed by hunters themselves. I know around here, most deer hunters are highly opposed to hunting deer with the aid of dogs and would fight it tooth and nail, while those same hunters look forward to bear season and running them with hounds. They are not " left leaning, ill informed individuals, the "feel good" crowd", but dedicated sportsmen, just practicing the ethics they are accustomed to. This is not a conspiracy to ban all hunting by the use of special restrictions, but just a way to preserve the resource, and to provide for a quality hunt for others.
Again, while I feel that single projectile lead ammo is not a big enough issue to completely ban it, I understand the concern for it's continued use. That's part of being a Sportsman and being aware of the impact you make on the animals you hunt, their habitat and the consequences of your hunting methods. Just as those that bait need to be aware of the increase of transmission of disease to the animals they hunt and others that may frequent their bait sites, one needs to be aware of the consequences of using lead ammo for hunting. If one determines there is an issue, then changing to an alternative projectile, even tho not mandatory, is the responsible thing to do. Seems to me, the responsible thing for ammo/reloading component companies to do is to offer reasonable options, instead of just pushing for no change, because they don't want to invest monies in R&D of lead alternatives. You really think they are looking at the welfare of the sport as opposed to the end of the year financial report? If there was enough hunters out there voluntarily using lead alternative, the complete banning of lead may not be deemed necceasry, and life would go on as normal. Hunters should take a lesson from sport fishermen. The reason Bass and Musky fisheries are so healthy, even with fishing pressure and fishing technology at an all time high, has nuttin' to do with regs concerning size limits and bag limits. It has to do with so many of them practicing catch and release. While it's legal to take home X amount of fish that are a minimum of X inches of length, most take none home. This discretion not only helps the resource, but gives a positive image to others of them and their sport. They could continue to take home everything they caught that was legal, but that would only lead to more restrictions. Instead of taking the stance that "nobody is gonna tell me what to put down the barrel of my gun!", one should say "give me a reasonable alternative instead." Besides, if you hunt specific game, odds are somebody is already telling you what gun and ammo you can use to hunt it. If you are target practicing at a public facility, odds are someone is telling you what and what not you can shoot there.