Win a Boone and Crockett Club Membership

Attention current and prospective Members of My Hunting & Fishing

As a prelude for our upcoming Drawing for a $100 Cabela's Gift Card to be held on November 21st, 2011, at 6:30 PM PST, we are offering a drawing to give Members of My Hunting & Fishing  a chance to win a complimentary Boone and Crockett Club Membership!

In order to be entered in the drawing all you have to do is:

  • Be a member of My Hunting and Fishing (sign up here); 
  • Post a comment at the bottom of this post, expressing your opinion (or lack thereof) about the topic below (Ban on Lead Bullets); 
  • In your comment, let us know that you would like to be included in the drawing; and 
  • Indicate your member name in the comment so that we can verify you are a member.

We will hold the drawing on Monday, November 14th, at 7:00 PM PST. And announce the winners shortly thereafter.

If you are not already a Member of My Hunting & Fishing, another way to sign up is to click the Members tab at the top of this page. It will take you to a sign-up screen, where you will enter your email and your name or alias, then just answer a couple of quick questions.

Once signed up as a member, we would really love it if you posted a profile photo and shared something about your hunting and fishing experiences, but that is not required to be eligible for the Boone and Crockett Club Membership drawing- all you have to do is be a member and post a comment on the bottom of this post, following the instructions above.

Current members are also eligible for this drawing. Again, all you have to do is post a comment at the bottom of this post, following the instructions above.

No purchase necessary to be eligible for the drawing.
Void where prohibited.

About The Prize

With this complimentary membership to the Boone and Crockett Club, you will receive Fair Chase Magazine on a quarterly basis along with other member benefits.

The Boone and Crockett Club is always looking for like-minded Sportsmen and Sportswomen interested in preserving our hunting heritage.

Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and associated wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair-chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship.

Member accomplishments include enlarging and protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Montana.

About Fair Chase Magazine and your Associate Membership:

Fair Chase is the official publication of the Boone and Crockett Club. The magazine is loaded with information you won't find anywhere else such as Field Trophy Photos of recent entries into the Club's records program, as well as listings of the most recently accepted trophies.

You will also find quality features by well known outdoor journalists on North American Big Game, trophy measuring, hunting tips and conservation issues that affect your hunting and more.

You will also have exclusive access to the Associates Community of the Club’s web site. This includes searchable field photos, archive of past Fair Chase articles, and your own personal trophy scoring database.

In addition, you will receive a discount on select Boone and Crockett Club merchandise and books.

You will also receive a wallet I.D. card and a Boone and Crockett Club window decal.

Ban on Lead Bullets

Let's face it, if we don't all join together as sportsmen and sportswomen to protect and preserve our hunting and fishing heritage and the game and fish we pursue, the environmental groups that lobby and litigate against our interests will prevail and we sill sit wondering what happened.

Please share your opinion on upcoming news that will affect us along with some other things planned for the near future.

One example is the ban on lead ammunition and fishing gear that environmental groups are trying to pass.

Lead is the easiest and least expensive metal to form into bullets, birdshot, and sinkers. As such, lead is at the foundation of the traditional outdoor activities of hunting and fishing. All forms of hunting with a firearm, plus recreational, law enforcement, and military shooting involve lead ammunition.

In fishing, lead is used in weights, sinkers, and jig heads, and in fly fishing, split shots and twist-ons.

It's no secret that sportsmen and women, shooters and anglers pay for the majority of wildlife conservation through the excise taxes on equipment purchases, including ammunition.

If lead is banned from being used in ammunition, equipment manufacturers will be forced to use more expensive metals to produce the products they sell, prices will have to go up, and in some cases, go up substantially.

If costs go up, participation goes down, and excise taxes go down. There will then be less funds to protect our hunting and fishing heritage.

On August 3rd, 2010 environmental groups petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a complete lead ban under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Congress had specifically excluded ammunition from this legislation and the EPA rejected the position on the grounds that it did not have authority for such a ban. Subsequently, environmental groups filed suit against the EPA, claiming they do have authority to ban lead ammunition.

Those behind the petition would have us believe that any amount of lead deposited into the environment is a threat to wildlife and humans.

Lead really is a naturally occurring element in the environment that has no functional or beneficial role in biological systems.

Depending on a range of factors, lead can be toxic to some wildlife, but it is primarily an issue with birds, because they have gizzards that hold onto and grind up food, rather than pass it quickly through their systems.

Because of a federal ban on lead shot used for hunting waterfowl that went into effect in 1991, there is relatively low threat to most waterfowl populations as a whole in dying from lead poisoning from ingesting lead shot.

And the hazard level for any species is extremely low for individual bullets fired in the field.

As far as dangers for humans, the main question is whether lead fragments or pellets found in wild game can be a source of lead toxicity for humans. The only reported human health issue from ingested lead ammunition comes from a study of subsistence hunters in Northern Canada that ate lead-harvested wild game in high quantities every day.

Should our policy-makers take a sledge-hammer approach to an issue science says is tightly limited to  certain populations and situation?

The bottom line is that the tools used for centuries by hunters, shooters, and anglers are in the cross-hairs of environmentalists whose agenda appears to be mixed. Some would say theirs is a real concern for wildlife and humans. Others contend the plot to ban all lead is just another attempt to chop the legs out from under sportsmen and the user-pay model of wildlife conservation.

A blanket ban on all lead ammunition and in fishing tackle is clearly overreaching.

After the environmental groups filed suit, a bill was introduced to Congress, supported by sportsmen's organizations that would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction of the EPA. The S. 838: Hunting, Fishing, and Recreational Shooting Protection Act is now being discussed in committees. Please read about it here.

Here is a brief summary:

"Hunting, Fishing, and Recreational Shooting Protection Act - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to exclude from the definition of "chemical substance" for purposes of such Act: (1) any component of any pistol, revolver, firearm, shell, or cartridge the sale of which is subject to federal excise tax, including shot, bullets and other projectiles, propellants, and primers; and (2) any sport fishing equipment the sale of which is subject to federal excise tax and sport fishing equipment components."

Where this will land is yet to be seen. What we do know is that sportsmen care about wildlife, all wildlife, and have proven so time and again.

The best thing you can do now is stay informed, and let yourself be heard, especially regarding the proposed Hunting, Fishing, and Recreational Shooting Protection Act.

Please enjoy this related video:





And, don't forget to Sign Up as a Member of My Hunting & Fishing, and post a comment on this topic at the bottom of this post to be entered into the drawing for the Boone and Crockett Club Membership!

Meanwhile, 

Happy Hunting & Tight Lines!


3 comments:

  1. i can understand a ban of lead in shotgun hunting shells as bird hunters tend to shoot alot more then big game hunters. but i also see it as a slippery slope that could lead to a larger ban.

    please include me in the drawing

    S-man pens and antlers

    ReplyDelete
  2. A ban on lead shot for waterfowl, especially where there are large numbers of birds is understandable, although I do not know mortality rates due to lead poisoning. For big game I don't think it is reasonable. As for fishing, in all my years of cleaning fish I have yet to see a lead sinker in a fishes belly. I like to know what they are eating so I can imitate it when fishing. Never yet seen a lead sinker fly imitation! There are few waterfowl where I fish so that is not an issue. I am Ashley Davis. Please enter me into the drawing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One effect that it cause is making the water smells fowl and polluted. Fish are poisoned and and the place is filled with lead.
    Home builder perth

    ReplyDelete

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