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View Full Version : Lead shot ban extended



karcent
09-17-2004, 12:15 PM
http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/stories/20040917/localsports/1251923.html

No lead shot for any type of hunting in St Johns Marsh and St Clai Flats area.

Dave Edwards
09-17-2004, 08:29 PM
Years ago, a friend asked both myself and another friend to go rabbit hunting one day. We each went home and quickly grabbed shotguns, jackets, etc. We then romped around for hours on a beautiful day, not coming across any rabbits and not even firing a shot, but enjoying ourselves nonetheless and glad that we were able to get together. When we got back to our cars, two DNR officers appeared and checked our licenses, shotguns, ammo, and asked us a lot of questions. They then proceeded to check all of our pockets.

The friend who had been asked to go had a single slug laying in one of about 8 pockets. It was left over from deer hunting, and he didn't realize that it was even in his jacket.

It ended up being a pretty expensive hunt for my friend. He got fined for having a slug in his jacket while small game hunting, and no, he has never poached and no, he has never even had the intent to do so. I know him very well.

He was careless. He was careless since he never thought to go through his jacket to ensure that it didn't contain anything illegal.

Had we planned to go hunting, or if our hunt was to be more than just a hastily planned afternoon of a few old friends getting together and walking through some fields, we surely would have packed gear and more, especially a good dog. (I knew we wouldn't have any luck without one in an unfamiliar field, but it was just good to get together.) We would also have most certainly gone through our coat pockets as well.

Not searching his pockets cost my friend plenty. I suppose that he should have meticulously checked to ensure that he was in compliance with all of the rules and regulations and not have had a slug in one of his jacket pockets, but he never gave it any thought to even look.

Now, back to Kurt's post:

With anti-lead rules in effect in the marsh area for small game as well as waterfowl hunting, make sure that you don't even have one shotshell containing lead carelessly mingled in with your gear. It's not worth it. Rest assured that they'll be looking for something such as this. Rest assured that it would be the most expensive shotshell that you'd never ever get to fire. I know. I’ve seen it happen.

ANIMAL
09-17-2004, 11:12 PM
And remember its not about the lead its about making it more difficult and a big pain to hunt and its also another way to collect money. thats all there is to it.

G22
09-18-2004, 08:44 AM
Good advise Dave.
I'll be going next weekend, and I'll double check all my gear :)

joen
10-06-2004, 05:29 AM
An eye opener about the slug. I wonder just how often something like that happens; I know I just grab my gear from one year to the next and never thought to check just what's in it. After reading this thread(thanks Karcent for reminding me to separate my lead/steel shucks), I went through my small game stuff and, while I didn't come across anything to get me in trouble, I did locate the 2003 fishing license I 'lost' last year. Now if I can only find the 2004 small game license I bought back in July....