Lead shot was banned to protect waterfowl. Does lead pose a similar problem for dove?
Lead is an environmental contaminant and a health hazard to most animals and humans under some conditions. Doves feeding on heavily shot dove fields ingest spent lead shot and can get lead poisoning. However, doves differ from ducks in the manner in which they feed. Doves are sight surface feeders. Ducks feeding in wetland areas, can grub down into the mud and ingest lead pellets deposited over time. However, shot deposited on some soils tends to move below the surface by various natural and human processes (i.e., cultivation, grazing) and become unavailable to doves. Based on a Central Flyway estimate in 2005, some 51.2 million rounds of ammunition were fired by Texas dove hunters. That means about 3.2 million pounds of lead was deposited, which sounds like a lot until you consider the millions of acres over which the shot is dispersed.
