The statistics, by themselves, could raise anyone's eyebrows:

"Frequently used upland hunting fields may [contain] as much as 400,000 [lead] shot per acre. Individual shooting ranges may receive as much as 1.5 to 23 tons of lead shot and bullets annually, and outdoor shooting ranges overall may use more than 80,000 tons of lead shot and bullets each year."

In other words, dear readers, we who hunt and enjoy target shooting are slingin' a mess o' lead - enough, in fact, to concern officials from the U.S. Geological Survey. The aforementioned statistics came from a recent USGS news release titled "Lead Shot and Sinkers: Weighty Implications for Fish and Wildlife Health."

The release's upshot (pun intended) was to let folks know that "millions of pounds of lead used in hunting, fishing and shooting sports wind up in the environment each year and can threaten or kill wildlife."

This particular revelation is nothing new. A study of lead poisoning in "dabbling" duck species such as mallards, teal and black ducks led to a 1991 ban against the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting.

The USGS report, authored by Ph.D.s Barnett Rattner and Chris Franson, is an overview of recent investigations into wildlife poisoning from lead projectiles and sinkers. The authors cite solid sources, but the news release couched their arguments in language that smacked of an agenda:

"Lead is a metal with no known beneficial role in biological systems," read one of the release's early paragraphs.

"The most significant hazard to wildlife is through direct ingestion of spent lead shot and bullets, lost fishing sinkers and tackle, and related fragments; or through consumption of wounded or dead prey containing lead shot, bullets or fragments," read another.

"Frequently used upland hunting fields may [contain] as much as 400,000 [lead] shot per acre. Individual shooting ranges may receive as much as 1.5 to 23 tons of lead shot and bullets annually, and outdoor shooting ranges overall may use more than 80,000 tons of lead shot and bullets each year."

In other words, dear readers, we who hunt and enjoy target shooting are slingin' a mess o' lead - enough, in fact, to concern officials from the U.S. Geological Survey. The aforementioned statistics came from a recent USGS news release titled "Lead Shot and Sinkers: Weighty Implications for Fish and Wildlife Health."

The release's upshot (pun intended) was to let folks know that "millions of pounds of lead used in hunting, fishing and shooting sports wind up in the environment each year and can threaten or kill wildlife."

This particular revelation is nothing new. A study of lead poisoning in "dabbling" duck species such as mallards, teal and black ducks led to a 1991 ban against the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting.

The USGS report, authored by Ph.D.s Barnett Rattner and Chris Franson, is an overview of recent investigations into wildlife poisoning from lead projectiles and sinkers. The authors cite solid sources, but the news release couched their arguments in language that smacked of an agenda:

"Lead is a metal with no known beneficial role in biological systems," read one of the release's early paragraphs.

"The most significant hazard to wildlife is through direct ingestion of spent lead shot and bullets, lost fishing sinkers and tackle, and related fragments; or through consumption of wounded or dead prey containing lead shot, bullets or fragments," read another.

The kicker, however, came in a paragraph dedicated to potential public-health impacts:

"Although lead from spent ammunition and lost fishing tackle is not readily released into aquatic and terrestrial systems, under some environmental conditions it can slowly dissolve and enter groundwater, making it potentially hazardous for plants, animals, and perhaps even people if it enters water bodies or is taken up in plant roots. For example, said Rattner, dissolved lead can result in lead contamination in groundwater near some shooting ranges and at heavily hunted sites, particularly those hunted year after year."

For a paragraph the authors wanted to be taken seriously, it sure contained a lot of weasel words: "Although lead...is not readily released," "under some environmental conditions," "can slowly dissolve and enter groundwater," "potentially hazardous," "perhaps even people," and "if it enters water bodies."

The authors could have made a more convincing argument if they'd been able to estimate how many cases of lead poisoning had actually occurred in animals and humans as a result of groundwater contamination near hunting sites or shooting ranges.

To their credit, though, Rattner and Franson did acknowledge that "a better understanding of the toxicity and amount of lead poisoning in reptiles and aquatic birds related to fishing tackle is needed, as well as more information on the hazards of spent ammunition and mobilized lead at or near shooting ranges."

As future scientists conduct that research, we who hunt, shoot and fish should continue to do so wisely and with respect for the environment. Where required and when our consciences dictate, we should use ammunition or sinkers made of non-toxic materials.

Let's keep in mind, however, that 80,000 tons of lead might sound like a lot, but we live on a planet that weighs 5.972 sextillion metric tons and has 196,936,525 square miles of surface area.

Until some ironclad research comes in, let's not sweat the lead thing too much.