“I've been using lead all my life,” he continued, becoming more aggressive. He pulled a plastic bag from the inside of his jacket and held it at eye level. Three muzzleloader bullets hung heavy at the bottom. “Are you going to tell me these fragmented on elk?” Apparently, author Mike McTee likes a challenge, evidenced by his willingness to engage with the hunter quoted above in his book Wilted Wings, A Hunter's Fight for Eagles as well as his eagerness to address a seemingly simple yet complex environmental question: What happens when raptors and other scavengers eat the remains of animals shot with lead ammunition?
McTee dives into the issue with clear devotion to, and experience with, the lead ammunition conundrum. The reader doesn't even get through the Prologue before being introduced to an eagle found in the wild unable to fly, the graphic symptoms it...