Attention Hunters: "Get the Lead Out"

Note: New regulations requiring the use of non lead ammunition within the range of the California Condor will take effect July 1, 2008.

If you hunt in the range of the endangered California condor, you are being asked to get the lead out. Click on the map for a larger image. Following reports that lead ammunition is contributing to the high lead levels documented in some wild condors, the DFG and other agencies involved in the California Condor Recovery Project are asking hunters in condor range (parts of the counties of Tulare, Kern, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and San Benito) to remove lead from the area by following a few simple steps:

• Retrieve all killed animals (including coyotes and small game) from the field, or
• Hide carcasses or gut piles by burying them, covering them with brush or rocks, or placing them in an inaccessible area,
  or
• Remove bullets and surrounding impacted flesh when leaving carcasses or gut piles in the field,
  or
• Use lead-free ammunition, in which case none of the above is needed.

Many manufacturers now offer non-lead ammunition for rifles, shotguns, pistols, muzzleloaders, and reloading. The Fish and Game Commission has not yet certified nonlead projectiles that will be legal within the designated geographic condor range on and after July 1, 2008. The Commission is currently in the certification process (which it began in February, 2008). Meanwhile, the following nonlead ammunition list represents some of the brands now known to be available for hunting within California:

More links of interest:

• **NEW** Nonlead Certification Information for Ammo Manufacturers
• You can download the full text of the newly signed Assembly Bill No. 821 adding the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act and a Map of Areas affected by the new bill. (PDF Documents)
• Questions and Answers on new regulations prohibiting the use of lead projectiles for big game and nongame hunting in the range of the California Condor
• Click here to learn more about the California Condor

Map submitted by the California Department of Fish and Game. Photo By Steven Knudsen