Hunters and suppliers have been caught in the regulatory crossfire over the use of lead shot.
Recently the federal government pushed back the total ban on lead shot, which was supposed to begin this fall. Wildlife officials want to ban the shot because it poisons birds that eat lead pellets when they’re swallowing grit from the soil.
Hunters can now use lead shot, unless they’re within 200 metres of a water body or a watercourse. The full ban will not come until 1999.
Some hunting groups and provincial governments objected to the total ban on lead shot. Many older guns can only fire lead shot and would need new barrels to fire the harder steel shot.
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Steve Curtis, of the Canadian Wildlife Service, said some provincial governments said banning lead shot for federally regulated species such as geese could cause confusion because lead shot is allowed for hunting provincially regulated birds such as pheasants.
“They said it would be awkward to shift back and forth,” Curtis said.
Hunters are happy the ban has been delayed, said Greg Illerbrun, of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.
“They’ve backed off a little, and that’s good,” said Illerbrun.
But he said hunters are still apprehensive about the federal government’s approach.
“They tried ramming it through without consulting with the stakeholders,” Illerbrun said. “We aren’t against the lead shot per se, we’re against how they did it and the speed with which they did it.”
Ironically, pushing back the ban has left many hunting suppliers in the lurch.
“They’re really scrambling,” said Swift Current shell supplier Cary Zacharias. “It’s been a real headache.”
Because of the ban, many suppliers ordered only steel shells. When the ban was delayed a few weeks before the season opened, many found they could not find a supply of lead shot.
Zacharias was lucky. Two days before the extension was announced, he heard the ban might be delayed, so he was able to replace some of the 25,000 steel shot shells he had brought in with lead.
But others haven’t fared as well, he said.
“They can’t find anything,” Zacharias said.
