Getting the Lead Out: Making a Case for Copper Bullets

Whether you're a human who enjoys venison, or a bald eagle that scavenges a hunter's kill, lead = poison. And as it turns out, common lead bullets fragment on impact into hundreds of pepper-sized flakes that can be devastating to wildlife (and not so great for humans, either!). 

Michael DiBenedetto is a lifelong Catskiller, a longtime hunter, and a passionate advocate for copper bullets. If his experience rehabilitating lead-poisoned eagles isn't reason enough to make the switch, there are plenty of other motivating factors, as he explains in our interview; plus, a convincing experiment for any hunter who wants to see first-hand how lead and copper bullets "hold up" in the wild.

Bullet photo courtesy of Jeremy Roberts © Conservation Media, LLC

Check out these short videos produced by Conservation Media for huntingwithnonlead.org, and see what happens when lead and copper bullets are shot into ballistic gel. 

Thanks to our sponsors:

The Mountain Eagle
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Briars & Brambles Books