Lead for doves, not for teal

Hunters who try for a September Delta double need to avoid one mistake that could cost them a lot of money and a day in front of a magistrate.

“We can still shoot lead shot shells for doves, but teal are waterfowl and therefore we are limited to non-toxic shot,” Delta hunter Roger Turner said. “The last thing you want to do is get caught with a lead shell in your possession while duck hunting. We had two club members who learned that the hard way two years ago.

“We had a good flight of teal move in on the second weekend of the blue-wing season and decided to hunt them on Sunday morning. The problem was that we had hunted dove that Saturday. Well, the next morning when we were all getting ready to go, they grabbed up their vests and headed out to the ponds.”

Oops.

“Yep, they both grabbed their boxes of steel shot for the teal but didn’t check their vest pockets,” Turner said. “They each had a couple of (No.) 7½ shells with lead from the day before, and we got checked by officers that morning. They were lucky that they shoot 20 gauges for dove and 12s for ducks, so the judge let them off with minimal fines because there was obviously a lack of intent.

“But, still, $125 plus court costs was an expensive lesson.”