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The Hunt Backcountry Podcast

503 | The Dangers of Lead Ammunition — Facts, Fairy Tales, and Nuance In-Between

The Hunt Backcountry Podcast

by Exo Mtn Gear

Sports, Sports:wilderness, Health & Fitness, Wilderness

4.42.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is there a real danger in eating meat from game that was killed with lead ammunition? And is there a real threat to species that scavenge on the carcasses of big game that were killed with lead bullets? Depending on who you ask, the answers to those questions will vary greatly. In this episode, we speak with Jim Heffelfinger, to help separate fact, fiction, and fairy tales, about the dangers of using lead-based bullets for big game hunting. Jim helps us realize that the conversation on lead-based bullets is much broader than hunters realize and that there are both real dangers, as well as unfounded fears on this topic. A disclaimer that shouldn't be necessary: None of the information presented today is medical advice. And this conversation has not presented all aspects of this topic. Please do careful research for yourself and make your own conclusions. Additional resources and links mentioned in this episode... - Is eating game harvested with lead a human health issue? (Article): https://www.boone-crockett.org/when-lead-meets-red-meat-0 - Lead Ammo and Wildlife: Separating Science from Advocacy (Article): https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/firearm-hunting/lead-ammo-and-wildlife-separating-science-from-advocacy - Jim's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cervidnut/ - Jim’s Previous Episode: https://exomtngear.com/blogs/podcast/440 - $10 Goat Logo Shirt: ​​https://exomtngear.com/collections/10-year-logo-gear Email Sign-up: https://exomtngear.com/newsletter Contact Us: [email protected] Leave A Message: https://speakpipe.com/huntbackcountry Podcast Episode Archive: https://exomtngear.com/podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the Huntback Country podcast presented by Exo Mountain Gear and actually the first full-length episode of 2025.

0:23.0

Between Christmas and New Year's, we've been doing some of the shorter Monday

0:27.1

minute episodes, but this is the first full-length featured interview episode of 2025.

0:34.2

And I'm glad to have you guys along.

0:36.6

Thanks as always for tuning in.

0:38.7

I'm super excited about the new year

0:40.6

and honestly, truly excited about today's episode

0:43.9

with Jim Heffelfinger.

0:46.6

Jim joins us today to talk about lead

0:49.9

and the dangers of lead,

0:53.5

the misunderstandings about lead as it comes to shooting lead-based ammunition.

1:00.3

We're talking about the health effects of lead-based ammunition for us personally,

1:06.2

but also the other effects of shooting lead-based ammunition as hunters and what that does to other

1:13.6

wildlife and other aspects of a broader picture about the use of lead and not lead ammunition.

1:21.9

There's honestly way more to this topic than I expected.

1:26.2

And if you've done any research on this topic, maybe like me, you've been frustrated by it

1:32.9

because there is a lot of information and conflicting information, and a lot of information

1:39.9

is coming with a bias and an agenda behind it.

1:45.0

And as I started doing more research and noticed Jim's name on some published articles and

1:50.0

other information, I began doing research and realized that Jim has been investigating this topic

1:56.3

for quite a long time, including personally.

1:59.8

He's done his own lead testing on himself, and he is just

...

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