non-toxic ammunition

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An eagle wants to know: Why are we still shooting and fishing lead?

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Last week's issue of the Wisconsin Outdoor News (WON) has a story some Madison Audubon volunteers have been following with great concern. An adult Bald Eagle in distress was found near Barneveld and is now receiving care at the Dane County Humane Society. As I write this, his prognosis is guarded.

He has been diagnosed with lead poisoning. He has shotgun pellets from an old injury and has also probably eaten lead fragments as he scavenged the remains of deer shot by hunters.

Madison Audubon’s Bald Eagle Nest Watch volunteers have been monitoring an active bald eagle's nest in that area for a couple of years. It's possible this eagle was one of a nesting pair at some point. The nest is still active with a pair of eagles.

This eagle has every right to wonder: is this any way to treat your national symbol and a magnificent bird? No, and it needs to stop.

Photo by Monica Hall

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Big change to DNR/Conservation Congress hearings

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One of the venerable traditions in Wisconsin's conservation activity is the spring hearing conducted in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties by the DNR and the Conservation Congress. Its agenda includes in-person discussions and votes on changes to DNR's fishing, hunting, and trapping regulations and environmental policy and the election of county delegates to the Conservation Congress.

But COVID-19 has brought a huge change to the hearing. In the announcement you see here, the DNR has suspended the in-person portion of the hearings. They will be conducted entirely online. The announcement instructs how each of us can participate.

Photo courtesy of Forest Historical Society, FCC