Lead in lost birds.

[Fishing Realtor]

If you can't find a crippled rooster -- do the lead pellets in the bird eventually kill it? I assume so, thus might hold off buying lead shells this years and just stick with duck loads...

[gspman]

Lead will get encapsulated if there is no infection. Steel will start corroding right away and will almost certainly kill a bird.

[Wanderer]

We've cleaned birds with scar impacted lead shot in them many times. It had clearly been there a while.

[brittman]

I typically grab 2 - 4 roosters a year in front of my dog's points. When she locks up and I walk by without a flush - and she still doesn't move - I look down for the rooster's tail feathers and reach down and grab the bird.

Anyway - these birds are always wounded. About 1/2 have broken wings - the other half I will find shot somewhere in the meat of the bird. These birds rarely appear sick and the shot is often encapsulated.

I disagree that steel shot will automatically kill the bird. I have cleaned many geese with steel pellets stuck in the fat layer along the breast. The pellets all looked like they had been there for years...

[BLACKJACK]

The only lead shells that I buy any more a trap loads. I hunt a lot of public areas where lead is banned so instead of swapping out shells I just shoot all 2 or 4 steel, and I've shot a lot of pheasants with steel shot. It works just fine.

[Eric Wettschreck]

My belief is that there is no type of shot that will automatically kill a bird if the shot isn't in the right spot. Steel, lead, tungston, cannon balls.....shoot em in the butt or the leg and it's not a kill, it's a cripple. It happens to all of us.

Shoot em in the lips and you have a better chance at a kill.