Maryland should remove lead bullets from hunting

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On March 23, the Maryland House passed HB 1067 by a 91 to 42 vote, thereby taking an important step toward protecting people and non-target wildlife from plumbism — lead poisoning from bullet fragments.

The bill would phase out lead ammo for hunting all Maryland game species by July 1, 2030.

Turkey hunters would be required to use non-toxic ammo in 2026; hunters of pen-raised birds in 2028; hunters of webless migratory birds in 2029; and hunters of deer, bears, and other species in 2030.

Just two weeks remain before adjournment, so it’s urgent that state senators ratify the important public health and wildlife health measure approved by the House.

Lead bullets fragment especially when striking bone, infusing flesh with millions of pieces, many invisible even by a microscope.

Lead bioaccumulates in bodies of humans, other mammals and birds, where it’s mistaken for calcium and incorporated into bones. Lead damages nerves, including brain tissue, and degrades organs such as liver and kidneys.

Studies have found elevated blood lead levels in people who frequently consume wild game taken with lead ammo. Children suffer the most. Even low lead doses impair their neurological development, lower IQs, and cause long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits.

While nontoxic bullets (usually copper) are more expensive than lead rounds, Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, the nonprofit leading the national campaign for nontoxic ammo, puts the added cost in perspective. “Most deer hunters take an animal with a single, well-placed shot,” he explains. “ ‘One shot, one deer’ is the ethical and behavioral standard. So deer hunters use few rounds over a season. A copper round costs something like 25 cents more than a lead round. In the worst-case scenario, the added seasonal expense would be only two or three dollars.”

For hunters of birds and small mammals, the added expense for non-toxic shotgun pellets (usually steel) would be even less significant because ammo companies have been manufacturing them since 1991, when lead pellets were banned for waterfowl hunting.

For deer hunters, the minor additional cost of copper is a good investment. Ammo companies introduced copper bullets, not to prevent plumbism, but to kill big game more effectively, and they do. As the New York Department of Environmental Conservation reports, “Fortunately, today’s harder copper and other copper alloy bullets and [shotgun] slugs typically remain intact on impact, transferring more energy to the target by folding downward into ‘petals’ that greatly expand the surface area. The result is a very effective, quick, humane kill.”

Each year, hundreds of avian and mammalian scavenger species are poisoned by gut piles and lost carcasses infused with lead. Even one lead shotgun pellet will fatally poison an eagle.

In late fall and winter, bald eagles in Maryland shift from their warm-weather diet largely of fish to one largely of carrion. This shift coincides with hunting seasons, so eagles suffer increasingly from ingesting lead bullet fragments and lead shotgun pellets left in gut piles and lost carcasses, the main source of plumbism in raptors.

A USGS study found lead in the blood of 55% of Chesapeake Bay bald eagles, with adults showing significantly higher concentrations than juveniles because this nerve toxin bioaccumulates. And a 2025 legislative report in Maryland cited a major study indicating that 47% of bald eagles in the U.S. suffer from chronic lead poisoning.

Annual plumbism victims among Maryland’s 2,800 breeding bald eagles are thought to number in the hundreds. While there are no precise statistics in Maryland, the Wildlife Center of Virginia reports that 75% of bald eagles it admitted last year suffered from plumbism.

Ninety-five percent of the nation’s hunters pursuing game other than waterfowl still hunt with lead for no other reason than they’ve always done so.

With HB 1067, Maryland can set an important example for America that places the safety of humans and non-target wildlife above mindless tradition.

Ted Williams is a full-time freelance writer specializing in fish and wildlife. He serves on the Circle of Chiefs of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, and I am a lifelong hunter.