Umm, hmmm, wouldn't a bunch or raptors that drink water that is often contaminated by runoff from mines around towns named, for example, I don't know, lemme see, LEADVILLE, possibly have access to an aerosolized lead or a water soluble lead compound?

Like Mike said, there are a lot of different ways lead can get into a bird (or anything for that matter). Just because lead exists both in bullets and in these bird's blood isn't necessarily causative. Correlation does not mean causation. Of course, if the bullets really are acting like those researchers are saying they are, we could have a problem. Until there's actual evidence of it though, not just someone speculating, it wouldn't make any sense for a ban.

I agree with Mike, especially in Montana where pretty much anything that could be mined was mined. So the contamination of the eagles could be the result of man made folly or it could be natural. I would like to see some more research done, testing the streams for runoff contamination.
I have a hard time believing that the eagles are sick due to a few "lost" deer or elk. Has anyone tested the vulture population for lead? seems to me they would have a higher concentration than the eagles, since they primarily scavenge as opposed to eagles that prefer some of my favorite trout!

I LIKE MIKE!!! The mines of old put more crap in the ground then present day hunters.The raptors drink the tainted water,an eat the toxin laden rodents that live in the ground.just look at all them old photos in a history book.

Back in 90 while stationed at Eielson AFB Alaska, i got the opportunity to go up on a KC-135 Tanker Mission. As we flew over Alaska on the 3 hour mission, the majority of the time I was looking down thru the Boomers window getting a panoramic view of the Alaska Tundra below. I could definably see the waist water coming off Gold Mines and other Industrial sites.

Anything both Mike D. and Clay C. agree on has to be on the level. The Bald Eagle has made a GREAT comeback here in New England. People hunt here with lead bullets, but I have never heard of any Quabbin Eagles or Oxbow Eagles with lead poisoning. There is no mining here aside from gravel pits, and eagles are doing great despite gunners shooting lead shot. Lead is prohibited for some purposes but is still permitted for most shooting applications.
One thing puzzles me, I would think the LAST place firearms rights would be in danger is in Big Sky Country. Even here in Liberal Massachusetts I see no evidence for any campaign to confiscate firearms from law biding citizens. I do see evidence that anybody who hasn't been extremely law abiding is liable to have his guns confiscated, I've even heard of people who had cases long in the past having their guns taken. But they gotta have a reason...The lack of due process bothers me, but it is the same thing with the so-called terrorist watch list that has toddlers listed on it (with common Arabic names).

IMO lead poisoning is being used as a tool by the far left environmental whackos to reduce the number of hunters in the field.
Heavy amounts of lead in a low water marsh giving access to lead by ducks and other diving birds is one thing, and even then there is a good counter argument (ie) it is estimated that 3.5 MILLION ducks and geese in Canada and the USA fly off and die each year because of the poor performance of steel shot. The negatives far outweigh the positives...and now it is being pushed, and passed for upland game birds? Younger hunters, which are in decline anyway may accept it, but many older hunters give it up, and that is what the left wants.

Of all the things we (as a society, not hunters) do to pollute the environment and animals, poisoning them with lead from bullets should be the last of our worries. Just my opinion.

Every year there is a spike in the number of bald eagles brought to the raptor center at the University of MN with lead poisoning, right after the firearm deer season. That doesn't seem to be a coincidence. I personally switched to Barnes all copper bullets. Perfect perfomance, and no worries when I sit down to eat medium rare venison steaks with my three year old daughter. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Historical New York State Eagle populations have gone from 72 total nesting pairs, DEC est 1975, to 154 nesting pairs, actual count spring 2008. In 1975 Bald Eagle were extinct as a nesting species in NY. Bald eagles have therefore gone from extinct to common in a thirty three year period. The deer harvest in NY during that period was approx. 200,000 per year. I would find it almost impossible to believe that Bald Eagle populations could increase that robustly if lead contamination from ingestion of firearm killed deer was a factor in lead contamination of the birds. Something smells about this study. It is not a good smell.

Several good comments! Yes the lead could be coming from elsewhere, but I think it's every hunters responsibility to be a conservationist and environmentalist. I like to leave the woods in the same condition as I found them. And I think that means making every possible effort to retrieve fallen game, remove as much of an animal as possible, and when practical, remove the entrails.