Nez Perce Wildlife Division Shooting Demo
Hannah (middle, blue shirt) poses with Nez Perce shooting demonstration participants.
The Nez Perce Tribe’s Wildlife Division works to restore, perpetuate, enhance, and manage the wildlife and rare plant resources of significance to the Nimiipuu. The Nez Perce Tribe initiated a hunting stewardship program in 2016 to increase awareness of the impacts of spent lead ammunition on non-game wildlife and the variety of benefits that tribal hunters can bring to their community by voluntarily switching to non-lead ammunition. As part of their hunting stewardship program, Conservation Biologist David Moen invited Sporting Lead-Free to host a shooting demonstration during their lead-free shooting competition.
Tribal members saw first-hand how lead bullets fragment vs. how lead-free bullets expand and stay together. Most participants were familiar with lead vs. lead-free ammunition but had not seen it shot into water tanks to see the fragmentation.
Hannah (bottom left) shows participants the lead fragments strained from the shooting barrel.
"Hunt in a good way - tamaa’lwit tuke’lii’kin. This ancient phrase means ensuring what we do to take care of our family’s health also sustains and heals Mother Earth. This is what being an hapáti’s is about, being a hunter-provider aligned with natural law to protect future generations."
After the shooting demonstration, Tribal members took to the range to test their skills in a shooting competition with new binoculars as the grand prize. Each participant was also each given a box of lead-free ammunition to use this hunting season.
Tribal members try their luck for a win during the shooting competition.
This was a great outreach event to build a partnership with the Nez Perce Tribe and their members. As subsistence hunters, it is important to Tribal members to provide themselves and their families with the cleanest meat.
Learn more about what the Nimiipuu are doing to get the lead out and watch a short film by visiting: www.nezpercewildlife.org/get-the-lead-out
