A Safer Shot: How Copper Ammunition Can Help Protect Alaska’s Birds

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Copper may be out where the U.S. Mint is concerned, but it is very much in with hunters who are also interested in bird conservation. Because when copper is made into ammunition, it can save the lives of eagles, ravens, and other scavenger species.

Each fall in Alaska, as moose, caribou, deer, and other game move across its landscapes, hunters and subsistence users head out to harvest food that will last through the winter. But birds, scavenger species like Bald and Golden eagles and Common Ravens, also take notice. They are drawn not to the hunt itself, but to what is left behind—gut piles.

When hunters field dress their harvest, nutrient-rich remains are left in the field and are an important food source for birds. However, there is a hidden danger within that resource. A typical bullet can scatter tiny fragments of lead ammunition throughout an animal’s tissues. Even very small amounts of lead (think the size of a grain of rice) are a potent neurotoxin that can cause illness or death to feeding birds.

What makes this issue especially challenging is that it stems from a deeply rooted practice. Game hunting in Alaska is not only a tradition but a critical source of food for many Alaska Native villages and rural Alaska communities. Addressing lead exposure, then, requires solutions that mix realities like the availability and higher cost of copper ammo with reducing harm to wildlife.

The goal would be a voluntary adjustment: Alternative ammunition, like copper bullets, is nontoxic to wildlife. If hunters make the switch, birds could be saved. Here’s how.

For Ben Sullender, Audubon Alaska’s Director of Geospatial Science, that choice has already become routine. “I usually go for large mammals rather than small game, but I make sure that my whole hunting group uses copper ammo,” he says. “It’s pretty straightforward—lead at the range, copper in the field.”

Lead and Birds

Leland Brown, Program Manager of Lead-free Hunting Oregon and Co-Founder of the North American Lead-Free Partnership, explains how this happens in the field. “When a bullet strikes a deer or a moose or any other species we ask our bullets to expand so that they’ll kill the animal as efficiently as possible so it doesn’t suffer,” he says. “A lead bullet, as it expands, exposes the soft lead. It has to be soft to expand, but that also means it’s soft enough to erode as it’s passing through the dense muscle tissue and everything else.”

Sullender says that understanding how lead bullets behave after impact changed the way he hunts.

“I’m not a ballistics expert, but my understanding is that lead bullets are designed to deform, mushroom-style, to help make sure that the animal you aimed at goes down,” he says. “Part of that deformation means that the bullet degrades and somewhat disintegrates after impact.”

He points to research on moose hunters that found retrieved lead bullets were missing about 20% of their mass. “Missing lead doesn’t just magically disappear; it circulates around the animal and spreads a surprising distance away from the entry wound—that same study mentioned X-rays finding lead fragments over a foot away from the wound.”

The next step for hunters is to field dress the game. “We remove all the internal organs, and we leave the remains there,” Brown says, “and those are great sources of food for all sorts of scavenging species.”

But for birds, that’s a quick meal that can turn deadly if lead is present. “They’ll just be taking these big rips of meat out of the organs,” Brown says. “When you’re talking about 20 or 30% of a bullet, or even up to 50% depending on bullet design, they can be consuming a fair amount of lead very quickly. And you can have multiple animals on that same carcass at the same time feeding.”

Once lead fragments are ingested by birds and other wildlife, it enters the bloodstream and moves on to affect the nervous system, digestion, and mobility. Birds suffering from lead poisoning may appear weak, disoriented, or unable to fly. The chemistry of a bird’s body makes the problem worse. “Their digestive tracts tend to be very acidic,” Brown says, which helps the lead be absorbed quickly into their systems.

And the concern isn’t limited to wildlife. Because lead fragments can spread well beyond the bullet’s path, hunters may also unknowingly leave contaminated meat in their harvest. “So if you use lead, you’d need to throw out a ton of meat to protect yourself, your family, and any friends you’re planning to share your harvest with,” Sullender says.

In many cases, these birds do not recover. Raptors like bald and golden eagles are particularly vulnerable because they rely heavily on carrion, or carcass remains, especially in late fall and early winter. Studies have shown that lead levels in these birds often spike during hunting season from increased exposure.

The ripple effects extend beyond individual birds. Scavengers play a vital role in Alaska’s ecosystems, helping to recycle nutrients and prevent the spread of disease. Protecting them strengthens the health of the broader landscape. And a healthy landscape leads to better hunting. So how can hunters help?

“Research shows chronic lead poisoning is affecting eagle populations in Alaska,” says Arin Underwood of the TED Program at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). “Switching to copper ammo can reduce the amount of lead getting into the environment, which is especially important for scenarios where scavengers like eagles might consume it.”

Copper, It’s Just as Good

Unlike lead bullets, copper rounds are designed to stay intact. When they strike an animal, they expand in a controlled way, often described as “flowering,” rather than fragmenting into dozens of pieces. This creates an effective wound channel for a quick, humane kill while leaving behind little to no toxic residue.

Brown emphasizes that performance is not sacrificed. “There’s no such thing as a perfect bullet,” he says. But, copper bullets, he says, are extraordinarily consistent. Plus, “when we look at data around performance in the field, we don’t see any difference between how far animals are running, necessarily, with one type of bullet versus another.”

Mary Glaves, Chapter Coordinator for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, has been working with Brown and the North American Lead-Free Partnership on outreach for the Alaska Copper Ammo Challenge, a program aimed at encouraging hunters to make the switch. The program offers Alaskan hunters a rebate of up to $80 on the purchase of two boxes of copper rifle ammunition (eligible participants must hold a valid Alaskan hunting license and have an Alaskan mailing address). Partners include the ADF&G and the Alaska Falconers Association.

Now, that flowering effect? Glaves has put it to the test.

In February 2024, she conducted ballistic gel tests at the Hank Harmon Rifle Range in Juneau. There’s even a whole blog about it. She tested copper and lead ammunition in two .270 rounds (140g Nosler Accubond and 130g Barnes TTSX) and two 30-06 rounds (Federal Powershot 150g and Copper Impact 150g).

“Seeing is believing,” Glaves says.

At the range, she used ballistic gel cinched down on a level surface. “Gel is meant to mimic shooting into an animal … it’s muscle and tissue and meat,” she says. She put a box filled with old magazines behind the gel brick to catch the bullet for further examination. After firing, she then extracted and reviewed the bullet’s mushroom pattern and weight retention.  (this is great)

“The lead bullet is kind of smooshed, and there’s pieces missing, but the copper bullet, it opens up like a flower petal,” she says, meaning it leaves behind fewer fragments. “That actually leaves a bigger hole, a bare wound channel, causing more bleeding, causing the animal to die more quickly and not leave lead behind.”

Many hunters, Glaves says, simply haven’t considered what happens after the shot. So, these demonstrations are crucial, “so people can get an idea of what they might be leaving behind in their gut piles.”

But there are still holdouts who may be under the misconception [EA1] that copper ammunition is less effective than lead. Glaves is direct on that point: “That’s just simply not true,” she says. “It’s just as effective.”

The Challenges of the Copper Challenge

Here’s another challenge many Alaskans are familiar with: availability. Finding copper ammunition has been a barrier, particularly in remote areas of Alaska. But that, too, is changing as demand grows. Glaves says it’s getting better as trying copper becomes more popular.

“I actually found copper for my [.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire], which I’ve never seen before,” she says. “That was a very easy transition, and I am excitedly waiting to kill a grouse with it so that I can see how it performs.”

Glaves hopes to see shifts like this become normalized. “I would just love to see more copper ammo in stores. I would love to hear people talking about it more,” she says.

Cost is another issue. 

“A lot of people from outside of the [hunting] community will say, ‘Oh, this is super easy, right? You just switch.’ But it’s not actually that simple,” Brown says. He explains that hunters must find ammunition that works well in their specific rifles, locate it in stores, and sometimes replace stockpiled lead rounds. “That’s a real cost barrier for people,” he says.

Copper bullets are generally about 30% to 65% more expensive than lead on average. That often works out to about $1.50 to $8 more per box, which is 20 rounds. In Alaska, you’re probably paying few dollars more, perhaps up to $10 more, per box.

Sullender acknowledges the higher cost but believes it’s small in the context of a successful hunt. “Yes, copper’s much more expensive,” he says, “but you should only need one shot if you’re doing it right.”

This is also why the Alaska Copper Ammo Challenge offers rebates to offset the higher cost of copper ammunition. Glaves says she wants to stress that making the switch is a challenge and may not be immediately economically feasible for all.

“It’s not easy, especially if you use different rifles for different things, to get all of your stuff switched over,” Glaves says. “And then you’ve got all this lead ammo, and it’s like, what are you going to do with that?”

But recognizing these challenges and offering support versus judgment is key to the program’s success. 

“We’re asking for help,” Brown says. “We’re not telling people what they have to do.”

A Hunter-Led Solution

For many hunters, the shift to copper is not immediate. Instead, awareness is often the first step.

“For a long time, we just didn’t know about this,” Brown says. “It’s not something we thought about. We thought about bullet performance, we talked about weight retention, but we almost never talked about weight loss and where that ended up. I think that’s what the difference is. Now we’re starting to think about both sides of that equation and how we as hunters can make choices that address a new piece of information that we didn’t have 20 or 30 years ago.”

Efforts like the Alaska Copper Ammo Challenge are built around a simple idea: Give hunters the information and tools they need to make their own decisions. In areas where voluntary programs have taken hold, participation rates can be high, upward of 75 to 90%, Brown says. But the key word is voluntary.

“What we’re asking is for hunters to make decisions as they’re going into the field that are going to be good for them, and getting good ammunition that’s going to work really well and good for everything else in the landscape.”

There’s a peer-to-peer approach to this critical. Across Alaska, Glaves confirms that discussions are happening at outdoor shows, in hunting camps, and within hunting communities.

“Hunters talk to hunters. We trust each other as hunters,” Brown says, and this especially applies to the benefits of copper ammunition to the landscape. “That message, that communication, has to come from one to another.”

Programs like the Alaska Copper Ammo Challenge are also helping connect the dots between what happens in the field and what happens afterward—for birds, ecosystems, and future generations. Because this issue is just as much about stewardship. Brown says hunters care deeply about healthy habitats and bird populations, because they spend a significant amount of their time out on the landscape. And proof comes in the form of hunters often taking action in the form of advocacy, funding conservation efforts, participating in cleanups, and taking on the tax for licenses and firearm supplies. Copper ammunition can be yet another opportunity to be good stewards.

“I want to see hunters lead on this,” Brown says, “and have it be yet another conservation win for the hunting community.”