Ask Fish and Game: Legal Shot

Q. What kinds of shot are legal for waterfowl hunting? Is lead shot still legal for any kind of waterfowl? A. Lead shot is illegal for all waterfowl hunting, including ducks, mergansers, geese and coots. Hunters may not hunt waterfowl while in possession of shot other than nontoxic shot approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The shot must be 0.2 inches - T size - or smaller. Only steel shot or steel shot with coating of less than 1 percent of copper, nickel, zinc chromate or zinc chloride; or shot made from bismuth-tin, tungsten-iron, tungsten-polymer, tungsten-matrix, tungsten-nickel-iron, tungsten-iron-nickel-tin, tungsten-tin-bismuth, tungsten-tin-iron, tungsten-iron-copper-nickel, or tungsten-bronze, is on the list of approved nontoxic shot.