Wilted Wings

Mike McTee shot his first weapon before he could recite the alphabet. Now, understanding weapons is part of his job.
Mike's career took this trajectory after he gained a B.S. in Environmental Chemistry. Curious about potential pollution at a historic shooting range in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, he earned an M.S. in Geosciences studying the site. Strangely, the sulfur inside the trap and skeet targets posed the main threat, not the lead in the shotgun pellets. But lead contamination soon grabbed Mike's focus. Each winter at MPG Ranch, where Mike worked, biologists caught eagles suffering from alarming levels of lead exposure. Mike soon initiated studies on scavenger ecology and began investigating the wound ballistics of rifle bullets, the suspected source of lead. His research has appeared in numerous wildlife and environmental journals.
Mike often connects with the public through his writings and speaking engagements, whether it be to a local group of hunters or a gymnasium full of middle schoolers. He frequently writes about the outdoors, with credits to The FlyFish Journal, Backcountry Journal, Strung, and Bugle. He lives with his family in Missoula, MT.

Table of Contents


Prologue
1 - Delayed Ignition
2 - Capture
3 - Before Unleaded Gas
4 - Lead Shot, Dead Ducks, and Poisoned Eagles to the Rescue
5 - Bring Me a Carcass, Hold the Poison
6 - The Copper Option
7 - Small Game, Big Exposure
8 - Legislate or Educate?
9 - American Eagle
10 - An Eagle's Value (in Tugrik)
11 - Hunters as Allies
12 - Release
Epilogue
Switching to Nonlead Ammunition
Bibliography