The way I see it, making New Year’s resolutions is like fishing with frayed leader: both will be broken in short order. But in keeping with the spirit of starting a new calendar, and especially because the 2002 waterfowl season was very gratifying for me – not in terms of the number of ducks shot, but, more important, because they were killed quickly and cleanly – I was able to make a resolution that won’t be broken: From here on, the chambers of my duck guns will hold only Hevi-Shot shells.

In a word, the nontoxic, heavier-than-lead loads are a godsend to hunters who sign their names to duck stamps – and who have cursed the inadequacies of lighter-than-lead, nontoxic steel shot that became mandatory for hunting waterfowl in 1991. You may recall that the conservation measure was implemented when it was determined that an alarming number of waterfowl and bald eagles were dying from lead poisoning. Allowing that the culprit was lead shot fired by hunters, the waterfowl-eagle correlation was clear: Ducks and geese were contracting lead poisoning after being crippled by hunters or by ingesting spent lead shot while feeding in fields and on the bottoms of aquatic habitats. In turn, eagles consumed the toxic pellets present in the flesh or gizzards of captured waterfowl.

Granted, the steel-shot regulation was a boon to eagles but, unfortunately, it was a bane to waterfowl. Simply put, because of steel shot’s lighter-than-lead density, it lacked the punching power required to put ducks and geese down for the count, so to speak.

Consequently, disturbed by the numbers of ducks and geese flying and swimming away wounded – providing easy pickings for predators – hunter demands for a hard-hitting, nontoxic alternative to lead shot reached magnum proportions. Accordingly, several such loads were developed by shot shell manufacturers. However, after using most of them, I’m of the opinion that Hevi-Shot is the most significant development in waterfowl hunting since an innovative market hunter named Fred Kimble came up with the idea of choke-bored barrels that would control shot patterns.

Specifically, Hevi-Shot, a product of Environ-Metal Inc., of Sweet Home, Ore., is an alloy of 50 percent tungsten, 35 percent nickel, and 15 percent iron. Owing to its weight – 10 percent heavier than lead and 54 percent heavier than steel – Hevi-Shot hits like a heavyweight fighter and has the speed of a middleweight. Admittedly, I have about as much knowledge of shot-shell ballistics as I do of brain surgery, but for whatever it’s worth, I can say that Hevi-Shot outperformed all of the other nontoxic loads that I used.

Actually, I fired my first round of Hevi-Shot in the fall of 2001. Galen Ruhlin of Gouldsboro, a longtime friend and hunting and fishing partner who at times guides sea-duck hunters, handed me three 12-gauge, 3-inch magnum loads of No. 4 Hevi-Shot saying, “Try these and see what you think.” While sea-duck hunting shortly thereafter, I dropped a drake eider with each of the shells – and all three ducks were dead in the air. Let’s just say my exclaimed reaction was somewhat more spirited than, “Holy mackerel!”

On arriving home I wasted no time in phoning Galen to recount the experience and, naturally, to ask where he got the shells. It turned out that a hunter he guided gave him a box of Hevi-Shot. “How’d you like to have had that stuff when we were gunning geese down on the eastern shore of Maryland?” Galen quipped. Thinking aloud I replied, “It’s probably a good thing we didn’t. But you can bet I’ll have it from here on.”

Hevi-Shot loads produced by Remington – the company purchased the shot and the name from Environ-Metal – became available to hunters in 2002. Nevertheless, I’ll stick to ordering mine from Environ-Metal via Alexander Graham Bell’s brainchild: 541-367-3522, or on line: www.hevishot.com.

Hereabouts, I’d say it’s a toss-up as to who sings the praises of Hevi-Shot the loudest, goose hunters or sea-duck hunters. Canada geese and eider ducks are, of course, protected by tight feathering and thick down that are notorious for shedding and absorbing shot. But not Hevi-Shot. And how sweet it is to watch a big Canada fold up and fall instead of setting its wings and wobbling away after being hit with steel shot.

Equally disturbing is watching eiders escape by diving and swimming underwater. Make no mistake about it, an eider can swim like a seal and the big ducks are also adept at swimming off with only their bills breaking the surface like a snorkel. If there’s any sea running, even a slight chop, it’s impossible to detect the wrinkle of wake. Ask a sea-duck guide how much time he spends chasing eiders crippled by steel shot. Then ask him what he thinks of Hevi-Shot.

Because a steel shot pellet weighs about 30 percent less than a lead shot pellet of equivalent size, hunters using steel loads are advised to use larger shot sizes. Therefore, duck hunters who used No. 4 shot in lead loads switched to No. 2 in steel. Accordingly, goose hunters switched from No. 2 lead loads to BBs and larger in steel. But because of Hevi-Shot’s weight and density, hunters are advised to use it in smaller shot sizes than they used with lead shot: Hence, 6’s instead of 4’s for ducks; 4’s instead of 2’s for geese.

Ordered from Environ-Metal, the current cost of a box of Hevi-Shot containing 10 rounds of 12-gauge, 3-inch magnum 4’s is $16.99. If that seems steep, look at it this way: You’ll fire substantially more steel-shot loads per duck bagged than you would if you were using Hevi-Shot. Do the arithmetic and you’ll see that you’re really not saving a heck of a lot by sticking with steel, but you’re probably losing in terms of profit.

So it was that my son, Jeff, and I ordered a supply of Hevi-Shot for the 2002 waterfowl season. And there’s no question that we got what we paid for: On opening day, two drake wood ducks swung over our decoys shortly after legal shooting time. Both ducks folded and fell as the reports of our shotguns rolled across the river and into the hills. “That’s more like it,” said Jeff as his young chocolate Lab, Kody, towed a wake toward the “woodies,” one floating feet up, the other face down, both inert.

So it went throughout the season as we swung and fired at geese, black ducks, mallards, wood ducks, whistlers, ringnecks, scaup, sea-ducks, and a few hooded mergansers. Thanks in large part to Hevi-Shot, Kody has fetched 36 duck dinners to date, and with the sea-duck season still open, that number is sure to increase. It’s worth mentioning that, because hooded mergansers frequently feed on vegetation, the “fish-with-feathers” stigma associated with the American and red-breasted mergansers, primarily fish eaters, doesn’t apply to the edible “hoodies.”

If there’s a downside to Hevi-Shot, it has to be that it’s long-range efficiency will induce hunters to shoot at ducks and geese that are beyond their shotgunning abilities. And that results in wounding and crippling. Let’s face it, hunters who can consistently drop ducks and geese at 50 yards or more are few and far between. It’s also somewhat disappointing that because Hevi-Shot is so hard – harder than steel shot, actually – it should not be used in older shotguns, which means I can’t run it through the barrels of my L.C. Smith. But what the heck, you can’t have everything.

Undoubtedly, someone reading this column will assume that Environ-Metal sent me a complimentary case of Hevi-Shot. That, of course, is ludicrous. Furthermore, to ensure that I wasn’t stepping out of bounds with regard to advertising restrictions and journalistic ethics before writing this column I discussed it with Sports desk editor Joe McLaughlin. His judgment was, “As long as you’re writing about personal experience and observation, there’s no problem.”

In summary, considering that Hevi-Shot is such an outstanding development in nontoxic shot shells, it deserves a full-choke charge of publicity. The shot’s worth in conserving precious wildlife resources and in preserving the grand tradition of waterfowl hunting cannot be overstated. Additionally, it has afforded me the opportunity to make a New Year’s resolution that won’t be broken.

Have a happy and healthy New Year.

Tom Hennessey’s columns and artwork can be accessed on the BDN Internet page at www.bangornews.com. Tom’s e-mail address is: thennessey@bangordailynews.net