Conservation Biology
Leland Brown attended Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and graduated with B.S in environmental biology. He has been a practicing wildlife biologist since 2007, conducting management of invasive species, and hunting conservation efforts.
As part of a partnership between the Oregon Zoo, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, and PSU, Leland joined the BER lab in 2022, researching performance of hunting ammunition in the field.
Why Research Hunting Bullet Performance?
Leland's research works with hunters to gather data on animal responses, providing real world data on bullet performance. Having worked as a wildlife biologist across diverse ecosystems, with particular focus on invasive species management, he was often looking for research to inform ammunition choice for wildlife managers and the public. Improving data on bullet performance can improve bullet selection and applied performance with implications for wildlife management programs, invasive species management, landscape conservation, and endangered species recovery programs.
Leland has been frustrated for years with the lack of field research documenting animal response to impact from different bullet types. Research on bullet performance often uses ballistic media and other surrogate materials to estimate performance. Despite a large amount of information in the popular media, there is a lack of peer-reviewed data on bullet performance in field conditions, which are critical to help understand best practices for bullet selection and use. Even within the popular media there are wide variation in opinions on bullet design and performance.
Participation in this research can help improve information on bullet performance. Wildlife managers need data to help meet animal welfare requirements for clean, ethical kills when conducting population and depredation management. Hunters will also benifit from more concrete information on bullet performance based on real world data. Good field data, from hunters, will help us better understand how different bullets with different construction work, when they may fail, and select the best bullets for intended game.
How to Participate
For additional information on this research project contact Leland:
By recording data on the tools used during a hunt, including cartridge, bullet type, and bullet weight, we can compare performance across different circumstances and impacts. We also must record species, shot distance, animal weight, and information on the internal organ damage. Animal flight distance (how far the animal runs after the first bullet impact) is used to measure time from bullet impact until incapacitation, providing a measure of effectiveness that can be used across species, shot distances, bullet types and other variables. Accurate information on each specific variables will allow us to compare performance of different bullets and evaluate performance fairly as possible.
To participate in this research, it is important that the data is recorded in the field during the hunt. These data sheets will make sure you record all the critical information while hunting. Please consider printing them before heading out on your hunt to record data while out of service.
The data can then be entered here:
Thank you for supporting research on hunting, ammunition, and performance.