This is becoming all too common with the general shooting public.

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	trash.jpg (162.9 KB, 459 views)
	trash2.jpg (125.6 KB, 378 views)

But...did the shooters haul the junk out there, or was it already there, dumped by someone else?

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Misty

Looks like one of the current illegal alien access routes.

And +1 on the which came first the trash or the target.

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Pete.

Most of the time it's both, but even if it's trash left (illegally?) by someone else, it still makes shooters look bad.

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Insert short witty words here

Yep, makes shooters look bad no matter who left it. This spot in West Texas by any chance?

I do agree dumping illegally is wrong, but...

I don't think Illegals lug propane tanks and Microwaves around. Might want to think about the idiotic statement you made.

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Sigma 9mm/XD 9

We ride our quad all over here in sw utah. Wherever I ride I see blue light budweiser beer cans. So many I am thinking of switching my 401K stock into budweiser! The other day while rideing we found a gravel pit about a mile from our house I had never found before. Old busted glass and empty shotshells all over. 5 minuets later I got my first flat ever on the quad! Oh well! My wife fixed the flat while I read her the directions on that tire repair kit.
It is discussing! These idiots that shoot up stop and caution signs make it bad on all shooters, hunters and trail riders.

Here in Spokane we have a local gun trader forum and as a group we get together every couple of months and clean up the trash left by other shooters on public lands. We will scout the various areas and then have a vote to pick the next place to clean.

DNR has said they will start shutting down these ranges if they need to.

In the 4 cleanups we have had this year we have pulled out nearly 8,000 lbs of trash from the ranges.

We will combine the cleanup with a BBQ and then the real fun starts, the parade of guns and shooting.

This is the garbage from one of the cleanups we did.



And the fun afterwards.



bob

Bob R you're alright in my book..

If I bring something into the woods or back contry it comes back with me except for a little lead of course.

Very nice portable range set up. Gives me some good ideas. Thanks for the post and the reminder to hold ourselves to a better standard.

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Endeavor to persevere. <><

Please don't accuse others of making idiotic statements when they are simply voicing an opinion. it just detracts from the friendly spirit of the forum.

Which came first; the junk or the shooters? I don't know. If the shooters found the junk there and shot it, they should haul the mess away. It's OK to leave the place better than you found it. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem; I'm thinking.

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too TOO young!!

IMHO: The junk probably preceded the first shooters. Lots of bozos just head up into the hills to dump their washers, water heaters etc., as they are to stupid, lazy and/or cheap to properly dispose of this junk. Along come inexperienced shooters lacking in proper targets, probably carrying a bunch of bottle or cans and the fun and the mess begins. Many areas have been and will be closed to shooting just because of this type of nonsense.

Shooters that know what they are doing have proper targets/stands and know how to safely use them. I have a nice spot on the back side of Mt Lemon, six miles down a dirt road. It is not fenced or posted and the nearest structure is 2 miles away. Anytime there is a vehicle in sight back up on the road we cease fire until they are gone. No bullet riddled appliances...yet but we always take a couple of big trash bags with us when we go and police the area taking anything we brought in along with any other trash left by others. We don't shoot anything glass and I wish others would do the same.

A guy I know goes to an area like that about 20 miles north of here. One time he was shooting at an old bathtub stood on end and couldn't figure out why he was hearing a zip sounding echo. Until he checked his target and saw the lead line traced around the tub and realized that his rounds were making a return trip back to him. Almost a Darwin award winner.

Another time he was blasting away at an old dishwasher. Went to check it out and opened the door...to find out that the hornets which had a nest in it were not very happy about being his target.

This is really an intelligent guy. Just made poor choices of his targets.

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Now That's Bullet Maintenance!

Down here in the boonies, we don't really have to find a place to shoot as they are all around us. I don't remember the last time I shot an appliance.
I do hate trashed out public places, like the banks of our beautiful Ozark National Scenic Riverways. My son and I have went to the river to fish before, and wound up actually spending more time picking up beer bottles,(I hate glass bottles), than we spent fishin'. One time a conservation agent was about to jump our case for having glass bottles in the boat. He finally noticed that they were old and mossy and muddy and full of ****. He didn't thank us though, but I don't really care.
That **** of shooting road signs is a thorn in my side. How stupid can one get? That kind of stuff really hurts our impression as shooters.
I am just so lucky that I live where I do. I feel for shooters that have to go to a designated shooting area or a range, although a range does sound pretty cool, what with the targets and all.
Peace,
gordon

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better have that checked

PA has some very nice public ranges. They are supported by hunting license fees and they (we) just spent a ton of money sprucing them up a couple of years ago. Then people come in and shoot the backstops up with who-knows-what and leave the place a mess.

So PA is mulling over requiring anyone using a PA shooting range to have a either valid hunting license or a range permit to help pay for the maintenance. And hopefully the fund will also support an RSO at some of the more popular ranges here in the northeast corner. Is a PA shooting range permit really needed? | CONSERVATION...UNCENSORED

Barb C said - PA has some very nice public ranges. They are supported by hunting license fees and they (we) just spent a ton of money sprucing them up a couple of years ago. Then people come in and shoot the backstops up with who-knows-what and leave the place a mess.

So PA is mulling over requiring anyone using a PA shooting range to have a either valid hunting license or a range permit to help pay for the maintenance. And hopefully the fund will also support an RSO at some of the more popular ranges here in the northeast corner. Is a PA shooting range permit really needed? | CONSERVATION...UNCENSORED


BArb - Was talking to a Game Commission officer at the range the other day and that licsense thing is all bbut set in stone. A matter of time. I think it's a good thing as there have been too many yahoo's there lately.

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Lost in Penn's Woods

Looks like Pond Creek Run on the west side of Portsmouth (Ohio).

I work as a microwave radio tech. and these pictures were taken in a remote federal park group camping area. I have been going to his radio site for over 30 years and don't think all this junk was brought in by people using this area as a dump site, I think it was brought in by shooters. This in the Spring Mtn. range on Lovell canyon road a good 50 miles from Las Vegas. The Park maintenance people do clean this up but it doesn't stay clean long. I try to pick some of the junk up but don't have much room in my work truck.

I whole heartedly agree, that no matter who dumped the junk, it makes shooters look bad. And yes, they should haul the stuff away. But how many other people have run across all that junk and left it? Just because it's been shot full of holes doesn't mean the shooters are any more inconsiderate than everyone else who has seen the junk and done nothing about it. Unfortunately it's a common sight. Garbage bags, household junk, cans and bottles, you name it, can be seen along roads and everywhere else. Litter is a pet peeve of mine. I get all kinds of trash in my yard from people driving down the street and throwing everything from fast food trash to sacks of beer cans out their windows. I'll often go out with gloves and a garbage bag and clean the trash up along our street. But when I find beer cans, I don't blame everyone who drinks beer. Anyone and everyone who has seen all that junk in your picture and has gone on and left it is just as guilty as the people who shot holes in it. Unfortunately, it's the shooters who take the rap for it.

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Misty

This sort of boorish behavior by shooters has led to an ever-expanding ring of federal land surrounding metro Phoenix to be closed to "recreational" shooters. Yes, some of this junk may have been illegally dumped, but once it's shot up, shooters take the blame, and probably deserve it, for not cleaning up after themselves. Until fairly recently, on weekends, "the hills were alive, with the sound of Tannerite" but not so much of late, as plinkers have been driven farther and farther away. They are still trashing the desert, just driving farther out to do it.

Not to defend these people, but a lot of this junk would not show up in places like this if we hadn't gone off the environmental deep end and made it so damned hard to get rid of things that are now deemed to be hazardous, which is practically EVERYTHING now.

It all ends up in the same landfill, at least around here. Strange how it becomes acceptable for the landfill after you pay some more money.

I long for the pre-EPA days when every little town had its own dump. Lots and lots of targets of opportunity there.

When I lived in Montana our club lost a couple of shooting areas because morons kept dumping more trash than we could hall off. The land owners and members of the club talked to the Sheriff on a couple occasions trying to get them to do something. Lack of man power was the usual response.

What we wanted and thought was a good idea, but what do we know, was to have cameras set out or even a deputy watching the area from a ways off and ticketing the offenders. We figured a few $1000 tickets for littering and dumping hazardous waste and the non sense would come to a screaching halt. Under the public announcments section of the paper post name and address of the litterer so everyone would know who the slobs were.

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Mike
USMCR 84-87, USAF 87-07

Sadly I must agree that this is the work of local shooters. The Lovell Canyon area is getting worked hard since they extended the Clark County no shooting zones AGAIN. The desert areas around any population center in this state suffer similarly. I once had to make a large detour while coming out of the Ash Springs Preserve because the dry lake I intended to cross was actually a small inland sea. My passenger was from England and not used to desert travel. As it was getting dark I reassured him that we were heading towards a main road as we were actually surrounded by them. He replied, "No problem. I can see by the increasing amounts of trash and empty shotgun shells that you are getting nearer 'civilisation', unfortunately."