How we lose our ranges (with pictures)

[The Swede]

esmith get a clue, YOU are the problem.

 

[Auburn1992]

This is why my public range (Prentice Cooper in TN) does not allow any thing aside from targets that you can hang up on there shooting stands. basically if you could tape it or staple it to there shootings boards, you can shoot it; if not, then no shooting. The only rule I don't get is why they don't allow shotguns...

 

[R.W.Dale]

One of the two state ranges i go to prohibit the shooting of junk. Its not that messy, with the exception of casings and shotgun wads everywhere. I can still go there for free.

It's not a matter of IF your range gets trashed up it's a matter of WHEN. The real question is what will YOU do when you find a shot to pieces toilet on the berm at your pet range

prohibit the shooting of junk

I might be wrong but the last time I checked dumping garbage and littering public property is pretty much illegal EVERYWHERE not just at your favorite backwoods shooting range

This is why my public range (Prentice Cooper in TN) does not allow any thing aside from targets that you can hang up on there shooting stands.

The range where I shoot has pretty much the same rule but even there you'd be surprised how many are too lazy to even pull their own targets when finished. Sometimes I swear I've pulled a 1/2" worth of targets from one board.

 

[Hk91-762mm]

Im a Yankee from NYstinking state -I moved to SC where there were 3 public shooting ranges [built with sc tax money] On the Sumter nat. forest.
I too saw the trash and shot up trash containers. One day I was shooting with another relocated Person from the commie north and we just shook our heads over what the local fools Fail to take care of ---What a Gift they have .
In the north the ANTI's stop all funding for any shooting sports.
After shooting we took boxes and bags and picked up the place for 15 min .
But On a pleasant note -I picked up 300 Lbs of brass over a year 200 is reloadable the rest i sold for scrap
If the place you shoot is becoming a place to dump trash -I suggest you get some guys togeather and [stake out ] the place ! Catch the perps red handes with a digital camara and call the cops on your cell ph ! Post there pic at the range with a note YOU are watched =DONT DUMP! Only if we enforce the rules will the dumping stop -The cops and EN-con Officers have too little time to chase dumpers-And there is little profit motovation

 

[fireflyfather]

hk91: If you do that long enough, someone is going to get shot, particularly if the people you photograph are drinking while they shoot. It shouldn't be that way, but confronting idiots with loaded guns isn't a great idea, in my mind.

ERSMITH: So, forbidding people from shooting junk means that they never do it? Who's enforcing it? When they do eventually shoot junk there and leave it, what will the enforcement be? Closure? Think it through. Murder is illegal. Still happens, doesn't it? Using guns in the commission of violent crime is illegal, isn't it? Don't the anti's use that to try and punish innocent gun owners along with the few guilty? What makes you think that the FS or BLM people won't punish the innocent along with the guilty? It's a HELL of a lot easier for them that way. Get a clue, or better yet, a trash bag. You say you have time to shoot, but not clean up a bag's worth of trash when you're done? Please. That's about the lamest lazy excuse I've heard in a long while. Stop making excuses and pick up some trash, otherwise you're a BIG part of the problem.

 

[orienteeer]

most NY state parks have adopted a simple rule, which i follow everywhere i go, including the secret spot where i shoot: CARRY IT IN, CARRY IT OUT.

 

[esmith]

esmith get a clue, YOU are the problem.

Why? Because i don't spend countless hours cleaning up someone else's mess? I clean up the stuff i shoot. So you are saying because i don't clean up the mess (that i didn't make by the way) than i may as well make the mess. That makes absolutely no sense. Thats almost like saying because i know murder happens and i don't go out to stop murderers from killing people than i am as bad as the people killing innocent lives. You sir, are a moron. Get a glass stomach.

It's not a matter of IF your range gets trashed up it's a matter of WHEN. The real question is what will YOU do when you find a shot to pieces toilet on the berm at your pet range

Well, it hasn't happened yet at my range. And if it does, then i will start to get seriously worried about it. I still think people should clean up after themselves. You people think that i believe its okay to make a giant garbage pile and not clean it up. You think im an a-hole because i don't clean up what minute mess there is (again, keep in mind not MY mess) at one of the few ranges i attend.

I think its great what you are doing by raising awareness. If you clean up your ranges you should feel better as you are helping not only yourselves but the sport as a whole. But, seeing as I shoot maybe once or twice a month I don't find it worth the effort to clean up the rather small amount of garbage accumulating on one of the ranges i go to which, by the way, does not threaten to shut down.

You obviously have such a problem with dumping that it becomes so bad the range needs to close. I do not.

 

[plexreticle]

Thanks you for picking up other peoples trash. I try to keep the range nicer when I leave then when i get there. I wish everybody did.

 

[Bartkowski]

esmith get a clue, YOU are the problem.

Oh yes, he is the problem not the ones making the mess. By that logic, you are the reason illegal drugs make it in the USA, you are the reason there is genocide, you are the reason gas is so expensive.

esmith may not be part of the solution to cleaning up everyones mess, but certainly isn't the problem. Hopefully you will understand.

Now lets wait for a lock.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Well, it hasn't happened yet at my range. And if it does, then i will start to get seriously worried about it.

WOW! don't put yourself out there buddy.

 

[lysander]

I'd go out on a limb and say that people that haul water heaters and toilets to the range to shoot probably don't vote often. Could be wrong.

Oh you are probably right...so it might be more appropriate to ask, how many identify with the party of personal responsibility?

That aside, there are certain base rules that everybody should follow..i.e.:

1) Pack in what you pack out.
2) Clean up your own mess.

...this is, of course, the bare minimum. It wouldn't hurt to go a step further and clean up a bit of someone else's mess as well. If we all did that, things would be golden.

 

[esmith]

WOW! don't put yourself out there buddy.

Okay sorry everyone. SORRY. Im sorry i didn't clean up other's mess for 20 minutes after shooting. Sorry i don't always have time to clean some other jerks mess. But appearently, if i have time to shoot i have time to clean up another's mess. So i should cut down time i could be shooting to clean someones mess up, WHICH, btw, is very little. Krochus, next time i shoot, ill clean up every square inch of my range for you, just YOU. Then ill take pictures of it and send them to you to make you feel better about yourself, cause appearently, im the problem.

 

[coloradokevin]

Well, certainly I didn't bring up this topic to create argument among ourselves. But, it is quite obvious that we deal with a different set of problems in different parts of the country.

For Colorado, this is a major issue, and a huge threat to FREE shooting areas on our National Forest land. I grew up in OH, and despite having more ranges nearby in that state, the National Forest did not allow target shooting back there.

I feel fortunate to have the ability to shoot on my own in the millions of acres of USFS land in this state, but I know that it won't last forever at the rate we are going.

Esmith,

I can appreciate what you are trying to say... You shouldn't have to be responsible for the pigs who don't clean up after themselves (none of us should). But, if this problem ever shows up in your area, you better be prepared to anyway... Or you might find yourself in the same dilema we are having out here!

 

[Regolith]

The range I go to is private, and it's pretty well kept. Lots of trash cans (no holes!), no trash on the ground, nice and clean. The only thing that people seem to leave behind is their brass. They have gravel on the line at the pistol range, and it seems as if there is more brass than rocks. The rifle range is a little better, but probably only because it has a concrete floor and the shells are a bit more obvious there.

I always police my brass, and I pick up shells other that are reloadable, as well, though I don't reload yet. I also tend to clean up a bit around my shooting station.

The other places where I shoot, besides the range, are out in the middle of nowhere. Some of them have served as impromptu ranges in the past, some places have only ever heard gunfire during hunting season, or not at all. Always pick up my trash there as well. I have never brought out anything other than plastic bottles to shoot at, and I always pick up the pieces and pack them out with me. It's really not that hard, and I can't understand people that don't have the common sense to do otherwise.

 

[DogRanger]

Carry in carry out....just do the right thing...

 

[USMC 1975]

Kevin:

I am not going to get into any long commentaries and argue facts.

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to preserve a range for many to enjoy and for also bringing this problem to the forefront here on THR. I will surely do my part next time I am at an outdoor range and take along a couple garbage bags.

Its obvious your an individual who " Cares ".

Thanks again,

Chris

 

[birddog]

I gave up shooting at a similarly disrespected public location. The few times I went in recent years, I took my kids and took trash bags and cleaned up others' messes as good as possible, but I finally gave up. When TV's and microwaves started showing up as "targets" it went beyond the scope of me wanting to be responsible for someone else's mess.

Frankly, I didn't want to be associated with the slobs that did it and that's all I could think about as non-shooters drove by and saw me shooting into what increasingly looked like a landfill.

I now shoot at pay-ranges or on a friend's nearby property.

Sad.

 

[rampage841512]

In about two weeks I'll be moving onto some property I inherited from my father and I'll be able to do my shooting on my own land. Here in Alabama a lot of people do their shooting in 'the strip pits' as they are called locally (large areas of lands strip mined for coal). For the longest time this wasn't a problem, and the owners of the land seemed to generally over look it. But over the last decade a lot of people began using them as dumping sites and the result is fences and no trespassing signs. Used to be great areas for fishing, shooting, and some hunting, but not anymore.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Earth is a rotting ball of garbage, in most places that is. We are going to have to live with it.

Wrong!! We don't have to live with it - we can change it! We can continue to fight the good fight and raise awareness and attempt to shame the littering losers into changing their behavior. Will it be 100% successful? Of course not. Can we vastly improve over the status quo? Yes, definitely.

Don't even get me started on litterers on ranges and just everywhere.

Repeat after me:

LITTERER = LOSER
LITTERER = LOSER
LITTERER = LOSER

Any questions?

 

[btg3]

One day I was shooting with another relocated Person from the commie north and we just shook our heads over what the local fools Fail to take care of

On average, it takes about 18 months for a relocated person to be elevated to the status of local fool. Welcome to the south!

At least our ranges are still open and we can use them because the local fools don't put as many fools in office down here.

 

[no_problem]

I used to shoot in an open range that had a lot of trash.

I used to always bag out a lot more stuff than I would take in. I considered it my civic duty to do so. As well as being grateful for the benefit of using the free range.

I am glad to hear that there are so many of us who are civicly minded here, but see that there is still a long way to go.

There will always be bad apples, for those who do trash the ranges, well some are not knowledgeable, and it takes time to learn. There will always be those who will, by nature, always trash the place.

Thankfully, there are more good people than the bad.

 

[Hoplophile]

I just wanted to thank the older generation for preserving the places the younger generation (like me) will shoot. We may not have gun rights by the time I'm 30, but if we do, because of people like PTK and the original poster, I'll still have nice places to shoot. I'll try to keep them clean and nice. We should respect nature for giving us a nice place to shoot in.

 

[icebones]

the range i go (private range) to sets out barrels for "burnable" trash, ammo boxes targets plastic trays ect.

the range owner comes around and torches the paper stuff every couple of weeks.

plus the range has some trash, but nowhere near that bad.

keep up the effort.

aslo, think about this, gun owners cleaning up the enviorment: a complicated situation for the anti's maybe?

 

[DRZinn]

Similar problem here in Cali; here's what we did about it:

http://www.carrizocreekrange.org

 

[Kind of Blued]

Thanks Kevin, and all who feel and act similarly.

It's simple folks.Clean up after yourselves. Politely encourage others to do so as well. If you really care, take the extra time to clean up a bit more.