Trashing the Rockies: Why Shooters Should Preserve Public Land

[katqanna]

Trashing the Rockies: Why Shooters Should Preserve Public Land

Dont ask me how I got there, not my normal reading site, but I was curious about the article link and it is a good reminder. I do not target shoot in such places, but when I hike, am always picking up after others who have and feel a lack of respect for those than cant respect the land and others that share it.

"I’m unable to conceive of such a mindset. It’s an odd conundrum, considering that, like me, most passionate shooters — in the West, at any rate — consider themselves dyed-in-the-wool conservatives and curse with bulging eyes anything that reeks of entitlement. Yet shrugging off the stewardship that comes with the use of public land is — to my mind — a heinous form of an entitlement attitude."

 

[tarheel]

What my Grandmother would call "scandalous", but unfortunately not confined to the RMW. What the photos show are at least three sub-species of the same breed of American we could well do without; the trash dumper, the shooter who shoots up that trash, and the shooter who brings and leaves his own trash. They run the gamut from the teenager who throws his beer can deep into someone's nicely manicured lawn as if to say "Look at me, I'm drinking", to the SOB's who throw their trash off the bridges as if the river were their personal sewer to the sea.

 

[Big Slick]

I have seen this on the Pawnee Grasslands. People dumping their washer and driers and such, and then th DB's that shoot them. We would go out and shoot clays with my boys in these places and I would take a rake and a shovel and clean up our mess and some other peoples mess as well. My boys were young and woul tell me that some of the empties were not ours. I explained to them that we were not going to be the people or the reason that the Feds were going to keep us from having fun. Well the people that are dumpers work faster then the cleaners apparently. Pretty sad knowing we can't go shoot where we have always had a good time.

 

[quackaddict]

Southern NM has the trashiest public lands I have ever seen. People leaving literally piles of empties, bottles, cans, washers, dryers, shell boxes, etc. It's disguisting.

 

[double_a85]

This reminds me of hunting some block management in MT a few years ago. My buddy and I parked at a spot to take off hiking. When we got out, we noticed trash EVERYWHERE. We started picking it all up, saying dirty things about the people who left it and how the landowner can pull his land out because of people like this.

As we were picking everything up, a guy in a pickup pulls up and politely asks what we were doing... he then says that he is the landowner and that trash has been there for over two weeks. Smiles, says thank you, and drives away.

Always hope there are enough good people to counteract the bad apples, but sometimes I really wonder.

 

[katqanna]

I havent been involved with Block Management, but would have assumed that because it was more of a privileged program that you had to sign up for or as some landowners have it you have to be approved or a sign in, that the quasi to outright name trail would have filtered alot of that behavior out.

Right after I read this article and was starting one of my news searches this article came up from the Great Falls Tribune written by Gene Kopey. Bullets know no property lines. He had some of the same trash/litter concerns as the other article but added the element of bullet trajectory responsibility to the mix.

"I understand the code of the west that still has a strong grip on our Montana psyche: we just want to be left free and left alone to do what a man — or a woman — wants to do on their own property. Shooting on your rural property probably goes along with that. But bullets don't respect property lines. Once that bullet leaves your space, you're liable for whatever mayhem it creates from that point on. I wonder if people consider the consequences of their actions.

Where's the responsibility? I can't answer that for everyone else, only for myself. As a hunter who uses firearms and archery equipment on public lands, I must be absolutely sure of what lies beyond in my field of fire. And in some instances that means knowing what's out there up to one mile away — that is a scary responsibility when you think about it...That's a lot to fix. Where does one start? Get involved, carry a litter bag, pick up for the other guy, inspect your boats and vehicles, learn weed identification — and pull some now and then.

If not me, who? If not now, when?"

 

[idnative1948]

One of my peeves is the dirty rotten &$)*#)#&s' who just dump their garbage in the fire pit when they leave a camping area. Who did they learn it from??

 

[Dinkshooter]

I don't want to live in a world where I can't throw my dead washing machine out on public land.

 

[bigskyblueman]

We lost the Copper City BLM area for shooting , due to the pigs that left every imaginable form of refuse on the land.

 

[RobG]

The fire pit thing is really bad... I just took a half gallon of tin foil and old cans from a fire pit at Knox lake (northeast of Gardiner) this morning. Never leave tin foil in the fire - it never melts and it never goes away. Beer cans don't go away either.

This sign was up there too, in front of an over-used camp with axed down trees even thought this was 4 miles back in the wilderness. I was young and dumb once, but this hurts our image a lot.

 

[katqanna]

This came up on my FWP feed day before yesterday.

Vandalism at Widow Coulee Fishing Access Site

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking help in finding those responsible for vandalism recently at Widow Coulee Fishing Access Site on the Missouri River, 3 miles downstream of the mouth of Belt Creek, in Chouteau County.

Sometime between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., July 18-19, a large party took place there. The FAS is open only from sunrise to sunset.

Numerous alcohol cans and bottles and trash were left behind. A large fire was abandoned and still burning the next morning when anglers arrived to fish. A building and a pickup truck had windows shot out.

Anyone with information on who is responsible for the vandalism and littering may call 1-800-TIP-MONT. Callers may remain anonymous. Information leading to the arrest and conviction for these incidents may result in a reward.

 

[double_a85]

......I was young and dumb once, but this hurts our image a lot.

We were all young and dumb at some point. Even in high school drinking at fishing access sites we always cleaned up after ourselves.

 

[Khunter]

Southern NM has the trashiest public lands I have ever seen. People leaving literally piles of empties, bottles, cans, washers, dryers, shell boxes, etc. It's disguisting.

Scouting in arguably the best elk unit in NM I picked up 40+ beer cans along 2 tracks and atv trails in a day. Just tossed out as it was emptied. Sad. Atyer the 5th or so can I saw I determined to pick up all I saw. Unreal how ignorant people can be to toss on the ground what they obviously could toss in back of truck as eadily. Dirt bags, at least some anyway, drink keystone or Busch lite apparently those were, oddly?, the vast majority of the cans. Could be some dirtbags drink other swill. Not enough data yet to say.

 

[schmalts]

This reminds me of hunting some block management in MT a few years ago. My buddy and I parked at a spot to take off hiking. When we got out, we noticed trash EVERYWHERE. We started picking it all up, saying dirty things about the people who left it and how the landowner can pull his land out because of people like this.

As we were picking everything up, a guy in a pickup pulls up and politely asks what we were doing... he then says that he is the landowner and that trash has been there for over two weeks. Smiles, says thank you, and drives away.

.

Thanks for that. I do the same, and it seems my fanny pack has some extra cans in it when I get done with a hike. When I hunted elk in AZ I paid Stan's boy to walk around the campsite and fill a walmart bag with past campers garbage. In NM I was sickened to see the herdsman left 40 pound salt bags littered all over the Crucis Basin wilderness area.