Darrington pit July 18th.

[HighlandLofts]

I took my grandson up there yesterday morning, we stayed about an hour in the lower pit, there were two groups in the upper pit shooting clay pigeons and rifles. I couldn't stay long, I had to get back home to watch the other two grandkids.
I have two of the magnets from harbor freight to pick up the shotgun hulls & steel rifle & pistol cases.
I will.go.pick another one up this morning and grab some more plastic buckets for the shells & cases.

 

[HighlandLofts]

So how many of you are planing on goig to the Darrington Pit on Saturday.

 

[r2rich2]

So how many of you are planing on goig to the Darrington Pit on Saturday.

Good afternoon, I'll be there. Will meet you in Arlington.

 

[Cogs]

@HighlandLofts , could you, or any others, take photos before and after and post some details of your shooting day that involved a cleanup? With your permission, I'd like to boast about how more responsible shooters are doing their own good deeds in forests all over the Northwest, on the Trash No Land Facebook Page and on our Blog page. I've promoted your efforts before, but it's really important that more people hear that it's an ongoing effort we need to be doing every time we go shooting. So don't forget the camera! (I know you never do!).

Also, let me know if you are on Facebook. I have started a private group to converse about public lands shooting places all over Oregon and Washington. I can send you, or anyone, the link to join, if you wish.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[HighlandLofts]

I will take pics before & after for you.
I keep getting banned off of facebook because of my political beliefs and responce.
I will look later tonight on both forums and send every one a PM with my number to call if you are running late saturday morning.

 

[Esam85]

I will talk to my wife but should be there with my 7 year old boy. Is the road decent or do you need something with ground clearance?

 

[HighlandLofts]

I will talk to my wife but should be there with my 7 year old boy. Is the road decent or do you need something with ground clearance?

The road is accessable with a car, do you know the way to the pit?..

 

[Esam85]

The road is accessable with a car, do you know the way to the pit?..

No I'll need to meet someone and follow or have a pin sent to me on google maps.

 

[HighlandLofts]

Today was a great success cleaning up the Darrington.
A big thank you to every one that helped out up there today.
There was six guys the met up at the Dollar Store/Grocery Outlet Store in Arlington and followed me up to the pit.
One brought his seven year old son which was nice to have along. A friend came there also from Sedro-Wooley.
We spent about two hours picking up the trash and bagged it all up in the big black contractors garbage bags and we hauled all of the metal out next to the road.
We were working on the lower pit and there was two guys shooting steel up in the upper pit.
One of our guys went up there and asled them if they could either move their steel targets to the right or hold off shooting at them for a little bit.
When they asked why, he told them we were doing a pit clean up and we were at the back of the pit and there was a chance of the bullets deflecting down where we were picking up trash.
He offered to haul the trash away when yhey were done shooting.
There had to of been a dozen big bags of trash and a bunch of metal. It filled his truck up and he had to stap it down.
He was offered cash for the dump fee and declined.
We met at 8am in Arlington then took the 1/2 hour drive to the pit. After the clean up was done one of the guys had to head home to do some honey-dew stuff. We set up tables and chairs so everyone could shoot.
It was a fun day for every one.











We left a little after 5:30 to head home and the White Horse mountain was a sight to see.

 

[Esam85]

Thanks for getting this together and I am glad my boy and I could help!

 

[HighlandLofts]

Thank you for taking the long drive up here to help out. My grand sone enjoyed his time with your son and would like to get together to shoot with him.
It was on the warm side today for sure.

I will put together another clean up day next month for the upper pit and post it on here and on WaGuns.

 

[Cogs]

I wrote up a story on this, @HighlandLofts , and posted it to the Trash No Land Facebook page. Sometime today or tomorrow, I'll include it in the blog page and those who don't do FB can find it there. For now, here's a copy of the Facebook post, which also included you photos.

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Six Target Shooting Stewards take charge of their favorite place! Another shooter pays the dump fee!!!

On Saturday, July 18th, at a gravel pit Northwest of Darrington, WA, six dedicated target shooters joined forces in cleaning up their favorite place to shoot.

Long time shooting enthusiast, Pat from Arlington, WA, put out a call for help in cleaning up the pit and enjoy some shooting fun when done. Five others joined in and got it done. One gentleman brought his young son and another drove from Sedro-Wooley. They spent about two hours picking up the trash.

"We were working on the lower pit and there was two guys shooting steel up in the upper pit", Pat said. "One of our guys went up there and asked them if they could either move their steel targets to the right or hold off shooting at them for a little bit. When they asked why, he told them we were doing a pit clean up and we were at the back of the pit and there was a chance of the bullets deflecting down where we were picking up trash. He offered to haul the trash away when they were done shooting. There had to of been a dozen big bags of trash and a bunch of metal. It filled his truck up and he had to strap it down. He was offered cash for the dump fee and declined."

Well done Pat and crew! Thank you for your stewardship!

#StewardshipKeepsItOpen! #CleanUpToShoot! #TrashNoLand!

 

[Cogs]

I have it posted to the Trash No Land Blog page. I'll be sending that link to the Northwest Region office of DNR (My onXmaps says it's State owned land and not USFS Snohomish Nat Forest. It would be best to know the name of the forest.). I also reported on my activity this weekend in the Tillamook State Forest.

To anyone else, send me a note if you do a Random Act of Cleanup when you're out shooting! It's important for forest agencies to know you did it and it's important the general public sees how responsible gun owners are!

Happy reading!

Darrington Pit Cleanup: A Snohomish County shooting pit gets an unexpected cleanup!

No Shooting Signs posted: To Shoot or Not To Shoot? Someone please give me a sign!

Surprise at Wolf Creek Shooting Lanes: Special Shooting Lanes Are Well Cared For!

 

[Cogs]

Hey you guys, I got a response back from DNR near Darrington about your cleanup! Here's a copy/paste of what he said...

Hello Bill!

My name is Mark Arneson, I am one of the district managers that works for the Department of Natural Resources in the Darrington Area.

WOW! Thank you so much for sending this along. It's great to see and hear of these positive stories about target shooting.

It's also wonderful to see recreation users that love their sport helping keep opportunities open for current and future generations.

If there are things I can do to help make any future clean up events a little easier please let me know. My contact information is below.

Thanks Again!!!!!

Mark Arneson
Clear Lake District Manager
Northwest Region
Washington Department of Natural Resources
360-770-4570 (cell)
[email protected]

Again, way to go folks! I'm also seeing a positive response to your story on the Trash No Land Facebook page! 43 'Likes', 7 comments and 1 share. People love what you guys did! Nice work!

Bill

 

[gmerkt]

That's a nice note from the DNR district manager. I was wondering if these guys are ever aware of the volunteer clean-up efforts.

I'm sorry I couldn't join in due to previous committments. But I use this area and sometimes take my grandson along.

 

[Cogs]

That's a nice note from the DNR district manager. I was wondering if these guys are ever aware of the volunteer clean-up efforts.

I'm sorry I couldn't join in due to previous committments. But I use this area and sometimes take my grandson along.

They only hear of the efforts if we, the users, tell them. Otherwise, no one knows. So, I try to encourage people to let me know if they did any kind of a cleanup so I can notify the forest managing agency. I think it's best they know and they are more likely to keep it open. There's lots of pressure from the anti-gun crowd to shut down shooting in the woods, and this is one way we can combat that.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I went up to the Darrington pit last Saturday with my grandson a a couple of friends.
It was a nice dry day, very enjoyable.
There is trash there but not to bad. I picked up a couple of buckets of shotgun hulls and some brass to add to the mix.
Ed brought his electric clay pigeon thrower. Mason, Mel & Ed shot clay pigeons for a while. Then shot the missed clay pigeons that landed on the back sand bank with rifles.
We left the house here in Arlington at 8:30am and got home just before 5pm.

m