Discussion about outdoor shooting in the forests on KGWNews tonight

[Certaindeaf]

How about some signs/notices. Yea, I know it's probably illegal and per se, could be construed as litter in and of itself.. whatever. Something like "You are on camera - No shooting of live trees - Pick up your trash".
Sure, many would just blast the sign and do whatever but some will probably be reminded and do the right thing. And that's a good thing.

 

[RVTECH]

Or we could create our own volunteer group - "NWFA Forest Guardians" or something. Buy a bunch of big hats and hi-vis jackets. Sort of like Neighborhood Watch.

Great enthusiasm but not such a great idea. Lack of participation by volunteers and possible confrontations with those who do not respect 'real' authority in any form are two very real possibilities.

 

[bellarum]

I was out the other day and watched a couple guys unloading furniture out of their truck to shoot/dump. I told not asked them that "every piece of it needs to be back in your truck before you leave!" They said "oh yeah of course" I typed the license plate into my phone in case I needed to report them. I picked up 1 bag of trash while they were setting up and a 1/2 a bag of shot shells while waiting for them to clean up their junk. I know for a fact that all of their shot up furniture would still be there and or burned there if no one said anything. Just like all of the other trash. I have zero problem making sure anyone shooting around me leaves with what they came with. I'm not a rude person but, people will not get away with leaving a mess if I'm there.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I understand where you are coming from duane black, but even as an experienced shooter, I would not feel safe in the area either. Too many whackos out there with no concept of safety.

The very same reason my wife & I opt to shoot at the Evergreen Sportsman club. I do not trust anyone shooting at pits like I did 10-20 years ago. They say when you get older you get wiser...

 

[billyinfinity]

They say when you get older you get wiser...

I don't know...I feel like I just get crankier

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

I get that shooting trees and leaving trash is stupid as all hell, but limiting shooting areas to a few small places that get over-crowded is also stupid as hell. If the gov does not like all these illegal shooting spots opening up, open up some more legal ones. It seems like a simple fix to me. More shooters = more ranges

 

[Caveman Jim]

2W4E, that would be the common sense way to do it, but when have government officials used any for the people?

 

[redhippie]

I get that shooting trees and leaving trash is stupid as all hell, but limiting shooting areas to a few small places that get over-crowded is also stupid as hell. If the gov does not like all these illegal shooting spots opening up, open up some more legal ones. It seems like a simple fix to me. More shooters = more ranges

That is the real issue. There have been a lot of areas close to the metro area closed in the last few decades. The result is more pressure on more out lying areas. Create a series of well situated areas that are relatively easy to patrol, get a group of volunteers to show some ownership and you can address 90% of this problem.

In the case of the video, you probably get people rolling in seeing the shot up trees figuring it is ok. Maybe when the forest service takes those trees down, they should put in some berms for backstops so that people don't just go somewhere else.