New Guy from Bend.

[GripItAndRipIt]

Pretty competent with most firearms, hope to share some knowledge and learn some things.

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[BigDog67]

Welcome.

 

[RVTECH]

Welcome from South of you in Wickiup Junction!

 

[AMT]

Welcome to NWFA.

 

[JohnnyMac]

Welcome to the club! Glad you found us.

 

[Graingodguy]

Hi There!!!

 

[HappyChemtrail]

Hello from Bend! Welcome aboard!

 

[CountryGent]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Xaevian]

Welcome!

 

[gryghin]

Welcome Aboard. Glad you found the forum.



This is the best place to hang out on the internet.



Once we're able to start using the public lands again, check out the organized clean ups. It's the best way to meet the community and learn where and how to use public lands responsibly.



Until then check out Trash No Land.

Home - Trash No Land

Information for Target Shooting on Public Lands. "Stewardship Keeps It Open"2024 Pick Up The Burn Wolf Creek Lanes Cleanup

www.trashnoland.org

 

[bbbass]

Welcome from the OTHER Eastern Oregon (Bend being called E OR by most Potland news anchors and weatherbabes)

 

[Vendor Hidden]

Pretty competent with most firearms, hope to share some knowledge and learn some things.

Welcome!

 

[dmacman]

Welcome!

 

[IOM]

Welcome aboard...

 

[fredball]

Welcome Aboard

 

[Muggs919]

Hello and welcome! Great to have you here.

 

[ruger45blackhawk]

Welcome aboard. Lots of great folks here to entertain you!

 

[GripItAndRipIt]

Welcome from South of you in Wickiup Junction!

Thanks, friend. How's the weather down there? Looks like a nice day to hit the quarry!

 

[RVTECH]

How's the weather down there? Looks like a nice day to hit the quarry!

Beautiful - should look about like Bend!

I don't know which 'quarry' you are referring to but I'll probably be here later!

 

[GripItAndRipIt]

Welcome Aboard. Glad you found the forum.



This is the best place to hang out on the internet.



Once we're able to start using the public lands again, check out the organized clean ups. It's the best way to meet the community and learn where and how to use public lands responsibly.



Until then check out Trash No Land.

Home - Trash No Land

Information for Target Shooting on Public Lands. "Stewardship Keeps It Open"2024 Pick Up The Burn Wolf Creek Lanes Cleanup

www.trashnoland.org

Last weekend I was out on a BLM tract I frequent in Crook County. For the first time in my 43 years of shooting I had a law enforcement contact while armed -- BLM Ranger. I had my steel targets and some paper set up. Sadly this area is just overrun with junk -- old TVs, propane cannisters, you know the drill-- all plugged with bullet holes. This ranger watched me empty 30 rounds of 5.56 into my 50-yd. paper target. I actually had no idea he was there as he had pulled up when I had ears on and my focus was necessarily downrange and *not* the dirt trail behind me.

Anyway, as I heeled around and noticed him, a little startled, I held my rifle vertically by the handguard to show him the open action, set it in my truck bed and walked over to his truck to see what he wanted. He asked me what I was shooting at and I pointed to my steel and paper. He asked if any of the bottles and cans littering the area were mine. I answered they were not but that I would likely -- as I do -- be taking a few boxloads of them home, gesturing to the rake I usually take with me when I'm shooting on public land to scoop up a few boxloads of trash, brass, shotshells, what have you. He was pleasantly surprised that not only was I not leaving trash, but was actually taking some home. He thanked me for doing my part and for shooting in a safe manner, noting my backstop.

His reaction got me thinking: I wonder how many of us take care of the lands we use? I learned to shoot with my dad and my grandpa (himself a game warden) and in Scouting -- longer ago than I care to admit, LOL. The one thing drilled into my head -- in addition to the four rules -- was that you always leave a place better than you found it. The amount of trash out there indicates to me that's a message we need to repeat. I get especially ticked off when I see a ground littered with spent shotshells. Yeah, I get it you don't reload... so you just leave them on the ground? To never decay? When non-shooting people see that, I think they succumb to the temptation to paint all gun owners with the same brush. This puts us in company with the junkies, the tweakers, and the mentally ill homeless folks living in the woods in their own filth. We absolutely need to show the non-shooting public that we are good stewards of the land and that our presence is no threat to their enjoyment. They're still going to call Kate Brown, Jay Inslee, et al, and "demand action," but to my mind we ought not be giving them any additional ammo with which to come after us. Pun intended.

Organized cleanups are great, and a great way to put our stewardship on display, absolutely agree. But we don't need anyone's permission or an organized effort to pick up trash on public lands. Ever.

Thanks for the welcome. Stay safe out there.