Safety, etiquette, and ethics in shooting.

[Mutoman]

Safety:

Lately I have witnessed on more than one occasion, people shooting down roads at targets, sometimes even across blind corners. It seems that not everyone was taught to "be sure of one's backstop" when shooting. I highly doubt the safety conscious members of NWFA would ever consider setting up a target range without ensuring the safety of the shooting location, and I wonder just where these shooters are coming from.

Etiquette and ethics:

My dad and I were at one of our favorite shooting areas the other day, finishing up, when a couple of fellas and a kid drove up. We talked with the folks for a while and told them we were done shooting and just had to clean up. I explained to one of the fellas that the reason for the tank-trap that was dug in the road was because the forester got tired of picking up the trash left by shooters, so he decided to close the other area off.

I finished picking my stuff and other people's stuff up as I explained the problem of people not respecting the forest area and how leaving shooting debris makes it bad for everyone. I looked down the road where there were several targets (old cardboard boxes) leaned up against a stump (no background backstop). I pointed to the trash and said "stuff like that makes it bad for everyone". He then said that they had left that stuff there yesterday and would be sure to pick it up today when they are done.

Today I took the young ones shooting at another favorite spot. During our shoot another group of shooters showed up. We stopped shooting and talked with them a while, they were citing in a couple of rifles so they needed the full range to shoot. They said they didn't mind waiting for us to finish. We finished and picked up our stuff. One of the gentlemen came over and explained that he was very impressed that these young people were shooting and that we picked up after ourselves. He said we needed more of that in our sport. I agreed.

It seems a little communication is good for our shooting sport and a little praise from fellow shooters is well appreciated. We need to work together to teach safety, etiquette, and ethics to those who may not have been given that knowledge or those who have forgotten the importance of those factors in our sport.

I have just been brewing this over for a while and today when that gentleman gave us props, it kind of put it into perspective how we can not only enjoy such a great sport in firearms, we can also be there to support each other in making better decisions in our sport.

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[56kninja]

I clean up when I can, where I shoot.

Especially since the area we go to there's usually thousands of .22 casings, about a 100 .40 S&W, and various shotgun shells.

My dads guns, we pick up the casings, since they usually drop in a similar area.

But I shoot an AK.. and well, it's near impossible spot where those casings land, and the pattern is sporadic at best on where they do.

 

[Mutoman]

I clean up when I can, where I shoot.

Especially since the area we go to there's usually thousands of .22 casings, about a 100 .40 S&W, and various shotgun shells.

My dads guns, we pick up the casings, since they usually drop in a similar area.

But I shoot an AK.. and well, it's near impossible spot where those casings land, and the pattern is sporadic at best on where they do.

Yeah, it's hard to find all the casings, I keep meaning to get a big tarp to lay out, but some firearms really throw the brass. Brass usually crushes down, tarnishes, and really doesn't stand out. However, shotgun shells do; we make sure to pick up all our shotgun casings.

One of my favorite places to shoot is very vehicle accessible; I can pull my truck up, drop the tailgate, and shoot in a position that most the spent cartridges fly into the back of the truck.

We had a great time shooting up some spoiled tomatoes the other day; I was a little apprehensive over the spoilage, yet I knew that they would just biodegrade.

 

[pdxjohann]

cool post Muto. Fishermen started really cleaning up after the clean water movement. Gosh, were we slow about the changing of habits to a tread lightly point of view. Generation after generation the habits built slowly. Now, it only takes one shirt pocket to pick up left behind mess of line or cast asides. Clean up after ourselves and coach others in that way.

 

[dario541]

One of the reasons I like clay pidgeons is because they are biodegradable. They melt right into the earth and disappear. It's fun to aim through the scope, sight in on one of these clays, pull the trigger and, BLAM! it vanishes with out a trace! I never shoot at living things (animals - unless they are a threat, or trees). I use paper targets but I don't fasten them to living trees. I place the clays on the ground, usually a sloping background. Fun, and NO damage! We pick up all of the empties we can find to reload them.