r/canadaguns • u/Florida_Man42069 • Oct 07 '25
An unfortunate circumstance
I went to one of my favourite shooting spots yesterday and was sad to see the sheer amount of garbage left at the spot. There were literally thousands of shells on the ground. There was a car door in the field riddled with bullet holes, wooden and paper targets left in the field and endless brass. I know the vast majority of people on this subreddit are the people who clean up their brass at the end of their session, but please next time you go out shooting bring a garbage bag. Me and my friend only shot about 30 shells and a 150 .22 rounds, but I took home probably 500 shells in a garbage bag and that didn’t even cover 1/10 of the place. There is a spot nearby here that was shut down recently due to unsafe firearms use, and people leaving garbage behind. I have only been shooting for about a year and a half and I would hate to see my hobby go down the drain because people don’t want to take 10 minutes to clean up. About 45 minutes before we left, 2 other people came to our spot to shoot and saw that we were cleaning up other people’s shells. One guy thanked us and said it’s a good thing we were doing that. We already have a government who wants to target our hobby, don’t give them a reason to do so.
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u/KalashnikovParty Oct 08 '25
Yeah, it’s sad to see some people in this hobby not showing respect to it and the land we shoot on, which reflects badly on all of us. On behalf of all of thanks for cleaning up the mess that you didn’t even make
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u/Florida_Man42069 Oct 08 '25
I’ve cleaned up shells the past two times I went shooting. I’ve also found a bunch of steel targets that people have just left to rust in the dirt and I’ve repurposed them. Don’t get me wrong though, almost every single person I’ve met out there has been kind, respectful, and safe when it comes to their shooting. It’s a very small fraction of people that do this.
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u/KalashnikovParty Oct 08 '25
Yeah, which is what’s frustrating because the small fraction of irresponsible reflect badly on all of us, and there isn’t much we can do about them other than try to convince them to change which doesn’t always work
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u/hafetysazard Oct 08 '25
It is really tough to convince some people when the common shooting spot in the bush looks like the floor in the matrix lobby shootout scene. It is brutal, I stopped going to places like that. Like imagine people did that for decades, how many spent cases would be lying around? Plus they become garbage dumps too. I guess the only silver lining could possibly be that it is contained in a small area, but still…
I feel bad for doing that in the past, and it is never too late to stop being a pig.
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u/hafetysazard Oct 08 '25
I agree completely. The problem is, unlike this example which sticks out like a sore thumb, there are plenty of spots in the bush where people have been shooting for years, like decades, and these makeshift ranges are not only littered in shells, people dump their garbage out there too. I’ve stopped going to places in the bush that are like that. If I leave any shell in the bush, it is because I couldn’t find the damned thing and did my best to find every piece of brass. I reload, so I am not going to leave a single thing laying on the ground.
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Oct 08 '25
Some people are pigs. I dropped off a rake and a few garbage bags to the public range in my area for folks to use. Someone shot the rake, I’m not even surprised tbh
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u/watchitbend Oct 08 '25
Nice work man, this is always a solid move and you are 100% right about not treating our privileges with disdain and disregard. I do the same thing after shooting, even though it feels like I'm barely making a dent in the disgraceful mess left behind by so many others. Seriously, the couple of spots I frequent are an absolute wasteland in comparison to what you have shown above, but that means you have the opportunity to keep that spot tidy before it gets completely out of hand. Unpopular opinion, but I think it is a larger portion of our community than just a tiny minority, whether they are on reddit or not, that leave their shit behind. No way it could get as bad as it does, in so many places, if it was just 1% of the shooting community leaving waste behind them. May all the karma come your way, happy shooting!
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u/Florida_Man42069 Oct 08 '25
There were also two dead deer in the ditch right beside our spot. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that a mother dear and a youngling were both dead and decomposing next to a spot where people shoot, but it shows what some people could do. Maybe they got lead poisoning idk but I'd say about 20% of the people that come out here will leave garbage behind. Most people I've met take home all their trash, but some don't.
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u/-rifle-is-fine- Oct 08 '25
Dead deer sometimes end up near the targets at my outdoor range. They crawl over the berms and coyotes follow them on occasion.
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u/Response-Cheap Oct 08 '25
The people who do this are complete assholes.. The people trying to destroy our culture are the exact type of people who went after plastic straws.. Not saying that replacing single use plastics with biodegradables is necessarily a bad idea in some cases.. But this type of mess would piss those people off x2. This picture could easily be used by anti gun lobbyists as a new angle of attack against us.. Another nail in our coffins. Bring a fuckin rake and a bag ffs!
Thanks for cleaning up OP.
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u/DougMacRay617 Oct 08 '25
Is this in alberta? I need more 12 guage hulls and id gladly go tidy up the place if its within reasonable distance from me
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u/567432Gains Oct 08 '25
I found a great shooting spot the other day but iv been thinking about doing a day clean up of it. It’s on the lower half of Vancouver island way out in the bushes if anyone wants to join me. Probably about 5000 shells all around the spot.
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u/Apples_and_Overtones Your feet suck and so do you Oct 08 '25
Man I felt awful for forgetting to sweep up at the range after I had to leave in a rush. Can't imagine people that do this shit on purpose.
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u/Fantastic_Cap_4318 Oct 08 '25
Unfortunately this is quite common. I found over the years that the slobs who do this are generally pretty local to the area and spoiled for choice when it comes to shooting spots.
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u/Rogan403 Oct 08 '25
This is why I rarely if ever let anyone know of the really nice shooting spot i used to go to. Nowadays I live way too far away from it to even use it but even so I'll still get the odd person on here sending me a private message asking where it is and I just refuse to divulge that info. My friend who showed it to me originally still goes there and tells me it's still well maintained so I ain't gonna be the one that informs every Tom,Dick,& Harry about it and risk having them or their friends ruin it. It sucks but unfortunately, that's the way it's gotta be.
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u/Is_300_lexus_jdm Oct 08 '25
Did you get any free forest ammo?
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u/InitialAd4125 Oct 08 '25
Exactly like even the empty casings. Does nobody reload anymore?
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u/Is_300_lexus_jdm Oct 08 '25
I recently walked into the woods to look for grouse with a .22, walked out zero grouse and four 12 gauge shells
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u/cutslikeakris Oct 08 '25
Went out to our favourite spot last weekend and it was now completely fenced off as a lease of crown land. Pissed, we took care of the area and it’s the second spot that they have leased and closed lately.
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u/Imaginary-Leading-49 Oct 08 '25
I stopped shooting with people that litter tons, it’s one thing if a shell launches into the bushes and you can’t find it… but this is ridiculous!
I always bring in more than I bring out, we all meed to do this unfortunately and we also need to call out idiots!
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u/rofl3030 Oct 08 '25
Same here, I went shooting with a buddy once, he was appalled I was cleaning up my brass after a box or two. Literally after a couple hours he packed his guns up and left, well I was shooting, he left all his targets. All his brass. After cleaning up after him I told myself I would never go shooting with him again. Once in a while he reaches to asking if I want to go shooting and show him a new spot (cause his will be closed for littering)
But it took me a while to realize as well that he is the most entitled person I have ever met, so it does not surprise me that he just expects others to clean up after him.
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u/LightningKachowshi Oct 08 '25
If it’s near Calgary we could go clean it up. I like taking buckets out and helping clean up!
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u/Florida_Man42069 Oct 08 '25
It’s about an hour from Calgary. Near Waiparous
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u/LightningKachowshi Oct 08 '25
I would be willing to go clean it up brotha. Just let me know. If not I am sure I can figure out where this is and go clean it anyways.
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u/Florida_Man42069 Oct 08 '25
I can give coordinates if you need them. I would probably be willing to go out, I just gotta find a day and fill my car up with gas
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u/Arbakos Oct 08 '25
I always make sure to bring garbage bags and try to bring back more trash than I brought out, but it almost seems pointless. Every time I go out shooting there's more garbage than the last time. If you have time to shoot hundreds of rounds you have time to pick up your brass and hulls.
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u/outline8668 Oct 08 '25
My favorite shooting spots are this way too. All were pristine 10-15 years ago now seas of shotgun shells and garbage and broken glass. I don't care if you leave your 22 brass, nobody can even see it. But those shotguns shells are the easiest thing in the world to clean up with a rake when you're done. These will also be the first guys to cry when the spot gets shut down.
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u/Mar1744 Oct 08 '25
Doesn’t surprise me at all. About a month and a half ago the family and I were visiting the in laws and we went out to an area of crown land I had never been to before, it was fairly isolated but was apparently well known to the local community as a popular place to recreational shoot and ride quads and other off road toys. Lone behold there was quite a few shells laying around. People have no respect for anything that isn’t their own property and will try to get away with anything if they can.
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u/macbully Oct 08 '25
Prob friends of those dudes who were shooting in the air in muskoka a few days ago
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u/Prior-Radio8346 Oct 08 '25
This is a prime reason why the Ghost PLUZ has firearms discharge restrictions now. We've been cleaning up out there for the past 15 years and it never gets better sadly.
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u/burgers1919 Oct 08 '25
Reminds me of those 25 new Canadians who were shooting up on Muskoka, blasting bridges, street signs, hand guns... On crown land. Sigh.
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u/Classic_Chemist_495 Oct 08 '25
Drop a pin and I’ll help clean up. I wish I knew some places to shoot trap without having to pay an arm and a leg.
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u/BritBuc-1 Oct 08 '25
This is one of the things that really pisses me off. The absolute disrespect of the environment, and the rest of the community.
Who do they think cleans up their mess? It’s not the magical brass fairy, oh no, it’s the people who turn up afterwards and don’t want to lose the few places that we have access to.
It’s not hard to clean up after yourself, and the times that I’ve seen 100s of casings laying around, it’s obvious that it wasn’t just one person shooting. But apparently the whole group is a bunch of douche canoes.
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u/HappyCan7250 Nov 14 '25
I stop and pickup all my brass everytime I have to reload, which is pretty frequently since we're Canadians! I find its easier to grab 5-10 shells every 2min than to try and pickup 100 or 150 at the end. I also plan to start reloading soon, so it's worth saving all the brass. Honestly, even if you don't reload or plan to, it doesn't hurt to pickup your brass to give it away to someone who will, kill 2 birds with one stone, someone will be happy to take it off your hands for free if you don't want a bunch of empty brass around. If you save up a decent amount of a specific caliber, and can clean it half decently, some guys will even buy it if you post it on Gunpost too.
Another one too is clays, and I know that can be hard to avoid or clean up, but it also looks pretty bad when there is thousands of tiny pieces of orange laying all over an area. I found out recently it doesn't really actually break down (I had assumed it did since they're "clays"), but shooting a lot of clays can also make an area look pretty bad, and there is no real good easy way to clean them up unfortunately. I think we all should be a bit mindful of where we shoot clays, and try to minimize the mess from them as well. While cleaning them up is tough, even using black ones in some spots might be better to it's not quite such a bright orange eye sore.
I honestly wish someone would come out with some biodegradable clays, that break down after something like 30-60 days. To my knowledge, there isn't actually any
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u/Infinite_Price_3550 Oct 08 '25
That’s disgusting man. This is why we can’t have nice things. 99% of people follow the rules, clean up their mess and then the 1% ruin it for the rest of us.