r/canadaguns • u/coolwooley • Apr 13 '26
Misc Quick PSA for crown land shooters
With summer approaching, many of us are going to head out and start shooting on crown land again.
If you are going to your crown land spot, please clean up after yourselves. Don’t leave a mess behind.
Remember that it’s public land. We’re not the only ones who use it. The last thing we need is more complaints about the mess from shooters. That’s how no-shoot zones start.
You should always leave the spot in a better state than when you found it. Be respectful, and your shooting spot will stay open for longer.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
60
u/BritBuc-1 Apr 14 '26
It just takes a bit of planning and consideration. Lay down a tarp as a base layer, setup your shooting stuff on top. It makes clean up a whole lot easier.
35
u/TheSockington Apr 14 '26
Another trick is to get kitty litter scoops from the dollar store. It’ll pick 22s and you can shake the loose crap away a bit.
5
u/HappyCan7250 Apr 14 '26
That's actually a really good idea. Never thought of that. Thank you.
I am always very good about cleaning up after but it's a pain in the ass sometimes to get all the 22lr. A tarp or old sheet would make it much easier!
3
u/TheSockington Apr 14 '26
I wish I could take credit, but the old guys at my range showed me that one. We have really fine gravel at the shooting line and it sucked trying to dig them out of essentially kitty litter.
4
u/I_Automate Apr 14 '26
I brought one of those wheeled magnetic brooms machine shops use when I was shooting a lot of steel case.
Worked like a charm, especially if you are shooting something that likes to toss casings into the next time zone
1
0
1
55
u/Cock_ball_dickin Apr 14 '26
Also pls stop shooting on my land. There’s some guy (I’m yet to catch him) who plinks I assume with an SKS on my family’s land bc there’s always like 200 empty 7.62x39 cases on the ground in this one specific area after the august long weekend. I think this year I’m gonna set up a trail cam.
I’ve also marked it as private property, you also need to hike a long ass way THROUGH CROWN LAND to get there. I think this guys just trolling me, I don’t even mind if he shoots on my land, just clean up. Honestly at this point it’s kinda funny though bc I feel like I have a nemesis.
31
u/Dizzy-Wedding5769 Apr 14 '26
Are u near Halliburton lol…
28
19
u/Cock_ball_dickin Apr 14 '26
I’m gonna dm you the exact location
16
u/Conscious-Country312 Apr 14 '26
Send it to me too I'll happily leave some brass behind for you when I'm done.
13
u/Cock_ball_dickin Apr 14 '26
Free brass in this economy?
7
u/Funcle-Jerry Apr 14 '26
We need an end to this story? Was it him? 😂😂😂
4
3
u/Cock_ball_dickin Apr 14 '26
Unfortunately I don’t think it is
3
2
2
21
14
u/nschwart91 Apr 14 '26
Agreed! If I could double upvote this post I would. Like it or not, each and every one of us are an ambassador of the community.
3
u/joeblow1234567891011 Apr 14 '26
Yep, THAT’S the mindset that we all need. Additionally, call out others who are giving all of us a bad rep and tell them to clean up their mess (politely-at least at first.)
10
u/EnvironmentalBox6688 Apr 14 '26
On an entrance road to a very popular national park basically every turnoff is absolutely littered with casings, hulls, and garbage people bring out to shoot at.
If you litter on crown land you are objectively a bad person that gives the whole hobby a bad look.
2
u/HappyCan7250 Apr 14 '26
Yep, one of the last non gated spots near me just got cut down to weekend access only and s gate installed because people have been dumping stolen cars, and living out in the bush, and drug activity. It was the only spot I could go shoot off some rounds after work but now it's getting locked and open only on weekends. There's a reason a lot of areas started getting blocked/deactivated, and as much as I hate it, it's hard to blame the province or forestry companies for it when people trash the land. Hunters and shooters should be looking after the land as it helps us all for it to be clean and accessible.
8
6
u/Dizzy-Wedding5769 Apr 14 '26
Please be aware of where your bullets go people often atv on crown land and have no idea about the Makeshift ranges…
7
u/Nearby_Purchase_8672 Apr 14 '26
Always leave crown land better than you found it. Working on hauling out a busted canoe that has been abandoned
6
u/CryptidWorks CryptidWorks Apr 14 '26
If I find shotgun hulls piled up in the wild I reserve the right to administer them as a suppository to the person who left them there.
I wear XXL gloves.
That is all.
1
5
u/MacintoshEddie Apr 14 '26
It's also extremely important to remember that it is shared land. Which means if someone is hiking or biking or whatever, and they start hearing gunshots, they may understandably be concerned.
Being concerned about someone shooting in your direction is an understandable and reasonable concern.
Don't be a dick. It's not like they were hiding near the target stand on a range or doing something they're not supposed to be doing. Your ability to shoot on crown land does not outweigh another person's desire to not be shot at on crown land. If someone is concerned that they're in danger, reacting like an angry asshole is how you get the cops called on you, and how you cause people to petition the government for additional gun bans.
Always be sure of your target and what's behind it. Take a few minutes to walk around and make sure there's not a hiking trail at the top of the hill or behind it.
Don't pack up and leave immediately. Richochets off rocks can spark and start wildfires in dry grass or shrubs. Same with stuff like exhaust pipes on ATVs.
If you're shooting shotguns you can get a magnet stick. Or just buy some neodymium magnets and tape them to whatever stick you want, like a telescopic one. They're great since most shotshells are partially magnetic. They're also excellent for picking up stuff like old nails since people keep burning pallets and junk.
3
2
2
u/Professional_Chef379 Apr 14 '26
Consider a brass catcher as well. They are cheap on Amazon. brass catcher
2
u/ProtoJazz Apr 14 '26
I use a couple of the ones that mount on a rail
Also the big ones that pop out and you just stand beside
Cleanup is super easy, as well as saving for reloading later.
I don't reload 22, but it's so nice to just dump it out rather than sweep a bunch of shit up at the indoor range, or pick brass out of the dirt and grass outside.
1
u/ImNotLHO Apr 14 '26
100%!! I recently visited a conservation area here in southern Ontario—we have NO other land I know of down here we can shoot on. Absolutely NO crown land for 4/5+ hours...
So seeing that some hunters are leaving hundreds of shotgun shells all over the ground throughout the marshlands is just sad! Thankfully, my local conservation organization is letting hunters use their land for seasonal hunting, but it's a shame some just leave a mess after shooting...
1
u/SEEUL8RODINATOR Jun 11 '26
I’m in London, would this conservation area happen to be Fingal? Been looking for a shooting spot that won’t involve coughing up $400 just to shoot at a club…
1
u/anxietyisntsobad Apr 14 '26
If someone (company) puts up a no-shooting sign at the entrance to what appears to be a logging road (and therefore crown land?), is it actually enforceable or are they just hoping to scare people off?
1
u/Low-HangingFruit Apr 14 '26
Look up the allowed use on the crown land.
Loggers only have rights to what they lease from the government.
In ontario; a lot of "hunt clubs" put these signs all over crown land because they love to run big drives and dont wont other people there.
1
u/outline8668 Apr 14 '26
We have a guy nearby why puts up no trespassing signs on crown land to try to keep it for himself. I checked with the local municipal government, verified the plot of land and confirmed nobody has a lease or permit on that land for logging or livestock or anything it's just some dude trying to gatekeep public land. We go on there all the time now just out of spite.
1
u/SKSd0c Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
More often than not it's people putting up false signs or illegally gating roads. However, forestry roads differ a bit between provinces. In Ontario, the overwhelming majority of forestry roads on crown land are accessible by the public with rare exception.
In terms of roads running through private lands to access Crown lands, those are public only if they existed at time of letters patent issuance (grant from the crown) or have otherwise been dedicated as public roads since such time.
1
u/hardkn0cks Apr 14 '26
Thank you. Agreed. Some other reminders, you can't shoot over a road or over a body of water. Just use your head, nobody wants to get hurt. Don't think you can get away with awful behavior because you're in the middle of nowhere. Satellite phones/inreach are pretty common and we all have cameras in our pockets.
1
1
63
u/Rare-Worldliness5915 Apr 14 '26
Agreed. And don’t do this!! https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mission-police-gun-safety-9.7160625