Fellow Tradgangers, lets do MORE than our part

[BowHunterGA]

This is my first season back in the woods in several years. Career changes and the economy prevented my being in the fall woods the past 3-4 years.

Maybe it was like this before and I did not notice but what is going on with all the liter in the woods lately?

I have always loathed litter on streams when fishing and my daughter learned early on that whenever we go fishing we spend the last 30 minutes or so policing and area and cleaning up the trash. Today she is 11 (actually this very day, its her birthday) and when we go fishing she will always make sure she gets a new trashbag to take with us. I do not even have to mention it anymore.

It seems this has now transitioned to the woods as well. So far this season I have picked up cigarette packs, empty skoal cans, soft drink bottles, discarded coffee cups, blister packs from scent, ropes, calls, you name it! Even  found one bottle that I think someone used as a pee bottle. Luckily I ALWAYS have the cheap latex gloves in my pack for scent control around my stands and blinds!

I am sure that are many out there that already do something similar but lets all help by cleaning up after the slobs that think the world is there personal garbage dump? Right now I am keeping a large black trash back in my pickup and I am going to post a photo at the end of the season of the trash that I carried out of the woods just during this hunting season alone. Together we can make a huge difference!    

[Steve Clandinin]

Steve,You are so right,I do the same thing.Most of the places I hunt are pretty remote and clean.Still its nice to make it even cleaner.

[Stumpkiller]

I do my part: Energy drink cans, spring water bottles, expired buck lure "bombs", jerkey & candy bar wrappers.

And that's off my own property from slobs that didn't ask permission to hunt or at least disobeyed as that is one of two things I tell those that ask: no litter, no motorized vehicles.  I don't post my land, but it pisses me off to no end.  I picked up one of those damn aerosol bomb cans and put it in the cargo pocket of my pants.  Turns out it wasn't quite dead and I heard an odd noise as it was "psssssscht"ing the last of the buck lure down my leg.  I don't use attractant scents - but I do now as those pants still stink two years later.

THAT's why you see posted signs most places.  It's the tire ruts, crushed fences, open gates and the garbage - not the occasional gut pile.


Oh, and thanks to all who feel I need old mattresses, tires, bicycles, dead Christmas trees, old washing machines and the like.  I realize this has nothing to do with hunters, but It's one more reason to be pissed off when a truck pulls up on the side of the road and not in the driveway.

[BCWV]

Yep, I'm always bringing trash back with me on public and private land including my own land like Stumpkiller above.

 People just don't care. I'm amazed at some of the things I see done by so called "hunters" any more. Not just trash but total disregard for anyone other than theirselves.

 These are the sorry times we live in I'm afraid.

[stik&string]

     I think that's a worthy challenge to all of us.

Happy Birthday to your little girl!

[stevewills]

we go to public land and make stump shoots out of it...shoot the trash then bag it up...

[Winterhawk1960]

GREAT suggestion !!!! I was taught to always leave things in BETTER shape than I found them. I can't stand seeing other peoples trash strewn about. I hunt both private and public lands and to be perfectly honest, there isn't much difference in the type of slobs that hunt both.

For goodness sakes people...........PLEASE take all your trash out with you and take the time to pick up what other people leave behind. Our Grandchildren, even when chewing a piece of gum will NOT throw it down on the ground. The two oldest are only 5 and 6 years old and know better.

Kudo's to you for passing it along to the next generation. Those lessons and memories that are taught at a very young age are the ones that last a lifetime.

Winterhawk1960

[David Yukon]

Here in the Yukon, the main problem, is with permanent trash, the stuff you can't get rid of, the ATV/Argo tracks in the tundra or off the trails, it is becoming a real problem. People try to drive every where, and trash the land prety badly!

 And I here you on the littering of garbage all over the woods, mainly around where people camped. We see a lot of it to and try to clean up after them as well! I wish that people would just do a "sweep" befor they leave an area, that's what we do every time we leave a camp spot, first to be sure that we didn,t forget any of our gear, and second to be sure that we leave no trace of our stayin the area!!

[wtpops]

I dont carry a bag but will carry out rappers and such in my pack and if i see a can or something to that effect that is where i stop during my still hunting and sit for a time, while there i will bury the object as i sit and look around.

If in a camp setting i will pick up all i can of the other campers trash before i leave, my kids used to wine about this when they were young, "But dad its not our stuff". They stopped wining as they got older and now they do the same thing when they leave a camp site. Its nice to know some things do rub off on your kids