Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Just curious....Are spent shotgun shells left laying in a dove field considered litter... or not? I recently moved to middle GA and went to the dove fields on Clybel WMA just to watch. I didn't apply or get drawn for a hunt. I just went to watch the shoots and had a blast watching others have a good time and drop birds. It was a spectator event, and it was a lot of fun. These last 2 days after the shoots I walked the fields in the evenings picking up spent shells hunters left. I filled almost an entire 50 gallon contractor bag full of this year's shotgun shells in the last 2 days. +- 10 hrs of back breaking work stooping over to pick up freshly spent shells (I did include some old shells too if they were easy picking. Many or most have been disked under during field prep this spring I think). At this point, I estimate that I've picked up maybe 4,000-5,000 spent shells in the last 2 days. Seriously back-breaking work.
I'm just wondering about some things...
If you consider yourself a bona fide hunter, why would you leave your garbage in a field like this? Is it not littering if you spend shells, and leave the plastic and brass hulls lying there where you sat for several hours? The most shells I picked up at one single stand from dove hunters was 138 hulls. Those were fresh hulls from Saturday's hunt. It was a mix of 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and .410 shells. The runner up in that same field was a single stand with 116 spent hulls. It was clearly obvious that these were stands with adults as well as youth. Is it not a poor example for youth to be taught that leaving your garbage at the field edge is acceptable?
About 90% of the dove stands I checked in the last 2 days left their spent hulls on the ground. That's 9 out of 10 dove hunters +-.
How can we hunters as a whole fight for gun rights and claim to be sportsmen who further conservation, yet who are so completely lazy that we can't spend one single minute to pick up our spent hulls at the end of a shoot? It only takes about one minute. I have literally picked up thousands of hulls in just the last 2 days alone. I didn't bother with the shot cups and wads. There is just more than I can collect aside from the spent shells. This incredible amount of plastic is being left to become a significant component of our soil on the WMA'S in the dove fields. It can't be good for the wildlife, and also for the crops and human consumers.
Am I completely crazy? Does DNR need to check each hunter as they leave the fields and make them dump spent hulls? Would emplacing a garbage can with a liner and a sign be the answer? If each dove field has say at least 1,000 spent hulls lying on it each season, can we not call this littering? Can we not agree that this is a citable offense? After the last 2 days of work (on my days off) picking up spent shells after one single quota hunt, I have never been more disappointed in us hunters as a whole. These are our public lands and ours to help manage as stewards of the land, and the dove hunters on Clybel as a whole have failed miserably. There is indeed the few out there that did it right. They had a good shoot, enjoyed it (despite the heat), then policed up their shells and went home. That is how mature and responsible hunters should behave. I hope that those reading this post will be inspired and reminded to do our part and to police up other hunters. Lets keep our public lands beautiful and pristine, and places we all are and can be proud of. If you hunt a public field soon and see others leaving their garbage on the field, man up and say something to them. Ask them if they forgot their spent shells. Don't be shy. Manage yourselves and others. At this point, all we know is that plastics are becoming an increasing component of our soils. We don't know if or how that may affect us, so let's keep the issue at bay by picking up our trash! Lets all try to do better and leave our resources better than we found them!
After picking up this garbage and scouting Clybel the last 2 days, I will be hunting the WMA this Saturday. If y'all want to meet up and shoot together, I'd be glad to meet up, or at least say hi and shake a hand.
Lets all exhibit the behavior that sportsmen should. Lets uphold the banner of stewardship, and keep our public lands in a state where we all can be proud of them!
I'm just wondering about some things...
If you consider yourself a bona fide hunter, why would you leave your garbage in a field like this? Is it not littering if you spend shells, and leave the plastic and brass hulls lying there where you sat for several hours? The most shells I picked up at one single stand from dove hunters was 138 hulls. Those were fresh hulls from Saturday's hunt. It was a mix of 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and .410 shells. The runner up in that same field was a single stand with 116 spent hulls. It was clearly obvious that these were stands with adults as well as youth. Is it not a poor example for youth to be taught that leaving your garbage at the field edge is acceptable?
About 90% of the dove stands I checked in the last 2 days left their spent hulls on the ground. That's 9 out of 10 dove hunters +-.
How can we hunters as a whole fight for gun rights and claim to be sportsmen who further conservation, yet who are so completely lazy that we can't spend one single minute to pick up our spent hulls at the end of a shoot? It only takes about one minute. I have literally picked up thousands of hulls in just the last 2 days alone. I didn't bother with the shot cups and wads. There is just more than I can collect aside from the spent shells. This incredible amount of plastic is being left to become a significant component of our soil on the WMA'S in the dove fields. It can't be good for the wildlife, and also for the crops and human consumers.
Am I completely crazy? Does DNR need to check each hunter as they leave the fields and make them dump spent hulls? Would emplacing a garbage can with a liner and a sign be the answer? If each dove field has say at least 1,000 spent hulls lying on it each season, can we not call this littering? Can we not agree that this is a citable offense? After the last 2 days of work (on my days off) picking up spent shells after one single quota hunt, I have never been more disappointed in us hunters as a whole. These are our public lands and ours to help manage as stewards of the land, and the dove hunters on Clybel as a whole have failed miserably. There is indeed the few out there that did it right. They had a good shoot, enjoyed it (despite the heat), then policed up their shells and went home. That is how mature and responsible hunters should behave. I hope that those reading this post will be inspired and reminded to do our part and to police up other hunters. Lets keep our public lands beautiful and pristine, and places we all are and can be proud of. If you hunt a public field soon and see others leaving their garbage on the field, man up and say something to them. Ask them if they forgot their spent shells. Don't be shy. Manage yourselves and others. At this point, all we know is that plastics are becoming an increasing component of our soils. We don't know if or how that may affect us, so let's keep the issue at bay by picking up our trash! Lets all try to do better and leave our resources better than we found them!
After picking up this garbage and scouting Clybel the last 2 days, I will be hunting the WMA this Saturday. If y'all want to meet up and shoot together, I'd be glad to meet up, or at least say hi and shake a hand.
Lets all exhibit the behavior that sportsmen should. Lets uphold the banner of stewardship, and keep our public lands in a state where we all can be proud of them!
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