Guys, I'm so disappointed in how we (hunters) just continue to shoot ourselves in the foot (metaphorically I hope). I don't have the money to pay for a dove lease or I would in a heart-beat, so I pay for a public hunting license and go to the public fields. I know the pains of the first day of dove season and yes, I got peppered by some teenager who quickly got the short end of a butt chewing from me, before I turned to finish on his dad who didn't care to teach him and responded to me with "well duck next time he swings your way". Seriously?

But my embarrassment and frustration is those who leave their trash behind. Not just hulls, but literally trash. I hunted opening day, and I went back out yesterday morning also. I found a couple Wally World bags full of empty hulls (which I picked up). I also picked up tons of trash littering the field where it was quite obvious someone had been hunting (next to a hay bale, next to a fence line with matted grass from their chair(s)). If there is one thing I've heard repeatedly from landowners when asking to hunt their place or reasons they don't lease to TPWD anymore is simply this "The public hunters don't respect our land(or property) and leave trash everywhere." Guys, this is just sad, and we will continue to lose more great public hunting grounds because many of you simply don't take the time to pickup your hulls and take your trash to the truck and throw it away properly. I hear hunters complain the "good" fields we get to hunt are continually disappearing but yet those same guys I've watched walk away after their hunt with a box or two of hulls laying where they were hunting.

So I ask beg of you, pickup after yourself like a big boy should, leave no trace you were there, and we will all benefit from just these simple courtesies.

Not just a public land issue. Many landowners no longer grant permission to walk up hunters because the last group trashed the field. We are our own worst enemy.

Agree with you 100% but I don't think the guys that litter have enough intelligence to read and are probably missing this message I feel your pain though I hate litter.

I second this NateDogg...I took my 10 year old hunting this morning. We had this very same conversation about "picking up" after yourself.

Maybe a better explained sign at the entrance of the lease that clearly says "HEY IDIOT PICK UP YOUR TRASH".

You guys ought to see Temple Lake Park after the weekend . It will make you sick and mad seeing all the trash left .

I 100% agree. It's simply trashy to not pick up after yourself. Hulls, beer cans, chip bags, etc.

I don't blame people one damn bit for not wanting to lease their land to hunters. Unfortunately, there's enough white trash out there to ruin it for everyone else.

There is some land off of HWY 317 where someone shots skeet and is the trashies place on earth. I wish I can catch them there I will call it in.

I couldn't agree more. That's why most of the leased public land is sub-par, at least in the central Texas areas. I wouldn't lease my land if hunters treated it that way. Unfortunately, it seems to get worse every year.

YEP, Not just a public land issue I was invited to hunt the Horse Park area here in Frisco and even though trash cans were provided I was amazed at how people just left trash behind.

Remember this place is $600 a year for dove or $150 a day & people were just as trashy as public land if not worse.

I totally agree with you. Some folks don't have the courtesy or respect to pick up after themselves. I know I picked up about a box of hulls, bag of chips, and water bottles on the way out as well this past weekend. what a shame. They shouldn't ruin it for the rest of the good folks out there.

You can really only do two things. First...leave a place better than you found it. Second, try to teach others to do the same and why it's important. I'm just going to do those things and not lose an sleep over this issue because that's all I can do.

Sometimes I feel like that native American Indian in that old commercial form the 70's.




http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january262008/earth_talk_012608.php



I've learned to keep an extra trash bag in my blind bag to clean up after the idiots that were there before me. Having a place trashed leads to people not caring about throwing their trash and then it multiplies.

If I clean up then maybe the next guy won't think it is OK to throw his garbage there.

Good thread...one If the worst parts is they can sometimes think that, its ok because someone else will pick it up. Pathetic. My dog picks up hulls so hunters can too.

Also, I know it is tough to do, but make it a point to pick up the wads too a few times a season. This is easier at small lakes, when washed on the bank, but makes a big difference wherever its done.

I've been doing the dove day lease thing for 11 years now. I've kicked people off for doing stupid things and I have not let people come back because of the trash thing. If a hunter don't respect my place, their not here long. I make a mental note of who's hunting and where, if there area has trash and hulls I make then go back out and clean it up. If they do it again, their gone on the spot.
Luckly 80% of my guys are repeat hunters and know the rules and have a lot less of this problem now. A person is going to lose a few hulls, but don't leave a pile and if you see one on the ground pick it up, reguardless who's it is...I HATE TRASH ON MY PLACE..

funny you mention this...
I actually e-mailed the Mayor of Little Elm and asked if it would be cool to clean up a trashy spot that alot of hunters use, here is the responce I got back...
Mr. Lem, Mayor Platt asked me to respond to your question.



Yes, you are welcome to bring the trash and debris that is collected from the Sunset Pointe Subdivision to the bulk trash drop off site. Just let me know which Saturday morning you plan to have your clean up event and we will advise the staff at the drop off that you will be coming. Thank you for your volunteerism! My contact information is below.



Ivan Langford

Town Manager

ilangford@littleelm.org

214-975-0405



anyone intrested in giving up a saturday is welcomed to help me... Let me know.

Public Hunting Trash......thought this thread was about Cable and Moose.

We hunted on private property last evening, and was happy to see very little in the way of trash. Only a few spent shotshells and couple empty coke cans.

I grabbed those and threw em in the truck.

But, I know what ya'all are sayin. I've seen area's so trashed out it made me puke.

Remember that old motto. Pack out what you pack in.

Yep, we hunted a private lease this weekend. Several times I heard my daughter say "idiots!" as we pull into the various fields. Asking her what she meant, she said, "look at all the trash someone left."

I'll admit, I wasn't as diligent in pickup up my hulls, but after seeing them pick up theirs, I was reminded to also pick up mine before we left.

I'm proud that they know it's a privileged to use someone's land and we need to take care of it.

You can bet the folks that leave the hulls behind, as well as their trash, don't hunt much. It is sad.

We hunted public opening day, and folks set up to our right (in the open in the middle of the flyway shooting anything regardless of species ) and left every dang shell they spent.

On the treeline were other hunters were, you didn't see a hull, beer can, etc. If you hadn't been there to see they were hunting there, you'd never known they were there.

And yes, the litter bugs were young.

Yep, not just a public hunting area problem.
Been on a few different private dove leases the last
several years and folks leaving behind trash
is the one thing you can count on where ever
you go. It doesn't seem to be a generational
thing, an intelligence thing or an economic thing.
Some folks are just too self absorbed and oblivious
of what it means to be a good steward.

On a funny note.

When I first read the title I thought this was going to be about duck hunting public in Central Texas.

On a serious note.
Your correct I hate it, I clean up hulls all over the place when I am on public or private. People are just lazy.

This one of the reasons I do not like opening weekend, especially dove hunting. For alot of folks this will be the only time they will be in the field this year. I do not know how many folks I have seen at Academy getting a license. Saying I just need enough to hunt dove this weekend. Many are not hunters it is just a party. Good reminder about picking up our hulls. I even see that at the shooting area on LBJ. My son and I shoot clays out there and we usually pick up 100 more hulls than we shot. That area has been closed to vehicle traffic just because we as hunters did not take care of it. I am sure we did not do all the damage but it was folks using the resource, hunter, camper, hiker, whatever.

i know where your talking about. me and my wife have been out there 3 times already trying to clean up. bags of empty shells. only to come back a few days later and see the same results. and i hunted out there, always clean up, and have been peppered a few times, once leaving a knot on the back of my head. the guy had the nerver to walk up to me after and say, "that wasn't too close was it?" we gotta do something or USACE will take the land from us too

Honesty I treat dove hunting as just a social event, but I can't stand seeing trash so I gave all the 410 hulls I found opening morning to the guide and told him to tell the only guy in the group shooting 410 that morning that there was a litering fine of $20/hull.