Another bad example of non-resident hunters

[ChrisS]

I've hunted Colorado, I think the road campsites I've seen are generally in pretty good shape, but most definitely show signs of overruse.
The number of hunters are decreasing, but I don't think that there's any kind of bottom falling out ...

The number of licensed hunters in Colorado (281,201) last year [2015] was 23 percent fewer than the 1998 high of 362,927.

 

[elkduds]

Most of the biggest messes I see on public land are @ shooting areas, left by locals. Put your trash in a box or bag and take it away!

 

[Owenst7]

I'm sure as soon as those guys cross the state line in to Texas, their act cleans up and they start respecting the land.

 

[Chucklehead]

Most of the biggest messes I see on public land are @ shooting areas, left by locals. Put your trash in a box or bag and take it away!

Same here. Spent brass, trash, or old appliances used for targets is the one that really gets my goat.
Maybe its a few bad apples. Like kids in their teens or early 20s. Cause I did some pretty dumb crap too when I was that age.
Hopefully everyone matures into a respectful steward of the land at some point. I like to think I did....

 

[ssssnake529]

As others have pointed out, it's not a non-resident problem, it's a general problem.

In the Uintas, where I hunt, I see tons of trash left by local horse packers and outfitters. Seen the same thing in the Wind Rivers. Piles of beer and liquor bottles stacked into pyramids 5 feet high in some outfitter camps, the accumulated trash of many hunting seasons. (And in the Wind Rivers, at least, I know they are locals, because non-residents can't hunt the wilderness areas.) Last time I was in Colorado, I saw tons of trash, including one camp where they left 4 KFC chicken buckets and associated trash. I had talked with this group, and they were not just from Colorado, but locals from the closest town.

The common thread for me seems to be not that they are non-residents, but rather that they didn't walk in; they rode horses or ATVs. Obviously not every horse packer or ATV rider is a garbage spewing jerk, but I have found that the amount of trash and damage left seems to be inversely proportional to the amount of effort someone is willing to make to get into the backcountry. People who put in a lot of effort to get there tend to not want to mess it up.

 

[vanish]

You wouldn't believe the amount of RESIDENT trash we clean up around Rifle, CO.

The same people who trash up the place then complain when motorized access is closed.

Gee, maybe if you didn't leave the place a mess, you could still go there?

Don't even get me started about shooting signs. Some of them don't last a month.

 

[FlyGuy]

The littering is BS and should never happen no matter where you are from. But, it sounds to me from reading your post that you were just annoyed by the litter, but you are really more upset about NR "invading" your hunting areas (and then leaving trash behind).

They aren't YOUR spots. They are fair game. If some boys from TX came all they way up to CO and were able to find your "honey hole" all own their own then good for them. It was probably hard earned and not just by accident. I can absolutely understand that being frustrating for you, but that's just how it is if you hunt public. You only get to be mad about it if you own the land. Then you can be mad as Hell about a group from TX or anywhere else hunting in your spot.

Good on you for helping out the guys on horseback that bit off more than they could chew. Sure sounds like it was a major inconvenience for you though? Again, just sounds to me like you were more upset about NR hunting in YOUR spot and then having the audacity to ask you for help (directions) on top of it.



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[Seth1913]

I agree with you.

On a recent bow-hike in a chunk of national forest I hauled out a short bed truck load of junk someone had dumped in the edge of the timber from their home remodel project. I saw a set of Colorado plates a day or so before at a gas station, I bet that was them. I just don't understand why someone would drive from Colorado to Missouri to dump their junk in the national forest.

Those Texas boys probably got all hopped up on the legal devil's lettuce in CO, lost their minds on reefer madness, destroyed and left their own camp and ran in to the wilderness naked never to be seen again. Probably used the lord's name in vain when they did it.

1 like = 1 prayer for those poor boys from TX and your friend who cleaned up after them.

PS - good on your friend for hauling that crap out. We can't change the world but we can change our street.

That damn devils lettuce lol

 

[Nomad]

Did you inform these dudes of the errors of their ways after you helped them out? If not, you missed a great opportunity to potentially change their bad behavior. Some people are stupid, but others are just ignorant. The latter can be corrected. Bitchin' about it on the internet won't do much good, imo.

For all the "Texas Hate" that I've always HEARD about coming from Coloradans, I've been treated pretty well by 98% of everyone I've come across in Colorado.

 

[Rthur]

Have been gathering trash ect for years in NM.
Mostly an aluminum trail and surveyors tape.

R

 

[IdahoElk]

Why is Pabts Blue Ribbon the drink of litter bugs?

 

[Grambo]

Cheaper than trash bags

 

[fngTony]

Why is Pabts Blue Ribbon the drink of litter bugs?

You’ve noticed that too?

 

[Rmauch20]

If we changed it to Whitetail deer and pheasant and the location to western Kansas I could say exact same thing about all the Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri people that come out here. Almost forgot to address Trespassing. Prople are just slobs I don’t think it really matters what state they originate from.

 

[DRUSS]

Why is Pabts Blue Ribbon the drink of litter bugs?

If it's not I think keystone could be a close second

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I've packed out a lot of trash belonging to others but the trash I saw on an Indian Reservation hunt would fill a landfill. It is disheartening how some people disrespect the land.

 

[Hall256]

Looks like someone needs a little reminder...

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[Gobbler36]

I agree see the same thing in Idaho, especially horse camps that build all this shit at a campsite and leave it there, not ever wondering if they next person coming down the trail wants to look at the tipi, or benches they built

 

[thinhorn_AK]

You should see some of the shit SOME Alaska residents pull up here.....

 

[bluetick78]

Idaho has seen a healthy increase in the number if NR hunters over the past decade, but I have not noticed any difference in the amount of trash in the backcountry. This leads me to belive that the trash most likely comes from the same people year after year and is most likely Idahoans leaving it, as I have not seen any NR hunters in some areas until the last 2 years.
The trashiest public land users I have come across is the Sheep herders. Towards the end of August of 2016 I came across several sheep camps while scouting. Each time I filled a 5500 cu in pack with sardine cans, steel wire, whiskey bottles, chew cans, beer cans, baling twine, etc. I contacted the local grazing manager and was met with gruff, stiff opposition to my complaint. I spent some time in 2017 videoing the # of sheep on each allotment and videoing the trash being generated in real time by these "stewards of the land". I then took my findings to the US Fish &Wildlife. They were much more interested in my complaints than the "good ol boy" grazing manager was. I turned all my footage over to them, hopefully it has an impact on the behavior of these people who are using public lands for free as the Forest Service assigns no monetary value to these particular leases.
I don't know if my efforts will ever have an impact or cause a change, but as long as I see public land users damaging OUR lands I will continue to put as much pressure on the governmental agencies involved to take corrective action.