I've been going to desert shooting areas for over 30 years now.  And the two things that seem to get an area closed are excessive trash & too many shooters.  I can't count how many places I've been to over the years that are now closed due to this issue.

If you have a favorite shooting spot, please take your trash out with you and stop telling everyone about it.  You tell a friend, who tells a friend, who etc.....

My new spot (old spot was closed down about a year ago), looks to be collecting more trash and shooters.  Sorry for the rant, but I went shooting today & was very disappointed that I'll probably be looking for another "New" spot to shoot within the next year.  

People who drag crap out into the desert to shoot at and then abandon it are screwing everyone else who goes out to shoot.  I always take an empty garbage bag along and pick up what I can.  I really hate the ones who leave furniture and appliances.

Scum.  They're scum, I tell you.  

C'mon mannn, it's just an old refrigerator! No big deal!

Biggest problem at my spot is the damn shotgun hulls and empty boxes every where. Rake that shit up and take it with you!

Why i prefer steel plates over paper but anyways not hard to take trash back people take a tv or whatever there but for some reason cant take back are the scum.

Hate slobs!

Shotgun hulls have steel in them. I use an old lifter tool and don't have to bend over. Works on steel case trash too.

I wish forest rangers or AZGFD would set up check points at the roads leading to the most popular outdoor shooting spots.  Stop vehicles on the way in to make sure they have trash bags (and give you some if you don't) and aren't hauling tv's, appliances, etc.  On the way out, they check to make sure the trash bag is full...or at least has something in it.  Like a DUI checkpoint, except for idiots who leave trash behind.

Not every day...just a few weekends a year, unannounced.  Maybe someone like Bass Pro or Sportsman's Warehouse could sponsor it and donate $5 gift cards for each full trash bag you bring out with you.  I'm sure Waste Management would donate a few roll-away dumpsters as well.

When I used to shoot in the desert I would leave with at least 3-4 Hefty bags full of garbage that I picked up. Other shooters' messes.

Shotgun hulls are the worst.

Please don't dump your garbage.

Can't do much for the trash.  We haul out what we bring in.  If you want to get there before it gets crowded, you have to brave that cold and get there before sun up.   I don't even bother shooting at the "main hill" at Table Mesa anymore.  

Last time I shot the main hill, we showed up early as usual, first ones there.  Then as soon as the started coming over the horizon, 2 other groups showed up.  So there was 3 groups, all with 3 tables setup, pretty much spanning the width of the bottom part of the hill, around 15 people total. That was overkill but we managed for about 45 minutes of that mess before another group, 2 trucks worth of people blasting their stereos,  pull in, and squeeze all the way to right of the hill, and start setting up, without a care in the world. Little kids come jumping out, running around, more kids still in car carriers....wtf?  Can you not see this area is already over-full?

We packed up and left.

And that's how places get closed. Carelessness & accidents.   I remember going to a place in the late 80's that was like a war zone.  Complete disregard for anyone's safety. Some clown walking by starting shooting someone else's targets while his kids were setting them-up.  People getting into arguments and pointing guns at each other.  I think there was finally a death there.  Of course, now long closed.

It also reminds me of a Dove Hunt in Yuma on the Res.  After showing-up the night before to camp and bare the heat to get our spot, we woke-up to a truck load of idiots parked right next to our tent.  

It's a real shame.

Coming from CT I couldn't even dream of having shooting spots like we have here and people just trash them. I take out what I bring in every time. A few people come with me but they knew about the spot I go to before I did.

One famous one in Tucson used to be Powerline Road off Tangerine. Dirt road literally by some power lines, about 1/2 mile in an an old garbage pit was there. People left everything from water heaters to stolen cars there. People tried to clean it up; one group even brought in a bulldozer crew to move the big juk and cut firing positions. It didn't matter, the slobs trashed it completely again in no time, and the county shut it down.
My best friend and I have been to the local public range and spent our first hour on the line doing nothing but picking up leftover garbage and moving it to dumpsters, so the city doesn't try to kill it off.  How freaking hard is it to take your empty ammo box and move it to a can, less than 5 feet way...?

I went out yesterday to my spot and took out a trash bag with me to clean-up some of the mess.  If I can prolong losing this spot by cleaning it up, I'll do it.

i use to shoot there alot back in 1997-2000ish then all those homes got built in dove mtn. it was amazing to have a place to shoot 15mins from my house!

that was actually a "borrow pit" for when they built tangerine i think. they borrowed dirt to build up the road way, at least that is was my civil eng friend use to say.

i recall one day out there some young kids where playing with pvc pipe bombs. some other shooters called the sheriff but the kids bugged out before he got there. he never even cared that we were shooting, just wanted details on the pyro's. PCS dudes were all super cool back then, most still are i guess.

Years ago, a member here and I were shooting at the Cinder Pit off of the 40 outside of Flagstaff.

Some idiots showed up and began to shoot randomly all over the place. We were  pinned down due to overhead fire.

It took a mag dump from an M14 to announce that we were there and they were shooting at us.

Fuckers packed up and left almost immediately. And yes, they left their beer.

That sucked.



Oh, and we would bag up other people's trash and take it with us when we left.

I always take out more than I brought in, whether it's a handful or a trash bag. Doesn't take much effort to keep our land lookin' good.