Crown Land Shooting - Closures

[Quinn]

Well,

I thought was going to be the government who installed restrictions for discharging firearms in the Wiaparous area, but this year it seems like the oil field is taking it into their own hands and closing off any roads of theirs and putting up signs from the RCMP about sour wells and illegal to trespass and discharge firearms.

One location that was hidden and hike in only has been gated, and the other very commonly used area has posts going up and will be gated probably in a week or two. As of this year the location has become a disaster with cartridges, hulls, "cut" trees with guns, half burnt live trees, plenty of tires, boards, bottles, etc cluttering the area. I knew it was only a matter of time. I could only pick up and clean so much garbage when I went out.

Knowing the area well, I can only think of one half decent location to shoot 150+ yards (this one is up to 1100yards). Sad, but the mis-use by shooters is making our sport extremely difficult. I'm glad I got my RM range membership, but don't want to drive 200km's every weekend to use it! That's all soon to change as it's quickly becoming a requirement.

We really do need more ranges close to Calgary.

[Scotty454]

Originally Posted by Quinn

Well,

I thought was going to be the government who installed restrictions for discharging firearms in the Wiaparous area, but this year it seems like the oil field is taking it into their own hands and closing off any roads of theirs and putting up signs from the RCMP about sour wells and illegal to trespass and discharge firearms.

One location that was hidden and hike in only has been gated, and the other very commonly used area has posts going up and will be gated probably in a week or two. As of this year the location has become a disaster with cartridges, hulls, "cut" trees with guns, half burnt live trees, plenty of tires, boards, bottles, etc cluttering the area. I knew it was only a matter of time. I could only pick up and clean so much garbage when I went out.

Knowing the area well, I can only think of one half decent location to shoot 150+ yards (this one is up to 1100yards). Sad, but the mis-use by shooters is making our sport extremely difficult. I'm glad I got my RM range membership, but don't want to drive 200km's every weekend to use it! That's all soon to change as it's quickly becoming a requirement.

We really do need more ranges close to Calgary.

Well this is bad news... A few of our group are into shooting, and we frequent Waiparous often. We all at least take out what we bring in, however. Every shotgun shell gets picked up, we try our best to pick up all of our brass. We leave absolutely no garbage behind, and usually try to pick up anything else we see lying around.

We would have a lot of really nice areas around Calgary if everyone was just a little more respectful...

[Quinn]

Seems like most roads off the 40 that oil has control of are being locked up from what I can see.

I now have to hike in to grab my AR500 steel. Ugh.

[michaelmicallef]

If this is the spot with the sign on the fence stating" keep area clean or access will be restricted" I'm really bummed out as that was the one place I loved going shooting my long range rig. I could say some nasty things that would get me in trouble with a lot of people by why bother. Seems like I might have to find another hobby. Or at least start looking for a new place to shoot. Thanks a lot to all the pigs that leave their crap every where. I guess I new it was coming too.

[michaelmicallef]

Guess it was never really crown land to begin with. It's ok for oil
And gas or the logging industry to have at it but realistically the garbage in that one spot is nothing compared to the scars the big money outfits do to the land.

[hal53]

Originally Posted by michaelmicallef

Guess it was never really crown land to begin with. It's ok for oil
And gas or the logging industry to have at it but realistically the garbage in that one spot is nothing compared to the scars the big money outfits do to the land.

pretty childish comments.....

[calgarychef]

Those aren't childish comments at all. Look at the destruction these companies wreak on the land then tell me that someone shooting is doing more? Really?

That said, folks should clean up after themselves. The way to kill the shooting sports is simply to make it so difficult to find places to shoot that folks simply give up. Wait and see what happens in the future with all these gun range closures.

[michaelmicallef]

Originally Posted by hal53

pretty childish comments.....

More like comments made out of frustration. I'll be making some calls tommorow to find out where the boundary of "crown land"on that site is.

[Quinn]

I wouldn't say childish either.

As a shooter I push to clean up spots and make them better yet only see people abuse the environment.

At the same time I fight to keep OHV trails open. GPS ing tails, building bridges, installing matts, cutting new trail to avoid water sensitive areas and improve drainage, trail cleaning, etc.

What we see in return? A huge paper and money chase.

What have we seen since then? These same areas clear cut. Not a tree standing for miles. It's like a slap in the face.

[Sushi]

A coworker told me his girl friend was recently hit by a .22 bullet out there. She was lucky it was low velocity and only gave her a bad bruise and bounced onto a lawn chair. Fools shooting into the air or with no back stop I presume, the shooter was out of sight. With irresponsible behaviour comes new rules sadly.

[michaelmicallef]

I was in Mexico last week at a resort with my family. One of the resort activities was target shooting with air rifles. While at the activity I spoke with several people from Britain. They where envious of our privileges when I comes to firearms ownership in Canada. I couldn't help but think " privileges for now". And living close to a big city like Calgary is going to cause more restrictions on near by "crown land" for sure. We can't all join a range so what are we supposed to do ? Could try writing more letters to your MP asking for more gun ranges. But I think we all know how that would go.

[Ivo]

When people don't have a regulated place to shoot, they find a suitable location and are not supervised. This is why these things happen, we have no facilities for our sport.

I was a little north of that area a couple of years ago just to take a friend from out of town with me on a day trip. At the end of a road there was garbage all over the place...empty fried chicken boxes, 7 wsm casings, pop cans, tires....

It's disappointing that people don't realize the results of their actions, just makes everything harder for the rest of us.

[Jimmyly]

Originally Posted by Sushi

A coworker told me his girl friend was recently hit by a .22 bullet out there. She was lucky it was low velocity and only gave her a bad bruise and bounced onto a lawn chair. Fools shooting into the air or with no back stop I presume, the shooter was out of sight. With irresponsible behaviour comes new rules sadly.

Your coworkers girlfriend should buy a lottery ticket.

But on a serious note; this is very unfortunate that everyone is getting punishes for the actions of a few.

[colroggal]

And people wonder why I wont tell them where I go. I trust most of my friends but I dont know who they know. Or who those people know.

Maybe we need severe, life altering penalties. $10,000 for first offense. Poor baby can't afford it - THEN DON'T F*****G LITTER!!!!!!! The government will be able to afford enforcement after handing out a few of those bad-boys. The system will pay for itself.

Colin.

[sillyak]

Originally Posted by colroggal

And people wonder why I wont tell them where I go. I trust most of my friends but I dont know who they know. Or who those people know.

Maybe we need severe, life altering penalties. $10,000 for first offense. Poor baby can't afford it - THEN DON'T F*****G LITTER!!!!!!! The government will be able to afford enforcement after handing out a few of those bad-boys. The system will pay for itself.

Colin.

Exactly. Far stiffer fines and more enforcement! No legislation needed, IIRC the max fine for littering is $2000. Send out a memo advising officers and judges that this max will be enforced. Put more officers on the ground and hand out the max to every offender out there trashing our wilderness. The fines will easily pay for the increased officer count. Can't pay for it? Pay off the fine picking garbage in the wilderness, $20 off your fine for every bag of garbage you present to an officer.

[Speckler]

Check and see if the oilies even have the right to do what they are doing. They may feel the have the liberty but do not.

[sillyak]

Originally Posted by Speckler

Check and see if the oilies even have the right to do what they are doing. They may feel the have the liberty but do not.

If they built the road, they have the right to gate it, same with logging companies.

[Speckler]

If it's leased crown do they not have to provide access?

[diamonddave]

Originally Posted by Sushi

A coworker told me his girl friend was recently hit by a .22 bullet out there. She was lucky it was low velocity and only gave her a bad bruise and bounced onto a lawn chair. Fools shooting into the air or with no back stop I presume, the shooter was out of sight. With irresponsible behaviour comes new rules sadly.

lol cough cough bull poop cough cough

[sillyak]

Originally Posted by Speckler

If it's leased crown do they not have to provide access?

They need to provide reasonable access yes, but that does not mean a road.

[Speckler]

Ahhh good then I can still hunt and camp there as I always have with POWYPI rules.

[lannie]

Originally Posted by Sushi

A coworker told me his girl friend was recently hit by a .22 bullet out there. She was lucky it was low velocity and only gave her a bad bruise and bounced onto a lawn chair. Fools shooting into the air or with no back stop I presume, the shooter was out of sight. With irresponsible behaviour comes new rules sadly.

Your co worker is pulling your leg.

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by Ivo

When people don't have a regulated place to shoot, they find a suitable location and are not supervised. This is why these things happen, we have no facilities for our sport.

I was a little north of that area a couple of years ago just to take a friend from out of town with me on a day trip. At the end of a road there was garbage all over the place...empty fried chicken boxes, 7 wsm casings, pop cans, tires....

It's disappointing that people don't realize the results of their actions, just makes everything harder for the rest of us.

I likely know where you are talking about and yes, that location has gotten much worse in the last year. Plenty of garbage, lots of hulls, and "cut" trees with guns. 2 years ago it was a lot more presentable..

I'm just pi$$ed because I know the area well and there is only one more location I'd consider shooting long range. It's not ideal, but the other option is 200km from my house in RM. It is driving me to sell all my long range equipment.

There are signs at this newest location to get a gate saying if the site isn't kept clean, access will be denied. How much more does it take for people to stop leaving a mess? I've cleaned that location multiple times and kept showing up to it being a disaster. This May long was the nail in the coffin with hundreds (not word of a lie, but thousands??) of hulls laying everywhere. Much of them were half dried in the mud so a rake would no longer work. Plenty of brass too. I picked up nearly 150 308 cartridges.

People are slobs. I wish those who were making the mess could be isolated and treated accordingly.

[Sushi]

Originally Posted by lannie

Your co worker is pulling your leg.

It is entirely possible if it was a ricochet

[YYC338]

Originally Posted by Speckler

Check and see if the oilies even have the right to do what they are doing. They may feel the have the liberty but do not.

I think if you dig a little deeper and make some inquiries you may find that it's the SRD that is requesting that the oil companies gate their access. We see that happening in the Burnt Timber area.

[purgatory.sv]

Have shot on what is public land.
Member of several sanctioned shooting facilities.

I believe the issue is new shooters or owners don’t know what they are responsible for.
Yes you can pass the test but do you really understand?


I know I want it all but only keep what I can accommodate?

[friendofacatahoula]

Not all new shooters are irresponsible. I see seasoned shooters that I stay far from as I certainly question some of their decision making process.

[220swifty]

Originally Posted by Sushi

It is entirely possible if it was a ricochet

Did she take a knee and think things thru?

[coreya3212]

Originally Posted by 220swifty

Did she take a knee and think things thru?

I believe the requirement is to say "I'm hit!" And then take a knee and think things threw....

[purgatory.sv]

Originally Posted by friendofacatahoula

Not all new shooters are irresponsible. I see seasoned shooters that I stay far from as I certainly question some of their decision making process.

True