clays on crown land????

We use the gravel pits in Sandilands to shoot clays, as do a few others. Wouldn't worry about a mess as that others have already made it. We pick up our shells and I'll usaully pack out a garbage bag or two of crap left y others, although a dumpster would probably work better. Just shoot with yur back to road unlike some morons i saw shooting paralell to it
 
I hunt those same woods and sure wish every one would do the same.
Every pit or clearing is full of garbage and spent hulls. Can't stress enough the importance of cleaning 'em up. Rarely notice the clays but piles of shotgun shells sure do stand out.
 
I've done it on several occasions. Mind you if you're out in the boonies, odds are that you won't find many hikers and day-users there. I'd suggest looking for such a place.
 
Take a big rake, and do a 5 min job after you're done blasting!!!

2 mins for husks
3 mins for wads down the line

I think it's funny there was a long discussion of "toxic" materials comming out of the clays... target shot is made out of lead - which isn't great for anything living when ingested. Plant or animal.

But I do like when I see orange dust exploding in the air, and I can't afford steel shot for every pull of the trigger.
 
I do this A LOT. Food for thought about the clays - I assumed that they were biodegradable ("clay"?!). Anhow, I normally shoot in a clearing where there are several dozen old freezers and several hundred old tires. I know, just because others are ignorant doesn't give me the right, but you know what I mean - no-one goes hiking through what is basically a dump. I pick up hulls and take a walk for big pieces of clays or intact clays and any wads that I see.
A note about wads and steel: Kent now makes a "velocity" target load that is steel (if you want it) and comes with a biodegradable wad. I don't know how much it costs, but I plan to find out. This might be a good option.
A note about legality: in Nova Scotia, you have to have a Habitat Sticker (base hunting license) to have a firearm in wilderness habitat. Even then, it can only be a certain type of firearm with a certain load (basically, they don't want you out there with anything that you could poach deer with, so shotgun is OK up to a certain size shot to allow you to hunt 'yotes, which are open year-round here). When I tried to find out about the legality of what I wanted to do, the only answer that i could get is "You are allowed to have a shotgun in wilderness habitat year-round for the purposes of hunting coyotes". So basically, I'm probably on thin ice because I'm clearly not hunting coyotes when I'm out there. I have had three interaction with the police on this matter. In every case I explained my understanding of the law and they told me to be careful and went away. Now that I have a 4x4 I go to a new spot farther down a logging road and shoot there. I have not been bothered since.
-DW
 
kayak870 said:
I think it's funny there was a long discussion of "toxic" materials comming out of the clays... target shot is made out of lead - which isn't great for anything living when ingested. Plant or animal.
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I was under the impression that clays had asbestos in them, and we all know how healthy that is..
 
It's all about balance. Shoot in an area already littered and try and clean up more of a mess than you create. Why not start a fire (when legal) and burn a bunch of garbage left behind by others while you shoot?

Clay is no big deal compared to tires, hot water tanks ect ect.
 
I do it here in ontario,at certain times of the year,the patch I found is way out and nobody uses it when there isnt a big game season on,so I blast away
 
captonion said:
We do it every year on the crown in Ont without any problems from anyone.We even shoot clays over water with lead shot!I called the MNR to ask if this was OK.and they said the lead shot ban only applied to hunting waterfowl.
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Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the idea of the ban on lead was for the very reason to not put more of it into the land, water and marshes where the birds pick it up and use it in their gullets in place of small gravel. If this is right then the same reasoning should apply regardless of if you're shooting at ducks or clays. It's not the pellets that hit the target but the remains that are left in the land. So waterfoul hunting or not ALL shotgun hunting that uses pellets or buck should be steel if the idea is to avoid lead in the game animal's environment.

Seems like another law that got away from the reason that originated it.....
 
Sharptail said:
Clay pigeons are made of petroleum pitch and limestone. They are not biodegradable.
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Oh no, not "Petroleum" and "Limestone":eek:

If you dig down 6 inches you'll see its what most of Alberta is made from too?! The little bit of material in a few clays isn't going to cause any permanent environmental damage. You probably do more damage to the environment driving your car to the range. Keep it in perspective.
 
Other thing thats good to remember. Everything we have on this planet came from the earth at one point in time.

Except those chunks from the moon and mars.
 
ENIGMATIC1 said:
Other thing thats good to remember. Everything we have on this planet came from the earth at one point in time.
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So we should just throw all our garbage into the bush? Yea that makes sense :rolleyes:

I agree with you if you're talking about banana peels, apple cores etc.. But stuff that doesn't biodegrade for thousands of years at best? uhh no
 
Good God, it's as simple as this and I learned it at a young age...

Clean up after yourself....It's that simple.

When I walk my leased land and don't find anything but footprints, I cheers the people that have been on it. Even if they didn't call for permission.

Leave it like you found it, and definitely ask permission for shootin clays.

Respect the land...One day it may be the lot that your 3X removed grandson lives.
 
Clay targets biodegrade through time. Just go down range at any local trap club. Busted clays in various stages of decomposition can be seen. On public lands and private for that matter pick up as many spent hulls as you can. Plastic wads are a problem but I believe some manufacturers are making them so they photo biodegrade. I can't believe the industry has not been mandated by the government in the US to make biodegradable plastic hulls, etc.. I really miss the paper shell days...guess I'm dating myself here. The sad truth of the matter here is that a few people shooting clays on public land leave way less mess and damage to the landscape than your average pack of weekend ATVers.
 
When ever I go out I bring out all my hulls along with any others I find. I don't shoot clays just yet but I will be soon and I'll keep taking my hulls out. I don't find much in the way of other people trash but I'm usually 30-50 km in to the back country around Kamloops before I start sending lead flying at targets unless I'm at a range when I'm shooting.
 
Asbestos containing materials were banned in 1983 in north america to make or import ( with exception to non-friable application in nuclear boilers) even thou canada is still the largest exporter of asbestos mining , i think we are pretty safe from clays containing asbesos , but smell them and you can smell the petro
 
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