Picking up empties

W

winchester21

New member
Went out with the old man yesterday and encountered the wiliest roosters I've ever hunted! Groups of 30-40 flushing at the sight of the truck! It was especially great to see so many hens, already looking forward to what next season holds for Colorado hunters.

However, since most of the snow has melted I couldn't help but notice a greater number of spent shells than in years past. Now, I am first to admit that I have left empties in the heat of hunt but I've always make a point to pick others' (and any sort of trash as well); makes me feel like I'm contributing I guess. I hope people do the same for my empties.

(I was surprised to see so many low-base field loads, makes me wonder about some folks!)
 
Looks like I'm gonna have to make a real hard choice between quitting right now on the year & keeping my heretofore nice average on birds-per-outing...Or man-up & let those wary/educated end-of-season birds have a crack at at me for a change! Any true pheasant hunter knows what the answer will be!!! Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed that all that end-of-the-day cackling while piling back in the roost after legal shooting light is starting to sound like uproarious laughter??? :D

Yeah, I always pick up my empties (it's kind of easier though, with an over-n-under than an automatic). I also not only pick up other people's empties, but often bend down to pick up other trash as well that is not mine besides (cans, wrappers, ect.)!...If there is one thing I HATE, it is going afield anywhere to enjoy God's creation & the beauty of nature - only to have my eyes poked out by an unsightly mess that some thoughtless slob left behind! :mad:

Just a thought - maybe somebody was dove-shooting earlier in the year with the low-brass???
 
Guys, good for you! I appreciate that very much. I trained my sons to do the same thing. When I host a hunt at my place, it want it to be a pristine experience, like you are the first to ever set foot on the place and you cannot do that when stepping on empty hulls and trash. After all the hunt is a total sensory experience, not just shooting game.
 
Collecting my empty shells is one of the reasons I like hunting with and O/U. I stick them in my game bag with the pheasants, that way I don't grab them by mistake when I am trying to reload in a hurry, and they don't rattle and make noise in my shell pocket.
 
It is hard sometimes to find them when using an auto. Cover also dictates how many you find. I was duck hunting at Jumbo res. in N.E. Colo. and we left with 2 , 5 gallon buckets of hulls that we picked up. That was a long walk back to the truck with decs, gun, and napsack and hulls, with a few birds to boot. Let's all just make an effort!:thumbsup:
 
yea me too, I admidtt when I used to shoot my beneli, there were plenty flung out there not found, But after training at the club and trialing, using an OU seems to be a trend that I don't lose any more either. We were taught and still road to pick shells up, or the training grounds would be solid plastic. I just out of habbit, put my hand over the barrels when cracked, and in the vest they go, never hit the ground. Once and a while I forget and the ejectors remind me why to put my hand over them, they pop me in the beek. It's wierd how that's become habbit now that you brought it up.
 
I can certainly appreciate the idea of picking up empties. It would be interesting to see one of those hunting lodges with the groomed walking paths. I bet the empties can pile up.

But as a practical matter, no one is seriously suggesting that people with auto or pump guns pick up empties :confused:
 
I've picked up my empties from a pump w/no prob whatsoever since I was 12 years old - but those wild-flinging autos have had this preacher nearly cussin' more than once, trying to pick up after those things! ;)

It's the larger unsightly trash (bottles, cans, wrappers, fast-food containers, ect.) that bother me way worse!!! :mad:
 
I shoot one of those wild flying autos and I have to admit that during the season I don't pick up my empties.

Before you get on your soap box and start cussing me out read the next line.

I do go out and run my dog in the off season on these same public grounds and bring bags and pick up all empties found and trash. I even bring my son with sometimes and we compete to see who will leave with the biggest bag of trash.

I guess in the end it evens out.
 
I try leave the land better than when I arrived. I don't always find my empties when I'm marking and chasing a down bird but I do try and find them when I can. Its all about respect for the land owner and the land itself.
 
I think I have found a solution to the auto problem. Sense I hunt with two labs I will train one to retrieve the empties. I guess I would have to get a third one and train it to retrieve the wads.
 
Last edited:
@moellermd--Ha-Ha, you're not gonna get me again this time - got my mojo back & we're finally on the same wry/dry wave length in the humor dept! I won't even try any wad jokes... ;)

@shorthair4life--C'mon dude - it was a joke! I said preacher, & "nearly" cussin... :D Actually, the lame attempt at a joke was on myself & my OCD kickin-in trying to pick up after my own autoloader & the two 1187's that I bought my boys one Christmas right in the middle of when I was trying to teach them to pick up after themselves - just for grins, try pickin up after 3-4 autoloaders in the water around a hot duck blind sometime! But dang those 1187's were some sweet-shootin guns - the kids brought down many a goose stone-cold-dead with steel shot in those 2 3/4" chambered things, while grown men beside em' with their big 3 1/2" magnums flung heavy airballs...
 
@henhenROOSTER: No worries on this end. I don't shoot good enough to only have 2 shots. I also can't afford the O/U I would like. I just figured I might offend some folks when I told them I didn't pick up my empties during the season.:thumbsup:
 
PRISTINE is a word I dearly love!!! PERFECT is a word none of us will ever attain!!!...But we can all do our part as much as possible, so that none of us goes out rightfully expecting a day spent amidst nature's grandeur & beauty - only to find instead an unsightly mess of someone's thoughtless dumping & left-behinds (I'm not talking about the ones you look for real hard & can't find)!...Amazing how far & wide the coverage of that simple cliche' "Golden Rule" can actually spread with a little share-&-share-alike attitude/application!!! :thumbsup:

@SH4life--I couldn't afford the O/U either (my wife bought it for me as an anniversary gift - and I think she has regretted it ever since - not because of how much it cost, but because of how often it takes me away from the house)! :D
The be4hand knowledge that I only have "two shots" to make it count, does seem to make me a lot more efficient though (I've been one shot away from 3-for-3 several times this year - we won't talk about what happens after that-LOL)!...Got a close friend whose wise & famous big-game one-liner to both of my sons with their banana-clip AR's & such, is "One-Shot, One-Kill" - Works like a charm!!! ;)
 
hulls

I've been picking up hulls for 20+ years now. It just makes good sense. Of course it is easier for me cause I shoot a SXS.:)

Steve
 
I shoot and O/U so they go into the gamebag after every shot. I sometimes get the explicatives in between the shot and putting them in my vest:) I am a bit superstitious about carrying previous misses back into the field, so I clean out my vest each time I'm at the truck and throw the empties in the front of the bed. I pick up behind my peers as well. I've had more than one landowner catch me doing so and that has always turned out well.
 
hulls

Drifter,

You should be out hunting instead of posting on this site. What are you thinking.:) I would be if I lived in KS.

Gman
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top