Another spot gone

Well. It's finally happened.

Dufferin County has shut down a very popular spot where folks could sight in and pattern their guns. ( Hunting in the Fall is still open).

For everyone who gets their panties in a wad, when some of us refuse to share spots, or are a bit more leery of new folks asking...this was the result.

What used to be a small, innocuous tract of Dufferin County forest, which many local folks, and those within the county would use for sighting in, a bit of clays, etc. Became a major spot for the worst kind of red-neckery I've seen in a long time.

Folks would come up, shoot, eat their lunch, clean up, go home. Then some well meaning individuals shared the location with people online.....

Next we had people coming up from the city, bringing cases of beer, old appliances, and tearing the place up....then leaving.....with all their garbage left.

Well meaning locals went by, took several truck loads of stuff to the dump, even left bins and bags for people to use. Guess what? Came back, and found the bins shot up, the bags shot up, and 10x more garbage left to deal with.

Well, it's gone forever now folks, much like the Marlborough Forest near Ottawa got ruined too. Not eveyone on an open forum is an upstanding guy, not everyone you share your locations with, is going to keep it to themselves either....remember, being well intentioned is only part of the equation.

End rant.

We had several excellent areas to target shoot in this area that people used for decades that are all now closed,completely,for exactly the same reason. The few morons always ruin it for everyone else. When we find new spots to shoot,keep it to yourself.

Call your CO when you see these things happen, there are a few less Aholes in my area now and we can get back to hunting. Lets make our forests right again.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you couldn't target shoot in any tracts of the dufferin county forest anyways.

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Originally Posted by Bluebulldog

Well. It's finally happened.

Dufferin County has shut down a very popular spot where folks could sight in and pattern their guns. ( Hunting in the Fall is still open).

For everyone who gets their panties in a wad, when some of us refuse to share spots, or are a bit more leery of new folks asking...this was the result.

What used to be a small, innocuous tract of Dufferin County forest, which many local folks, and those within the county would use for sighting in, a bit of clays, etc. Became a major spot for the worst kind of red-neckery I've seen in a long time.

Folks would come up, shoot, eat their lunch, clean up, go home. Then some well meaning individuals shared the location with people online.....

Next we had people coming up from the city, bringing cases of beer, old appliances, and tearing the place up....then leaving.....with all their garbage left.

Well meaning locals went by, took several truck loads of stuff to the dump, even left bins and bags for people to use. Guess what? Came back, and found the bins shot up, the bags shot up, and 10x more garbage left to deal with.

Well, it's gone forever now folks, much like the Marlborough Forest near Ottawa got ruined too. Not eveyone on an open forum is an upstanding guy, not everyone you share your locations with, is going to keep it to themselves either....remember, being well intentioned is only part of the equation.

End rant.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by tom gobble

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you couldn't target shoot in any tracts of the dufferin county forest anyways.

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So I've been told. Almost every Conservation Authority lands in Ontario have that rule,now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tom gobble

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you couldn't target shoot in any tracts of the dufferin county forest anyways.

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Dufferin County had no "rule" per-se. But many of the tracts fell under municipal bylaws that addressed it.

The tract I'm referring to was in Melancthon where no bylaw was present, and it was the de-facto area to shoot within the county.

That "loophole" was closed in May/June, and it was posted at the site.

Exact same thing for Ottawa. The unintended effect has been only hunters are allowed to discharge, which meant less yahoos in the woods. Still angers me, but cause and effect.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bluebulldog

Dufferin County had no "rule" per-se. But many of the tracts fell under municipal bylaws that addressed it.

The tract I'm referring to was in Melancthon where no bylaw was present, and it was the de-facto area to shoot within the county.

That "loophole" was closed in May/June, and it was posted at the site.

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Just for curiosity sake seen a sign up in one of those tracts that prohibited dog training. Always wondered what training they were restricting and did it include just exercising your dog.

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Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers

Just for curiosity sake seen a sign up in one of those tracts that prohibited dog training. Always wondered what training they were restricting and did it include just exercising your dog.

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At a Dufferin County Forest? Our recreation use policy only states that dogs must be under control OR on leash at all times. If you're training your dog, but they respond to command, all is well.

Same thing sort of happened at a local sand quarry around here too 7 years back, except it wasn't shooters but rather kids started using it for big parties. Well you can guess the mess left behind, so the owner blocked all entrances with huge boulders and berms so you couldn't drive in anymore. This is out in the boonies so certainly no bylaws involved, just a ticked off owner who had always let folks target shoot before and hunt on some of his many properties throughout Lanark.

Cheers