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We've most likely lost Pine Flat Road... so it seems to me that if we want to keep Boggs Mountain open that we need to get a solid and ongoing clean up effort going.
But... I think the internet is going to kill MANY shooting areas.
I don't know the real status of Pine Flat. I wasn't aware that there was any BLM land up there. I thought it was ALL private property..
But I know that folks have been shooting there for decades and I used to shoot there occasionally myself many years ago.
But when I used to go it wasn't full of trash. Maybe folks had a little more respect, or maybe the "good guys" who were willing to clean up still outnumbered the "bad guys" who littered.
But I think mostly there just weren't as many people and most of them were fairly local and actually cared a little bit about the area.
But the internet is changing things. Small "local secret" areas where one can go shoot are being posted on internet forums, along with invites for "all to come and shoot at this cool spot". Come on SoCal, Come on Oakland, Come One and All and shoot at this tiny little place up a rural road out of healdsburg...
It attracts a LOT of attention and traffic to a small spot.
More people = more trash.
More people = more drunks, litterers, losers, trouble makers, and unsafe shooters.
More folks from "out of the area" usually means a higher percentage of people who just don't care. Go party, shoot up the place, and leave your trash. Let the locals clean it up, we're going home now.
More people also means more traffic and noise and trash for the people who LIVE along Pine Flat rd.
[rant] Yeah, people LIVE out there, and they're sick of listening to your stupid noisy loud exhaust system and your stupid loud music as you blast up the hill, and they are sick of picking up your coors cans and your Mc.D's burger wrappers that you toss out, and they're sick of having all their "No Trespassing" signs shot full of holes. Either have some friggin' manners or go home and irritate your own neighbors. [/rant]
(sorry, that rant was brought to you by someone who LIVES on a small rural road not totally unlike pine flat and wishes that SOME of you would keep your lazy sloppy ghetto behavior at home)
Neighbors who might have been cool with a few folks going up to shoot once in a while might not be so happy to have the whole freaking world driving by and using it for a shooting gallery. Sooner or later *someone* is going to get irritated and start pressuring the owners of the land, whether it's private or BLM to take some action against it.
A few complaints and few photos of all the trash and the shot up refrigerators and tons of brass and shotgun casings, sent to the right people... local landowners , county inspectors, whoever, and it's all over. (and doesn't it paint a pretty picture about how responsible gun owners are if it gets to the local news?)
I won't be surprised if Pine Flat becomes off-limits for shooting. It's been too well advertised and attracts too much attention now.
I think that folks who have found nice quiet little local places where they can shoot safely and hassle free, would REALLY be smart to STFU and not advertise it to the whole freaking world.
My heartfelt thanks goes out to the folks who help clean up places like pine flat.
But folks who post about little places like pine flat on the internet certainly can't complain when they get trashed or SHUT DOWN. (And thanks a hell of a lot from the rest of the locals who were smart enough not to advertise, but got screwed by the fools who did.)
And when places like pine flat are gone they're gone for good, and there's less and less places all the time.
They are valuable places and it's stupid to tell everyone on the internet where you keep your valuables. Keep it clean and keep it secret, and MAYBE you'll get to keep that favorite rural shooting spot for a few more years, if you're lucky and no one else blows it for you.
sigh....
Adios, Pine Flat.
D.Beans
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-- Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun
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