The Conecuh National Forest and Blue Springs Wildlife Management Area is 600 pounds cleaner – not counting a television, recliner or two, and a basketball – after volunteers from five hunting associations joined forces to pick up trash before hunting season begins.

Sky Scott said Southeastern Dog Hunters Association, Seasons Of Hope, Alabama Dog Hunters Association, Santa Rosa Fox Hunters Association, and All Around Hound Supply joined forces to clean up the areas.

“All of us do dog hunting,” he said. “Some hunt fox, others deer, but we all hunt with hounds.”

Scott said each year the group chooses times to clean up the woods, before and after hunting season.

“What we picked up Saturday was not left by hunters,” he said. “This is what had been placed there since we cleaned up at the end of the last hunting season. That’s what happened in the summertime when hunters were not there.”

Scott said they chose to clean up the federal lands because they hunt there.

Scott said the volunteers were amazed at what they found.

“We found televisions, a recliner and a basketball goal,” he said. “Those were not included in the weigh totals of the trash we picked up.”

The group also picked up trash in the Apalachicola National Forest in Liberty County, Fla., on Saturday, where they removed two tons of debris.

Saturday also marked the 45th anniversary of National Hunting and Fishing Day, first proclaimed by President Richard Nixon in 1972.