Park maintained small game course or range…do they exist? Is there a demand?

[rangerjoel]

Does anyone know of any publicly maintained exclusive air rifle ranges or field target sites maintained by county state or the federal government?

If one existed (field target), how far would you travel to use it?

I'm working with a group at Lake Sonoma in California and I'm wondering if I'm the only one planning something like this.
Joel

[GumpIsrael]

Squirrel hunting used to be real big here in Texas,  there used to be public land used for this, but then deer hunting got big and it pretty much petered out. Now the only ones I’m aware of are privately owned.

Not a bad Idea in my book. i’d Pay to go to something like that

[mobilemail]

Missouri has several public shooting ranges for rifle, pistol, shotgun and archery.  Because I travel for work quite a bit I have looked in several area here in the midwest, and have yet to find a community with a public airgun specific range, either indoor or outdoor.  Of course, my home state of IL is hostile to the premise of anything with more umph than a spitwad.

[Back_Roads]

  A sportsmans club 20 miles away from me does do some casual indoor field target shooting , utilizing the indoor archery range throught winter months, and also sponcer outdoor FT events a couple times a year.
 This is in its infancy  about 3 years now. The local people  that I met there travel around 3 - 30 miles one way.

[wheelie]

Bow shoots I will drive 2 or 3 hours to one. I drove six hours to Saginaw MI for the Rinehart 100 bow shoot a few years ago.  I would do the same for pellet gun shoots if I knew they were going to be good. CHEERS!

[rangerjoel]

 Thanks for the input guys. I'll keep you posted and let you know how things pan out .

[Big Rick]

If you are looking for a commercially successful operation I would think archery would bring more shooters to the property. I see no reason, if run correctly they could not coexist side by side. I remember going to an archery club with my Grandfather and walking through mowed trails in the woods while he shot at different ranges and targets with his recurve bow. Is that what you have in mind? If so I would drive an hour for such a thing. In fact I have thought on doing such a thing on my home place but have no illusions about it paying due to the rural nature of my area. I think you need to be able to draw from a larger urban area. JMO

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Back_Roads]

 X2

[rangerjoel]

Ok, I just concluded a meeting today with the Sonoma County Bowmen and as you suggested, we will experiment with using our existing trail system and archery range with air guns. Targets will be set off to the side of the archery target bails and we will be able to use existing yardage markers for the airgun crouwd. The terrain is oak woodland and redwood groves with scattered  chaparral making for some fun country to travel thru while shooting.
The good thing is that this does not need to be commercially successful and will be open to the public (your tax dollars at work for the general good of society...hope you guys are ok with that).
I'm lucky that I do have a local gun club that will be volunteering to build silent pellet traps and install knockdown targets.
Again...I'll keep you all posted.
BTW I believe Robert Beeman lives down the valley from us. Sure would be fun to have him inaugurate the range with one of his antique air guns. (Just dreaming now...
 

[rangerjoel]

Ok, does anyone have a contact for Steel Plinkers?
I would like to use their targets for the range, but need to talk with the owner?
Anyone have a phone number?
Joel

[Back_Roads]

 Hmm I went to their website , only an email link to leave your phone number, tried ordering a target and the link was dead, not sure if iI heard rumor they were overwhelmed with orders and a possible large order contract.

 BTW I found this informative read  https://www.pyramydair.com/article/Field_Target_Part_1_Starting_a_club_March_2007/39