Shooting spots

[LumberZach]

Hey guys,

I did a quick search but didn't come up with much. Do you guys know of any local public lands near by that we can shoot on? I am not so much looking for a range, but an informal place to go spend an afternoon. I am around the south metro, and have previously made the journey up to Pine City for range days but that is a pretty long haul for me. I have a few spots picked out for doing these sorts of things, but they are all so far away from home.

Thanks guys, let me know what you think.

[photogpat]

Nowhere within quick striking distance of the Cities...closest is the one you mentioned up by Pine City.

[benny]

Your far better off to join a local gun club than shooting on public lands. First reason and most important is the term public, we need to give our sport a good image and by shooting on public land isn't the best way to do that because johnny public might be the one anti gun person there who will snap a pic or vid of you shooting your guns then run back home and post on a multi media venue about how us bad gun owners are shooting up the public woods!!

Just because it is public land doesn't mean we should go there and shoot guns, yea we have the right to use the land too but so does johnny public anti gun person.

At a private gun club, almost every one there is a gun owner or at least knows about guns , and it is a safer place to shoot as well being there are usually back stops or burms to shoot into.

And no one will be walking around the woods looking to find a wood pecker to take a pic of while your trying to shoot.

Benny

[LumberZach]

Your far better off to join a local gun club than shooting on public lands. First reason and most important is the term public, we need to give our sport a good image and by shooting on public land isn't the best way to do that because johnny public might be the one anti gun person there who will snap a pic or vid of you shooting your guns then run back home and post on a multi media venue about how us bad gun owners are shooting up the public woods!!

Just because it is public land doesn't mean we should go there and shoot guns, yea we have the right to use the land too but so does johnny public anti gun person.

At a private gun club, almost every one there is a gun owner or at least knows about guns , and it is a safer place to shoot as well being there are usually back stops or burms to shoot into.

And no one will be walking around the woods looking to find a wood pecker to take a pic of while your trying to shoot.

Benny

You make some really good points, and I agree with most of them. But a couple of points of my own, 1) Almost no local ranges have any targets further than 200 yards and I want to start shooting further than that. 2)I don't want to be confined to 1 bench, with the only position allowed of sitting, and yeah... I want a little more freedom and movement. I suppose you are right, and it looks like I am going to be limited to what I already have.

[onebohemian]

You make some really good points, and I agree with most of them. But a couple of points of my own, 1) Almost no local ranges have any targets further than 200 yards and I want to start shooting further than that. 2)I don't want to be confined to 1 bench, with the only position allowed of sitting, and yeah... I want a little more freedom and movement. I suppose you are right, and it looks like I am going to be limited to what I already have.

Buy some land and set up your own area for shooting on it. Trying to find public lands where you can safely practice shooting 200+ yard shots is impossible in light of how crowded all areas within a short driving distance to the Twin Cities are. I myself wouldn't want to be out hiking around some public lands with my family and have somebody off in the distance taking 300 to 500 yard shots in who knows what direction. It feels dangerous enough going to the local gun clubs where everyone is expecting there to be shooting and all users are supposed to be shooting in the same general safe directions. The last thing anyone--pro or anti gun-- wants to hear while walking through the public woods are gunshots off in the nearby distance, not knowing which way the shots are heading.

[benny]

"You make some really good points, and I agree with most of them. But a couple of points of my own, 1) Almost no local ranges have any targets further than 200 yards and I want to start shooting further than that. 2)I don't want to be confined to 1 bench, with the only position allowed of sitting, and yeah... I want a little more freedom and movement. I suppose you are right, and it looks like I am going to be limited to what I already have."

If your on public land and acting like Rambo then you are just begging for some anti gun person to turn you in to the CO and get all the public lands shut down for target shooting.

Benny

[LumberZach]

I am not getting into it like this with you guys. All I asked was if anyone knew of local places to shoot.

[Eric Marleau]

Forest Lake Sportsmen's Club has ranges from 25 yards out to 400 yards.

Also, I don't believe that anybody is behaving badly towards you.
Just stating facts, and keeping you out of trouble with the DNR.


Eric

[mnmike59]

Faribault gun club has targets out to 600 yards.

http://www.frpcmn.com/info/index.php

[minnhawk]

It is a matter of convenience. You have to get well away from the tall buildings and the 7 county metro. Pine City is too close too. If you use appropriate resources on the Internet, you can find vast tracts of county, state, and even federal land up north to shoot on without raising the ire of local law enforcement, DNR, or butterfly catchers. But it isn't convenient because you are looking at a 4 hour drive one way. Of course, you could go up, camp, and have a shooting weekend. Just scout for places that have a good natural backstop like a bluff or steep hill, aren't actively being used for trail riding or recreational use, and employ good range safety techniques. At our place up north, there is nothing for 20 miles to the south of us except for one road about 6 miles away. We shoot into the side of a steep hill @ 300 yards. After 30+ years, DNR or law enforcement has never shown up, and we have never seen another soul in that spot while we were shooting. Our neighbors all shoot as well, so they don't care about a little noise back in the woods either. You will not find such spots adjacent to paved highways though. It isn't convenient, but freedom to do what you want to do usually isn't.....

[bensdad]

Join Faribault. PM me if you need info or a sponsor.

[ex-LT]

Other clubs with 200+ yd ranges, all within 1 1/2 hours of the TC metro...

North Star Rifle Club (Red Wing) (out to 600 yds)
Elk River Sportsman's Club (out to 600 yds)
There's also Gopher Rifle & Revolver Club in Harris, but I can't find a web page for them to confirm the range length.

[Ironbear]

Over the years, I've developed an opinion on places to shoot near large urban areas. They are:

1) Gun Clubs with memberships, fees, designated ranges, restrictions and safety rules.

2) Closely held secrets (see #3)

3) Overrun with yahoos who don't want to pay fees, follow rules, be safe, or pick up the trash they leave behind. They often like to shoot fast, shoot everywhere, shoot up trash, and generally raise hell.

4) Closed (see #3)

Other people's experience may vary. Mine has been that when publicly accessible, unregulated, free places to shoot, near large populations, become widely known; they are soon so shot-up, trashed and unsafe that a stop is put to it.

So.... what I think is that if such places still exist, the people who know about them aren't likely to be talking.

[LumberZach]

All I am saying is that I really enjoy shooting at Pine City. There is a really nice spot that lots of people shoot, and it is pretty well understood that it is largely used as a shooting area. All I am wondering is if there are areas like this closer to home than the 2.5 hour drive it takes to get there. I understand what you guys are saying about public shooting areas, but Pine City is a little different than that. It seems that there aren't any near by, thanks for all the info guys.

[yukonjasper]

I have the same struggle and belonged to Dakota County Gun Club for a while, but let the membership lapse. There used to be a 2-3 year waiting list, not sure if that is still the case. Its probably going to get you as close to what you want as you can get.

http://www.dakotacountygunclub.org/

My complaint in my time there was some of the members were crusty, grouchy and way too touchy about everything. I had a couple of run ins that really turned me off. Too bad because it was a nice set up - admitedly though it wasn't super convenient and some aspects sucked. It is completely member run, so if your the first one there you are the RO and need to run the cone and call the commands etc. It becomes a real job if others show up and there are hard cores there that expect you to go letter of the law and police the range like they would. Takes a lot of the fun out of the experience.