Greetings and here’s wishing a great 4th of July weekend to you all!
Fist off, NO, we have not destroyed the ranges, but some of the main ones are not at 100% either.
The 300 yard Rifle Range – 100% operational and we’ve over-seeded the 1st 100 yards and hope to get a better stand of grass covering on it.
The 50 yard Pistol Range – it’s operational with some inconveniences – we tilled the range and most of the parking area and planted grass. We have some rain forecast for early in the week and if so we should get going in the grass business there soon. We must have everybody to stop parking right next to the shelter for a month or two … maybe until the end of Summer or we get some grass established. The object is to get grass growing where we can manage the washing and erosion in the parking area. Additionally, people have been using the portable target stands as close as 10′ in front of the firing line; while this is how we designed this range to operate, unfortunately, this is not working and people continue to hit other metal target holders which requires serious repair or retirement of them. If you have to post your target at an extended arm’s length to hit it, you need to shoot in the bunker ranges. If you can control your hits and are shooting close for qualification type practice, this is acceptable, however, you are responsible for any repairs you create as well as removing the portable stands from the range when you are through.
The 100 yard Rifle Range – is operational, but we seeded it too and have not been able to reset the 50 & 100 yard target stands. There are some portables on that range but you are responsible for positioning them where all rounds are impacting into the berm.
The Bunkers – have not been touched and are 100% except for a few ruts.
The NEW Shotgun Range – is not open yet, but we have finished all of the site preparation, tilling and seeding. We have placed a service building there and Ron has finished several of the shooting stands and they only need placement. He is also working on the first trap cover which is close to completion. The next part of that project is to purchase our first trap machine and targets. At that point we will have an orientation, operation and safety class for those interested in using that range. Expect procurement in a few weeks and safety class in about a month. This is what we’re shooting for but understand some of our projects have not gone according to the timeline we were shooting for.
THEREFORE, we will have a short Work Session next Saturday Morning – July 16th and get going at 8:00 AM. If we have a good turnout like we’ve had in the past, this could be only a few hours. We’ll have a good supply of drinking water. You need to bring a hat & gloves, a steel rake – or a weedeater – or a pole saw – or post hole diggers. Since we just planted grass on most of the normal parking area at the 50 yard Range, please park on the sides of the main entrance road.
Here’s what we need to accomplish in the order of their importance (we may not get it all done):
Reset target stands at 50 & 100 yards on the 100 yard Rifle Range.
Rake the 50 yard Range and smooth down some of the roughness left from the tilling & planting. Remove any problem rocks or sticks.
Weedeat around the shelters & where needed on the 300 yard Range.
Move 4-6 crossties to protect new seeding on the 50 yard Range.
Gather sticks & rocks off of the Shotgun range and dress up some spots with rakes.
Correct placement of target stands as needed on the 50 yard Range.
Trim some limbs around roadways – some, not a lot as we have done in the past.
FINALLY, if you see something that we may need … for example: burn barrels or trash barrels or signage or anything that you see that we can use that you can get without in any way getting in trouble, please let Barry or Ron know and we will thumbs up the stuff we want before you bring it on out.
