Just got a heads up from my DNR buddy about this. Please checkthe link. Includes most the popular shooting spots we all attend. They are looking to do publicmeetings about managing these recreational areas for target shooting. I will be attending the one in Burlington about the MedfordPit.


Hi Kyle,


See the attached link for an announcement regarding target shooting at the Medford Pit, referred to as the Harry Osborne in this post. Looks like there will be a meeting on June 1st, at Burlington-Edison High School. Figured it may be of interest to you and the Seattleguns.net community. Thanks,

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/news/dnr-hold-con ... et-capitol

Each meeting begins with a 6:30 p.m. presentation followed by an open house:
Tuesday, May 17 at the North Mason High School Cafeteria, 150 E. North Mason School Road, Belfair, WA 98528
Tuesday, May 31 at the Water Resources Education Center, 4600 SE Columbia Way, Vancouver, WA 98661
Wednesday, June 1 at the Burlington-Edison High School Cafeteria, 301 N. Burlington Blvd., Burlington, WA 98233
Thursday, June 2 at The Evergreen State College Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, 2800 Dogtooth Lane NW, Olympia, WA 98505

I'll be at the one for Capitol Forest on June 2nd.

Holy crap . . . yeah, that doesn't sound good. Thanks for the info, Kyle.

Please, if you live in one of those areas please go to represent us. We need to keep these shooting areas open, and that means we need to keep them safe and clean.

What's sad is a few idiots are going to get the forest lands closed to shooting. I'd like to see the feds take a close look at the campgrounds and the trash and human waste left behind by the average camper too.

Right now I don't see it this way. The DNR might want to manage shooting by establishing a place where shoring is permitted to the exclusion of other activities to keep people safe. We need people to show up and let them know that the tax paying shooters need a place to shoot in Mason County as we can't depend upon the people in Kitsap County to allow the ranges to remain open there.

Randy

Thanks Kyle I posted that on the Man bunker so the locals will know to attend also

The feeling I have gotten from talking to the DNR guys the couple times Ive been out wheeling in Tahuya is that they want to figure out a safe way for people to shoot and go off-roading in a smallish area. None of the DNR guys Ive run into have mentioned shutting down shooting. But i do agree with them that a designated area would be beneficial since their are trails all over so shooting safely can be hard to know 100% sure whats behind the berm/trees 100 yards. I know the response to the kitsap sun article on the topic (on facebook) was a lot of the same....people just want a safe place to shoot and a safe place to wheel.

Ill definitely try to make the meeting Tuesday if i can.

I'll be at the Burlington one, possibly the Olympia one.

I should be available for this one also. Might be kinda scary on Evergreen though.

I attended one of theses on the east side, a bit more of an interaction issue with adjacent private land, but I think the main focus is the same.

You most likely WON'T hear it from the DNR people, but from other agencies(if they attend). DNR's focus is to make money for the school trust, NOTHING else!!!!

They have zero interest in establishing/policing/custodial work on their land!!! If there is a conflict, it will basically be shut down to shooting. They want no liability for a shooting range, or anything else for that matter- atv or horseback trails, hiking, etc. In our immediate area they shut down 4 areas to shooting due to land owners complaints.

I just got back from the Mason County meeting. There were about 75 people present. After an initial presentation by a DNR representative who stated that they were most likely going to set aside some part of Tahuya Forest for shooting (not a 1000 yard range, most likely 200-300 yards only) we broke up into three groups to discuss questions they had written on an easel.

My group had twenty people, only three of which were completely opposed to any shooting in the forest. They all lived on Hurd Road. I ride my ATV in Tahuya 2-3 times a month and have never encountered a shooter although I've seen broken clays and shot shell hulls at times, but I'm usually riding between the Sand Pit and Elfendahl areas.

Some of the shooters just want an uncontrolled pit or berm into which they can shoot pistols while others (like myself) want a longer range with covered shooting positions. I'll be very happy to just have a tall berm to shoot into 200 yards away from a place I can lay down a shooting mat.

The DNR is open to bringing in a club to run a range on DNR land as there will need to be some sort of maintenance and cleanup that is beyond the capability of the DNR to provide. It would be nice to have a volunteer on duty to ensure that someone who has never used a range before does not become a hazard to other shooters. I think at first any range established will be uncontrolled. Access to the range would require the usual $30/year pass.

I did not hear any indication that the DNR was looking to prohibit shooting in the entire Tahuya Forest. I think there will be some more "No Shooting" signs going up in some places though. They also said it would take about 2 years to establish a dedicated shooting area.

Randy

Tahuya is a tough one because it's basically trails trails n more trails.

Capital and the others have more of a mix. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Good report, Randy!

I was there as well and had pretty much the same experience as Randy, though my group was mostly home owners there to oppose shooting. They were older citizens that lived in the Tahuya River Valley(about a mile or so from Hurd rd) and were there to complain about shooters on Hurd rd... Comments were that they would have to duck and dodge bullets flying through their yards, there kids/grandkids were scared, etc.. One woman even claimed to have been shot, though when questioned she said "well, i have been shot at", when questioned further, it didn't even happen in the state forest and then she couldn't remember any more details.
The consensus from the shooters was that we just wanted a safe place to shoot where we wouldn't be pissing anyone off.