North Bend shooting area?

[charlesfisher]

Hi everyone: I'm new to the forum, so apologies in advance if this question has been posted and answered already - I searched and couldn't find current info on it.

Does anyone know if the shooting around North Bend has been closed? This location: 47.364162,-121.53132

Thanks
Chas Fisher

[Captain90s]

Welcome to WaGuns!

Last I knew, that whole area (Tinkham Road) was closed to recreational shooting. I haven't been up there personally in at least 5 years, so my information may be out of date.

[charlesfisher]

Thanks - I had heard it was closed for a year for evaluation, starting in 2015, but couldn't find any follow up on FS site or anywhere else.

[Guntrader]

Used to shoot there back in the 90's, spent the day driving all over the logging roads.
Thought they closed that years ago.

[MADrtcw]

I know one of the pits out there was closed to target shooting because they built a bike trail very close to it. I'm pretty sure that is the pit. One more reason we need to demand that our recreation is just that; a recreation that deserves respect like hiking,biking, etc. Once this happens the chances of shooting pits being shut down will be less likely.

[thatguy5]

I might be wrong here, but the closure seems to be just by the 90, and that pit is open. There are signs on the road (before the power lines) that say no target shooting, but those seem to end well before that pit.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 299246.pdf

Pulled straight from the national forest website https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbs/aler ... rdb5324910

I went hiking there last fall (before the snow closed the whole road) and there were a lot of shells/brass on the ground. Keep in mind that on a nice weekend, that parking area is likely to be full of hikers, dogs, and cars, so shooting might not be the best idea. After going hiking in the vicinity a couple weeks ago, I don't think anyone will be able to get up there for a while because of the snow.

Calling the ranger station is probably your best bet, because confirming a nice forest shooting spot closer to Seattle would be amazing.

[ANZAC]

North fork... just saying.

[charlesfisher]

North Fork? Where is that?

[iamme]

North fork... just saying.

You mean this place?



Entire ground completely covered in spent casings from last week to last century. Scattered with ammunition boxes and other various bits of trash. Variety of targets left behind. It's just a big turnout from the main road to some trail heads, which means every backpacker in the Seattle metro who heads into the nearest wilderness gets to see the full effect of low class, irresponsible shooters and complain back to his or her government avenue of choice, who in turn look for ways to restrict shooting even more. And it's adjacent to the river to boot, so lots of great stuff being washed into our water supply. Seeing this kind of thing makes me embarrassed to even be a gun owner. I considered packing up as much as I could into that Amazon box and returning it to whoever is on the shipping label, but getting into a gunfight with Billy-Bob and his sister-wife over their littering isn't on my bucket list.

Ok, rant over. Nothing really good in the North Fork area. There are a number of places in the area on public Forest Service land which look good from aerial/satellite maps, but they're all nestled behind bits of private land with closed gates from the main roads. Best bet may be hiking into Alpine Lakes and finding a random clearing, assuming you have the time and stamina.

[vic_b]

Campers leave much more of a mess. Just take a ride up fs 70 some Monday morning. Preaching to the choir, I know.

[jdijulio]

So, wait a minute, does anyone have it on good authority that shooting off of I-90 is not going to get you into trouble - Assuming it's far enough away from the freeway?

I guess I'm wondering if anyone has something more than "Well, there are a bunch of shell casings, so I guess it's fine" and instead maybe some thing more like "I've personally spoken with <insert government agency here> and they confirmed that the following GPS coordinates are in fact open for recreational target shooting, provided you mind the normal rules, etc".

[junkname]

So, wait a minute, does anyone have it on good authority that shooting off of I-90 is not going to get you into trouble - Assuming it's far enough away from the freeway?

I guess I'm wondering if anyone has something more than "Well, there are a bunch of shell casings, so I guess it's fine" and instead maybe some thing more like "I've personally spoken with <insert government agency here> and they confirmed that the following GPS coordinates are in fact open for recreational target shooting, provided you mind the normal rules, etc".

Target shooting is permitted on USFS land nationwide unless otherwise posted in a specific area. I don't know if it is codified US law or administrative USFS policy, but it has been the case for at least the last 30 years, and I suspect as long as USFS has existed. This is easily verifiable on USFS recreation pages. There are a few objective restrictions, such as it is not permissible to shoot on or across a road or trail, into or across a body of water, across or within a 150 yards of any developed site such as a trail head or camp site, and no shooting of natural resources such as trees or rocks. There are a few subjective rules like no shooting in an "unsafe manner" and no shooting which may endanger another person. For Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie, there is a page and video which explains this at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbs/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5324910. As noted and linked in posts above, there is an order currently in effect which explicitly prohibits shooting along most of 90 through Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie. The order contains a map.

The most current USFS Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie map was printed in 1999, so it is likely inaccurate as far as what land is public and private, especially around the perimeter of USFS land which is frequently sold/leased to loggers. There are maps as well for each ranger district, but I don't know how current they are. USFS has a page at https://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/index.html which I assume is the most current as far as property ownership is concerned and it's what I refer to when scouting places to shoot.

If you're on USFS land, outside the areas on the closure order, there are no signs posted prohibiting shooting, and you're abiding by the other general provisions for target shooting, you're good to go. Unfortunately, there are barely a handful of drive-up places between North Bend and Cle Elum that check all those boxes, and they attract a lot of meth heads and hillbillies.

[jdijulio]

So, wait a minute, does anyone have it on good authority that shooting off of I-90 is not going to get you into trouble - Assuming it's far enough away from the freeway?

I guess I'm wondering if anyone has something more than "Well, there are a bunch of shell casings, so I guess it's fine" and instead maybe some thing more like "I've personally spoken with <insert government agency here> and they confirmed that the following GPS coordinates are in fact open for recreational target shooting, provided you mind the normal rules, etc".

Target shooting is permitted on USFS land nationwide unless otherwise posted in a specific area. I don't know if it is codified US law or administrative USFS policy, but it has been the case for at least the last 30 years, and I suspect as long as USFS has existed. This is easily verifiable on USFS recreation pages. There are a few objective restrictions, such as it is not permissible to shoot on or across a road or trail, into or across a body of water, across or within a 150 yards of any developed site such as a trail head or camp site, and no shooting of natural resources such as trees or rocks. There are a few subjective rules like no shooting in an "unsafe manner" and no shooting which may endanger another person. For Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie, there is a page and video which explains this at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbs/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5324910. As noted and linked in posts above, there is an order currently in effect which explicitly prohibits shooting along most of 90 through Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie. The order contains a map.

The most current USFS Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie map was printed in 1999, so it is likely inaccurate as far as what land is public and private, especially around the perimeter of USFS land which is frequently sold/leased to loggers. There are maps as well for each ranger district, but I don't know how current they are. USFS has a page at https://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/index.html which I assume is the most current as far as property ownership is concerned and it's what I refer to when scouting places to shoot.

If you're on USFS land, outside the areas on the closure order, there are no signs posted prohibiting shooting, and you're abiding by the other general provisions for target shooting, you're good to go. Unfortunately, there are barely a handful of drive-up places between North Bend and Cle Elum that check all those boxes, and they attract a lot of meth heads and hillbillies.

For being your very first post, I'm impressed at the effort you put into it - Thank you!

That said, I guess I'm still a little concerned with how best to interpret the map (Which I did look at before my making my original post) with respect to distances. Unfortunately, the resolution of the map is not all that great, which makes it nearly impossible to make out which roads are which, there is no scale to determine distance, etc.

If I were to hazard a guess, after looking at a Google Map, it appears that the coordinates noted above (47.364162,-121.53132) are approximately 2 - 3 miles (as the crow flies) from the highway. Overlaying that over the closure map, it seems reasonable to me that location would be outside the closure order area. But again, that's a guess (no matter how probable / educated it may be).

As I have no interest in being wrong, of course, I'm hoping someone has some first hand knowledge that, indeed, it's 100% legal to shoot @ 47.364162,-121.53132. Or if not, perhaps coordinates of another location that is fair game.


Thanks all for the info!

[myusername]

For being your very first post, I'm impressed at the effort you put into it - Thank you!

That said, I guess I'm still a little concerned with how best to interpret the map (Which I did look at before my making my original post) with respect to distances. Unfortunately, the resolution of the map is not all that great, which makes it nearly impossible to make out which roads are which, there is no scale to determine distance, etc.

If I were to hazard a guess, after looking at a Google Map, it appears that the coordinates noted above (47.364162,-121.53132) are approximately 2 - 3 miles (as the crow flies) from the highway. Overlaying that over the closure map, it seems reasonable to me that location would be outside the closure order area. But again, that's a guess (no matter how probable / educated it may be).

As I have no interest in being wrong, of course, I'm hoping someone has some first hand knowledge that, indeed, it's 100% legal to shoot @ 47.364162,-121.53132. Or if not, perhaps coordinates of another location that is fair game.


Thanks all for the info!

That's USFS land, well outside the closure order's area, and there were no signs posted prohibiting shooting the last time I was there (October 2016). It's a highly trafficked shooting location though. There are a couple other smaller, yet still decent, spots further down the road, but the road is permanently gated at that shooting location, so you would have to walk or bike for a ways.

[jdijulio]

For being your very first post, I'm impressed at the effort you put into it - Thank you!

That said, I guess I'm still a little concerned with how best to interpret the map (Which I did look at before my making my original post) with respect to distances. Unfortunately, the resolution of the map is not all that great, which makes it nearly impossible to make out which roads are which, there is no scale to determine distance, etc.

If I were to hazard a guess, after looking at a Google Map, it appears that the coordinates noted above (47.364162,-121.53132) are approximately 2 - 3 miles (as the crow flies) from the highway. Overlaying that over the closure map, it seems reasonable to me that location would be outside the closure order area. But again, that's a guess (no matter how probable / educated it may be).

As I have no interest in being wrong, of course, I'm hoping someone has some first hand knowledge that, indeed, it's 100% legal to shoot @ 47.364162,-121.53132. Or if not, perhaps coordinates of another location that is fair game.


Thanks all for the info!

That's USFS land, well outside the closure order's area, and there were no signs posted prohibiting shooting the last time I was there (October 2016). It's a highly trafficked shooting location though. There are a couple other smaller, yet still decent, spots further down the road, but the road is permanently gated at that shooting location, so you would have to walk or bike for a ways.

Excellent - Thanks for the info!