SHOOTING: Keep our ranges clean

To all outdoorsmen: There has been a recent outcry about the messes being left at the shooting areas in the Hayden Creek area. After going there and looking at these messes, it is certainly understandable why this outcry is valid. We seem to have inherited a group of people who revel in making a mess and then walking away and letting someone else clean up after them. This type of behavior will no longer be tolerated. A concerted effort on the part of law enforcement will reduce or eliminate this type of behavior. It is my hope both vehicles and firearms will be confiscated, held until these people go to court and the judge set the time of getting their items back or be their items be held for a longer period of time.

I was recently involved in a cleanup at the lower Hayden Creek range. We removed 4,280 pounds of junk from the range and just got a good start in getting the mess cleaned up. There is still a lot of junk to be removed to make the range acceptable.

On June 21 I set two temporary target backer with plywood between the posts. On going to the range on Monday, the 25th, four days later, one of the backers was no longer there. The support legs had been shot off near the ground level. The other one had only one of the supporting posts left and it was shot full of holes. The other one was missing, as well as the plywood, 8 feet long and 12 inches wide. This is the type of complete and total ignorance some people are now exhibiting at the gun ranges. This must be not only curtailed, but it is imperative that sort of totally ignorant behavior be completely stopped. If it is not stopped, it will be stopped for us by the authorities. We now have the opportunity to bring this behavior to a stop; we must be our own policemen. A quick phone call, a license number or the description of the offenders will save our right to use these shooting ranges.

I recently spoke with Mary Farnsworth, the IPNF Supervisor of the Forest Service, and she informed me she does not want to close any of the shooting areas, but if they are not cleaned up and kept that way, they will all go the way of the range at the Fernan Creek area.

It has become incumbent on all outdoorsmen to start being our own policemen and make sure this illegal behavior is stopped or we will all pay the price by being forced to pay for our shooting at commercial ranges. The outcome of this problem lies in our hands. Do not fumble the ball on this one, or you will watch your favorite range close for good.

ROBERT L. BALSER

Hayden