Target practice in National Forest

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Not to be a nervous nelly but always pay attention to your background and what you have for a backstop. The pic with the guy under canopy with 100 yard targets looks unsafe to me. If you zoom in it appears as if the ground drops down.

I realized after posting that photo that it appeared a bit misleading. It was drizzly and a bit foggy which reduces visibility of the background beyond those trees. I assure you that there is indeed an earthen berm a bit beyond the targets, and an increase in elevation beyond that. No offense taken, and you do make an excellent point about being aware of your layout.
 
Thank you for your clarification. Obviously i was commenting with a certain amount of ignorance based solely on zooming into a photo.
Although if you shoot enough most of us have come across the yahoos that give shooters a bad name.
However after reading your description of your shooting layout you Sir are one of the good ones that help set the example for safety and responsibility while shooting on public lands. Definitely they kind of ppl i enjoy coming across while out shooting myself.
Again thank you for clarifying your own setup.
 
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I do. Just like I deer, elk, antelope, and used to bear hunt on National Forest land. Well, there and on BLM land.
Most of Idaho is public land (National Forest and BLM), so it's pretty easy to find a place to shoot where the grass and weeds aren't too awfully high.:thumbup:
However, as I've said before, my family and friend's favorite place to target practice is probably the county gravel pit about 2 miles south of our house. There's no tall grass or weeds to get in the way there. The only problem with the county gravel pit is, in a couple of months it will be full of snow, so we won't be able to go target practicing there until next spring.:(

Ever shoot at Lead Draw south of Poky? Know some people who live in Poky who shoot there. Pretty sure that is the Caribou-Targhee NF.
I shoot in spring in some National forests; however, summer...not so much anymore due to the forests around here are tinder boxes.

Now, when I go back to Moab UT to visit, we all go out shooting and there are millions of acres of safe places to shoot on the BLM lands surrounding the city.
 
Ever shoot at Lead Draw south of Poky? Know some people who live in Poky who shoot there. Pretty sure that is the Caribou-Targhee NF.
Naw, we're way down past McCammon, so Lead Draw would be quite a hike for us just to go shooting. You're right though about Lead Draw being in the Caribou-Targhee NF.
I hadn't heard about it until I did a Google search about Lead Draw near Pocatello, but it seems that earlier this year the Forest Service closed the Lead Draw hiking/biking/horse-backing trail due to safety concerns about all of the shooting going on in that area. Here's the news story:

https://localnews8.com/news/local-news/2021/03/31/lead-draw-trail-closed-for-safety-reasons/

I shoot in spring in some National forests; however, summer...not so much anymore due to the forests around here are tinder boxes.
Yep, there's that too - especially in the summer. Even though a sizable portion of the land around here is National Forest land, some of it is hardly forested. Some of it is just cheat grass, sagebrush and junipers, and that darned cheat grass burns like gasoline when it gets dry.
I think it was the summer before last that some jerks shooting exploding targets (Tannerite) set the Blackrock Canyon area SE of Pocatello on fire. I don't know how many thousands of acres were burned before that fire was under control.
Some people might think it's lucky that the Blackrock Canyon area is mostly like I said - cheat grass, sagebrush and junipers (and black, lava rocks of course), so the fire didn't really destroy all that much. The reality is though, the Blackrock Canyon area has always been a valuable wintering area for a good many deer. And our deer herds here in Idaho are thin enough without people setting fire to their wintering areas.
 
We have a 200 yard range and a pistol range in the NF provided by the Forestry Dept and the AGFC. It is decent but I live 27 miles from it. I go there when I have serious testing to do. A friend has a range in his back yard, but he works all of the time and I won't shoot there without him being with me. Then there is a farm 20 miles away that we can shoot out to 700 yards, but you need to take table, chairs, and rest. We found that it is easiest to put a portable shooting table in the back of the truck. The fence is marked in 100 yard increments so we shoot and then drive to the next yardage. Works swell, but we only do it when we can spend a half a day there.
 
Naw, we're way down past McCammon, so Lead Draw would be quite a hike for us just to go shooting. You're right though about Lead Draw being in the Caribou-Targhee NF.
I hadn't heard about it until I did a Google search about Lead Draw near Pocatello, but it seems that earlier this year the Forest Service closed the Lead Draw hiking/biking/horse-backing trail due to safety concerns about all of the shooting going on in that area. Here's the news story:

https://localnews8.com/news/local-news/2021/03/31/lead-draw-trail-closed-for-safety-reasons/


Yep, there's that too - especially in the summer. Even though a sizable portion of the land around here is National Forest land, some of it is hardly forested. Some of it is just cheat grass, sagebrush and junipers, and that darned cheat grass burns like gasoline when it gets dry.
I think it was the summer before last that some jerks shooting exploding targets (Tannerite) set the Blackrock Canyon area SE of Pocatello on fire. I don't know how many thousands of acres were burned before that fire was under control.
Some people might think it's lucky that the Blackrock Canyon area is mostly like I said - cheat grass, sagebrush and junipers (and black, lava rocks of course), so the fire didn't really destroy all that much. The reality is though, the Blackrock Canyon area has always been a valuable wintering area for a good many deer. And our deer herds here in Idaho are thin enough without people setting fire to their wintering areas.

Lead draw would be a good 3 hour drive for me. But I do visit friends in Poky from time-to-time; maybe I'll bring give it a try. (MAYBE!)
 
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