I live in a semi-Rural area about half way between Portland and Seattle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelm,_Washington
While the town is small-ish (population about 7,000) it's also one of the fastest growing towns in the state. The house I live in is in one of those developments where the lot sizes are tiny. I can almost stick my arm out my window and touch my neighbor’s house :banghead:
A couple years back when my wife and I were looking to buy a house, we found we had 2 options: either get a nice lot with a crappy house, or get a nice house with a crappy lot. We didn't have the $$$ to buy a nice house on a nice lot...
Despite my semi-Rural surroundings I've had a difficult time finding places to shoot. All the land out here is private and you see "no shooting" signs about every 2 feet. Even the public land (Capital Forest near Olympia) has had most of it's range areas closed. I know of only one left there, and since it's the last one, EVERYBODY goes there. It's always crowded and there is always someone doing something strange and/or unsafe. I can't shoot there because I can't focus; I'm always looking over my shoulder worried about what others are up to.
Thankfully there are a couple of gun clubs in the area, I found that I really liked Tacoma Rifle and Revolver club. However they are "under attack" and while they're great places to go to sight in your hunting rifle, you can't "plink" at a club.
I'm getting very frustrated by the situation. It was easier to shoot back when I lived just outside of Portland in the suburbs. Sounds like my situation might not be that uncommon either. I worry that the biggest threat to the shooting sports isn't any gun-ban, but a simple lack of places where one can actually shoot.
Short of winning the lotto, buying 100+ acres of land, and building my own private range, I don't see what options I have...
How does everyone else deal with this?