Shooting in Colorado

[evalero2]

Hey all, I have a two part question.

First: Is anyone familiar with the shooting ban up by Wellington Lake in Pike National Forest? The sign out front posted by the forest service says shooting is allowed, but a couple of smaller signs on the trail indicate "NO SHOOTING" and some rangers got pretty angry at me for following the instructions on the Forest Service sign.

Second: I'm out of a place to shoot I know shooting is legal in any national forest, but the forest service refuses to give me directions to any back country areas specifically where I can go camping/shooting and enjoy an isolated area. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for a place not too far from the metropolitan area(hour and a half to two hours)? I have directions to Harris park but the district requires you hike a mile into the forest before shooting, and also to Payne Creek where apparently I have to hike several miles on foot also just to shoot. At Wellington lake I could drive up the trailhead, park off to the side, and hike 300 ft from the road and start plinking.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Coltdriver]

I am in Colorado. But I am not familiar with the places you mention.

The key is to contact the district ranger for the forest you want to shoot in. They can give you the correct word on what is or is not restricted.

The FS put a ban on shooting (except hunting) west of I-25 during the high fire danger season. Don't know if that is still in effect or not.

I have secured permission from forest rangers to go into the Hayman fire area when it was restricted. Most of them have been pretty decent to deal with and every one of them has appreciated a phone call to get the straight scoop.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I have directions to Harris park but the district requires you hike a mile into the forest before shooting,

I haven't been to Harris park in some time, but there used to be a designated range that you could drive right up to.

Otherwise, as you noted, it's legal in most national forests so long as you're X distance from designated roads or trails (I thougt it was 500 ft., but I may be mistaken).

 

[coloradokevin]

It isn't long range, but there used to be a place (as in, within the last 5 years) that you could shoot if you follow the road south from Pine Junction, past Buffalo Creek. I'm trying to remember the exact location for directions (I can get there by sight)... I'll repost if I can think of a good way to describe the directions. Problem with that area is that the range is pretty short (50 yards or so).

Shooting on the USFS land is getting to be more and more of a hassle out here. I've been bothered by rangers when I was shooting legal in the past, and the ones I dealt with in that case weren't friendly either (by the way, I'm in LE, so it isn't like I'm the type to have bad experiences with rangers, typically).

I ultimately ended up joining a private range near Brighton, just to eliminate the hassle factor. There are still some places you can shoot out on the forest, and I have some friends who do so regularly out here. I'll ask around for some suggestions for you. These days I carry a printed (from their website) copy of the USFS regulations with me when I shoot on forest land, just to help if any disputes with rangers come up again.

It is a bit of a drive from the metro area, but you might check out the Pawnee Grasslands east of Ft. Collins. I used to shoot there quite a bit, and you can shoot some really long range stuff up there in the middle of nowhere.

 

[evalero2]

Thats the area where I used to go shooting, the area south of pine junction leads up to Wellington Lake if your willing to travel an hour and a half through forest roads. They closed it off to shooters except for in one designated area, which is just a giant dirt pit with thousands of shell casings laying around.

I used to be able to take pine up a ways and pull off, go camping/mountain climbing/shooting way off in the middle of BFE with no one around for miles.

I'm probably going to head up to the Pawnee Grasslands this weekend, I've heard its a great place to really max out your rifle's range from several people now.

MachIVShooter, its 300 feet, but nowadays parks are creating so many local ordnances its almost impossible to just drive out to the nearest forest, pull over and shoot. Very sad...and the rangers I've dealt with haven't been very nice either Kevin.

The reason I'm asking is cause I hate ranges. I like open wilderness, a place where I can just get away from everything and have a whole mountain to myself.