We were just informed that a river bottom is off-limits.

[Ignition Override]

This is near Bartlett, n.e. of Wolfchase Mall, by Memphis. If you live nearby, you probably knew about the area.
Huge numbers of people had gone there for over twenty years or longer, every day in nice weather, and in my case for over a year. Most simply used handguns and shotguns under the bridge with lots of traffic rumbling high overhead.
So far no signs have been posted, and I enjoyed the area very much.

An LEO caught some 18 year-olds shooting a quarter mile downstream, and Not down into the sandbar in our favorite area, but straight across into the woods on the opposite high bank just days ago! Those young jerks have helped ruin it for the rest of us (middle-aged types in our 40s and 50s).

The LEO is a veteran of Kosovo and Iraq, and told me that he marched them out at gunpoint and confiscated their SKS rifles.
Incidentally, a woman's body was found in a bag by that bridge almost two years ago, and a Mexican guy fell onto his fishing net and drowned last summer, and his friend could not swim. The area's profile was getting high.

There are two very small areas several miles from there and are not used very much, but much lower-profile.

 

[armoredman]

Wildcat ranges tend to get shut down when the foolish, careless, or deliberately indifferent get into the act.

 

[OcelotZ3]

Unfortunately, as always it only takes a couple of idiots to ruin it for everyone. This is true for many different activities: driving, 4-wheeling, fishing, hiking, hunting, mushroom hunting, rock climbing, cave exploring, shooting, you name it.

 

[Ignition Override]

There is one irony, because it is a state area less than two hours from here. I won't describe it because of the young (or older) types who can discover things and might try to abuse the privileges.

A friend was there last week on his ATV and saw a guy with his rifle at a very unique narrow, deep area which allows shooting out to about 200yards. A heap of lumber had been cut and abandoned in the background. Hope it is near a paved or gravel road (the Camry is not quite a truck).

It would be nice to use that as a longer range for any fun targets, as these other local areas near here are very small and you can safely shoot out to only about 20 or 50 yards.
The range ten minutes from here is a really well-run private club, but for rifles/handguns only allows paper targets, at least officially.

 

[dirtykid]

we used to have an abandoned lime-quarry nearby that had piles of crushed rock and sand surrounding it, closest home was 1.5 miles away so nobody was being bothered until a bunch of kids went and had a bonfire-kegger one night and somebody drove out of there drunk and crashed, killed his passenger,, 2-weeks later property owner came up from california and closed it off ,,, it only takes 1-bad example to ruin it for everybody,, I loved that place as i could do ballistic tests into old phone-books,, something my current gun-range frowns upon !!

 

[metalman8600]

What is the legislation regarding shooting on public property (specifically GA)? How do you even find out if the area is not privately owned?

 

[Hendiadys]

If I were trying to ascertain ownership of a piece of property, I would just start asking around. Usually a small store nearby has a wealth of information. Depends on the area as to what the best available source of information might be.

Cases like this is where we need to self regulate our community, while using good judgement. Sometimes you can read a group and tell if saying something to them might be beneficial or not.

 

[Wishoot]

We had a couple of idiots here in the Milwaukee area that managed to get a gun club with 60 years of history closed forever.

 

[Nushif]

Those young jerks have helped ruin it for the rest of us (middle-aged types in our 40s and 50s).

Yeah. Those young jerks. Nobody in their 40s or 50s would ever do that.

 

[mgmorden]

If I were trying to ascertain ownership of a piece of property, I would just start asking around.

This is actually in my area of expertise . I work in the IT department of a medium sized county, and can say that MOST counties these days will maintain ownership records of every parcel within it's boundaries. In our specific case you need only to pull up the GIS map on the website, and then click on the parcel you're curious about. You will see not only ownership information (not just current but dating back over 50 years), but land area, flood zone information, school districts, aerial photos, etc.

That said, in our area you need to have speicific permission from a property owner to fire weapons on it, and firing weapons on public property is illegal unless otherwise noted. There are two publicly provided 100 yard ranges that the state has set aside, but there's no telling how long those will be open. They've already closed one of them for extended periods twice within the last 5 or 6 years. They're pretty much self policed, and people will go out there doing stupid stuff. Supposed to be paper or fixed targets only, but people will go out and throw TV's or washing machines or the range and shoot them up and leave them there. The trash bins have also been set on fire, as well as someone hooking one of the shooting benches with their truck or a winch, and pulling it over. I'm guessing (hoping) it's dumb teenagers. Sad thing is, the people who are causing the problems are the ones who would care the least if it was shut down. The troublemakers will just go elsewhere and get into different trouble. For my part I try to pick up what I take there and keep it as clean as possible, but in reality it's just out in the middle of the woods - you can't watch the place like a hawk.

That's one of the many reasons that lately I've taken to just paying to shoot at an indoor range. $125 per year is a small price to pay to be able to shoot in a climate controlled area where you needn't worry (too much) about pranksters tearing the place up. On the other hand, on a nice spring day the outdoor range is a lot more inviting than that drab smoky building . . .

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Those young jerks have helped ruin it for the rest of us (middle-aged types in our 40s and 50s).

I'm 30 years old, so to some on here, I'm ancient, but to others I'm still wet behind the ears. Something I've learned in my moderate time on earth is that nice, responsible people, and a-holes alike come in all ages. I've met nice responsible people in their teens, and some jerks as well. The same goes for middle aged folks. Nobody has a monopoly on it.

 

[thorn726]

used handguns and shotguns under the bridge with lots of traffic rumbling high overhead.

sounds bizarre- seems like this was a barely legal spot to begin with, ARGH! people should know better than to push limits at a spot that close to civilization

When i went into the woods, we felt like setting up our own area as shooting is legal in the forest. BUT the rangers had bulldozed an area into an informal "range". we use thier range, even though it was ugly, why push it./ Arkansas Paul you are correct in your sense, I too hate the idea that young=idiot, im 37 but always the guy who wouldnt take the stupid risk= Hey if they were 65 we'd call them old idiots, no point taking this personally because you feel young, you're just making us feel old (haha)