How many hide members are shooting the COSSA match next week?

See you all there if your going!

Someone asked me via PM how to find places to shoot. I thought I might as well post it here as well. Also for those that are looking for others to shoot with: A) Go shoot by yourself. 99% of all the rounds I have fired have been by myself. Your schedule rarely matches up with another's. Don't let not having a partner stop you. B) You will have better odds of finding shooting buddies if you are the one that always knows where to go shoot.

How to find places in the woods to shoot:

1. Go to the county's GIS web site such as http://washims.co.washington.or.us/gis/- many counties in OR have these, some are better than others. Worst case you may have to call the county or even a title company - give them an area and ask for an inventory of all public lands and the appropriate map (parcel map) to locate them.

2. Fire up Google Earth

3. What you want to find using a combination of the two is PUBLIC LAND that is easily accessible, and will give you the right amount of distance - use the Google Earth Measuring Tool.

4. Get a USGI Quad Map for the appropriate area.

5. Pull the coordinates off Google Earth and go out and physically inspect them (remember Google Earth datum is WSG 84, your USGI map may be different. When you load the co-ords in your GPS, load them right off of Google Earth using WSG 84, then via your GPS convert them to whatever datum your USGI Quad map is in). Make 1000% sure you are on Public Land and not on private land - use the map / gps / compass to confirm this.

6. Things to know - Oregon Law has no problem with shooting on public land, it has a major problem with shooting across a road - regardless of what type of road it is (skid trail, improved dirt, paved). Therefore, the common fix is when your driving look for areas of the road that "U" back around such that you can see the other side. If the shot looks good, go below the road line 30 - 50 yards (or more if the distance is really big) with a shovel and a matlock to dig a flat spot in the side of the hill. Set your target here and then drive back around to the other side of the "U" and make the shot. I like places where the public can not see the shooting position or the target from the road. This takes a little extra effort but not much in most cases.

** ETA - be smart - be able to see a good stretch of road on both sides of the target such that you can see any approaching vehicle. Regardless of how far your target is below the road line, do not fire while that vehicle is anywhere near it.

***ETA 2 - MRPC (Medford Rifle and Pistol Club) has Fullbore / F Class practice on Wednesday nights starting at @ 5:00 pm out at the Camp White Range - next to the drag strip at the Jackson County Sports Park.


Get out there and good luck.