Willow Slough Shooting Range Progress

[Rattler41]

The renovated range opens on Wednesday at 10:00 am central.

 

[jedi]

Will they be charging like at the other one?

 

[Deet]

Yep, they will be charging to use the range that our tax dollars built. They need to recoup the money we gave them to build it, so yes per every government agency that has spent my money during my lifetime, they also get to profit from it. It makes total sense to me. If I go I will pay double to help them become more profitable. Purple not needed.

 

[2A_Tom]

Rates?

 

[myhightechsec]

Rates?

just got off the phone with them... $7.00/hour per person

 

[Ericpwp]

 

[2A_Tom]

That is ridiculous!

 

[myhightechsec]

That is ridiculous!

Yep... certainly will discourage families from attending

 

[myhightechsec]

Just got off the phone with Campbell Ricci who is the Legislative Assistant for Sen. Jim Tomes. As you all know, Sen. Jim is probably the strongest 2nd Amendment supporter in Indiana elected circles. Ricci said that this issue is certainly one that the Senator would be interested in exploring as to why DNR is doing this (and to put a stop to it). He said he'd get back to me as soon as he knew something.

 

[Sniper 79]

Yep, won't see me there. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[Rattler41]

I have no issue with a fee. If a concessionaire is not running it, the state would have to pay range officers and for upkeep. I doubt the range runs itself for free. This is not a cheap range with a dirt backstop.

I think it is $7 for the first person on a lane and $3 for each additional.

 

[Chase515]

The state has been paying a range officer to sit in a air-conditioned shack at a desk to collect info, give out cloths pins to hang targets, and give a run down of range rules before sending you out. The archery range has been neglected by the state, overgrown with gnarly vegetation everytime I've been there. On a range full of people from Illinois who insist on ****ing with their weapons when people are down range changing targets. I'll pay the 7$. I'd pay 20$ an hour if it was a legit 1000yrd range.

 

[jedi]

Mix feelings i have on this.
I figure they would charge a fee just like they do at kingsburry which has a very similar setup.
It does annoy me that i pay taxes and yet dnr wants me to now pay an hourly fee to use a public range? Them wtf are my taxes for.

Never did visit kingbury due to the fee and never went to this one due to the people that would go their. The stories posted,of people sweeping others, shooting while some are downrange, etc.

Guess ive been lucky that winamac is not like this and that for the most part it is quiet. Plus nwi ingo has a very good relationship with managment there.

 

[Ericpwp]

I have never been to WS. Kingsbury is kind of my go-to. Understanding the point of having to pay while paying taxs, $4 for the day is fine with me. I figure the high price of WS is due to it's proximity to IL. $7 an hour is a deal for the fips.

I'll check it out for an hour then drive to JP.

 

[2A_Tom]

$4 for the day is not in the least unreasonable, $7 an hour for out of state would cut down on the stupid. I could live with that.

 

[Leo]

Mix feelings i have on this.
I figure they would charge a fee just like they do at kingsburry which has a very similar setup.
It does annoy me that i pay taxes and yet dnr wants me to now pay an hourly fee to use a public range?

As a homeowner, I pay tax for a dozen or so municipal parks that need constant maintenance as well as repairs due to vandalism. I have seldom set foot in any of them, and have never set foot in most of them. Yet I pay. Can you imagine the public outcry if they started charging a user fee for those parks?

Not to mention the users of those ranges already pay an 11% excise tax built in to the price of pretty much all the products that we use to cover the public lands.

 

[1775usmarine]

I just hope if it stays 7/hr those FIB's don't google Winamac and start showing up in droves.

 

[Ericpwp]

They already know where JP is.

 

[JamesV]

The $7 an hour is a real disappointment, as I use to go 10 years ago or so. I have been fortunate that I went during the week and never encountered issues that have been posted about it. All I spend was my time, ammo and gas to get there, for $7 I'll go to an indoor range.

Was looking forward to this opening since my cousins are getting into shooting and we were planning on going to relax and talk while shooting for a few hours.

Looks like we'll have to make the drive out to winamac if we want to take our time and be able to relax and talk and not worry about paying per hour.

 

[Winamac]

I just hope if it stays 7/hr those FIB's don't google Winamac and start showing up in droves.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a FIB? I guess I have never heard that term before?