Ohio Department of Natural Resources provides target shooting opportunities

A question I get asked a lot, one I was asked last night in fact, is "where can I go to shoot?" In northern Ohio especially, indoor ranges can be hard to come by. Even outdoor ranges, though, tend to be mostly private ranges for hunt clubs. Practicing your shooting skills is important, especially considering that Ohio's concealed handgun license program is still going strong, with an estimated 34,000 licenses being issued in Ohio last year, bringing the total to around 140,000 issued since inception.

One seemingly well kept secret is that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources maintains 35 public shooting ranges across Ohio at a number of parks and wildlife areas for archery, rifle, shotgun and pistol target shooting.

These ranges provide public shooting opportunities, but not all are free. The ranges are divided into classes according to type. A Class A range is a supervised rifle and pistol target range. Class B is an unsupervised rifle and pistol target range. Class C are unsupervised clay target shotgun ranges. Class D are unsupervised archery target ranges. Other ranges are classed as O, which are those not specifically classified by the Division of Wildlife. Class A ranges require the purchase of a Shooting Range Permit, available wherever hunting licenses are sold. This permit is $24 for a season permit, or $5 for one day's use.

Hours of operation for the ranges vary. The ranges are all closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as on Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. The Ohio DNR recommends contacting the nearest District Wildlife Office for each range for specific information.

The following chart of locations is provided by the ODNR:

Alternately, use the following map to locate a facility near you:

Click here for more details

Your patronage at these facilities not only helps to keep your shooting skills sharp, but also ensures the ODNR will continue to provide these facilities into the future.

READERSHIP INTERACTION

lmr4524: To a person, I've never met anyone in law enforcement or the armed services who DIDN'T support the 2nd amendment - because they know precisely the potential of that abuse of force. It's not the 'cops' or the military themselves we need to fear - it's the misguided and misinformed leadership that controls them and the legislation that they must operate within. Most police officers know a responsible, competent gun user has a better chance of defending themselves before the police can respond and arrive on the scene.

You're lucky, then, because I have met quite a few police officers who either didn't support the 2nd Amendment at all, or believed it only meant you could have a gun at home, not to carry with you in public. They are definitely the minority, though. I do agree that, for the most part, it is the politically entrenched upper echelon who are generally the problem. Another issue, though, is the blind following of orders that sometimes occurs. In New Orleans, the order to confiscate firearms from lawful citizens was an illegal order that should not have been obeyed. What we saw there was a case of law enforcement officers turning in their fellow citizens and going door to door with illegal searches and seizures. It could have gone far worse had someone resisted.