Team of 12

[cavedweller]

Being as Field Target is soooo much fun, and being that the nearest field target club is over one hour away in Pensacola, FL. and being that my nearest "legal" practice range is 45 minutes out, I'm trying to create a "LOCAL" community of airheads that I can introduce to field target. To do This I have to find and or acquire land with sufficient space and permissible zoning that will allow me to create A PLACE. The close in powder burner gun ranges, to date, have expressed little interest in Field Target disciplines that involve air rifles. This is further complicated by a simple fact that finding fellow airgunners in Mobile, Al. is harder than finding a Unicorn, Sasquatch and the Lochness monster having a get together.
I'm slowly but surely talking my way through the community and via Facebook, i even found a former gent that represented England in FT over 23 years ago before he moved to the states; We've gotten together for a shoot or two and he's even had his sister ship his "gun" to him... see pic below. a very cool piece with custom stock and the action moved so far back it feels like a feather to hold at point. Fast forward... I need ideas to help me get more people on board. Archery clubs? Boy scouts? ROTC? Paintball enthusiasts? And i need to do presentations to the City Counsel etc.... hoping to get acquisition and even financial support close in so we don't have to drive over an hour just to shoot an hour or three hours and drive an hour home... that's 5 hours!
Does anybody know of some great presentation videos or power point presentations or literature to help me along?

 

[wildcj5]

A lot of our members have come from archery. You could look to see if there are any local archery clubs with ranges and see if you can use their facilities.

And sweet old Daystate. I was just shooting my LR90 yesterday.

 

[Lewis]

Your LR90 has an identity crisis.
I love it!

 

[woogie_man]

I have been talking with my local archery club, of which I was a member for years, and they seem interested in allowing us to shoot. The only thing is finding enough people that are wanting to shoot as well. I may be able to talk the parents into shooting as something else to do with their kids.

The other areas that I have talked to is my local park board, as well as the city themselves. Many will have land that they don't use and may be willing to let you use the area for a shoot if you can demonstrate that you can host an event safely. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts is a good idea haven't thought about them to be honest. The Game and Fish department up in my states has an Archery in the Schools program, so that may be an avenue to look at as well to see if there is someone within that group that may be able to help.

Ask around, the worse that anyone can tell you in no. And then you are no worse off than you are now!

 

[Garrettkq]

Mr Dweller
When developing our range we used 16 acres of range property for our ft area. I’d recommend a good 20 acres if you are looking for numbers and a decent capability to grow in to. The benefits of working with a range is that there is the possibility of insurance coverage.
A good start is a website (recommend Wix), email service (recommended google due to forms docs and sheets) and social media.
Advantage of a range is that you’ll get a lot of curious powder burner traffic. Explain it in range revenue to the range, and it’s enhancing the awareness and education of gun safety to those that may not be firearm ready.
Hope that helps.

Garrett.

 

[cavedweller]

Mr Dweller
When developing our range we used 16 acres of range property for our ft area. I’d recommend a good 20 acres if you are looking for numbers and a decent capability to grow in to. The benefits of working with a range is that there is the possibility of insurance coverage.
A good start is a website (recommend Wix), email service (recommended google due to forms docs and sheets) and social media.
Advantage of a range is that you’ll get a lot of curious powder burner traffic. Explain it in range revenue to the range, and it’s enhancing the awareness and education of gun safety to those that may not be firearm ready.
Hope that helps.

Garrett.

All good ideas - keep em coming

 

[cavedweller]

All good ideas - keep em coming

Garrett - thank you for this very helpful info!
I am now focusing on 16-20 acres plus with enough trees and foilage and perhaps terrain changes to make it fun.... of course more work to manage.
I'm also going to try and create a 501C3 non profit so i can properly get insurance and be insulated from litigation matters if they ever arise.
Every little bit of info helps.... just buying targets and asking an existing range to let us play hasn't worked to date. @BC in Pensacola FL is doing well but attracting airheads or converting die hard powder burners is a challenge. Haven't pulled on the archery club strings yet or gottin the Boy/Girlscouts in for a show and tell ... Yet.

 

[JP806TX]

Garrett - thank you for this very helpful info!
I am now focusing on 16-20 acres plus with enough trees and foilage and perhaps terrain changes to make it fun.... of course more work to manage.
I'm also going to try and create a 501C3 non profit so i can properly get insurance and be insulated from litigation matters if they ever arise.
Every little bit of info helps.... just buying targets and asking an existing range to let us play hasn't worked to date. @BC in Pensacola FL is doing well but attracting airheads or converting die hard powder burners is a challenge. Haven't pulled on the archery club strings yet or gottin the Boy/Girlscouts in for a show and tell ... Yet.

Have you look into paintball ranges?
There's one near you called Southern Alabama Paintball. Looks like they also do Airsoft there.
They might welcome you with open arms.

 

[cavedweller]

Have you look into paintball ranges?
There's one near you called Southern Alabama Paintball. Looks like they also do Airsoft there.
They might welcome you with open arms.

I visited their site indirectly a year ago... Taylor Creek Skeet Range; who expressed a hard no - but - i thought the two entities were tied at the hip... i am exploring Southern Alabama Paintball now.