County forest land in the towns of Breed, Bagley and Brazeau will be considered as possible sites for an Oconto County shooting range.
The Forest, Parks and Recreation Committee decided on Wednesday to look at alternate sites for a range, due to safety concerns expressed by neighbors of the Machickanee Forest Shooting Range in Morgan. County officials closed the range on May 2 after neighbors reported hearing rapid fire and found stray bullets in their yards.
The range, built in 2003 on Garrity Road, had been open from dawn to dusk 365 days of the year before the sudden closure. At a public meeting on April 29, those living near the range said they were fearful to go outdoors or host outdoor events because of stray bullets.
These neighbors have asked the county to relocate the shooting range, due to safety and noise concerns.
Committee members on Wednesday agreed the county should operate a shooting range, but the location was in question.
“They’re just trying to look at all alternatives,” said Robert Skalitzky, director of the Oconto County Forestry, Parks and Recreation Department.
Oconto County Forest land in the northern Oconto County towns of Breed, Bagley and Brazeau might provide a site that is less populated than the southern Oconto County site in the Machickanee Forest.
Skalitzky said the northern Oconto County areas were not considered when the county developed the Machickanee range in 2003. The range was built in the Machickanee Forest as a way to confine the target practice that was occurring there to one site. According to Skalitzky, the northern Oconto County forests did not have that problem.
The committee directed Skalitzky to work with Department of Natural Resources specialists to create a plan for a shooting range that could be built in any county forest location. The committee requested a range that included target practice for short and long distance. A design would include shooting stations of 25 feet, and 25, 50 and 100 yards.
The Machickanee Forest Shooting Range has mostly 100-yard stations, with two 25-yard stations. With the 2011 enactment of Wisconsin’s concealed carry law, use of the shooting range skyrocketed. The county earned $14,000 in usage fees in 2010, $27,000 in 2012 when pistol use shot up, and $23,000 in 2013.
The committee put on hold plans to develop a short-distance range for pistol use and 50-yard range for shotgun use this summer at the Machickanee range.
Also on hold are changes suggested by a DNR range specialist, who recommended the shooting range be redirected in a northerly direction and shooting stations be covered by roofs that allow the shooter to see only the target.
Although the Machickanee range remains closed to the public, the Sheriff’s Department held a training session at the site over the weekend. The training session was scheduled at the start of 2014, and committee members agreed it should be held.
The committee meets again on July 2.
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