Michaux St. Forest Range

**thatJeffguy** · April 5th, 2009, 12:27 AM

I've been shooting at the range @ Michaux frequently, both pistol and long rifle. Back stop is still trashed, but it works well enough for taking a bullet. A guy had a really nice M1 Garand up there that was blasting through the steel, reminded me of the old "cover v concealment" line. Pistol range is REALLY nice. Ranger came up, checked the permits and had to read the rules on the permit, must have been his first day cause he didn't really know them by heart. Asked if our shotgun was a "multiple projectile round" weapon and we explained we were shooting slugs. Nice guy though, watched us shoot some, talked about his carry weapon, gave us some "advice" about range safety (don't load your sidearm while someones down range, which wasn't really apropos or accurate, but his heart was in the right place). If someone would like to go shooting up there, shoot me a PM and we'll see what we can get together. Maybe a nice big W-boro/Cburg/G-castle shoot, lots of shooters, lots of guns

**Smalls** · April 22nd, 2009, 05:45 PM

I would be up for a little get together up there. I live off of Ridge Rd on 997 so it's fairly close to me. If I could find a place/dumpster to put all the trash in I would have no problem taking a truck up there cleaning up and policing brass for an afternoon. If DCNR could help offest costs of Trashcans/bags I would gladly spare some time on the weekends or even during the week.

I think you could do a faily decent job of just cleaning up in about an hour and a half or so.

Maybe everyone in here could get a small fund going? Not much, but find someone to head the thing and we could get a little clean-up crew on the weekends. Maye have DCNR close it for us for a few hours?

Edit: Actually I just sent them an email about this. Hopefully they will respond. My mother is a member of the Range on Warmspring Rd and I'm awaiting to hear an answer. But I really enjoy the free factor of the michaux range. I just wish the general public weren't as ignorant.

**Smalls** · April 23rd, 2009, 09:09 AM

Alright, So I heard back from them today, here is the following email:

Matthew,

Thank you for your interest in the Michaux and your generous offer to help keep the Target Shooting Area cleaned up. This area does get to be a problem periodically despite our efforts to keep it cleaned up, and our Rangers efforts to patrol it frequently. We first need to have you complete a Conservation Volunteer form. By signing up as a Conservation Volunteer, you will be covered by Workman’s Compensation is case of an injury. Also this program tracks the hours volunteers spend on our State Forests and State Parks. You can stop by and complete the one-sided form here at our office, or we can mail the form to your home. If the later, please send us your address. By signing up as a Conservation Volunteer you are not obligated in in any. You can remain a volunteer for as long or short a period of time as you wish.

In regards to the range clean-up, you can drive in through the handicap access, which is always unlocked. We can provide you with a supply of trash bags. You can leave the collected trash at the site to be picked up by our staff, or you can bring it down to our office and place it in our dumpster.

We look forward to working with you, and thank you in advance for your efforts.

Sincerely,

Michael Kusko Jr.

District Forester

So I'm going to try to make it up every friday and sunday evening around 6pm. I feel that's a reasonable time for people not to be at the range and hopefully will avoid most of the traffic. You guys are welcome to join me. I'm just trying to keep the rage around since it's so close to the house and it's free.

**Smalls** · April 25th, 2009, 12:42 PM

So I went up there Friday evening. A buddy and I hauled out 13 Bags of trash and a pick-up full of cardboard and wood from the Pistol and Rifle range including the surrounding woods. We left empty bags and replaced them in the trash can.

When we left to head up to the DCNR office to empty it we were met by 2 Rangers in the parking lot, we told them what we were doing and they agreed that it had been neglected for awhile and that all volunteer's had seemed to stop going up.

We asked them if were allowed to set-up trash cans for trash and brass and he said sure so hopefully this week I can get 2-3 of those blue 55gal plastic drums up there. I also have a 30gal metal barrel for brass I plan on setting up to.

All in all it took us about 2 hours to do a good clean up. We didn't do anything with the stops and we got everything but the small brass, I didn't quite have the time at that moment to pick up every .22 brass I found but I do a little each time as I go.

**slipnslide** · April 25th, 2009, 03:20 PM

'Was up this afternoon and everything was nice and tidy. The only thing I noticed was the backstop is a little tricky to get a target onto - I folded the paper over the top, between the two rubber mats and wedged a rock in there. It'd be hard to get away with this for 80% of the stop though.

Looks good, thanks for the effort. I did my best to clean up my brass when finished.

**Smalls** · June 9th, 2009, 08:23 PM

Well,

I just went up there this past weekend to gather up a few things and noticed, that sometime, in the past few weeks they re-did the rifle range AGAIN. They filled it in, cut it back into the hill and made a tire wall. I didn't venture down to the pistol range to see if anything had changed.

**thatJeffguy** · June 9th, 2009, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by Smalls

Well,

I just went up there this past weekend to gather up a few things and noticed, that sometime, in the past few weeks they re-did the rifle range AGAIN. They filled it in, cut it back into the hill and made a tire wall. I didn't venture down to the pistol range to see if anything had changed.

Yup, I was up there the day before they moved the tires back into the cut. Then, came back the next day, tire-wall! Looking nice, pistol range is same old.

**ironhorse** · September 11th, 2009, 07:51 PM

i wasup there last weekend. I think they finally got smart and quit fixing i up. everytime they did, they complained.. they way it set up is all right with me.had my 50 cal muzzleloader tuned in in 2 shots...

**ironhorse** · May 11th, 2013, 01:50 AM

any updates...........or is it closed forever??

**hockyp** · May 11th, 2013, 08:04 AM

I went by the range a couple of weeks ago and they still had the closed sign. The person at the rangers office said that a decisions has not been made??