Richland Co. Sportsmen's Club Looking for Shooting Range Land

On Nov. 16 the Richland County Sportsmen's Club, Inc. held a meeting to discuss plans for a new shooting range in the county. The club has been making attempts to reach out to landowners for property to either purchase or lease for the new facility.

The club has been visiting other shooting ranges in surrounding counties to get different ideas on ways to layout and build the outdoor facility. Currently, Richland County doesn't have a designated public place to safely sight in firearms, conduct hunter safety courses, hold firearm safety and concealed carry classes or shooting competitions. The group plans to design the facility to NRA specifications. Ideally, the range would be located within 30 miles of the Sidney city limits.

The Richland County Sportsmen's Club has been working on this project for five years. They have held various fundraisers to obtain funds to begin the project. They would need between 160-320 acres of land to build a proper range. Ideally, 320 acres would accommodate a 1000-yard range.

The range would have controlled access for members with designated dates and times for the general public to use the facility. Range managers would watch over the facility to ensure people are adhering to the rules and keeping the range clean. They also plan to install a surveillance system to ensure the property is protected when unsupervised by managers.

Membership to the Richland County Sportsmen's Club is open to anyone in the community that is of legal age and doesn't have felonies barring them from owning firearms. The cost for membership is $50 per year for a single membership, $70 per year for a family membership.

Anyone interested in contacting the group to discuss property they might have available or to inquire about membership can call 406-489-0589, email [email protected] or find them on Facebook.