Wilson Shoals Range News

[Macktruckman]

I was at Wilson Shoals shooting this morning and learned some troubling news. The range is understaffed by 6 people and have no plans to replace them. The gentleman I was talking to shook my hand and told me today was his last day. He’s been there 7-1/2 years. I believe after our discussion that more range officers are quitting very soon.
I’ve been shooting at Wilson Shoals since the day it opened and I remember the really bad times when it was a dump. Tax dollars untold have made this place as nice as anywhere around and I don’t want to see it go back to the old days where everything from the floor to the roof was shot up. There’s a sign already in place stating this range is unsupervised, please follow range rules. I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to responses.

 

[JustUs4All]

That's not good news. I wonder whether some retired local shooters might volunteer to help staff it or if that is even possible.

 

[j_seph]

So does that mean anyone can ring the buzzer to shut range down and go check your target?

 

[JustUs4All]

That's pretty much how it used to work at the unmanned ranges back in the day. It was a pretty good idea to be sure the other rednecks were actually going to stop shooting before you left for the front though. LOL

 

[Headshot]

Hate to hear that. The range officers do a great job keeping order and safety on the ranges.

 

[livinoutdoors]

Fyi anyone can apply to be a range officer so if someone needs a job....

 

[Geffellz18]

I don’t go there too often, but am sure glad it’s there when I need to go sight in.
They have put a lot of work into it in the past couple of years, and it is indeed very nice.
We go to one in South AL that’s managed by the national Forest service when down there hunting and it’s unmanned. It’s in the sticks literally, but right off a main highway. Never had any issues with riff raff there, but it’s never been anywhere near as busy as Wilson Shoals anytime I’ve been there.
Hopefully this will be temporary or people will at least respect this valuable resource we have in this area and work to keep it up.

 

[treemanjohn]

It's always been a ticking time bomb. A lawyer lives down range behind the berm. Too many people were shooting over the berm, so he put the heat on them. Range officers were a bandaid the didn't need to be put on. I went there twice after the first shut down years ago and one officer was just sitting around talking. The other was Barney Fife

 

[GunnSmokeer]

No adult supervision at the range???
Cool! I think I'll bring my pickup truck full of household trash out there and set up a bunch of empty beer and soup cans and blast away! Probably at 10 PM though because you know I'm kind of busy till then-- drinking the beer that created the empty cans...