Whats the deal with fishtrap?

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Only_Half_Evil
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Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by Only_Half_Evil » Fri Dec 22, 2017 1:28 am

It seems to me there is alot of land around fishtrap to shoot, but I only see anyone ever shooting in the rock pit with the combine. Isnt all the area north of the road available to shoot on? Ive only ever shot at the pit because im afraid there is something going on I dont know. Is there anywhere on the south side of the road you can shoot or is it 100% closed to recreational shooting?

Im just looking for a place I can back my truck up to and unload my bench and targets and shoot farther than 300 yards (thats about all you can get at the pit). You can only get that far when there is no one else out there too, which is hard to do. Ive heard about some old farm house you can do 500 yards at somewhere but ive never seen it.

Can you go inside the fences that you see leading down to the old gravel pit? Or somewhere else that is out of sight from a main road? There is some good field out there to make a range out of depending on back stop, but I have never seen anyone else shooting like that.

Any info is appreciated, thanks.

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Bob R
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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by Bob R » Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:26 am

Because of dipshitz who couldn't be courteous or clean up after themselves, in 2010 you got this

There is a place by Hog Lake that was perfect for pistol shooting, but no more. :(

bob

https://www.blm.gov/or/districts/spokan ... er_Map.pdf
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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by khalvorsen87 » Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:27 am

Someone else posted a link to the map already but yeah, everything east of that road is basically closed, the rest is open to target shooting. You can still hunt over there though apparently.

People just go to the pit by the combine since its set up and commonly used for shooting. The berms there are nice safe backstops, its easily accessible too.

I was just looking for a place to stretch out further myself, once the snow lightens up I'm planning on looking down around that area just east of sprague and seeing what I can safely shoot around.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by Only_Half_Evil » Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:45 am

So anything to the West of Sprague is open to shooting? Because there is alot of land to the West of the pit with the combine. Maybe not for long range shooting like I intend but at least enough land to get away from people at the pit.

What about lands on thew est side of Sprague but to the east of lake valley loop? There is some good land there and some hills as natural backstops if I remember correctly. Been a while since ive been there though.

In places in the allowed shooting zone there are some brakes in the fence that people obviously drive on. Are these legal places to have a vehicle that are a place to park that are a reasonable distance to walk targets out to ?

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by khalvorsen87 » Sun Dec 31, 2017 10:20 am

I haven't explored around down there so I don't know about whats easily accessible, maybe someone else does, but as for your other questions - Bob literally posted a link to a map of what parts of fishtrap are open to target shooting... All that area is open to shooting, except the stuff thats lined through.

You can also check out an app called OnX for maps of whats public and private land, Its $30 a year though but the 7 day free trial should give you some ideas. Doesn't look like theres anything really west of sprague, theres stuff a ways to the south though. But it just marks public land, and you still have to check if theres shooting closures, like that map I already referenced. If its BLM land you can email the regional office through their website to check as well, they usually respond pretty quickly.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by mcroberts307 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:52 am

I was out there on Sat. Fences cut, gate down, two cars by the combine. I put the gate back up, only to have the people who were inside, leave it down when they left.
The main reasons we lose our shooting ranges are, TRASH and breaking the LAWS.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by khalvorsen87 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 2:40 pm

That gates always down lately as it seems to be a more and more popular spot. I started heading further down to one of the other marked shooting areas, past the ranch house on the road to the left, theres about 3 or 4 smaller pits and normally you can have some privacy if you dont need the longer distance.

Honest question though, Is there a real reason that "gate" needs to remain closed?

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by mcroberts307 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:28 pm

Yes. And their is a reason their's a fence around the place.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by khalvorsen87 » Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:59 am

And that reason is??????

Im not being sarcastic, just curious. Only reason to head into that little area is to shoot, theres no cattle to hold in or traffic to divert who might head in by accident. Leaving that gate open seems pretty irrelevant.

Although I will say I leave gates closed wherever I can when exiting areas out of habit, unless I know there are people in there behind me, dont worry about locking people in much honestly.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by mcroberts307 » Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:11 am

The reasons for limiting access has been discussed many times before. A fence keeps people from hauling large items in, to shoot or to just dump off. A fence keeps people from driving up the hillside, possibly starting the dry grass on fire. A fence keeps the lazy people out who can't walk the 20" feet in, in turn limiting trash and everything else that go with an outdoor shooting area.
Almost every year someone burns the place down with ether exploding targets, tracers, or driving up the hill in dry grass. If you can't walk the 20" without cutting the fences and driving, go to an indoor range.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by khalvorsen87 » Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:27 am

Yeah fences do things like that in general, but leaving the vehicle gate open/closed isn't stopping any of it from happening, obviously.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by mcroberts307 » Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:20 pm

Only because people keep cutting the fence.
If everyone who goes there were to educate to public, we would see less of the rules broken, and a greater chance the place staying open.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by khalvorsen87 » Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:52 pm

Oh yeah for sure, at least I haven't been out there and seen a TV or old appliance lately, someones doing a good job of either stopping it or cleaning it up. Still trashy to some extent but I have seen far worse for sure. The other smaller pits further down the road don't have the same problem but they also see drastically less traffic. Downside is they are much smaller so anything rifle doesn't really work.

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Re: Whats the deal with fishtrap?

Post by mcroberts307 » Mon May 07, 2018 8:50 am

The range is totally trashed

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