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Thank you tractor owning gun advocates!

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mwaterous

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
197
Location
New Mexico
We took a little drive out to BLM yesterday and had a fantastic day shooting, right up until a storm front moving in almost knocked over our little folding table. The ammo, firearms and food that was on it could barely even keep it standing! On the plus side it made the targets move too, which was even more fun until one blew away. At that point we took turns shooting up a little robot man that somebody else had brought out...

Anywho, the moral of the story is that we stumbled upon two flattened out (thus the tractors, we suspect) and semi-hidden areas which had berms along two sides perfect for shooting. The ground was literally tiled in spent cartridges, so it's not exactly a private location but I'm sure there are many many more out there if we found that one so easily. Met another fellow new to New Mexico who had found his way out there thanks to Cabela's Recon (smart phone app)... we were both driving cars instead of trucks, so we had a good laugh about the 4x4 ability of each.

We'll definitely be going back out. I'd rather spend (half) the money on gas that I would have paid at a range such as Calibers, and have the area to myself allowing me to eat donuts, fire off rounds, or just sit around and enjoy the fresh air. Thanks to all who have made this possible in New Mexico! I'm thinking of building some cheap 2x4/plywood target stands and leaving them out there...
 
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AH.74

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
443
Location
, ,
Can you provide some more detail as to where this area is?

I am fortunate to have some BLM areas close to home- they're the only spots I have shot at for quite some time now. I haven't shot indoors since finding them, and don't plan to.

Glad you had a good time.
 
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mwaterous

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
197
Location
New Mexico
What's the etiquette on that? I searched and searched, and I'm not new to googling, but I couldn't find anyone who was willing to divulge areas, just vague and more vagueness. I figured it was a matter of people who actually took the time to go out and search might show greater respect to the area than those who are just looking to go shoot up an old appliance... having seen you around these forums if you want to pm me I'd be happy to give you the exact location, but I'll refrain from posting public until somebody fills me in on whether or not it's frowned upon.
 
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AH.74

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
443
Location
, ,
I've never heard of any issue wrt divulging locations. It's not as if they are secret- they are after all public lands. However I can understand your not wanting to post it.

I will pm you.
 
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awnuts

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
118
Location
ABQ New Mexico
mwaterous said:
We took a little drive out to BLM yesterday and had a fantastic day shooting, right up until a storm front moving in almost knocked over our little folding table. The ammo, firearms and food that was on it could barely even keep it standing! On the plus side it made the targets move too, which was even more fun until one blew away. At that point we took turns shooting up a little robot man that somebody else had brought out...

Anywho, the moral of the story is that we stumbled upon two flattened out (thus the tractors, we suspect) and semi-hidden areas which had berms along two sides perfect for shooting. The ground was literally tiled in spent cartridges, so it's not exactly a private location but I'm sure there are many many more out there if we found that one so easily. Met another fellow new to New Mexico who had found his way out there thanks to Cabela's Recon (smart phone app)... we were both driving cars instead of trucks, so we had a good laugh about the 4x4 ability of each.

We'll definitely be going back out. I'd rather spend (half) the money on gas that I would have paid at a range such as Calibers, and have the area to myself allowing me to eat donuts, fire off rounds, or just sit around and enjoy the fresh air. Thanks to all who have made this possible in New Mexico! I'm thinking of building some cheap 2x4/plywood target stands and leaving them out there...
Click to expand...

Donuts are great I eat them all the time.But Shooting and food dont go together unless you got clean hands.After shooting its always good to wash up to get rid of the lead dust and be carefull not to touch your eyes or face.
 
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elebuttfish

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
38
Location
Washington soon to return to N.M.
PLEASE, do not build anything and take it out there and leave it. The mesas outside of ABQ, Los Lunas and other communities have become dumping grounds. If you take a target stand out there take it back home with you. In my many years of living and working around New Mexico I saw way to much junk dumped everywhere. You can make some portable stands and use cardboard. Too many people think SOUTHWESTERN landscaping is beer cans and diapers! PLEASE, don't. thanks Jerry
 
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mwaterous

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
197
Location
New Mexico
Let's clarify here, just to be sure; I'm not talking about building something that looks like a nine year old made it. I'm not talking about leaving a washer and dryer and couch out there. I pick up my cartridges (for more than one reason), we carry everything out that we carry in, hiking, shooting, camping, what have you. Heck, we even cleaned up a few of the things left by others while out there, because we had room for it.

I'm talking about building something functional for the people that go there, which would include myself on repeat occasions. I'm not under some fantasy that everyone will respect it, and if I come out there and find it destroyed I will be happy to cart it back in. If others find it useful though, I am of those who still think the community can help the community. I have no problem spending the money and letting other people use it, and with any luck respect it and help maintain it. The area is obviously for shooting... I think anyone who goes there would recognize what it was.
 
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mwaterous

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
197
Location
New Mexico
awnuts said:
Donuts are great I eat them all the time.But Shooting and food dont go together unless you got clean hands.After shooting its always good to wash up to get rid of the lead dust and be carefull not to touch your eyes or face.
Click to expand...

We're nerds. We carted out a table, chairs, a 10 gallon container of wash water, a cooler of drinking water, tons of spare targets... Oh, and we had gushers. Two boxes of gushers. If you ever find us out shooting, what's ours is yours. :)
 
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AH.74

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
443
Location
, ,
I wouldn't leave anything out there, it will just be destroyed and not appreciated.

Build yourself something you can use and just take it with you. It's not worth trying to do anyone any favors when they don't care, trust me.

The trash and assorted other crap is disappointing. I also take everything with me that I brought, and have cleaned up some things when I have been able to. I try to make use of things I find out there, if I think I can use them- for targeting purposes, that is.
 
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M

mwaterous

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
197
Location
New Mexico
AH.74 said:
I wouldn't leave anything out there, it will just be destroyed and not appreciated.

Build yourself something you can use and just take it with you. It's not worth trying to do anyone any favors when they don't care, trust me.

The trash and assorted other crap is disappointing. I also take everything with me that I brought, and have cleaned up some things when I have been able to. I try to make use of things I find out there, if I think I can use them- for targeting purposes, that is.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I suspect as much... but it'd be nice to be proven wrong. I know better than to put myself in a position of potential monetary loss or physical harm due to "hoping for the best", but if I'm not at risk of either I will continue to try and do as I wish others would. Back when "community" meant something... blah blah blah. Anyways. :) With that silliness out of the way, does anyone have any recommendations for transportable targets? Are those orange bouncing blocks any good? I'd like to have something I can post targets on that doesn't weigh a ton or cost an arm and a leg.
 
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