A Walk in the Woods shooting range

A few years ago I blazed some trails in my woods. It takes 45 minutes to walk the trails and you only double back on one short part of it. These trails are about 300 yards from my closest building.

I just read a post and it got me thinking. What would it take to set up a trail walk where there are targets that must be shot and maybe even some that shouldn't be shot at. (instead of just a game animal shot with a BP firearm, I am also thinking about doing this with holstered, modern centerfire handguns and the targets could be bad guys and good guys) (I already print pictures of bin Laden and use them on my hawk block - even the kids know who he is and get a kick out of it when they make a good throw)

Has anyone done this and how did you construct the targets? Should they fall over when hit? Any ideas for making the targets move a bit - like when one target falls, that trips another that slides down a wire on an incline or something to that effect? I would need to position them so they are only visible from a certain angle too.

I have access to plastic coated cardboard in about 3x5 foot sheets and I can also get sheet steel and work on that in my neigbor's shop.

I have no clue how to make a remote controlled pop-up target. Any ideas? I have a foot operated trap launcher. Could that be incorporated into the game?

I also like some of the difficult shots set up at rondys. I could set some of them up with 55 gal drums etc.

I think this could be a lot of fun but I also realize that the ball/bullet path must be safe and only one shooter at a time allowed on the trail.

This could be a nice springtime project.

 

I usta shoot w/ a group that was REALLY big on 'gong' targets...old propane bottles and oxygen cylinders w/ the bottoms cut out placed at various distances on the trail walk...some of them were 'cammoed' so you couldn't see them except from ONE direction, you scored a point for each target that rang..and just for fun there was the occasional LIAR target made of styro-foam :nono:...if you marked a hit for that one, you lost points for ALL targets up to that point score it as a MISS get 5 points.. :thumbsup:

 

[No Powder]

Love trail walks. I have been helping set one up for a few years. We like to do it so that you need to have studied the fur trade era some. Example this year you were told-
"The year is 1810, you work for the North Wesst Company. You have been ordered by William McGillivray himself to winter at Fort McAlister.
You are two days out and will need to camp one night. Game is always welcome at the Fort. Indians and those pesky Hudson Bay people are in the area. Good luck and have a good winter".
This is all the information you got. Spending the night ment that you would have to make fire. 1810 ment that you were almost at war with HBC, which should have influanced the targets you shot at. Some targets had nothing to do with personal Example 1 target was a Pheasant, don't waste the lead they were not in this country yet. If you shot the deer you had to carry it. A sand bag, like you put in the back of your truck for traction in the winter (you being from Mn.know what I'm talking about)was lashed to a pole you had to carry untill you had time to process it. If you stepped over a log without checking for a snake you could get snake bit and maybe only be able to use one arm.
I think you get the idea. I have some pictures of this Trail walk on our clubs web site,check the second page Black Duck Buckskinners and will put more on next month. Email me and I will go into this in greater depth if you like. I am sure you will get many ideas from this group.
No Powder

 

I've only done one "Woods Walk", but man, it was a doosie. I'm really looking forward to the next one, but this is what these guys did for the one I went on.

We went in pairs. It was a timed and guided event. Started out walking up the trail, shooting game. There were about 4 game animals with gong vitals. The game had to be hit by either member of the party prior to moving on. After shooting the last game animal and moving further up the trail a bit, there was an indian hiding next to a bush. Once you shot that indian, all hell broke loose! The guides started whoopin' and hollerin', and chased us up to the top of the hill, where there was a small stacked-log fence to hide behind. Down below us, were about 12 indians to shoot. The sound effects were provided by the guides. You had to shoot all of the indians (knock-down plates). When the last one fell, the clock was stopped.

Here's the catch: They had all of the indians rigged up with a small tennis-ball cannon that fired the tennis ball right back at you when you knocked the indian over! If you got hit by the tennis ball, you were dead and finished! So, every time you shot, you had to duck and pray... I'm tellin' ya, them tennis balls came at ya quick! We finally knocked 'em all over and made it. Man... I had such an adrenaline rush after that was over... it was incredible! Absolutely the most fun I ever had at a rendezvous!

We didn't even come close to winning... but it sure was fun. We learned after the fact that we should have stopped patching our balls. We were taking so much time to ram them patched balls down the barrel, when we didn't need to. The targets were big enough we'd have hit 'em anyway... but when you're shakin' real bad, and breathin' heavy, and the adrenaline is pumpin', ya just don't think about things like that!

 

That is a great idea - sort of like Sporting Clays for ML. I have never had an opportunity to do what you describe, but would certainally enjoy it. Also, where I am in SE PA I have no idea where this type of facilty may exist, and if one would be even possible in this area. If I have some time I will call Dixon's in Kempton and see if they have any ideas.

 

BadWind, No Powder, StaticXDood, Chet,

Man you guys got me all wound up over this now. I have access to empty freon tanks from a neighbor's business and I have little propane cylinders. I also like the idea of the PC targets etc. I am far too familiar with the 70# sand bags! ha!

To camo the cylinders and tanks to only see them from one direction would be easy. I will also check out the website about the Walk you guys have set up. I may have a few questions by springtime and will PM you.

This is great! And now that I have been given ideas, there are a lot of possibilities. I don't know if I could rig up the tennis ball cannons, but that sounds like some real fun. Are they just PVC pipe with hair spray and a remote igniter that trips when the falling target hits them? One of my neighbors and I had some wild ideas about multi barreled potato guns and a pumpkin gun too.

 

This is great! And now that I have been given ideas, there are a lot of possibilities. I don't know if I could rig up the tennis ball cannons, but that sounds like some real fun. Are they just PVC pipe with hair spray and a remote igniter that trips when the falling target hits them? One of my neighbors and I had some wild ideas about multi barreled potato guns and a pumpkin gun too.

I didn't see them up close and personal... but we did talk to the guides about it after the shooting stopped, and basically what they did was use a metal plate on a hinge, to which they mounted the wooden cutout of the indian. When the indian fell, it triggered the tennis ball cannon, which, IIRC, was a small black powder cannon with a cap and a very small charge of powder. (I'm sure they experimented to work out the kinks prior to the shoot. The tennis balls came at you about like a fastball pitcher would throw them.) I never got hit, but others did, and while of course they weren't hurt, they did mention it stung a little, so they were moving at a decent clip. This rondy was nearly 20 years ago... in this day and age, you might want to make sure your participants are somewhat aware and won't sue you if they get hit by a tennis ball...

Anyway, I'm thinking a steel plate with four holes in it, with a string loop at the bottom, mounted on a base plate with a hinge. String goes back to a spring-loaded hammer, so that when the plate is knocked over, the string pulls the release for the hammer, which smacks the cap on the cannon and sends the tennis ball on its way. Great thing about this too is you get downrange smoke from the cannon... adds to the adrenaline somewhat when you can't see your targets until the smoke clears! :redthumb:

The only problem with this type of thing is, somebody has to go and reload all of the cannons and re-prep the range between shooters, so each team had to do some waiting after the previous team went. They also made each team swear on their life not to say ANYTHING to ANYONE who hadn't been on the course yet. Believe me... watching them come back and seeing the looks on their faces added to it. By the time our turn came, we didn't know what to expect, and we were nervous as hell! :crackup:

 

[Griz]

I have 2 woods walk ranges on my property and they almost all consist of old helium tanks, steel gongs... there are a few I have that are different. I have 2 of the gongs in plywood, one is a heart in an Indian cut out and the other is a heart in a bear cut out. Both are screwed to a old wooden pallet and legs screwed to hold it upright. I have a few fall down targets that have a rod welded to the target and at the end of that rod is a handle, I tie a rope to the handle to pull it back up after it is hit. At the local sport shop they were selling spinning targets for a 44 Mag pistol, I drilled a stunp, sorry stumpkiller, and mounted this in the stump and it really spins when hit. I got some of the small oxygen tanks like some of the folks wheel around, these are hard to hit out at 70 yds but really have a nice ring to them. I have a board between trees and I cloths pin balloons from a string, The shooter has to call his balloon, on a windy day this can be a difficult shot. My son used to work at a bowling alley and brought home 25 pins, I screwed a hooks into the top and let them hang loose, these take a lot of shots before needing replaced. This summer I want to find a styro foam head and put a small item on top, like a golf ball. Hit the ball 2 points, hit the head -2 points. The imagination can run wild with these woods walk ranges and they always make for a fun day in the woods with like minded friends, just keep safety first. I was at a shoot 2 years ago and a lead ball glanced off one target that was not placed correctly and it hit one of the other shooters. That made for a very scary weekend, the shootee was not hurt, the fragment went through his strap on his shooting bag and through his shirt and just cut him a little. He found the ball in the fold of his shirt and was going to mount it in his rifle stock..

 

[squirejohn]

I too have a woodswalk setup in the "back 40". Most of the targets are metal animal, bird, hostiles, snakes etc. and are hung by chains so when hit they move. I also have a few moving targets cut out of old mudflaps or conveyor belt (best). However they do need to be painted white so the ball which passes through them shows up as a dark spot on the target. I spray paint them after several hits. They last quite a while and when shot up fix them up with spackling compound. These are very inexpensive to make; requiring a length of clothesline rope, pulleys, S hooks to attach the target to the pulleys and some thin nylon cord to pull the target back. The rope is tied between two trees and the speed regulated by the angle of the rope. A modification for smoothbore shot targets by using cardboard cutouts of grouse etc. is also popular. I use a piece of metal attached to the rope pulleys for weight and a very steep angle through the trees makes for fast shooting. For scoring I use a minimum # of shots must hit the target.

 

SquireJohn - Griz - SaticXDOOd

Thanks so much for this info. Plenty of great ideas that would be easy to do. Fortunately, one of my neighbors is a shooter (modern stuff) and also has a complete metal working shop at home. Between the two of us, we can fabricate unique items and also make strong hinges for falling targets.

We have already disussed metal fall down targets for my backyard pistol range. Would like to have something like I have seen on cowboy action shoot.

Running ropes to various things is by far the easiest way to reset or activate moving targets. Very easy to use eye hooks to guide the rope too. I would have to coach the shooter to be prepared for something while I fetch up a rope to activate a sliding target, but overall, this would be something that all would enjoy.

I would hate to spoil the surpise for all my shooter/hunter neighbors when they walk the course, but I bet they would all want to contribute time and effort to the project. I would have to treat this like a government project though and not let the right hand know what the left is doing!

Balloons are cheap and a challange. My neighbor's kids would get a kick out hitting the balloons with a BB gun.

Can't wait to get started. :thumbsup:

 

[Kenney Moore]

Howdy,
I've been shootin woods walks for years and the 1 target I remember the most was called the watermellon. It was a 3/4" piece of plate steel painted to look like a cross section of a watermellon. It was welded to a 8' piece of 1/2" steel rod with a 1" piece of pipe welded, at 90 degrees to the watermellon, to the other end of the rod. This hung from a heavy bolt thru 2 - 2 x 6's hanging between 2 trees so it would swing back and forth. On the backside of the watermellon plate a chain was welded with a piece of metal on the end that would fit the half the curve on the inside of a clay pigeon. A chain was put around one of the trees with a matching piece of metal so that a clay pigeon would hold the ends of the chain together and holding the watermellon ready to swing.
The idea is to shoot the clay pigeon to get the watermellon swinging. Then you load again before the watermellon stops swinging and shoot the watermellon gong.

 

Funnest one I shot was called fish in the barrel 55 gallon drum with both ends cut out, and resting on it's side. Hanging from a heavy chain was an iron cut out of a fish, only bout a foot long and six inches high. Seemed simple at twenty yards, but the barrel was in the shade, and the fish was a bugger to see, and if ther was a breeze, it wasn't always a broadside. :hmm:

 

Bill-45th P

The nice thing about the barrel is that they can be set at different heights to cause the shooter to kneel, stand or at any awkward height in between. I thought of doing this with a swinging propane cylinder (14-16oz) as the target maybe 50 feet behind the barrel. The barrel has to deceive the eye when shooting thru it and the target size and distance should be harder to figure.

Primitive 3

Pretty sophisticated idea. Thanks. I wonder if setting up the clay pigeon is tricky or how about ducking out of the way if it breaks? Kinda like the pit and the pendulum. ha!