Places to shoot in the bush near Vancouver, BC

[Zero Mango]

Hello everyone,

I would like to know where people are going for target practice on crown land near Vancouver, BC. I'm sure there must be some places near Chilliwack that are still permitted but I don't have any friends who are interested in guns to ask. Much appreciated in advance. I do have 4x4 btw.

[Phat Eagle]

The Ministry changed the rules a few years back and that closed almost everywhere. Pretty much need a range membership, but I'm sure there are a few spots still out there.

[Zero Mango]

great...

[VancouverS4]

our reliable LGS has posted a useful link and explainer on their store's website

https://www.reliablegun.com/en/frase...shooting-areas

[rommelrommel]

Harrison East, some of the spur roads off of Harrison West, or hike your ass well off the road is about how it is now.

[VanIsleCam]

Oppenheimer park? If there is any shrubbery left

[Mikey66]

I don’t think you will get any specific answers to your question here.
Most people keep their off road shooting spots as close guarded secrets to prevent what happened to most shooting areas in the Fraser Valley and Squamish. I do a lot of riding off road, and places like Stave, Silvester, Mamquam (sp) fsr make me sick. Unfortunately the recent crack down has only pushed the problem further out into the bush.
Though you may be a responsible shooter, it’s the masses of pigs that have ruined things for all of us.

[btabin]

They banned shooting within a certain distance of forest service roads near Chilliwack. Unfortunately because of the terrain this has resulted in the better areas being closed for shooting. If you like hiking or 4x4ing you can always make a trip out of scoping out potential spots. Just make sure you're out of the no shooting zones (Google "Fraser Valley no shooting map").

And most importantly—clean up your trash!

[GerardSamija]

Yeah, it has gotten pretty bad on some spots so I understand and appreciate the governments' action on this, as hard as it makes things for responsible enthusiasts of the shooting sports. About 8 years ago a friend told me about the South end of Stave Lake when I asked about where to go to shoot airguns with my kid and my brother and his kids. So we drove up there, and after about 3 turns on the winding dirt road saw a guy with a long gun on a tripod on his pickup truck taking a shot well over 1km across the valley. He was teaching his wife to shoot long range. We were reassured after chatting for a minute, he seemed sensible enough, so we found a place not too far away to shoot into a dirt hillside which had recently been clearcut. Good big backstop, lots of shotgun shells on the ground (my son was 5 and loved collecting them), so we put out some paper and tin can targets and went to town.

A short while later, after we'd maybe had 10 shots each from various vintage low-powered airguns, we were startled by a full-auto burst from maybe 100 yards away up the hill. Looking up there we saw what looked like an Uzi. The guy who had just mag-dumped about 30 rounds handed it off to someone else, magazines got swapped, and the burst of fire repeated. We were considering packing up, getting the kids together, glancing nervously up the hill... then those guys beat us to it and packed their things and drove off. We ended up spending a couple of hours up there, thoroughly enjoyed the outing, but that little machine gun interlude was spooky. They were shooting in the same direction we were, at big dirt backdrops on the side of the mountain, but still...

It wasn't much later that I read an account of some idiot having put a few rounds of .50BMG through some family cabin. While the family were in side. They had to get low and hustle out to the car and drive for town and report it. The dad apparently said it wasn't the first time bullets had whizzed low overhead, but it was the first time his home had been hit. He was more than 2km up the lakeside. No idea where the shooter was, but they plainly had no concern for their backstop. That kind of thing just ruins it for everyone. Just lucky nobody was killed.

[btabin]

Yeah, it has gotten pretty bad on some spots so I understand and appreciate the governments' action on this, as hard as it makes things for responsible enthusiasts of the shooting sports. About 8 years ago a friend told me about the South end of Stave Lake when I asked about where to go to shoot airguns with my kid and my brother and his kids. So we drove up there, and after about 3 turns on the winding dirt road saw a guy with a long gun on a tripod on his pickup truck taking a shot well over 1km across the valley. He was teaching his wife to shoot long range. We were reassured after chatting for a minute, he seemed sensible enough, so we found a place not too far away to shoot into a dirt hillside which had recently been clearcut. Good big backstop, lots of shotgun shells on the ground (my son was 5 and loved collecting them), so we put out some paper and tin can targets and went to town.

A short while later, after we'd maybe had 10 shots each from various vintage low-powered airguns, we were startled by a full-auto burst from maybe 100 yards away up the hill. Looking up there we saw what looked like an Uzi. The guy who had just mag-dumped about 30 rounds handed it off to someone else, magazines got swapped, and the burst of fire repeated. We were considering packing up, getting the kids together, glancing nervously up the hill... then those guys beat us to it and packed their things and drove off. We ended up spending a couple of hours up there, thoroughly enjoyed the outing, but that little machine gun interlude was spooky. They were shooting in the same direction we were, at big dirt backdrops on the side of the mountain, but still...

It wasn't much later that I read an account of some idiot having put a few rounds of .50BMG through some family cabin. While the family were in side. They had to get low and hustle out to the car and drive for town and report it. The dad apparently said it wasn't the first time bullets had whizzed low overhead, but it was the first time his home had been hit. He was more than 2km up the lakeside. No idea where the shooter was, but they plainly had no concern for their backstop. That kind of thing just ruins it for everyone. Just lucky nobody was killed.

No sensible person will claim the ban wasn't for good reason, but damn if it doesn't just suck when idiots ruin something for the rest of us. If we won't police ourselves then somebody else will and that's exactly what happened. Really unfortunate to say the least.