HELENA — Shooting and archery are big Montana past times, and Montana FWP is seeking public input on how to develop new shooting ranges throughout the state in the future.
On Monday, the Montana FWP posted the survey on its website, Seeking the public's input on questions regarding shooting and archery ranges.
"We're really looking to gauge where people's interests lie. So if people are more mostly interested in indoor pistol shooting, for example, or if they're interested in long-range rifle opportunity, those are the types of things that we're interested in"
Over 250 people have gone through the 10-question survey so far in the first two hours of the survey being online.
"The questions really revolve around what people would see as a benefit of having an FWC administered shooting range, what some of their concerns might be, and then it really goes into the types of recreational shooting sports that folks may be interested in," said Stephanie Brown, the Access and Landowner Relations Bureau Chief for the FWP," said Brown.
A priority is to develop range facilities near major population areas--including ranges that could be used for competitions, tournaments, and hunter education.
"The agency is interested in doing that because they want to give back to Montanans. Montanans are very much interested in shooting opportunities, recreational shooting sports, and by developing these facilities, we can really create a safe environment for people to practice what they're most interested in and also create an environment where people can learn in and an area where we have staff involved and can help teach people as well," said Brown.
Two recent projects include a new archery range at Lone Pine State Park near Kalispell and improvements to the archery range at Makoshika State Park near Glendive.
FWP says the survey should take five to ten minutes to answer with most being multiple choice and one open-ended question. The survey is expected to close in about six weeks or so.
So people can 'take their shot' on their online Statewide Shooting Range Development Public Survey on their website.
