2021-02-23 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

Home

— I've been hunting for 70 years and I've been a competitive shooter for most of that time — those competitive events are scheduled a year in advance and if you're at the — you only can get in there when the military's not using it — that doesn't work — so you don't know when they're gonna be there or when they're not gonna be there — and PTA in recent years has seen more use than it has in some of the past years so that's one issue. We also looked at an area down around the 5 -mile marker. That Tom indicated to us might be available for some work and set-up as — some sort of a shooting facility — I'm not sure how much acreage we were talking about when we drove down there and looked at it — it was quite hilly so there would be a lot of dozer work for sure to get it to where you could use it. The advantage of it is — you wouldn't have to go in through the gate. You could have your own access and access is a big issue. So we did work with PTA but my personal opinion and from what I heard from you is that may not be where the focus wants to be just from my perspective. GF: No, it's — yeah that's a great summary and I was there for that whole time so I'd probably breech it — I told Tom Campbell to go down and look at that area which is south of DKI and we have property, believe it or not, on that south side as you near the 50 -mile marker. It extends off the road about 150 yards — so you could use that as a back -stop but then it — the point of impact would be likely on state lands —just beyond if you're using long rifles so — it would be a great place to pull off the road and kind of set-up but you're right next to the road so there are safety concerns and it makes it difficult but you know, you're exactly right — so it started with Tubby Shwedo my boss and then Jake Peterson who followed him, Chris Marquez and now JR Borce. So I've worked for all those gentlemen and the Sgt. Majors and been part of this whole process for the past 7 years so, ah, I'm not saying it's not impossible but I'm gonna tell you it's not easy — and Mike said it exactly correct — that would from the highest levels within the Army to get the OK and then running the facility. You cannot use appropriated funds that means dollars that are allocated — make PTA operational in our budget. You have to be fully self-supporting and that's hard to do when you have to pay for the building, the electricity, the parking lot, maintenance of all that — you have to put in security — again, I'm not saying it's impossible. The Army makes things possible sometimes, but it would take a heavy pull to make that all happen — that's for sure. 17