I'm trying to find an outdoor area to go shooting in AZ near Phoenix/Glendale that I can just drive out in the middle of no where. I want to avoid having to pay at range fees and being arrested. Help?

They arrest you for paying range fees in Arizona?!?:eek:


:D

I lived in Phoenix for three years. There's one great place to shoot. It's called the desert. ;-)
Seriously though, unless things have radically changed since I lived there, you can just go off into the desert and shoot anywhere you want. Find a dirt road leading off the pavement and drive five miles or so until you find a nice stretch of open desert.

You do that now and the County Sheriff's boys will be paying you a visit. :eek:

You do that now and the County Sheriff's boys will be paying you a visit. :eek:

Really? That's too bad. I couldn't tell you how many times I was out in the desert with friends spending a whole day shooting.

Here in Colorado it's getting harder to find places in the open to shoot, but that's mostly because our terrain tends to be a bit more verticle than Arizona's. Ah, long gone are the days when you could go out to the town dump with your father and plink at cans, bottles and rats with your 22.:(

You do that now and the County Sheriff's boys will be paying you a visit. :eek:
One of my friends live up in North Scottsdale near Cave Creek where there's still open land covered by scrub. One morning they woke to the sound of gunfire and observed a group of men shooting across the road from their house. Amazing how fast LE got there. I guess "civilization" has come even to the open desert. Since there are numerous ranges in AZ where one can shoot safely, my suggestion would be to patronize one of them. Why get into trouble shooting on open land and give the "anti's" more reasons to pass restrictions?

There is (was?) a place to shoot in the national forest near one of the places I look for turkeys in Colorado. The place got littered with trash including old appliances that people shot at and left. The forest service posted signs that the littering had to stop or the area would be closed to shooting. Even a nearby local scout troop has tried to help keep the area clean, but some "dregs of society" continue to shoot and litter. No need to wonder why shooters get a bad rep from the non-shooting public. I have not yet visited the area this spring to see if it is still open, but will check it again after the spring turkey season opens.

Irv S -

That's what caused the BLM and Nat'l Forest to close all the available areas around the Phoenix metroplex. Folks trashing up the areas and not picking up after themselves (even found a dead body at one site a few years back - that one got closed in a big hurry!), plus the fact that more people are recreating by hiking, horseback riding, trail biking, etc. in the nearby state/federal lands which shooting posed a hazard to.

There are still a few areas not posted yet, but as soon as some nearby resident or recreator hears a cap pop, the cell phone comes out and a 911 call is made to the local LE jurisdiction.