Do you know of any Utah county winter shooting spots?

[donny h]

In the summer I shoot in Hobble Creek canyon, 15 minutes from the house, but after it closes for the winter I'm at a loss.

I really don't like the indoor range environment, too much hassle, expense, and testosterone.

I hear about a spot above Spanish Fork, instead of left into Diamond Fork, go right into the new county park, quick left, and follow the rr tracks to the end. I wonder if this spot is accessable after the snow flies.

Some shoot near Lincoln Beach, but it's not legal, over the summer there were writing tickets over there.

Some shoot on the backside of the lake, that's kind of a long drive for me, and I don't think it's legal there either.

How is access to Little Sahara/Cherry Creek in the winter? Is that the spot? Kinda' far.

Help me out folks, I got that itch...

[Udink]

I hear about a spot above Spanish Fork, instead of left into Diamond Fork, go right into the new county park, quick left, and follow the rr tracks to the end. I wonder if this spot is accessable after the snow flies.

Yeah, that spot should still be accessible by passenger car during the winter. It's mostly a paved road, with a nice gravel road toward the end. The Thistle landslide created a boxed-in canyon there, so you've got a lot of backstops in 3 directions. I see people shooting all the time in that area. The Utah County Sheriff's shooting range is on the other side of the landslide.

[Udink]

Some shoot near Lincoln Beach, but it's not legal, over the summer there were writing tickets over there.

Some shoot on the backside of the lake, that's kind of a long drive for me, and I don't think it's legal there either.

I did some checking of the Utah County Code, and it should be perfectly legal to go shooting on the west side of Utah Lake. Maybe people were issued tickets for discharging firearms too close to something they shouldn't have been shooting near?

Here's the entirety of Utah County's laws regarding the discharge of firearms, which pretty closely follows that of the state of Utah:

[code]13-3-3. Discharge of weapons.
(a) A person may not, without written permission from the owner or other person in charge, discharge a firearm across, into, or within 600 feet of:
(1) a house or dwelling, or
(2) any structure where an animal is kept or fed including a barn, poultry yard, corral, feeding pen, or stockyard, or
(3) orchard, standing cornfield, standing silo, vehicle, or farm equipment.
(b) (1) Hunting of any wildlife, or the discharging of any firearm is prohibited within the boundaries of all state parks except those designated by the Division of Parks and Recreation (R651-603-5 Utah Administrative Code).
(2) Hunting with, or the discharging of, a rifle, handgun, or a muzzle-loader in, or within one mile of all state park facilities designated "open"

[donny h]

[quote="Udink"]

Yeah, that spot should still be accessible by passenger car during the winter. It's mostly a paved road, with a nice gravel road toward the end. The Thistle landslide created a boxed-in canyon there, so you've got a lot of backstops in 3 directions. I see people shooting all the time in that area. The Utah County Sheriff's shooting range is on the other side of the landslide.

That's good to hear, I may run up there tomorrow and check it out.

Thanks for the tip, Udink.

As far as Lincoln and the west side, I got all this info third and fourth hand, but apparently since they developed the ramp and campground at Lincoln, they posted up the area with no shooting signs (which keep disapearing), and have been writing some tickets.

The road to Lincoln and around West mountain is always within 600 feet of something, especially orchards, so I find it easy to believe it's not allowed over there anymore.

As far as I can tell, it IS legal to shoot on the west side of Utah Lake, but I think you have to choose between shooting towards the road, or the lake, and to hear the complaints of fishermen at bigfishtackle.com/utah, most choose to set up targets at the lakes edge, and shoot TOWARDS THE LAKE. Too sketchy for me.

The weather been pretty warm, maybe I should run up Hobble and see if the gate is really closed for the season.

[jumar]

Some shoot on the backside of the lake, that's kind of a long drive for me, and I don't think it's legal there either.

There's actually a posted shooting range out West of the lake, so it's definitely legal in that spot. Probably depends on where you are.

[price1869]

I hear about a spot above Spanish Fork, instead of left into Diamond Fork, go right into the new county park, quick left, and follow the rr tracks to the end. I wonder if this spot is accessable after the snow flies.

Did anyone end up checking this place out? You turn right off the 6, right?

[Rev. Coyote]

Price;

Sit in your kitchen, drink beer, then shoot the empties.

[tallsteve]

We just drove Cherry Creek two weeks ago. There is some snow on the road but it's all passable. Lots of people shoot on the west side of Utah Lake- the further south the better. It gets too crowded anywhere off Redwood Rd. (is it still called that after Saratoga Springs?)for my comfort but lot's of people do it.