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Some Gun Enthusiasts Favor Moving Hoosier Valley Range

Michigan DNR

Some gun enthusiasts are supporting the state’s plan to move the long-time gun range in Hoosier Valley. The shooting area could soon be replaced by one of three proposed sites in Grand Traverse County.

People have been shooting at Hoosier Valley since the 1960s. But residents living nearby began to complain about noise and safety concerns in the last few years.

Cody Hulett, who first learned to shoot a gun at Hoosier Valley, helps run a Facebook group called “Hoosier Valley Shooters.” He supports a new range, and he says that shooters don't need anything fancy at the new site.

“We don’t need heated buildings. We don’t need air conditioning. We just want a clean, safe environment to shoot, without unnecessary restrictions.”

He also has a few ideas as to how it should look.

“A relatively flat landscape. If possible one [range is] two hundred yards straight distance-wise to shoot. And enough room for three to four independent ranges -- kind of like the same size we have at Hoosier Valley now.”

But Hulett says he doesn't want to see any 'unnecessary restrictions.'

Since last August, the DNR has enforced a number of rules at Hoosier Valley, like a ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Hulett explains that this automatically excludes shooters from using many popular handgun models which come standard with larger magazines. He also wants the DNR to allow shooting on Sundays at the new site.

He'll have his chance to let the DNR know how he feels at 6:30 pm next Tuesday, June 24, at the Traverse City Civic Center. That's when the agency hosts a public forum to gauge opinion on the proposed sites in Blair, Whitewater and Fife Lake Townships.