Place to camp & shoot .22 within 100 miles of Austin? Please help?

[scotta27]

Hello all, I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Didn't see this precise topic and this seems to be the appropriate place to post.

I am from IL but several times a year come down to Austin to visit a group of friends for canoeing/camping trips on the Colorado River. Occasionally we make camp on islands where we can safely plink with .22s without bothering anyone. That can't be done here in IL but it's cool that it can be done in Texas - how great it must be to live in a State that is still free! LOL

One of my Austin buddies is getting married and I'm the best man. We are not big partyers but I'm trying to find a place within 100 miles of Austin where, without canoeing in, about 6 of us can simply gather Friday evening April 20 to pitch our tents, cook on our campstove, make a campfire if it's allowed at that time (please no burn ban!), and simply plink on some clay targets with 22's. Just a little gathering in lieu of a traditional bachelor party. We would pack out sometime Saturday - just a one nighter. No canoes or anything this time - I just want a place where we can gather, camp, cook, and plink safely for 24 hours without bothering anybody. I should add that several in our group were Boy Scouts and the group strictly abides by the rule of Leaving Places Cleaner Than We Found Them.

My research thus far has not turned up much in the way of a place to do this. The ideal situation would be a private landowner out in the country who we could give a few bucks to simply let us do this overnight that night. As I said, we leave nothing behind but a little clay and brass.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Any help at all would be sincerely appreciated. Thank you!

-Scott.

 

[TexMex247]

That's a tall order Scott. Most folks would want a FTF meeting before they allowed a group out on their property. Add guns and that's an even bigger deal. Your best bet would be to call a nearby game ranch and see if they'll let you shoot at targets and such. The rates with even primitive camp sites would probably still be pricey but that may be your only option.

 

[scotta27]

That's a tall order Scott. Most folks would want a FTF meeting before they allowed a group out on their property. Add guns and that's an even bigger deal. Your best bet would be to call a nearby game ranch and see if they'll let you shoot at targets and such. The rates with even primitive camp sites would probably still be pricey but that may be your only option.

Thanks for the heads-up and for the response!

But I already found an ideal situation that meets our needs just west of Austin. Very cool gentleman, owner of a couple thousand acres, he's got a perfect spot for us to camp and is totally on board with our plan to plink and leave his animals alone (we're not hunters). He even offered to make sure we have wood for our campfire.

To your point, this gentleman was a referral from a nearby game ranch I had called out to. Once we spent some time talking about what it is that my little group does and the way we do it, he was very welcoming. He has a couple simple rules that we will abide by, and he will find that we exceed his expectations. And while not free, we will be doing this VERY inexpensively. We are going to leave his property such that he will welcome us back anytime.

Again going back to the awesomeness of Texas, I'm so glad it's still free down there and you can actually find landowners willing to let some fellow Americans use their land for a coupla' bucks to have some fun!

-Scott.

 

[40Arpent]

Very cool. Pick up and take out as much of your broken clay targets and spent brass as you can....even if he doesn't require it, he will appreciate it. Those damn orange clays are ugly as sin and stand out as bad as a beer can until the sun bleaches them out.

 

[TheDan]

I'm glad you found what you were looking for. Where'd you get the referral from?

This thread reminded me of something I saw awhile back... It was private park, 3000 acres or so with camping, atv trails, and a shooting range. I remember it was withing a couple hours drive of Austin. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Can't seem to find it now.

edit: found it... http://www.hiddenfallsadventurepark.com Anyone ever been here?

 

[bcannon87]

I'm glad you found what you were looking for. Where'd you get the referral from?

This thread reminded me of something I saw awhile back... It was private park, 3000 acres or so with camping, atv trails, and a shooting range. I remember it was withing a couple hours drive of Austin. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Can't seem to find it now.

edit: found it... Hidden Falls Adventure Park - Marble Falls, Texas Anyone ever been here?

To the OP man I am happy you found you a place!!

I might have to try out the place at the above link!! Thanks for posting!

 

[Randman]

I'm glad you found what you were looking for. Where'd you get the referral from?

This thread reminded me of something I saw awhile back... It was private park, 3000 acres or so with camping, atv trails, and a shooting range. I remember it was withing a couple hours drive of Austin. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Can't seem to find it now.

edit: found it... Hidden Falls Adventure Park - Marble Falls, Texas Anyone ever been here?

Its right off of 1431, almost to Marble Falls. My son and I have gone wheeling with our Jeep out there. It's a cool place. Can't speak to the hunting, or shooting. We are gonna go back and camp for a couple of days, and wheel in between.

 

[T-FAST]

I wish texas had public BLM land where we could go shoot and camp at.

 

[scotta27]

Very cool. Pick up and take out as much of your broken clay targets and spent brass as you can....even if he doesn't require it, he will appreciate it. Those damn orange clays are ugly as sin and stand out as bad as a beer can until the sun bleaches them out.

Excellent suggestion, thank you for it, and one of our guys also had the same thought. We are going to bring big construction tarps and lay those down before we start shooting. That will make for easy cleanup of most of the brass.

As for the clay, we don't plan to leave any targets un-shattered LOL We definitely won't leave any big pieces lying around. The land owner knows what we'll be doing and he expects us to leave some clay and brass. Only thing he doesn't know is, there will now be much less brass than he expected.

Thanks!

 

[scotta27]

I'm glad you found what you were looking for. Where'd you get the referral from?

This thread reminded me of something I saw awhile back... It was private park, 3000 acres or so with camping, atv trails, and a shooting range. I remember it was withing a couple hours drive of Austin. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Can't seem to find it now.

edit: found it... Hidden Falls Adventure Park - Marble Falls, Texas Anyone ever been here?

I am reluctant to post that information publicly, but since the referral came from an organized, publicized hunting operation that can be easily found on the web and therefore probably wouldn't mind, I will say that the referral came from the Benson Farm and Ranch near Johnson City. Texas Hunting Ranches/Trophy Whitetail Hunting Texas/Benson Farm & Ranch

Although the Benson Ranch was not suitable for the needs of my group on our little outing this time, the gentleman was very helpful and he seems to run a first-rate hunting operation.

 

[scotta27]

Pete, I reconfirmed with the land owner that he's OK with clay (he still doesn't know we will take most of the brass out).

Upon further discussion with my group though, we are going to mostly skip the clay targets and do most of our plinking on cans. That'll be good enough for us. However we are planning a Top Shot competition where we will definitely use a few clay targets and I know for sure that's A-OK with our rancher.

Bottom line, we will have a lot of fun, and I think the land owner will be very pleasantly surprised. I think when it's all done, he will welcome my group to come back on his property any time.

Thanks again,
Scott.