Document text
Unsafe target-shooting on Anderson Butte draws ire A private property sign was used for target practice on Anderson Butte. [Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch] Thursday Jun 1, 2017 at 5:46 PM Jun 1, 2017 at 5:46 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman Seven popular target-shooting spots atop Anderson Butte could be closed to gunfire as federal land managers grapple with what they and neighbors downhill call unsafe shooting practices there. Homeowners as far as a mile away say their properties are peppered with bullets by shooters shooting "into space" instead of at targets with safe backgrounds that capture errant shots as most target-shooters do, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Shooters have been using high-powered rifles that send bullets illegally across trails and roadways far from where they were fired, possibly without the shooter knowing the bullets were crossing roadways and hitting homes, BLM managers say. "There are a lot of places where it's fun to shoot, but you can't shoot without a backdrop," BLM spokesman Jim Whittington said. "We've had trail-users pinned down because they don't know where the shots were coming from. "It's not a gun issue," Whittington said. "It's a safety issue." BLM officials have put up signs at these locations warning shooters of the safety issues, but those signs have been shot, Whittington said. So BLM officials are considering no-shooting zones at seven sites on Anderson Butte southwest of Medford, Whittington said. Four of them are former ridgetop log-loading sites, another similar area where shooters "shoot into space." Two areas are near trails, including the Jack-Ash Trail now under construction, Whittington said. Medford District BLM officials plan a teleconference today with BLM state leadership to discuss the safety issues and try to find the "least intrusive" solution, Whittington said. The BLM is contracting with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office for a second part-time deputy to join the current BLM-funded deputy focusing patrols on the Anderson Butte and Wagner Butte areas, Whittington said. "We can't stand pat," Whittington said. "We can't let the current situation remain." Jim Reiland lives in Armstrong Gulch, about a half-mile from one of the ridgetop shooting locales. Though his house hasn't been struck by a bullet, he knows it's possible by those target-shooting into the wrong direction.   "It's going out into space and we know how far bullets can travel," Reiland said. "Target shooting has a legitimate place on public lands, but it has to be done safely," Reiland said. "I don't think there are too many places to do it safely up there — at least by some people." On Wednesday, Dennis Tinkham of Medford was at one of the landings eyed for a possible shooting closure — a spot with immense vistas to the west, a large dirt hillside to the east and scores of spent shells in between. He and a shooting partner fired at clay pigeons tossed off the hillside, where the lead shot fell onto a rocky bluff. Then they turned around to target-shoot with pistols at targets back-dropped by the hillside. Tinkham said he would have to lose access to one of his favorite target-shooting spots because some are shooting unsafely.  "That ain't right," Tinkham said. "Never in God's world would I ever think about doing that." Whittington said leaning on a larger-scale educational approach to solving the unsafe shooting issues is difficult because "there isn't any one group up there that you can go to and get your message to." Whittington said he believes the shooting safety issue is somewhat unique locally to Anderson Butte because of the proximity to Medford, easy access, topography and the concentration of downhill forest communities, trails and roads. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.