Avid hunters and sports shooters are looking for a new place to practice shooting in Guthrie County.

In his most recent update to the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors, County Conservation Director Brad Halterman informed the Board that the shooting range at the Bays Branch Wildlife Area had been closed. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that this was owned by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and that the County Conservation Department knew they’d need to remind people not to practice shooting at wildlife areas.

“We took that opportunity. If folks were out looking for different areas to do some recreational or some sporting type shooting, we don’t want that going on in our wildlife areas, in our parking lots. It’s against the rules for that to go on. So we beefed up our signage, letting folks know that that activity is not allowed in our parking lots, at our wildlife areas and parks.”

Halterman explains that they haven’t had any problems with people breaking that rule, but they wanted to try and get ahead of it and be prepared in case there were people who didn’t know the rules.