Anyone know of any wooded areas legal for recreational shooting/hunting in MA?

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MassachussettsMosinNagant

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Hello folks. :)

Long story short. I really want to go hunting with my dad and brother this summer in the open outdoors. I love my club don't get me wrong but I really want something new to try. Free of range operators and other people bugging you to try your guns. Or just people in general. More of zenful experience in nature. Set up some bottles maybe. Hunt for rabbits.

Where is best for this? I want a place where you park, bring your guns into the woods and shoot targets you bring. Clean up and go home. Maybe hunt.

I ask mainly because my brother has clostophobia. And in the range the lane dividers mess him up. And crowds do as well. So open areas are best.

Is freetown forrest legal to shoot? I heard its haunted as hell though lol

Hope everyone has a happy easter.
 
Sounds like a good time with family.

I don't know of anywhere that you can shoot at bottles. They are a bitch to clean up.
 
I suggest swapping your bottles for cans!
Also rabbits have a season and it’s not in the summer, not that you would ever have a chance of sneaking up on one in the woods. Maybe if it’s in someone’s back yard.
 
MassachussettsMosinNagant said:
Hello folks. :)

Long story short. I really want to go hunting with my dad and brother this summer in the open outdoors. I love my club don't get me wrong but I really want something new to try. Free of range operators and other people bugging you to try your guns. Or just people in general. More of zenful experience in nature. Set up some bottles maybe. Hunt for rabbits.

Where is best for this? I want a place where you park, bring your guns into the woods and shoot targets you bring. Clean up and go home. Maybe hunt.

I ask mainly because my brother has clostophobia. And in the range the lane dividers mess him up. And crowds do as well. So open areas are best.

Is freetown forrest legal to shoot? I heard its haunted as hell though lol

Hope everyone has a happy easter.
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You can't hunt rabbits in summer. And they don't live in the woods. Season is Oct to the following end of feb

Take the hunter ed course. Mass fish and game website details when they are held. It's free. Then buy a license. Then read the abstract......lots of rules especially in mass.

Not much open for hunting in summer....woodchuck and red squirrel have No closed season so that's all you'd be able to take. I said red squirrel......not grey squirrel. Grey squirrel season is mid sep to Jan 2 in zones 1-9 and mid Oct to Jan 2 in zones 10-14. You can use a rifle on grey squirrel in zones 1-9 but shotgun only in zones 10-14. Regs in mass are confusing as you can see.......read em.
 
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MassachussettsMosinNagant said:
other people bugging you to try your gun
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Where does this happen? It might be time to find a new range. I normally don't even talk to anyone when I go. I may shoot someone else's gun once a year. But it's a (Hey can you try this it seems to be shooting left. I don't know if it's me or the sites). It's never the gun lol
 
I know of no place you can go into the woods and shoot. If you want to hunt you need to start with the mandatory course. Then you can buy you license, tags, etc... But there are a lot of regulations and game wardens don't play games. So know them well.
 
In CA we would just go to a National Forest and adhere to the no shooting over water,towards a roadway (obviously) The rules didn't say anything about drinking beer,so we drank beer. There arent any National Forests here so I would imagine there are no legal places to just shoot shit in the woods.

Never belonged to a club before I moved to MA.
 
MassachussettsMosinNagant said:
Hello folks. :)

Long story short. I really want to go hunting with my dad and brother this summer in the open outdoors. I love my club don't get me wrong but I really want something new to try. Free of range operators and other people bugging you to try your guns. Or just people in general. More of zenful experience in nature. Set up some bottles maybe. Hunt for rabbits.

Where is best for this? I want a place where you park, bring your guns into the woods and shoot targets you bring. Clean up and go home. Maybe hunt.

I ask mainly because my brother has clostophobia. And in the range the lane dividers mess him up. And crowds do as well. So open areas are best.

Is freetown forrest legal to shoot? I heard its haunted as hell though lol

Hope everyone has a happy easter.
Click to expand...
To overcome your brother's claustrophobia why not try an outdoor range. No partitions. You'll have to join a gun club probably but you should join one anyway.
 
Another question for the 0p. Are you wanting to shoot or hunt? Those are two completely different activities. Once you start shooting targets in the woods.......hunting is not going to be part of the days events because you just spooked every animal out of your AO.

Getting into hunting is an outstanding goal. Probably even good for your brothers condition......get outside. But hunting is a much different thing than shooting. In hunting a gun is just a tool. "Shooting" is the most minuscule part of hunting. Personally I bet I spend an average of 8 days in the woods to harvest one deer. Cottontail rabbit i bet I walk 10 Miles of powerline for each one i get. Grey squirrel I rarely get skunked but I bet its 4 hours in the woods per squirrel I harvest. the gun becomes a damn burden after awhile.....being out there on the hunt is the enjoyable part. Sure accuracy is important and hunters practice marksmanship......but hunting is 99% learning game animal activities, navigating in the woods, and honestly.....learning how to deal with boredom and not give up. Action with The gun is only 1% of the actual hunt.
 
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I have a real issue with folks shooting at "Trash" in the woods. Yes, Bottles and cans are "Trash". Other folks that may hunt or even walk with their dogs in those same areas may end up with having dogs with severe paw lacerations or worse pieces of trash imbedded in the paws requiring expensive vet bills. The other issue is once folks (idiots) start shooting at trash, the trash gets left behind and who ever is the land owner barricades and posts the property. The only thing that should be shot is paper and clays. Oh and posting targets on trees not a good idea, Trees are harvestable resource, and nails left behind in the trees is a danger at the lumber mill.
 
Greg said:
In CA we would just go to a National Forest and adhere to the no shooting over water,towards a roadway (obviously) The rules didn't say anything about drinking beer,so we drank beer. There arent any National Forests here so I would imagine there are no legal places to just shoot shit in the woods.

Never belonged to a club before I moved to MA.
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Yeah, that was one of the nice things about growing up in CA- massive tracts of national and/or state forest where it was cool to hunt or plink and at least back in the day nobody GAF if you did. I had to join a club in TN and of course in MA.

For the OP- unless there is a dedicated plinking pit where such stuff is kosher, no bottles! Old cans of tomato products and almost empty shaving cream cans are fun, so are almost empty whip cream cans. Again, has to be a location where that is OK and always pick up your mess.
 
Glass bottles are a terrible target. Broken glass everywhere is a pain to clean up and because of that people who tend to shoot glass usually don’t clean up.

If you can find a nice outdoor range with action pits then that would be your best option for getting an open area to shoot. It’s mostly all yours and no one is hanging over your shoulder or crowding you.

I was visiting a buddy in Ohio just a few months ago and we were shooting in the woods in his backyard. And all the neighbors were out shooting too... it sounded like a battle. LOL.
 
01906 said:
Where does this happen? It might be time to find a new range. I normally don't even talk to anyone when I go. I may shoot someone else's gun once a year. But it's a (Hey can you try this it seems to be shooting left. I don't know if it's me or the sites). It's never the gun lol
Click to expand...

100% true, it’s never the gun - and they always seem to be shooting left, don’t they? Lol
 
low-crawl into Boston Common with your air rifle and snipe tree rats till your hearts content...

iu
iu

and remember: No Smoking...
Happy 420!
 
Does your dad currently hunt? Or would this be something new for everyone.

To be honest, it doesn't sound like you really want to hunt, just shoot in the woods. Sitting in a bling or a stand for hours aren't exactly good for people with claustrophobia.

If you're shooting in a range with dividers, then I'm guessing you're shooting indoors and most likely handguns. Since most indoor ranges that I've been to don't allow rifles or shotguns.
So do, what I said above and find a range with action pits. Tons of fun and not confining.

If you want other open space options, pick up a shotgun and shoot skeet or trap.
 
That guy needs an eye exam... maybe idoktr can see him and fit him with some opti-grab frames
 
To the OP I do wish you the best of luck finding what you are looking for but these days it is tough. I am fortunate enough to live in the woods and can shoot right off my deck.

But there is also an abandoned sand pit further back in the woods that is now only accessible by ATV. I was back there shooting my AR the other day and realized how that place was like a lost piece of Americana. There are very few places left like that where you can shoot, nearest house a few miles away (mine), have privacy and not worry about someone complaining. But the reason this place still exists is that very few know about it, and the few of us who do tell nobody.

So again what you are looking for is tough to find for two reasons. One is that very few places like that actually still exist, and secondly the ones that do are usually kept secret.
 
When I was younger and just out of the service I used to shoot at the local pits in the next town over. One day I was plinking with a .22 and a dirt bike came flying over the berm. Never heard it or saw it coming.

That was the last time I shot there. I decided that the club membership was worth the price.

Bob
 
HorizontalHunter said:
When I was younger and just out of the service I used to shoot at the local pits in the next town over. One day I was plinking with a .22 and a dirt bike came flying over the berm. Never heard it or saw it coming.

That was the last time I shot there. I decided that the club membership was worth the price.

Bob
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Wow..... That doesn't sound good, glad nobody was hurt or even worse. You have to know your backdrop. I would never shoot into an area where there was even a possibility of a dirt bike suddenly appearing. Not just a sandpit but anywhere.
 
Coda said:
Wow..... That doesn't sound good, glad nobody was hurt or even worse. You have to know your backdrop. I would never shoot into an area where there was even a possibility of a dirt bike suddenly appearing. Not just a sandpit but anywhere.
Click to expand...

We, and many other townies, had been shooting there for 10 years or so and had never seen one there before. There was another area for them to ride.The back drop was a 15’ tall sand bank so the back drop was solid.

Bob
 
HorizontalHunter said:
We, and many other townies, had been shooting there for 10 years or so and had never seen one there before. There was another area for them to ride.The back drop was a 15’ tall sand bank so the back drop was solid.

Bob
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If that's the case then the dirt biker was lucky he made it down the 15' drop unscathed, never mind the gunfire. Bottom line is that nobody got shot which is always a good thing. I'll still take the privacy of a secluded shooting area over a club but maybe that’s just me.

The local club that I USE to (past tense) belong to thought they knew their backdrop, until one of the neighbors started pulling bullets out of the roof of his garage.
 
HorizontalHunter said:
When I was younger and just out of the service I used to shoot at the local pits in the next town over. One day I was plinking with a .22 and a dirt bike came flying over the berm. Never heard it or saw it coming.

That was the last time I shot there. I decided that the club membership was worth the price.

Bob
Click to expand...

Years ago when I was a Junior member of the Westford Sportsmen's Club (1972) I was shooting (Dad Watching) and in between shots (shooting Anschutz 64 single shot) Some kid on a dirt bike came around the berm and stopped in front of my target and looked at it just as I was getting on the sights. That ruined that day as I could not get back into my bubble. So in some instances it does not matter how well you know your backstop.
 

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