Shooting: RO

The outdoor range we go to has days where the range is open to the public since the land itself is ultimately owned by the people. As a RO (range officer), I get certain special privileges, but they are paid for by duty days. So today, my wife and I ran the Rose Iris range.

The 50 BMG folks were also having a practice day for their meet this weekend. They were up on the 1000 yard range on top of the hill, but we could still hear them. Those are impressive rifles.

You would think that shooting ranges would be bad places for wildlife. But that doesn't seem to be the case since deer and elk are often seen crossing in front of live fire, knowing that they are not targets---so too the gophers that dig tunnels in the embankments. Today, my wife saw what looked like a wolf---she is familiar with coyotes and it didn't look like one of those. The wolf was happy with the gunfire, but became concerned when it heard voices. Besides the possibility this was a wild wolf, we have club members that bring their full-wolf pets out to the range. Maybe one of those was out for walkies. We also saw dozens of pelicans on the Yakima River huddled together on a little island. Eventually, they took off and flew away in a group. I guess they didn't like flying in the rain and were waiting for it to stop.

Have I mentioned I live in a supposed desert?