Shooters’ Paradise

North Springs Shooting Range offers a venue for just about everyone

James L. Davis

Taking a slow drive through the North Springs Shooting Range and Recreation Area it begins to dawn on you that you have entered a shooters’ paradise.
When developing North Springs it is apparent that the goal was to make a unique range that was among the best that could be found. And in that developers succeeded.
With a 1,000 yard, 600 yard and 100 yard ranges and 50 covered shooting benches North Springs offers possibilities that are hard to find anywhere else for long range shooters and that is only one venue available at the range. If there was a Disneyland for shooters, it might look something like North Springs.
“Carbon County decided five years ago to put together a shooting venue and they have put a lot of money and resources into making this the best it can be,” said Scott Olsen, manager of North Springs.
Olsen, a retired law enforcement officer, not only manages the range but lives on sight and since North Springs opened on May 19 he said the reaction by visitors has been overwhelmingly positive.
“A lot of people are a little skeptical when they come here but I’ve had very few that weren’t in complete awe when they left,” Olsen said.
Besides the long range shooting possibilities, North Springs also offers 12 pistol shooting bays and a steel action target area and for archers that has 50 Rhinehart 3-D targets, 10 block targets and 50 Excelsior Bale Targets with a field range. You can even try your hand at targeting in a dinosaur on the archery range.
North Springs also caters to law enforcement, with 70 turning targets at 25 yards, 50 yards and 100 yards with “running man” targets, bobbers, dueling trees, falling plates and “Pepper Poppers.” The law enforcement range is computerized and state of the art and is used by law enforcement throughout the area.
But perhaps the most unique aspect of the range is the Castle Gate Cowboy Action Town, a complete old west town with 15 buildings and nine shooting bays for cowboy action and public shooting.
Designed by single action shooters, Castle Gate is like stepping back in time and is a favorite of the Castle Gate Posse, a single action shooting society that comes to North Springs on the fourth Saturday of every month. SASS members preserve and promote the spirit and traditions of the old west. Members not only gather for shoots but have old west aliases and costumes when they gather to take aim in a friendly competition.
The old west town also has on site a hospitality center with a full kitchen and four covered pavilions for family or company outings.
At a cost of $5 for a day pass for firearms and static archery targets and $10 for the 3-D archery targets, the cost of using North Springs Shooting Range is affordable. Youth under 16 years old are free at the range.
Located off the Hiawatha junction, North Springs is at the heart of the middle of nowhere, which adds flavor to a day of getting away from the ordinary and practicing your shooting skills.
Olsen said he has been asked on many occasions if he has trouble living out on the range by himself.
“I’ve taken to this place like a duck takes to water. People ask me if I get the creeps out here and I tell them no, I get the creeps in town with the barking dogs and traffic,” he said.
For all that North Springs has to offer, there is still room for improvement, according to Olsen. Plans for phase II of the range include venues for shotguns and black powder shooters.
Olsen said that for now North Springs is underutilized but as word spreads about the range he believes it will draw shooters from all over the country and even international shooters to compete at the range.
“It doesn’t get any better than what we have here,” he said.
For more information on North Springs Shooting Range call 435-650-7728.