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One thing I need to do to prepare for deer season is to sight in my rifle. I'm new to the Boise area and don't know where I should go. I'd prefer to go somewhere free, but if the only options available are paid ranges I'll do that. In talking to non-sportsmen they recommended driving out into the desert south of town. While I know it is legal to shoot on many types of public land I'd like something more concrete than a hand wave in a general direction.

For example, where I grew up there was one shooting area on public land that was very well known and used. So well known and used that it is even marked on Google Maps as "Keswick Dam Shooting Area." There was another area that was known and used but saw substantially less traffic because you had to walk a short ways in. Out of the tens of thousands of acres of public land in the area where it was legal to shoot these two spots were the places where everyone went to shoot. I'm looking for a similar situation in the Boise area.

The main reason why I want to stick to the known shooting areas is I want to avoid having arguments with well intentioned random passerbys if what I'm doing is legal or not. Sticking to known shooting areas avoids this hassle. Also some areas are better than other areas. When these areas are on public land they end up seeing more shooters over time until they become known as the local shooting spot. I'd rather not reinvent the wheel and go to a known good area. Finally, if I can drive directly to a known good spot I will save time. If all I have is directions to a thousand acres of BLM land I have to search a thousand acres for a good backstop far enough away with protection from the wind along the shooting corridor and low probability that people/animals will wander into my line of fire. Known shooting spots will have solved these problems, and allow me to drive directly to that spot.

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  • The Great Outdoors might not be the best place to ask this question. It seems like you are looking for specific information for a specific location, something that only locals would be expected to know. You might have better luck asking around on a forum more specialized to your location, perhaps Reddit's r/Boise or anyother local forum you might find.
    – Malco
    Commented Sep 15, 2017 at 14:20
  • I don't think your question is too broad, it seems fine to me, it just may be a bit difficult to answer without intimate knowledge of the area.But who knows, maybe you will get lucky and a local will see your question and drop an answer.
    – Malco
    Commented Sep 15, 2017 at 14:44
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    If you do end up solving the problem yourself, please feel free to self answer documenting your process on finding the solution. Even though it is unlikely that someone will be looking for places to sight firearms near Boise again, the process of finding a safe place to sight firearms for free may be useful to future users.
    – Malco
    Commented Sep 15, 2017 at 15:18
  • Did you ever pose the general question?
    – ab2
    Commented Apr 12, 2018 at 4:35
  • @Erik -- You post it. It would be too artificial coming from me.
    – ab2
    Commented Apr 12, 2018 at 13:26

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The best free outdoor range that I found was in Garden Valley. The range is free to use, however donations to the local gun club that maintains the site are encouraged. Personally I donate a few bucks every time I go, and pick up extra brass/trash as an additional contribution.

It is located on the side of Banks Lowman Rd. across from the airport. You can see some pictures of the range with the Google Maps link. There are essential three sections. The 50 yard and 100 yard ranges are joined. There is a separate shotgun range as well on site that I haven't used. There are covered shooting areas with plenty of benches. During peak times it can get fairly busy, but I've never had a problem getting a spot to shoot. At roughly an hour drive away the range is a bit farther than I'd prefer, but the range is nice enough and the drive pleasant enough, I don't mind driving out to it.

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