Gun club targets August opening

The Izaac Walton League closed nearly 20 years ago in Montgomery County. The land was deeded to the Montgomery County Conservation Board, but sat empty and unused. The board did not have the man power or the financial means to update, maintain, or develop the shooting range.
Previous members of the Izaac Walton League, including Roger Ehmke, missed the range. They tossed around ideas about safe places to shoot guns or rifles. But they couldn’t find a solution.
Another former member of the league, Lee Wollenhaupt, was a member of the Montgomery County Conservation Board in 2013, and mentioned the importance of providing a public shooting range to Will Horsley, a conservationist at Anderson Conservation.
“At that time, the Conservation Board looked into the 10 properties that we manage in Montgomery County, and we began paperwork, and put things into motion,” Horsley said.  
The board sold the land that had been deeded to them.
“With the sale of that property, we had the money to come in, and the county was good enough to listen to our ideas about a public shooting range,” Ehmke said.
The Montgomery County Shooting Sports Club (MCSSC) was formed with Roger Ehmke as president, in May, 2016. Once the club became established, things began moving faster. The club is currently in the process of becoming a 501C3, or non-profit.
“The club and the Conservation Board decided to design and build a complex to facilitate the 4-H youth and others to promote youth education,” Horsley said. “Our main focus with this entire project is to provide safe, high-quality, outdoor recreation and education for our youth, as well as the adults of southwest Iowa.”
Safety is the most important aspect of this project from both boards.
“There are so many people today that have a firearms permit to carry, and a lot of homes have got to have handguns in them,” Ehmke explained. “And if we don’t teach our youth how to use handguns, and how to respect them, and how to handle them, then we’re not doing our children right.”
Many times, today’s youth are accused of being indoors and on video games or other electronics too much. This project aims to change that.
“We live in a region in the Midwest where outdoor enthusiasts [are] big,” Horsley said. “Hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking is within two miles of most of our doorsteps.”
The area is prime for outdoor activities and many in the county are looking for a place to sight guns and shoot with family members, according to Horsley.
The MCSSC and Conservation Board are well underway in the process of adding a shooting complex where this can be done.
“I feel that by the time we finish this range, we will have one of the most diverse shooting complexes in the state,” Horsley said.
The complex will house two shotgun shooting fields, an archery course, rifle range, and a pistol and air rifle bay. It will be fully handicapped accessible.
Horsley said that he has been asked to provide a place for skeet shooting, five stand, and sporting clays. Although these activities will not be a part of the opening activities available at the complex, the MCSSC is not opposed to the suggestions and can see growth in the future.
“I think there will be room for that,” Ehmke said.
The range sits on about 10 acres west of the Conservation main building, and the gun club will be in charge of and maintain that area.
“Excavation-wise, we were able to do the majority dirt work here in September and October,” Horsley said. “The state and NRA have guidelines we are working through. The lateral limits are 10 feet high, and back berms are 15 feet high. There’s a lot of dirt that needed to be moved, and this jump-started the project by at least a year.”
“This spring we will start pouring concrete,” Ehmke added.”We hope to have this up and running by July or August.”
The Conservation Board meets monthly and is comprised of people appointed by the Board Of Supervisors. The club also holds monthly meetings, and both are open to the public.
“When outdoorsmen want to go out and practice shooting their guns before different hunting seasons, that’s where I think this shooting complex will be really well utilized and well received,” Horsley said.
Both men agree that the complex offers activities that are endless. The possibility of providing a central place for the full two-day hunter safety course is there. A youth shooting sports club is plausible, as well as an archer club.
“My hope is we can get enough people certified as range instructors, that we can be open four or five days a week,” Ehmke said. “It can become a family activity.”
Ehmke said that volunteers are welcome and information can be found on the MCSSC facebook page. A webpage is being developed and will be available as the opening of the complex nears.
Anyone interested in becoming a member of the club must submit an application. A one-time initiation fee is required upon acceptance of membership.
The annual fee for a single membership is $50, a family membership is $75, and a junior membership for those aged 11-18 years old is $10.
Two options that do not need an initiation fee are a lifetime membership for $1,000 or a daily use fee of $15.
“We are really trying to get the youth outdoors, and promote safe shooting, and safe shooting sports with this entire project,” Horsley said. “We want to provide safe, outdoor recreation and education for our youth.”
“And have fun doing it,” Ehmke said.
The groundwork has been laid for this project and the paperwork and physical labor is well underway. The ideas for future activities are endless.
“I’m going to continue to press this,” Horsely said. “I think the minute you settle and think, ‘that’s good enough,’ is when you start going backwards. I would really like to continue improving and moving forward.”