Durand Sportsmen's Club

[Curdog]

I got in touch with the club the other day- So far, so good. I will go to the next board meeting and present our get together to the membership. The officers seemed to think that there would be no problems for August 5th. Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays would be open, and there is a nice area to set up 3D targets, but for some reason they were a bit iffy about the rifle range. I'll work on that.

[Hunter333]

Curdog, thanks for the update. I was beginning to wonder if this was going to happen, there havent been very many recent posts. Any idea about why they are iffy about the range? I have the 5th marked on my calendar so lets make this happen. I look forward to meeting you all.

[Stalker]

Thanks for checking out the club for us Curdog. Sarge is over in Durand today camping. He was going to try to check out the club also.

[Sarge]

I went to the Durand Sportsman’s Association, on Thursday. I talked with 2 board members and came away with these thoughts.

1. They are not very interested in modifying their Saturday routines, so 10:00 – 2:00 is their normal shooting times and they will remain so.
2. In order to get permission for our event, the issue will need to come before the board and that can be done at the next normal meeting, which is the 25th of June.
3. The President can be contacted and he can request a special board meeting at any time. He has a health problem in the family, and is not very active right now and it looks (to the 2 members I spoke with) like he won’t want to remain president for another year. I only include that to indicate that he might not be excited about calling a special meeting under these circumstances.

My personal conclusions are:

1. We can have the event anyway, but the opportunity for shooting type competitions and exhibitions are not going to be easy.
2. We can have the event in the campground there by Durand. My wife and I camped there this weekend, (wed – Sat) and enjoyed it very much. There are 2 pavilions, one of which hold over 100. No cooking facilities, but good cooks can do anything with some propane stoves and a grill or 2. There a ponds for fishing and a very small lake with a nice beach for swimming and paddle boating. There a numerous horseshoe pits and a ball field. 2 playgrounds, and the Shiawasee River. No place is farther than 150 yards from a pit toilet, and there are flush toilets and a shower house centrally on the grounds. They do have group rates (nothing special) and the pavilion is free if the group is all staying at the camp ground and costs a fee if outside guests are joining. There can still be competitions of sort without the shooting and archery events ( I know) and we can always all pack up and go to the club for the 10:00 – 2:00 shooting that they have anyway.

Bottom line, this is not as easy as it looks, but if we want to get together for a meet and some eats, we sure can. If it was only for the shooting events, well that’s going to be out or even further delayed by all appearances.

I vote to have the get together, commit to it as a group, reserve our campsites together in one part of the campground. Have a ball game, some horseshoe tournaments, and a Friday and Saturday night live campfire. Breakfast in the pavilion Saturday morning, and a fireside feast of some kind either Friday night or Saturday night leading up to that nights campfire chat. I am posting this in both of the outing topics in the outing forum as well as emailing it to all of those who have emailed me about this so far.

Please respond promptly if you still want to do something this summer, it is possible to start planning now, if you want to wait until next summer and find a more perfect location.

I wrote all of this in my word processor before I got in and read what curdog had said. most of it still stands. If we plan on doing it at the campground, and the club works out ok, everything will be just peachy. If the club doesn't work out, it ok too. The campground is 5 miles away and is probably the best place to bivouac anyway.

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Sarge

[Hunter333]

So it looks like we will not be able to do any shooting..... Is there an alternate club that we could check in to? I am not saying that a get together w/o shooting is out of the question but I would like to look at other options that allow for some shooting if at all possible. There has to be a range somewhere that we can use............

[Sarge]

The DNR range at the Rose lake wildlife refuge has some attached land, the problem is, for those who come a long way, there really should be camping nearby. I don't know of any that is very near the range. it does have a trap area, and 3 rifle distances, and an archery area. no 3d but regular targets. I'll see if that is available in any way. Other than that we'll have to rely on suggestions from others here at sportsman. Keep in mind that some have already blocked off the 5th of Aug. and may not be able to change it.

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Sarge

[Curdog]

Hey guys, what the club said to me was basicly, NO PROBLEM, but we have to make things official on the 25th of June. They told me Skeet, Sporting Clays, and Trap would be fine, and we can shoot archery as well, but that there was a complication of some sort about the rifle range. I bet I can clear that up as well.

I am working on things, and am looking forward to August 5th!

[Sarge]

OK, I don't have a problem with it. Maybe I got someone who is not exactly in the know. I am mostly interested in going ahead with some kind of event on the Aug 5th date, regardless of whether we can man the club grounds for the day or not. It does have a nice clubhouse and Kitchen facility, and the grounds are beautiful. I just got the impression that we "might" be allowed on the grounds but that none of their normal activities could be bothered. In any case, we can do what ever it takes to make an outing happen. I trust that you will get the permission we need on the 25th. The other concern is just that, if we can't do it there, its a bit late by then, to start seeking a new date.

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Sarge

[This message has been edited by Sarge (edited 06-12-2000).]

[Hunter333]

Thanks for the update, it sounds like the club in Durand will work out just fine. I hope that we are allowed to use the distance range as I am hoping to have a new rifle by then :) Any idea of how many people may be able to make it?

[Sarge]

I think there are about 10 names in the address book on my special email site. Those plus a few guests (half dozen) are my best guess. Less than 20 so far all inclusive. We really need to get the word out to everyone on this site and to others who might be interested. I don't have a clue except for this forum how to do that.

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Sarge

[capt. sharpstick]

Deep regrets on this particular date. I cannot make it, but am there in spirit. Enjoy yourselves.