Use of Firearms on Public Lands in Washington State

C

Clemenza

Inactive
Question for Washingtonians and others who know the area:

Since I will be leaving soon, I thought that now would be the opportunity to do some plinking out in the woods. With that in mind, I was wondering if anyone knew what the state laws were about shooting on public lands.

If we are, indeed, allowed to shoot on public lands, where are the best locations to do plinking (ie the shooting of cans, bottles, etc.). If anyone knows of any good locations in the Puget Sound area, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
With snow in the mountains it might be hard to get far enough away from people to shoot. My recomendation would be SR-410, East of Greenwater. Any of the Forest Service roads on either side of the highway are good, as long as you can get away from the very few homes that are up there. Most of those are clustered along the highway, so you have to go up into the hills. As I said, that might be a problem with the snow.

Capitol State Forest East of Olympia is an option. Off of SR-8. Might be less snow. Shooting there in undeveloped areas should be legal, irrespective of illegally posted signs to the contrary.

Laws? In general, it is legal to shoot on forest service land except across roads and in/near developed areas. Same goes with State forest land, although there are moves afoot to change that. No Shooting signs have been posted in the past in the Capitol State Forest, with no legal authority. They were forced to remove them, but you never know when they might pop up again.
 
eastern side

On the eastern side, we have a lot of "out in the middle of nowhere", and generally nobody much cares, unless you make a mess. Ther are some areas posted "No Firearms", but hunting and shooting is generally allowed on State lands. There are exceptions, so one does need to check carefully.
 
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