Alvord desert, shooting

[WAW44]

What's the legality of doing some target shooting out there in the desert in OR? Driving through the area next week. May stay the weekend.

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[Mistman]

Just make sure of you're back stop. I've shot clays out there before and small bore along the fringes. Cool place, check out the hot springs, they can be really hot!

 

[Mistman]

I remembered one thing about it. We were shooting on the northwest part of the desert and as we were there we watched a rig coming from a few miles away toward us. If you've ever been there, there aren't many people around and you can see forever so we knew whoever it was was coming to see us. We waited, about 15 minutes later a truck pulls up, turns out it was the foreman of the Alvord Ranch. He thought maybe we were on the ranch side of the fence, we weren't. He was alright, just making sure we weren't trespassing. Didn't care that we were shooting or whatever, it's public land. You might keep that in mind.

 

[Dungannon]

Call the BLM office in Burns. 541-573-4400 Ask to talk with a staff realty specialist.

It's dry now, but I've known guys that roared out on the playa and got stuck up to their axles. It's about 6 miles wide and 11 miles long, and popular with folks that race those three-wheel carts with sails. The Alvord Hot Springs is actually on private land, but open to the public year round for no cost. I'd shoot at the edges of the desert where a hill would backstop the targets.

 

[Mistman]

Yeah, forgot about the quagmire that is sometimes present on the desert floor, that can be scary! You can see the edges of the wet area, just stay well away from it. There are a couple seasonal springs/creeks coming out of the Steens that terminate on the desert floor.

I was crossing it one time and came across a jackrabbit that was about done for it right in the middle of the desert. He was just sitting there, I broke up an apple and put it in front of him. Not sure what happened to him. I've also found evidence of very old camp spots in the hummocks along the edge and some artifacts, which are still there. There are a couple spots w/large scatterings of obsidian chips.

Some artist has created a couple of very large art forms on the desert. If I recall correctly one was a bunch of tall poles w/wires along the tops of them connected in some sort of pattern to communicate w/aliens, it was hundreds of feet around. Don't know if they're still there or not. Those wind carts can get some speed when the winds whipping up.

One night when it was so dark out there you could barely see your hand in front of your face a friend and I got in our trucks and drove flat out w/the lights off across the desert. We were much younger then. You know in your mind there's absolutely nothing out on the floor for miles but we both found it too freaky to go too far w/out flipping the lights on. You never know, might be an alien ship sitting out there in the dark. Oddly there are rocks scattered about randomly across the desert, not big ones but noticeable. The Steens and Alvord are one of my favorite spots in Oregon.