Any Coeur d'Alene Shooters Here?

4Freedom · Jan 19, 2011

I am thinking I may have to vacate Oregon once and for all. The prices are just skyrocketing and my landlord is probably going to raise the rent at my place. I have to leave and I am thinking of moving to cheaper place. Idaho is looking real nice to me right now. I'm throwing around a lot of different options, but I think its actually time to leave ORegon. Portland is becoming the new San Francisco and with all the high prices it is pushing out long-term residents like myself who were use to the older way of life and the lower prices.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone here has been to the Fernan Rod and Gun Club. The club looks awesome. It has action bays where you can use both rifles and hanguns. It has 400+ yard high power rifle range. The people who run the range tell me the action/pistol bays are open 24 hours and are lighted. Best of all, the club is located right near a beautiful lake only 5 minutes from the town of Coeur d'Alene. It really seems ideal.

I notice the area also has lot of other shooting ranges, including an indoor AR rifle range (25yd) . They allow .223 on their range which is cool.

Also, the town has a Cabelas not far from it.

Looks like a beautiful and shooter-friendly place. Anyway, anyone here from that area? I assume Idaho is still considered the Northwest.

Another area I always thought was nice and not quite as expensive was Bellingham and Olympia, but I highly doubt they are as accommodating for shooting as the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area.

Vancouver, WA is out , because I don't really care for the town and prices are going up there as well. I want to live in more rural environment which is hard to do anywhere in the PDX without mucho $$$. Also, getting an Oregon CCW can be a pain when living out of Oregon. If I am Vancouver, I would spend lot of time in Portland. I don't want to go through the hassle again of getting an Oregon out-of-state permit.

hammertime · Jan 19, 2011

If there was one place I would move tommorrow it would be Coeur d'Alene. Great city and a state I would like to live. Unfortunatly the wife and my job would be difficult to replace(cause the wife is not moving). Possibly when I retire. My inlaws live there and keep encouraging us to move that direction. Keep in mind there is a lot more snow and it is colder.

sheepman · Jan 19, 2011

Coeur d'Alene is a nice area and yes the Fernan range is nice. there other ranges in the area and several nice places to shoot in the Spokane area, about 30 miles west on I 90. The weather is colder here and we have more snow but not as much rain or freezing rain. The Idaho panhandle and north eastern Washing have a lot of out door activities.

Depending on what you do for a living there may be less job opportunities than in Portland. I would advise you to take some time and visit the area before making any decisions. PM me if you are in the area, would like to meet you over coffee and answer any question about the area.

yskippy · Jan 19, 2011

We have a vacation house in CDA and absolutely love it. There is the gun club you mention and the Coeur d'Alene gun club off atlas road and the indoor range at Center Target Sports.

We go up 6-8 times a year. The summers are dry and there is a really nice amusement/waterpark (Silverwood) about 20 minutes north of town.

More snow in the winter than we get in portland, but they know how to handle it...everything stays open and the roads are usually clear by 7AM.

You have Cabellas in post falls,a wholesale sports near the costco and black sheep sporting goods about 2 blocks from wholesale sports.....plus about a dozen smaller shops and a dozen or so pawn shops that sometimes have a pretty decent selection. With all the different gun shops prices are pretty competitive...the onlydrawback is sales tax.

I'm a HUGE fan of CDA it is a shooter and outdoorsman's paradise. Good
Luck with your move if you decide to head there.

4Freedom · Jan 19, 2011

Thanks for the responses.. Sheepman, I appreciate your offer for coffee and I would be glad to meet with you when I come up there. I may start househunting in late February to early March, so I will give you a PM when the time approaches.

As far as my job is concerned, that won't be a problem. I am a software developer and I run my business via telecommunication through my house. So, basically I have a home business and all I require is access to high speed internet, which should be available in Coeur d'Alene. I'm not sure how available it will be for more country properties outside the town, but it seems most cable companies are expanding their networks.

yskippy, I know that Spokane has a Wholesale Sports, but wasn't aware of one in Coeur d'Alene. Is the Wholesale Sports you are referring to in Spokane or CDA?

I am at awe at the nice variety of shooting ranges and large number of outdoor/sporting goods stores in the area. It is so sad that a city the size of Portland doesn't have a Cabelas and only one Wholesale Sports. I'm hardly impressed by Dicks or any of the other sub-par sporting goods store in the PDX area. Fisherman Marine's is a good store, but it's a bit overpriced IMO and being in Washington County its still quite a journey to the nicer one in Oregon City.

Also, it will be so nice to have beautiful lakes only within a few minutes drive from town. In Beaverton and most of the PDX you have to drive what seems like an hour (usually more with traffic) until you can get to any beautiful and pristine scenery. Another thing about the Columbia Gorge is that the Oregon side is so overcrowded and touristy that I hardly feel like I am in the country when I am visiting it. Actually, it's becoming more and more like a Southern California theme park with all the tourists and crazy drunk college-aged people running around. There are still some remote areas, but the nice ones are getting harder to find. It seems that Mount Hood is also becoming overdeveloped and they are now developing housing subdivisions all over Rhodendron, Zigzag, Welches and other once-rural areas.

I lived in Cape Perpetua on the Oregon Coast for 4 years and really miss the beautiful wilderness around there. You could really be in some of the most beautiful scenery in the world without seeing another person for days. Sadly, the crazy weather, long bouts of fog, heavy rain and wind, the extreme remoteness and long powerouts have convinced me not to go back. There seemed to be a lot of areas for shooting in the Siuslaw National Forest though. Maybe that explains the lack of shooting ranges in the area.

yskippy · Jan 20, 2011

4Freedom said:
yskippy, I know that Spokane has a Wholesale Sports, but wasn't aware of one in Coeur d'Alene. Is the Wholesale Sports you are referring to in Spokane or CDA?

The Wholesale sports shares a parking lot with the costco on Government Way between Neider Ave and Seale Ave. Black Sheep Sporting Goods (my personal favorite) is just off Seale between 95 and Government Way. Google earth shows the costco and Black sheep, but doesn't label the Wholesale sports....but it's the big building just west of the costco.

Pandaz3 · Jan 20, 2011

Could not wait to leave when I was a kid. But really I had a great time there. Lake Fernan is a small finger lake. We did a lot of Ice skating and Ice fishing in the winter as it is narrow enough to freeze over. Cars often on the lake.

Wish I was still there now.

Idaho has both a sales tax and income tax.