Explainer

Recreational target shooting on federal land occupies a middle ground: broadly permitted on multiple-use land, prohibited outright on others, and increasingly restricted where problems have accumulated.

Where it is generally permitted

Forest Service and BLM land, subject to state law and to unit-specific closures.

National parks prohibit discharge except where hunting is specifically authorised. National wildlife refuges are similarly restricted. State trust land and state parks vary and often require permission.

The conditions attached

On national forest land, 36 CFR 261.10(d) prohibits discharging a firearm — or any other implement capable of taking human life, causing injury, or damaging property — in or within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation site or occupied area; across or on a National Forest System road or a body of water adjacent to one; in any manner or place where any person or property is exposed to injury or damage; and into or within any cave.

That 150-yard figure is a specific number in the Code of Federal Regulations, not a guideline, and it is the one most often breached inadvertently by people who did not notice a dispersed camp over the rise.

Backstops

There is no formal backstop requirement in most places, and it is nonetheless the whole issue. Shooting into a hillside of adequate size, at a downward angle, with no drainage or road beyond, is what makes dispersed shooting defensible.

Shooting across open flat country is how bullets reach places nobody intended.

Targets and what gets left

Shooting at glass, appliances, exploding targets and anything containing hazardous material is prohibited on most units, and exploding targets are separately banned under many fire restrictions because they have started documented wildfires.

Shot-up trash is the single largest driver of area closures. Every closure order issued in recent years names it.

Why closures are expanding

Land managers have closed defined areas near growing urban interfaces, citing accumulated debris, damaged infrastructure, tree damage, fire starts and safety complaints from other users.

The closures are area-specific and permanent in effect. Checking whether a particular area is closed, before driving out, is the practical step.

---

Sources

• 36 CFR 261.10 — Occupancy and use, Forest Service general prohibitions (eCFR)
• 36 CFR Part 261 Subpart A — General Prohibitions (eCFR)

This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed, fact-checked and edited by Leonidas Clark before publication. It is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by land manager and by state.