All true as said above.
The club has money saved to do things. Promises are made continually. For the past few months the issue with the 1,000 yard range is water. Too much water.
About a month ago I hauled one of my quads there on a trailer. Then used that quad to pull that trailer. We were not allowed to do it on a closed day but had to work after the range closed for the day. I pulled three guys and equipment through foot deep water and more. Lucky we were able to get there. Then we worked our butts off to rebuild the gong racks and the gongs, clean up the target area and try to make it usable.
Repeated this on the 600 also to get things squared away there. Miserable work and largely because there are huge mud holes and lakes from 600 yards out. NO GOLF CART - even if they were working - can make the passage to 1,000 yards. My 4 X 4 Kodiak quad dug in and tore things up pulling us and the trailer at max capabilities.
We were thanked but there's little more than that. The water is bad. We had too much rain. It was built with no thought that the design would be little more than a puddle between hills. Vince, the President, has repeatedly promised that when it dries he will have graders to move dirt from the left bank to make a higher path above the water to the target area at 1,000. Of course there's a darn lake right in front of the entire target area. I tried to use 4 x 4's to build some kind of bridge. They literally floated away. Much grader work and drainage needs done.
Promises don't get that done.
In the back there's another 600 yard competition range. Issues with people shooting short and skipping bullets over the backstop into the park behind abound. That range is supposedly closed but there were people shooting at targets placed on the side this past Saturday. I have used it but not to 600, where it's probably safe to use while what is being used might cause skip. There is to be a higher backstop and skip berm built. It's also promised.
The golf carts are a mess. They were down to ONE working cart last Saturday. I cannot explain or defend the lack of new purchase as the club really does have 100's of thousands of dollars in the bank, partly in thanks to the old President, Gene Pitts. Only thing is little is being spent right now.
The target frames ARE a mess. They wobble and will not hold targets securely. The fellow that welded and kept up on them got mad and quit the club. No replacement with those skills has been found to my knowledge. They want targets high to try and keep bullets from skipping on the main range also. There is a skip berm at 460 yards. It seems to be helping but there's another issue.
Manatee is a public range. Control of the shooters is difficult when you get all kinds of irresponsible behavior. We had wind flags on top of the hills and shooters shot the flags, sending bullets into the park behind. It is near impossible to deal with control of the general public that shows up. They try. They get ID, have shooters wear ID, try to keep range officers working and controlling but it's tough. Then when range officers, overworked and beat, try to keep control they get hostile treatment at them.
If Manatee was a target range for quality shooters, it would be much easier to deal with the issues. As a general range with huge numbers of shooters playing with military guns, some full automatic, 50's, 338 Lapua ( targeting the gong stands and metal target supports for fun), the club has problems.
Many issues at Manatee. I hope some are resolved as it's the only local place with 600 and 1,000 yard capability around. Many there are hostile about the conditions. One is "SavageDasher" with the post above. I don't blame him.
