Want to be a snow bird

[swadiver]

in a few years, after the wife retires, we may do the reverse snowbird. after living in SE Florida for 35 years, we are looking at spending 3 months a year in the mid summer to early fall in northern New Hampshire or Vermont. getting out of the heat and humidity of SE Florida and seeing the early fall in the NE will be a welcome change. shooting looks good in those states as well.

it is nice to be here in Florida in the winter months of course. I belong to Port Malabar Rifle and Pistol club. at just under a two hour drive, it is worth it to me to have a great choice of ranges to shoot on, including our 600 yd range where we shoot F Class and other High Power competitions every month. we also have a Broward County 100 yd range close by and supposedly a 300 yd public range will open in the next couple of years in northern Palm Beach county.

 

[onelastshot]

You don't have to be a member of a club or group to shoot on the Specialty Ranges at Ben Avery. You just have to shoot with the club. Basically the clubs reserve the range and provide the safety officers, targets, and other supplies. For instance if you want to shoot on the 1000 yard range you shoot with the Desert Sharpshooters, and they reserve the range 4 to 5 times a week.

Matthew, I need more information. I moved down here full time in January and I need to get to know my way around the Ben Avery site.

 

[foxguy]

I live in Michigan, Our Club has shoots 12 months a year. We have a Small Range with 3 benches (it's in an enclosed shooting bench area) from October thru April we shoot from this range(once temperatures fall below about 45 degrees), 2 Saturdays a Month, we have Egg Shoots-100 yards from a bench. We typically get 25-35 shooters each Saturday. the shoot starts @ 10 am and we don't finish till appx 4pm. It really helps us shooters get thru the Winter. One of the guys running the shoot has been known to plow the Range as needed, 22 LR rifles only. We are glad when spring comes so we can break out the centerfires again. I had a Friend who mover to Florida, He moved back, to dang hot in Florida to enjoy the outdoors in the summer unless you live on the water.

 

[jsn]

Anyone thinking of coming out west and just shooting anywhere you want on public land should Google "target shooting ban 2017" and you'll see large areas removed from informal target shooting throughout Nevada and rural California.

It used to be that way, but not anymore.

I realize that isn't the predominance of what has been discussed in this thread, but it is a new development that I've never seen before in 20 years of Northern Nevada.

 

[MGYSGT]

Arizona is the place for Birds. In our town (Lake Havasu) we shoot a match every weekend XTC, F Class, Bench rest or Rimfire, plus Trap and Skeet. Our range only goes to 300 yard but we still have a good time. According to the license plates on the cars in the winter, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, Washington and Oregon are empty. We are close enough to Ben Avery (3 hours) to get into the Berger S.W. Nationals. Of course in the summer, we are only about 3 miles from the face of the sun. That's why god created Air Conditioning and swimming pools.

 

[msinc]

If I owned Florida and Hell....I'd rent out Florida and live in Hell!!

No B.S.!!!!!!! It's not that Florida itself is bad as a state...there are a lot of things I really like to do down there, but that heat kills it for me. Same way in Texas...I don't care how cold it gets...I can always put on more clothes, but when it is 98 degrees at 7:00 am I cannot take enough off.

 

[savagedasher]

No B.S.!!!!!!! It's not that Florida itself is bad as a state...there are a lot of things I really like to do down there, but that heat kills it for me. Same way in Texas...I don't care how cold it gets...I can always put on more clothes, but when it is 98 degrees at 7:00 am I cannot take enough off.

 

[savagedasher]

Im not a snow bird but I'm a dam yankee . Moved from Michigan 60 years ago .
Right now it 90 and I'm at a RC car event they have 135 entry's . So it's not the weather.
It a sport that is affordable and fun .
Shooting needs to think the same way .
Larry


.

 

[vmaxpro]

Arizona is the place for Birds. In our town (Lake Havasu) we shoot a match every weekend XTC, F Class, Bench rest or Rimfire, plus Trap and Skeet. Our range only goes to 300 yard but we still have a good time. According to the license plates on the cars in the winter, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, Washington and Oregon are empty. We are close enough to Ben Avery (3 hours) to get into the Berger S.W. Nationals. Of course in the summer, we are only about 3 miles from the face of the sun. That's why god created Air Conditioning and swimming pools.

I was just at Havasu, but I live in new river. If anyone goes to Havasu the powerboat racing there is really somethin to see to!

 

[dickn52]

If you move from the NE to Tenn. You will be known as a Yankee if you stay you're a dam Yankee .

I'm in Florida. Everyone is a dam yankee to us. Don't believe me? Look it up on the map.

 

[snowpro440]

I was just at Havasu, but I live in new river. If anyone goes to Havasu the powerboat racing there is really somethin to see to!

Ever been there to Havasu with a boat and go to copper canyon on a holiday weekend?
I miss that place !

 

[Mark W]

I moved from North Louisiana to Central Florida back in 1999. After the housing market crash I came to Pennsylvania for a temporary job that ended up lasting for six years. Now that it's finally winding down I'm struggling to decide if I really want to go back to Florida. Tennessee, Kentucky, or somewhere out west is really looking good to me right now.

 

[dickn52]

I moved from North Louisiana to Central Florida back in 1999. After the housing market crash I came to Pennsylvania for a temporary job that ended up lasting for six years. Now that it's finally winding down I'm struggling to decide if I really want to go back to Florida. Tennessee, Kentucky, or somewhere out west is really looking good to me right now.

Of the three you listed, Kentucky sounds best to me. I'm a bit prejudiced though as I was born in Harlan Kentucky.

 

[4xforfun]

Do any of you guys pack up your rifles and head down south where the weather is better so you can shoot anytime you want.
I am tired of just looking at my rifles set in the gun cabinet from November till May and would like to pack up the 5th wheeler and find a nice shooting range or two to stay near.
It would be nice to meet new shooters and also help out at the range for something to do and learn from other shooters.
Where would you go if you had the desire to do so.

Bench

I don't waste my time thinking about that. I prefer to spend time on USEFULL things...like wishing I was 18 again!!!

Tod

 

[onelastshot]

Rather than being a snow bird I decided to make the move permanent and moved everything to Arizona. One problem with being a snow bird is you invariably have your personal stuff in 2 different locations. Half the time you're not sure if what you need is with you or back at the main residence. I can deal with the heat in the summer months, the snow is what drove me crazy.

 

[Kurz]

Those with a desire to move to Arizona also need to consider the fire dangers which will close public land to shooting if that danger exceeds a certain set of parameters as defined by the State of Arizona. We have just gone through some massive fires mid-state but we are just now getting some relief from the beginning of Monsoon season. Here is the current list of restrictions:

https://firerestrictions.us/az/

If Monsoon continues at a reasonable pace in the mid-state areas, some of the restrictions will be lifted and we can continue to utilize public land for shooting. Until then stay out of washes and ravines!

 

[Dave Berg]

I'll have to take exception with some of the negative Florida comments. Keep in mind the OP was asking as a potential snow bird, not a full year resident.

Several years ago we bought a second home in central Florida when the real estate market had bottomed out. When I originally suggested it my wife said "That's the stupidest idea you've ever had." Now it's the best idea she ever had.

Rather than freezing my butt off shoveling snow in PA I can sit on the lanai in shorts with a cold beer and watch folks digging out of the latest nor'easter on the Weather Channel. I said that I never want to see snow again but it's actually pretty nice on TV. We spend about 4.5 months down there, from the Monday after Thanksgiving until tax day. This past winter was warmer than normal in FL so the A/C might have been on for 8-10 days and the heat was never on. We have two oversized sliding glass doors that open to the lanai that are usually open all day and all night. It's nice to be able to go barefoot at home. Socks take some getting used to when we come back north. Yeah, FL is hot in the summer but I'm not there so I don't care. But right now it's cooler down there than here in PA. 92 degrees here tomorrow and 90 in Winter Haven.

There's an indoor range just down the road if I need to smell some burnt powder. It's a whole lot cheaper and less restrictive than the indoor ranges around here. Nice bunch of guys that hang there and like gun fans everywhere they all know everything.

No trout stream in the yard like there is here but there is a 27 acre lake with bass, crappies and an occasional alligator right behind the house. Neighbor kid lets me borrow his jon boat. The quadcopters fly just the same there as here plus in FL there are organized drone races. I don't know anyone in PA that owns one (or several) aside from me. And from mid-December until mid-March there are fresh picked strawberries every day for about $2/quart.

I think Florida is great. Best idea she ever had.

 

[Ray B]

You mean that I'm not supposed to go out and shoot when it's 0 degrees or there's three feet of snow on the ground? I thought that's what the cover on the benchrest and the tv camera at the targets were for.

 

[Matthew Schwartzkopf]

Matthew, I need more information. I moved down here full time in January and I need to get to know my way around the Ben Avery site.

Check out the DesertSharpshooters.com website for the calendar. We will be shooting on the 1000 yard range this Saturday. Shooting Starts at 7 AM, but show up around 6:15 to help set up.