CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — The Marshall County Izaak Walton League Board of Directors will discuss possible changes to the shooting range on their property. Some people are shooting at objects which are not targets, creating consistent extra work for the board and volunteers.

A few rotten apples can spoil the whole barrel, and a few disrespectful gun enthusiasts might change the rules at the Marshall County Izaak Walton League shooting range.

Board President Garry Brandenburg said the board will meet today and discuss what to do about the bad players on the range. It will not be a new discussion. Board members had to last year and the year before that.

The problem the board will address is that almost every week, board members and volunteers have to visit the range and make repairs, something they have had to deal with for decades.

“Our feeling is some, not all, are a few bad actors and making it nasty for the rest of the people who want to try to legitimately use their firearms for target practice,” he said.

Brandenberg’s gut feeling is that the sense of responsibility amongst people has degraded during the past few years.

“I hate to say that, but I think there’s a lot of truth to that,” he said. “Some people just don’t care and they’re really making it bad for the people who do care.”

The wood people are shooting at are not the intended targets at the Izaak Walton range. Brandenburg said the league has rubber mats, which are 2-foot squares with holes in each corner and hung from wires. Shooters staple their targets to the rubber mats and then fire their guns from the shooting bench. The target system might change, too, but he said it is up to the board.

“Some people like to shoot at other things, not the targets,” he said. “They are making the infrastructure – the supporting posts and other things that go with it, that are really not the target – some people are using it as a target and shooting the wood posts and watching the chips fly, thinking it’s not a big deal. The big deal for us as the board of directors and volunteers is that we need to go out and make repairs. Take out old lumber and put up new and come back next week and what we just put up is full of holes . . . . again. It’s frustrating.”

Not making the repairs is not a good option. According to Brandenburg, the best way to address vandalism of any kind is to immediately fix it. Otherwise, it just inspires further vandalism.

“It would be a weekly mid-week repair session all summer long,” he said. “If you don’t repair it, things will get worse and send the wrong signal that whoever is in charge doesn’t care, and we do care.”

Finding the volunteers to go make the repairs also takes time and effort, and they might get tired of doing it over and over again, something they shouldn’t have to do, Brandenburg said.

Some of the options the board will discuss is whether or not to install designated range hours and have volunteers step up to be range master. The range master role would be rotated, but would ensure some supervisor is in place all of the time when the range is open. If a range master is not available, the range would be closed, Brandenburg said.

“All it would take is for legitimate firearms advocates to be out there to shoot only the target they are putting up,” he said. “If that dream would ever come true, it would be a great range for a long, long time. It would look good all of the time.”

Currently, the range hours at Izaak Walton are dusk to dawn, which Brandenburg said works for most of the users.

“If someone works Monday through Friday, but are off Saturday and Sunday, they can go when they want, anytime it suits them,” he said. “It works fine most of the time for most of the people if they are responsible. Most of the people are responsible.”

Adjusting targets, hours and recruiting range masters might solve the consistent vandalism issue. However, getting range masters raises additional issues, Brandenburg said.

“We’re already a volunteer organization and it’s hard to keep people going,” he said. “We have 200 members, and those people have paid their dues. If you’re a member, you’re issued a key to unlock the gate and you can do your thing. If you get to the range to do your thing and you say it looks bad, the people in charge don’t care. Well, the people in charge do care, but the hard nut to crack is the behavior of a few who are making it look bad. I don’t know how we’re going to crack that nut of human behavior of people who don’t care, who do their thing and leave. We will be discussing options of what to do, what should we do.”

At the heart of the matter is how does the board keep the legitimate shooters happy while getting the bad apples to change their ways and be more responsible.

“That is the question we will ask and the discussion we will have,” Brandenburg said.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.