Shooting Platform Finished

I feel like I got my life back just now. I put my new shooting platform down in the pasture. Photos below.

Here, I’m seeing if the tractor forks tear the platform up before lifting it.

Here, I’ve decided to go for it.

Here, you can see the cattle resenting me for disturbing their rest.

Here, I’ve selected the platform’s location.

Here, the platform is situated in its final resting place.

The pasture has an old wooden fort sort of thing designed for kids. It’s not in great shape, and I’m not all that interested in swingsets and so on, so I don’t maintain it. I considered putting a new roof on it and using it as a place to sit while I wait for varmints. Decided not to do it. Anyway, the best and safest location for the platform lines me up so I shoot under the fort.

The tractor didn’t damage the platform at all. If you tried, you could find some little marks where the forks pressed against the wood. That’s about it.

I can move it whenever I want, so if I get brave and decide I want to shoot at 400 yard, I can do it. I have to balance my desire to shoot well against my desire to not shoot the neighbors and go to prison.

The dangers of outdoor shooting, for responsible people who shoot well, are not as great as one might think. The odds of my firing a shot so wild it would leave my property are infinitesimal. The odds of a guest firing such a shot are considerably greater, so it may well be that no one except me will ever be allowed to use the platform.

Hitting another house would be pretty difficult. In addition to missing the berm and the ground past it, you would probably have to shoot several hundred times just to have one shot make it through the woods.

I’ve let noobs shoot pistols at short range on my property, and I let two people I knew were not idiots shoot rifles, but that’s about as far as I’ll go. I have never let anyone shoot without me present.

What to do now?

It’s blistering hot. Do I really want to go out there and shoot? I guess I should. Laziness always finds an excuse. I put a roof on my platform to make excuses harder to swallow.

I hope things work out well. For all the expense and work, I think I should receive a substantial return.