Area Outdoor Gun Ranges

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The 6,400-acre Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, offers a variety of activities & programs. 

This  area is centrally located in a beautiful wooded setting near Mansfield, Georgia, making it easily accessible from Atlanta, Athens, & Macon.  

In addition to Astronomy Fields, Primitive Group Camping, Fishing, Archery (including a 3-D archery range), Hiking, Bird Watching, Horseback Riding (and much more), they have two pistol & rifle ranges and shotgun facilities.  

Facilities available at the Clybel Shooting Range include:

• 100-yard Range
• 50-yard Range
• 2 Skeet & Trap Fields
• 5-Stand

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Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center is also the annual host for Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) 

BOW is a non-profit, educational program offering hands-on workshops to adult women in a supportive environment conducive to learning, making friends, & having fun. 

No experience is necessary.  BOW is for women of all ages & fitness levels.

The "Original BOW" workshop format  is a 3-day, multi-course event with more than 20 classes to choose from including fly fishing; archery; pistol, shotgun & rifle shooting; wildlife habitat; canoeing; kayaking; hiking; camping; nature photography; fishing; boating & more.

Georgia also offers "Beyond BOW" opportunities which include 1-3 day events with a single topic like the Glock Handgun for Women course, charter fishing, kayaking on a local lake, a weekend of camping, or an archery clinic.

"BOW Destinations" are specialty trips to special destinations.  These specialty trips include Sapelo Island & the Okefenokee.

Developed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division, the Georgia BOW Workshops allow participants to develop hunting, fishing, boating & other outdoor recreation skills through sessions led by outdoors professionals. These sessions provide novices & more experienced participants enough knowledge & experience to pursue their outdoors interests when the workshop is over.  

 In 1968, a handful of dedicated &  farsighted shooting enthusiasts started the Cherokee Gun Club (CGC). 

This group of shooters was made up of hunters, shotgunners, pistol shooters, &  black powder shooters. They came from all walks of life, but had a common goal: to establish a suitable place to shoot. They leased 21 acres – an old “dug-out” gravel pit atop Buckhorn Mountain – from the Eston Smith family. The range facilities consisted of a 25-yd range &  a 100-yd range. Target stands were cardboard boxes that the shooters brought with them, and clay target throwers were of the “hand-thrown” type.  

Today Cherokee Gun Club is a private shooting facility located on 115 scenic acres near Gainesville, Georgia.   Close enough to be convenient yet secluded enough to be relaxing. 

Visitors are welcome at membership meetings, open events & competitions.  Non-members may participate & shoot at all “open” matches &  competitions (but may not shoot on any other ranges except as a guest of a member.)

Matches include:  Int'l Handgun Metallic Silhouette, IDPA, Action Cowboys, Buffalo Runners, Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Extreme Rimfire, & Tactical Rifle, among other various competitions.

South River Gun Club is both a membership club for rifle & pistol & a public shooting facility for trap & skeet.  They offer 11 trap & 5 skeet fields, 22 action shooting pits, 25/50 yard bullseye range, &  50/100/200/300 yard rifle ranges.    

They are open 3 days a week for the clay target sports:  Wednesday, 2P-8P; Saturday, 10A-6P; Sunday, 12-6P. The general public is welcome to shoot trap or skeet with us on these days. The rates for non-members for a round of trap or skeet is $8.00 per round.

They have a full slate of tournaments for those interested in competitive shooting.  They have held the Georgia State Trapshoot for 20 years running;  the Georgia State IDPA/GADPA Championship; major matches in 3 Gun; & the Area VI USPSA Championships.

 Etowah Valley Sporting Clays offers serious sport shooting enthusiasts, as well as beginners looking to have fun, the premier spot for clay, skeet, trap &  five stand shooting in the greater Atlanta area. 

Open since 2004,  ownership & staff are veterans of clay shooting &  know what fun looks like.

They have several courses &  offerings for beginners & gun sports veterans alike.  Courses are laid out over the natural setting of the Appalachian mountain range foothills, just north off of Highway 400.  

River Bend Gun Club is a members-only shooting facility located in the Southwest corner of Dawson County, Georgia. 

They offer Pistol, Rifle, & Shotgun disciplines & competitions.