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I was east of the city the other morning to look at the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation’s new outdoor shooting range.

I stood amazed. There might have been more dirt moved for the Gardiner Dam, but this would be a close second, at least in Saskatchewan. What now looks like a huge construction site, about 15 kilometres east of Saskatoon, just south of Highway 5, soon will be among the finest shooting ranges in the world.

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The skeleton of the $1.5-million, 13-acre project is an elaborate network of berms, six meters high, sloped more steeply than a black diamond ski hill and as straight as a surveyor’s laser beam. Surrounding and isolating separate ranges, the berms soon will be planted with 1,500 pounds of grass seed. It should be coming along nicely when the facility opens later this summer.

Shooters will find within separate ranges of 300, 200, 100 and 50 yards, where they can shoot handguns, rifles or shotguns. Some competitions require all three.

Downrange will be cameras linked to monitors at the shooting line so shooters can easily see their hits on target. In one corner of the property is a separate range just for police. Saskatoon city police will use it regularly, but it also will be available for RCMP and other peace officers who have to stay qualified with various firearms.