Gun Range Reopens In Hartland

Hartland — The Hammond Cove Shooting Range will reopen on Thursday under several new rules, including new requirements regarding hunting licenses and a prohibition on shooting more than one round per second.



Additionally, the previously unsupervised state-owned range will have its hours cut in half to 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. most days, with a range officer on site whenever it’s open, and it will be closed in the winter.



The range has been closed since May 6 to allow for $30,000 of facility upgrades aimed at increasing security and reducing gunfire noise, which neighbors across the Connecticut River in Plainfield say has increased unbearably following an overhaul of the range in 2012. The renovation transformed it from little more than a gravel pit into a popular shooting destination, attracting a surge in users.



Vermont Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter said the new rules and upgrades are all part of an attempt to balance the noise complaints and the department’s desire to provide a safe place for people to shoot — but members of both camps expressed disappointment this week, saying the rules either go too far or don’t go far enough.



The new rules are “all pretty onerous,” Hartland resident Wes Raney, a firearms instructor, said in a phone interview Tuesday.



“The one shot a second makes it so that basically there’s no type of practical shooting that can be done there,” Raney said, saying that the restriction allows hunters to zero in a rifle but would stifle self-defense or competition training.



“It’s basically made the range useless for me and I’ve been going there for 15 years or so,” he said. “The main takeaway from it is that it’s just a deterrent.”



Dan Dewey, a resident of the Plainfield neighborhood that has been calling on Vermont officials to mitigate the noise, said he also took issue with the one-shot-per-second limit — but for different reasons.



“By writing off the six-clip maximum, they effectively allowed continuous gunfire,” Dewey said. “By their own studies, their own consultant tells them that the noise from a single shot lasts about one second, so limiting people to one round per second essentially amounts to one continuous stream of gunfire.”



In an interview on Tuesday, Porter said the one-round-per-second limit — which had not been discussed at two previous public forums in Hartland on the issue — came out of a desire to limit the most rapid shooting, which neighbors have said is the hardest to tolerate.



“We’d contemplated a limit on how many rounds per magazine, and in talking to people both who wanted to see more restrictions and those who wanted to use the range ... it seemed like this might be a better way to get around the noise of just a rapid-fire use,” Porter said.



Another new rule going into effect on Thursday that had been discussed during the April forum requires all shooters to have a Vermont fishing or hunting license, which Fish & Wildlife officials said would provide a mechanism to assess points if rules are broken.



Dewey said a new addition to that rule — allowing a person with a license to bring a guest who has to purchase a license only after three visits — also “essentially guts the rule,” much like the rapidity limit.



“It’s all in all pretty disappointing. ... The state of Vermont has not been able to get around or find a solution to their decision to place this range at this site, which was a bad decision,” Dewey said. “This range is 300 yards or less from a residential neighborhood and it’s built as an amphitheater ... that directly funnels noise to that neighborhood.”



Raney, the firearms instructor, said that allowing a guest up to three times is “better than nothing,” but overall he feels that the rules are “really going to discourage new shooters from getting involved” and is limiting the safe places to learn how to shoot. “Basically all the ranges in our area have run into this problem with noise complaints, and now ... I’m running out of places to host classes,” he said, referring to ranges in Thetford and Barre, Vt.



Dewey provided the Valley News with a copy of a July 19 letter to Porter in which three Carvel Lane households expressed their “extreme disappointment” with the new rules, calling on the range to be closed or moved to a “more appropriately safe and low-impact site.”



Dewey said neighbors will continue raising concerns and may consider a lawsuit. Although the Plainfield neighbors’ concerns revolve around noise, he said another neighbor has discovered bullet holes in the trees above the berms, raising safety concerns and making it “doubly incredible that they’re now reopening it.”



The $30,000 of facility upgrades included a new berm for the pistol range, improved acoustic tiling in the covered shooting ports, the installation of security cameras and access road work.



The range will be open from April 1 to Dec. 14, and its new hours will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.



The previous hours were 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sundays and 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. the rest of the week from May 1 to Aug. 31. During the winter months, it closed 30 minutes before sunset.



Porter emphasized that his department feels “it’s important for people to have places to shoot recreationally” that are safe, have rules and environmental protections such as lead abatement programs. He called all of the new rules a “test,” with expectations to re-evaluate in the future.



Maggie Cassidy can be reached at mcassidy@vnews.com or 603-727-3220.





