In addition to 5 staffed Shooting and Outdoor Education Centers, The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) manages 69 areas with unstaffed shooting ranges across Missouri that provide various kinds of shooting opportunities including: archery, rifle, handgun, and shotgun opportunities. But MDC knew virtually nothing about the people who use MDC’s unstaffed ranges, their needs and desires, and their compliance with rules and regulations.
MDC Shooting Range Use

Project Summary
In addition to 5 staffed Shooting and Outdoor Education Centers, The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) manages 69 areas with unstaffed shooting ranges across Missouri that provide various kinds of shooting opportunities including: archery, rifle, handgun, and shotgun opportunities. But MDC knew virtually nothing about the people who use MDC’s unstaffed ranges, their needs and desires, and their compliance with rules and regulations.
From 2013 to 2015, MDC undertook a 3-stage project to:
- Create a GIS data layer of all shooting ranges across Missouri;
- Survey key MDC staff; and
- Conduct public use surveys at unstaffed ranges.
Mon, 07/01/2013
Thu, 12/31/2015
Project Updates
Project Datasets
No datasets have been added to this project.
Project Papers & Presentations
Who’s shooting? Tall Tales and Statistical Results from the Missouri Department of Conservation Unstaffed Firearms Range Visitors Survey
Presented at the 2016 Missouri Natural Resources Conference, results from a survey of 39 MDC Unstaffed Shooting Ranges along with discussion of possible changes in range management, development and funding, as well as fun stories and photos from a year out on the ranges.
Topics
Human Dimensions, Natural Resource Economics, Resource Economics