One thing I need to do to prepare for deer season is to sight in my rifle. I'm new to the Boise area and don't know where I should go. I'd prefer to go somewhere free, but if the only options available are paid ranges I'll do that. In talking to non-sportsmen they recommended driving out into the desert south of town. While I know it is legal to shoot on many types of public land I'd like something more concrete than a hand wave in a general direction.
For example, where I grew up there was one shooting area on public land that was very well known and used. So well known and used that it is even marked on Google Maps as "Keswick Dam Shooting Area." There was another area that was known and used but saw substantially less traffic because you had to walk a short ways in. Out of the tens of thousands of acres of public land in the area where it was legal to shoot these two spots were the places where everyone went to shoot. I'm looking for a similar situation in the Boise area.
The main reason why I want to stick to the known shooting areas is I want to avoid having arguments with well intentioned random passerbys if what I'm doing is legal or not. Sticking to known shooting areas avoids this hassle. Also some areas are better than other areas. When these areas are on public land they end up seeing more shooters over time until they become known as the local shooting spot. I'd rather not reinvent the wheel and go to a known good area. Finally, if I can drive directly to a known good spot I will save time. If all I have is directions to a thousand acres of BLM land I have to search a thousand acres for a good backstop far enough away with protection from the wind along the shooting corridor and low probability that people/animals will wander into my line of fire. Known shooting spots will have solved these problems, and allow me to drive directly to that spot.
