Trumbull County, Ohio: Renovated Grand River shooting range opens

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife reopened the public shooting range at Grand River Wildlife Area in Trumbull County on Wednesday, Nov. 11 following a multiyear renovation.

Grand River Wildlife Area Shooting Range is a premier destination for recreational shooting. Along with Delaware and Spring Valley shooting ranges, Grand River is one of the Division of Wildlife’s Class A, supervised public ranges offering state-of-the-art facilities and outdoor skills classes.

The new shooting range welcomes rifle and pistol shooters with 102 covered lanes available at 50-foot and 25-, 50-, 100-, and 200-yard distances. Visitors will need to bring their own paper targets and ammunition, but target stands are provided. The 200-yard range features the Kongsberg Electronic Target System and steel targets installed by Mr. Target. These options allow for continuous shooting at the 200-yard distance without a need to shut down the range for target placement.

The facility also includes a shotgun range with clay throwers, along with a static archery range and field archery course. The range houses a state-of-the-art education center for hosting outdoor skills classes and demonstrations of game cooking and processing.

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Funding for the renovation was made possible in part through purchases of firearms and ammunition. A federal excise tax on all firearms and ammunition helps pay for the construction and maintenance of this and other public shooting ranges across Ohio.

Grand River Wildlife Area Shooting Range is located at 6693 Hoffman Norton Road NW, Bristolville, Ohio 44491. The rifle and pistol and shotgun ranges will be open Wednesday through Sunday each week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on state holidays. Shooting ceases at 4:40 p.m. The archery range is open from sunrise to sunset every day.

Range users ages 18 and older are required to purchase either a one-year shooting range permit (24),anannualshootingrangepermitandhuntinglicensecombo(29.12), or a one-day shooting range permit ($5) before visiting.

All options are available at hunting and fishing license outlets, online at HuntFishOH.gov, or via the HuntFish OH mobile app. Permits are not sold at the site. Visitors ages 17 and under do not need to purchase a permit but are required to be accompanied and directly monitored by a permitted adult aged 18 years or older. A permit is not required for the archery range.

Since 1937, the Wildlife Restoration program has dedicated permanent funding to wildlife conservation and hunter education through federal excise taxes on ammunition, firearms, and archery equipment.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annually administers the funds that the Division of Wildlife uses to acquire habitat, support access for wildlife-related recreation, conduct hunter education and development, perform wildlife research and assessment surveys, and construct and operate target ranges.