By P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
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(Editor's note: This is another installment in an ongoing series that spotlights shooting clubs across Lancaster County).Every Wednesday night through most of the year, bright outdoor lights glow and shotguns crack atop the first ridge north of Columbia.
Dozens of shooters from all over Lancaster County migrate here for the weekly trap shoot at Columbia Fish and Game Association, 4339 Fairview Road, in West Hempfield Township.
Dark clouds, stiff winds and the promise of violent thunderstorms from weather forecasters hung over Columbia's trap field last Wednesday evening.
But still the shooters were there, lined up behind the club's green concrete-block trap houses calling for birds and then blasting them into tiny, fluorescent-orange bits out of the air.
"The trap shoots are one of our most popular events," said Sam Weigard, president of the 1,400-member, 60-acre club. "We usually have a pretty good turnout, just about every week."
Besides the weekly trap shoots, Columbia Fish and Game also is known for its 3-D archery shoots, muzzleloader shoots, indoor rifle leagues and hunter-trapper education courses.
It's one of those sportsmen's clubs in Lancaster County that offers a little bit of something for everyone.
"We're not one of those clubs that only does one thing," Weigard said. "We have a lot going on."
Indeed they do.
The popular trap range features four shooting houses — three of which are equipped with automated throwers that are activated when a shooter calls out for a bird, according to Weigard.
The club's weekly trap shoots are held from 6-9 p.m. every Wednesday from the first week of the year through the week of Thanksgiving.
There's a winter trap league from January through March and a summer league from June through August.
Columbia has an outdoor rifle range — most of which is under roof — with backstops posted at 25, 50 and 100 yards.
There's also a covered handgun range, which provides shooting at 7, 25, 50 and 100 yards. As evidence of the club's commitment to the "game and fish" end of outdoor pursuits, human-silhouette targets commonly used for tactical shooting are forbidden on the handgun range.
Another firearms range provides shooting at 25 and 50 yards for people interested in "plinking."
Plinking is shooting at metal silhouettes mounted on rails. When hit by a bullet, the targets make a sound that goes "plink" before they fall over.
Shooting on the plinking range is limited to handguns and rifles that shoot only .22-caliber rimfire ammunition.
The club has two archery ranges. One is a standard range, with a series of bales placed at five-yard intervals from 10 to 30 yards in front of a long shooting line.
The other is a woods-walk course, which takes archers to a series of bales — typically fitted with paper targets depicting animals — set at varying distances through the woods.
"That's a good course because it gives you lots of different shots," Weigard said.
Finally, the main clubhouse on the property offers indoor target shooting for both smallbore firearms and archery equipment.
Weigard said club members are given a key to the clubhouse door so they can get in any time of the year to shoot on the indoor range.
Columbia Fish and Game runs a junior rifle program for kids age 12-17.
Participants meet weekly from October through May to shoot smallbore rifles on the club's indoor range.
The club also has a smallbore rifle team open to anyone. Shooting indoors at 50 feet in the winter and outdoors at 50 and 100 yards during the summer, the team competes in the Inter-County Rifle League, which involves teams from Lancaster, York, Berks, Lebanon and Lehigh counties.
There is no cap on Columbia's membership, Weigard said, so anyone is eligible to join the club.
Membership dues cost $40 per year.
"That's a great deal for all we have to offer," Weigard said.
New members pay an additional $40 in their first year.
Anyone who wants to become a member must first find a current member to serve as their sponsor.
Weigard said people who want to join can hook up with members to serve as their sponsors at any of the club's public events, such as the weekly trap shoots.
"Ask around the community," he said. "With 1,400 members, you'll find one of us sooner or later."
Prospective members must bring their membership applications — which can be downloaded from the club's Web site,
www.columbiafishandgame.org — and their sponsors to one of the club's monthly meetings and then sit through a 45-minute orientation program, during which they will hear all the club rules.
At the following month's meeting, the members in attendance will vote the new members into the club.
"We've got a good club with a lot to offer and we're in a great location," Weigard said. "It's not terribly grown up around us, so we're not really hemmed in by development. Even so, we try to be a good neighbor by not shooting too early in the morning or too late at night."
P.J. Reilly is the Sunday News' outdoors writer. E-mail him at preilly@lnpnews.com.
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