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Friendly Fire Travel: Hunting with Cheney in New York

Vice President Dick Cheney took another one of his hunting trips Monday, though not a lot of news came of it. (Of course, no news is good news when the story involves the Veep and shotguns.) He stopped in at the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club in Dutchess County, about 75 miles north of New York City, and didn't even stop to tell reporters whether he bagged a bird or not.

While you need to have friends in high places to hunt at Clove Valley (annual dues: $100,000), the county has some other hunting grounds available to commoners. TMT Hunting Preserve has 100 acres of private land, knowledgeable guides and trained hunting dogs. You can search out pheasant, chukar and mallard for a couple hundred bucks a day, which is about the same cost as a deep sea fishing trip. All sorts of deals are available, and since they supply pretty much everything, you don't have to worry about traveling with a ton of gear.

Not into shooting live birds? TMT also has sporting clays, as does the nearby Orvis Retail Store. At Orvis, 100 clays sell for $75 (to non-members) and you'll need to reserve a slot in advance. The store has ammo, gun rentals and ear and eye protection, too, making it easy to drop in for a day.

If you don't like guns at all, there's also lots of nice hiking in Dutchess County, including a section of the Appalachian Trail.

Related Stories:
· Cheney Goes on a Hunting Trip [NYT]
· TMT Hunting Preserve [Official Site]
· Orvis Retail Store, Sandanona, NY [Official Site]
· Shooting coverage [Jaunted]

Shooting / Washington D.C. / → All Tags

Awesome Guns in Northern VA

We took a little trip down to DC this past weekend. We could've done the whole National Mall and cherry blossoms thing, but we opted for the shoot guns in Virginia experience.

That's right. We went to Gilbert Small Arms Range in Springfield to get our hands on some firepower. Gilbert's had us shooting in less than 10 minutes. Basically, you'll need an official ID and a membership, which is easy enough to do. A monthly membership is only $8 and is good the second you buy it.

We rented our guns from Gilbert's: A Standard Glock 9mm and a Custom Kimber 1911. They were awesome (as far as guns go, that is). Our standard hour of range time was enough for three of us to shoot through 200 rounds of ammo. The whole deal ran us just under $50 a person.

[Photo: ethernectar]

Related Stories:
· Gilbert Small Arms Range [Official Site]
· Jaunted's Shooting coverage [Jaunted]

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Marshall Matters

Who said the New York Times only covers haute spa destinations and ritzy hotels? They must've been checking in on our tireless coverage of gun tourism to come up with this week's gem: a look at the Museum Complex of Small Arms of M. T. Kalashnikov. Yep, that Kalashnikov.

The museum is in Izhevsk, northeast of Moscow. Home to Kalashnikov himself--the now 87-year-old general who designed the AK-47--it features heaps of weapons as well as plasma-screen displays about how great guns are. If you're lucky:

Visitors may also get a glimpse of General Kalashnikov himself, who keeps an office in the museum. On this day he appeared briefly and joked that the museum and the tourists it has drawn have placed new demand on his time. "After the museum opened," he said, "my quiet life ended."

Awfully hard to relax with all those automatic weapons around!

Related Stories:
· AK-47 Museum: An Homage to the Gun That Won the East [NYT]
· Jaunted's Shooting coverage [Jaunted]

Shooting / Sports / → All Tags

How to Get Private Shooting Lessons in Waikiki

Bless the Waikiki Gun Club for welcoming Japanese visitors to America the right way. You can find this sign out on Kalakaua Avenue, beckoning those gun-starved Japanese as they make their way to and from the beach. There's also a speaker, mounted somewhere near the entrance to the range, that emits popping noises if the visuals aren't enough to lure 'em in.

We paid a visit to the Waikiki Gun Club this weekend, and while we won't be showing off our target sheet anytime soon, we do have a tip. While the lanes can be packed at times, they were empty when we got there at opening (10 a.m.) on Saturday morning--we predict that's usually the case, and wasn't just a fluke. If you can get yourself up early enough on the weekend, private lessons are yours.

Related Stories:
· Trigger, Trigger Happy [Jaunted]

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Trigger, Trigger Happy

We can't guarantee whether all the patrons of the Waikiki Gun Club look like our friend--let's call her Kelly--above. They could all be moustached cops. But if you're in Honolulu and in the mood to shoot some shit up, the Waikiki Gun Club should satisfy you nonetheless.

The indoor range is located on Kalakaua Ave., just steps from Waikiki Beach and all the big hotels. It's also the longest range in Waikiki. They're beginner friendly, but have plenty of scary guns for experienced shooters. The baby package, or "A Course"--42 shots total on 3 different 22 cal. guns--will run you just $25 with a coupon. Web coupons are available for all courses, up to the "VIP," with its M-16, AK 47, 12 gauge shotgun, CX-4 9mm and 45 cal. assault rifle. By the way, we've only heard of three of those.

Instructions, thankfully, are included with every package.