Two plans. One standard of conduct.

Not yet. The property is still under construction. Club operations are pending a Ray County conditional use permit. Until the permit is issued, hunting and shooting on the property are limited to the personal use of the owner and his guests, and day passes, range reservations, and hunting season slots are paused. Membership applications are not affected — join now and your access begins the day the permit is issued.

You complete the online application — personal details, a photo of your government-issued ID, your plan selection, the signed waiver and rules acknowledgment, and your vehicle and emergency contact information. The membership secretary reviews it, verifies your identity, and contacts you the same day or the next business day. If approved, you'll schedule a short in-person orientation before your gate credential is issued.

Two reasons: to confirm you are who you say you are before we hand out a code to an unsupervised property, and to confirm you are of legal age. Your ID is uploaded over an encrypted connection, stored in a private, access-controlled bucket, and is visible only to the membership secretary and the club president. It is never emailed and never printed. We keep it on file for the length of your membership; if you cancel and ask us to remove it, we delete it.

Your first membership period is charged when you submit your application. Card details are entered on Stripe's secure hosted checkout — the club never sees or stores your card number. If the board declines your application, the full amount is refunded to your original payment method within 5–10 business days. If you're also reserving a hunting season stand, it's charged on the same checkout. (Members the club signs up in person and takes cash from skip the online payment step.)

You'll receive an email letting you know, and any payment collected is refunded in full. The club reserves the right to decline an application for any lawful reason and is not obligated to state a reason. Your uploaded ID is deleted from storage within 30 days of a decline.

There are two gates. The exterior gate at the end of W 164th controls the whole property — club staff open it at dawn and close it at dusk, and no member credential overrides that. Inside it, the interior gate to the range and facilities is opened one of two ways, both set up when your membership is approved: open the gate from the club app (a remote unlock sent through the club's system), or a personal keypad code at the gate. Either way, access is tied to your membership — it works only while your membership is active and your dues are current, and it stops the moment your membership lapses or is revoked. Every entry is logged. Your app access and your keypad code are personal and not transferable — sharing either is grounds for immediate revocation. If your phone or your code is lost or you think it's been compromised, call the club and we'll deactivate it and reissue. Non-members don't get gate access — they check in at the range check-in window instead.

Two closures. Mondays are the club maintenance work day — though that pauses during firearms deer portions. And the rifle range is shut for the entire November firearms deer portion: that's when the timber is fullest, and a live firing line pointed into ground people are hunting isn't a risk the club takes. Hunting continues during that week; range shooting doesn't. No day passes are sold for those dates, and the club calendar marks them in red.

Not on membership alone. Operating hours are dawn to dusk, and the exterior gate is closed at dusk by club staff. Limited overnight access for hunters and campers is arranged with the club in advance and is not included with membership. If you're planning a late hunt, arrange it with the club beforehand.

At the range check-in window, on the deck of the large white and black shop near the range entry gate. That building is the club's administrative office. Day-pass holders and guests stop there first — nobody goes to the firing line without checking in. Bring a photo ID; your waiver should already be signed online before you arrive. From check-in on, every guest and day-pass holder is accompanied by their sponsoring member or club staff — Back40 is a private club, and no visitor uses the ranges unaccompanied.

Yes — one free guest per member per visit. Bringing more than one? Each additional guest buys a day pass, which covers their range access for the day. It's on you to make sure every guest has completed the online day pass and signed the waiver before they arrive — a guest without a signed waiver on file does not shoot. Guests check in at the range check-in window near the range entry gate, and must stay under your direct supervision the entire time. You are responsible for their conduct. Guests may not bring their own guests, and may not use the range without you present.

Steel and paper are staged out to 300 yards today. The shooting line is actively being extended on work days, and the end goal is a full 750 yards — the distance to the natural hillside that keeps every round on the property. That work is done by the membership as the club grows, so the distance available goes up over time — check the range before you plan a long-range session.

Rifle calibers up to .338 Lapua Magnum on the long line; handgun calibers up to .44 Magnum. Steel-core, armor-piercing, incendiary, and tracer ammunition are prohibited everywhere on the property, as are exploding targets. .50 BMG is permitted, but only on designated targets — never on the club's AR500 steel. If you're unsure whether a load is allowed, ask an RSO before you shoot it.

Not yet — it's an older ranch-style farmhouse that came with the property, and we're renovating it room by room. Restrooms and running water are in. The club's ranges and facilities open to members upon approval of its Ray County permit. The rest of the work happens as the club can pay for it: proceeds from memberships, plus donations and local sponsorships, go straight back into finishing it. If you'd like to sponsor the renovation or donate materials, get in touch — we'd welcome it.

Standard lead-core jacketed ammunition, at a muzzle velocity under 3,000 feet per second. Three things stay off the steel: armor-piercing ammunition, steel-core ammunition, and high-velocity magnum rifle loads over 3,000 fps — which rules out .50 BMG and most magnum rifle cartridges. The reason is that AR500 works by letting a lead bullet splash apart and shed sideways. A hardened penetrator or a very fast round craters the plate instead, and once the surface is pitted it stops deflecting fragments predictably and starts throwing them back toward the firing line. One fast round permanently ruins a plate for everyone who shoots it afterward. If you want to shoot a magnum load or you aren't sure of your velocity, put it on paper — the frames go out to 300 yards, and the club has plenty of them.

No. The club does not rent, loan, or sell firearms, bows, ammunition, or arrows — not to members, not to guests, not to day-pass holders. Everyone brings their own equipment. We provide the ranges, target frames and backers, paper targets, and the hay bale backstops; you bring the gun or bow you'll shoot it with, along with your ammunition or arrows and your eye and ear protection. If you're new to shooting and don't own anything yet, come out with a member or a friend who does — sharing your own equipment with someone on the line is fine and encouraged. What we can't do is hand you a firearm or a bow from the club.

Yes, and it's included — with membership and with a day pass, at no extra charge. The bow line is mainly large round hay bales, which are deep enough to stop an arrow without wrecking it, with a few animal targets set out alongside them. Field points only, on both the bales and the animal targets — broadheads aren't permitted anywhere on the range, since they cut through bales and tear up foam targets. Bring your own bow and arrows. It's a separate line from the rifle and pistol ranges, so you can shoot without waiting on a cease-fire.

For every season except the November firearms portion, hunting is from the assigned stands on the hill south of the main creek. That hill is what makes those seasons safe to hunt: the range's firing lane crosses the creek below, and the high ground puts you above it. The rule that matters most is elevation, not the creek itself — do not travel downhill to creek level while the range is live, because the shooting lane runs along the creek bottom. Stay on the hill, and if you leave your stand, move up and away rather than down toward the water. The November portion is the exception: the range is shut for that entire week, so the creek-bottom restriction lifts. That's part of why the November slot costs more.

Any active member — monthly or annual. There's one condition for monthly members: your dues must not lapse at any point between joining and the start of the season you reserved. If they do, the slot is forfeited and released for an annual member to purchase, and you're refunded. Annual members carry no lapse risk and get first refusal on any slot that comes back into the pool. Day-pass holders aren't eligible.

Yes — the Heroes discount takes 20% off monthly and annual dues, hunting season stand slots, and day passes. It's our thank you for your service, and for the training and judgment you bring onto this property, which helps keep everyone here safe. It's open to active-duty and retired military, veterans, law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and emergency dispatchers. If you're applying for membership, tick the Heroes box on the application and bring proof of service to your orientation; we verify before your gate credential is issued. If you're buying a day pass, upload proof at checkout — a day pass has no review step, so we verify before payment instead.

Work days are when the membership maintains and builds out the property — extending the rifle line toward its 750-yard goal, building and maintaining berms, mowing, resetting steel, replacing target frames, and clearing trails. The range is closed to shooting on Mondays so the work can happen safely. Every member is expected at one work day per year. It isn't busywork: labor the membership provides is labor the club doesn't hire out, and that is a large part of what keeps annual dues where they are. It's also the best time to walk the property and scout, since nobody is on the line.

Monthly members can cancel any time and retain access through the end of the current billing period. Annual memberships are non-refundable after the 14-day grace period following approval, but you keep full access through the end of your membership year. Cancel from the member portal or by emailing the club.