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THE EUSTIS GUN CLUB, INC. A SHORT AND INCOMPLETE HISTORY By Unknown With a special thanks to Terry McCauslin who had the diligence and foresight to compile a written and photo history of the Club and the patience (and memory) to answer this writer’s may questions. |
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First came the Eustis Police Pistol Club (Approx. 1965) whose civilian contingent subsequently formed the Eustis Gun Club and finally The Eustis Gun Club, Inc. Their First meetings were held in the old Eustis jail. Prisoners in handcuffs paraded past the open doorway of their meeting room. The range itself was located at the Eustis dump near the intersection of E. Court Dr. and Golf Links Ave., west of Kurt St. This is now a residential sub-division. Incidentally, one of the early EGC membership cards entitled the bearer to a free round of golf at the local Country Club. The city-built range was of very limited size (approx. 2 to 3 acres) with a 50-yd. berm that could accommodate 12 closely packed shooters, some 4 ft. high silhouette berms and a short 100-yd. berm. A wood frame storage house, a bathroom, telephone, and lighting were provided by the City. The range was available to the club on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from morning till 9:00 PM, and Sunday from noon until sundown only. At this time the Club was shooting only target pistol, black powder and pellet gun. The Club was incorporated on October 20, 1969 as the Eustis Gun Club, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, with dues at $5.00 per year. After years of struggle with the local government, EGC, Inc. was granted a 20-year lease (at $1.00 a year) on the range in the spring of 1977, with the following restrictions: The Club will maintain the ranges (as they had already been doing for the last ten years) and make a minimum of $300.00 in improvements each year.
The first newsletter was published March-April, 1976. Club officers at that time were:
The dues at that time were $10.00/ year, with approximately 116 members. A typical calendar of events included:
The state shoots were very successful in spite of limited space. There were fewer competitors back then. Silhouette shooting soon joined the scheduled events. In early 1979, the range was named “The Lloyd Quick Range” to thank Lloyd for his many years of dedicated service to the Club and his meticulous maintenance. The “beginning of the end” became a realization on April 18, 1982, when the range was temporarily closed by the City of Eustis, as some .45 caliber bullets ricocheted off the ground and over the berm, according to city officials, struck dirt about three feet away from a man on W. Seminole Avenue. The range was re-opened after promise of more strict safety monitoring. A similar incident occurred in July, 1985, when several rounds from the bull’s-eye range left the range and landed in a construction project. Increased complaints to the City Council of bullet holes in windows of neighboring homes, noise, and rounds found outside the confines of the range followed. (Although some of the displayed rounds were still in the cases and unfired.) The end result of this was that the E.G.C., Inc. voluntarily closed the LloydQuickRange on June6, 1986 to all but pellet shooting. Dues were then $25.00. The LloydQuickRange was maintained and pellet gun matches continued until our present range was purchased and the first berms were built. After several false starts, property belonging to the three cities, Eustis, Tavares, and MountDora (originally held for landfill expansion) south of Frankie’s Road in Astatula, was found in the winter of 1987. In spite of there being no range, the membership held at 94 regular and 16 life members. However, after years of minimal dues and expenses, everyone realized that the Club did not have sufficient funds for a major land purchase. Many fund raisers provided a few thousand dollars. At about this same time, the “Lake County Gun and Sportsman’s Club” in Clermont was forced to close and was bought out by a developer (and former Senator) who planned to put a golf course on the adjacent property. Our “rich cousins” from Clermont offered to give us $20,000.00 to help with our new range. All they asked in return was lifetime membership in our Club for their 86 members. This, by the way, at $200 per member (our charge for a lifetime membership) figured out to $17,200.00, so this actually included an additional gift of the extra $2,800.00. On April 12, 1990, three club members, through their benevolent generosity, financed 20-year mortgage notes for a total of $36,000.00 at 11% interest. These notes had low monthly payments with a 5-year balloon and no prepayment penalty. Having money available should have solved our problems of land acquisition. This was not the case, however. The political climate of one or more of the three cities threw one monkey wrench after another into our quest for land. Eustis and MountDora had given their approval in the summer 0f 1988 and Tavares in the fall of 1988, but then came application for a zoning change and more stalling. An updated survey was completed on January 31, 1989 and the deed was finally issued on May 19, 1990. In August 1990, it appeared that the Seabees might agree to practice with their heavy equipment by clearing and building berms on our range. The Arabian Desert seemed like a better practice area as Desert Storm put an end to that hope. By December, 1991, Don Plante had cleared the brush and Paul LeHoty had a 100-yd berm built from dirt dug from our present 50-yd berm. Pete Pringle, Bob LaDu, and Don Plante (using dirt from Don’s retention pond) laid out and constructed 25-, 50-, and 75-yard berms and an IPSC and plinking range on the sight of our present 200-meter range. In 1992, covers were built over our 100- and 50-yard shooting stations. Again under the direction of Paul LeHoty, concrete slabs were poured about a year later. Through fiscal conservatism and a dues increase in 1990 to $50.00 annually, and large donations from our disciplines, we managed to pay off two of the mortgage notes on November 10, 1992, and the final note on May 2, 1996. |
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Range Updates By Richard “Dick” Barton |
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After the completion of the 50- and 100-yard (#5 & #6) ranges the pocket berms (#1, #2, & #3) were built and completed in January, 1997. June, 1998, saw the completion of our 200 meter range (#7). In July, 1998, land was cleared for our first Trap range and the berms were built for the future town of Swampwater. The Traphouse was installed in October, 1998, and the shooting stations and electricity were installed in December, 1998. February, 1999, the concrete pad and cover for the 200 meter range was added. We cleared for the second trap range in November, 1999, and then installed the lights for night trap shooting the following spring. January, 2000, the construction of “Swampwater” (range #8 storefront) was begun, and with many hours of volunteer labor it was completed in February, 2001. Also in January, 2000, our quest for potable water began. After many permits and fees, much volunteer labor, and the necessary contacts provided by Wicks Consulting Services, we finally received or FDEP sign-off June, 15, 2001. June, 2000, due to vandalism of club property, it was necessary to install chain link fence and a gate. October, 2000, we were privileged to begin (and are continuing to) support the 4H Teens with the purchase of air rifles and related equipment. This is an ever growing enthusiastic and SAFE group who has won state and national championships. April, 2001, was extremely busy with the construction of two “state of the art” skeet houses, concrete slabs and shed roofs on the side of the shotgun and cowboy trailers as well as a spectators pavilion on the skeet and trap range. October, 2001, the tractor storage building was completed. Also the second trap range and 200 meter ranges were cleared. November, 2001, the steel for our future 36 x 68 ft. pavilion was ordered, and temporarily financed by one of our benevolent members. The pavilion was completed in July, 2002, and finally paid off in July 2003. February, 2002, the 2nd Trap house was installed and the range completed in October, 2002. June, 2003, with the aid of our attorney, the Lake County Board made it mandatory that each purchaser of land to our west must sign a declaration of understanding that 2 shooting ranges exist and are grandfathered in. January, 2005, we asked for and received an NRA range inspection. We received quite a few compliments on our proactive range management, and also quite a few good suggestions for improvements in safety procedures, and by-laws. We began the suggested safety improvements by raising all of our berms to 17 ft. minimum and adding 10 ft. wood walls on top. Ranges 1, 2, & 3 have single thickness wall for ricochet protection only. Ranges 5, 6, & 7 have pea gravel filled double walls to stop any A.D.’s from leaving the range. These improvements in November, 2005. For a total of 674 running feet at a cost of $75.00/ ft. July, 2006, new raised, ventilated roofs were installed on the 50-yard, 100-yard, and 200 meter ranges with cooling fans. October, 2006 and January, 2007 saw 2 storage sheds added to the shotgun range as well as increased shelters for shooters weather protection. May 2007, Storage shed and concrete pad for Cowboy’s. August and September, 2007 Sound abatement for covered ranges. June 15, 2009 - Completed the change of the pocket berms from three (3) to five (5). Range renumbering also completed. August 8, 2009 – Completed new storage facility to replace old trailers and small storage shed. September 2009 - Built 12' x 16' office building for Cowboy’s December 20, 2009 – Completed enclosure of pavilion. To be continued as we grow.
Updated 1-11-2010 CJ Zuber
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