SAN ANTONIO – Picture this: you’re out riding your bike or walking your dog on a city trail and all of a sudden, you hear gunfire.
It’s a reality on the northwest side where one of the city’s newest hike, bike and walk trails runs parallel to a trap shooting range.
It’s along the Leon Creek system on a section of the trail that winds between Hausman Road and UTSA Boulevard.
The gun range, the San Antonio Target Hunting and Fishing Club, has been there more than 50 years.
In fact, the city really grew around it – including the new trail system.
Even though the club’s open only two days a week, the range and the trail have made for strange bedfellows, and now some people who use the trail want the city to make the situation safer.
“We’ve never had an accident,” club president Beto Camarillo says. “Knock on wood. We’ve never had an accident.”
The pop of a shotgun and the spin of a bicycle wheel coexist just a few hundred yards apart.
“This is one of the best things the city could have ever done for the community,” bicyclist Kem Cummings says about the greenway trail. “About a month ago I was riding through here and I hear all these popping noises."
That’s when Cummings noticed a clearing on the trail where he spotted the gun range.
"We're not worried because we shoot away from [the greenway],” Camarillo says.
Camarillo took News 4 for a walk away from the club and into the woods.
“This is a trail that people made,” he says.
Cummings took us on the same walk, but from up above, starting at the greenway.
"If you look, there's a trail down here,” Cummings says. "There are people walking through these things all the time."
They’re off-road paths connecting the greenway to the gun range.
“They come through here mostly on bicycles,” Camarillo says.
Both the bicyclist and the shooter view the paths as a shared problem.
"You don't want anyone to go through your land,” Camarillo says.
That’s why the club posted “no trespassing” signs warning off-roaders about live ammo nearby. Camarillo says chances are slim anyone would get shot.
"A shotgun is just a bunch of BBs together,” Camarillo says. “They fall just like rain back there.”
Cummings say the club has done all it can to protect its property, but is still worried.
“Accidents happen,” Cummings says.
He wants the city to post signs, not just at the trailhead, but all along the greenway, to warn families about the dangers of blazing their own trails.
"Stick a sign right here that says 'active gun range,’” Cummings says.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Department says the proximity was taken into consideration during construction of the greenway and so far, there have been no complaints.
The city also says there are a sufficient number of signs posted along the way.
