Originally incorporated on March 1, 1940, as the Fort Kearney Wild Life Club, the organization was brought out of dormancy and renewed as the Fort Kearny Shooting Sports Association.  FKSSA is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of age-old sports, with a special emphasis on youth education and training.  Disciplines offered include trap, skeet, sporting clays, 5-Stand, Rifle and Pistol.  Future plans include the addition of   fishing, archery, camping and other outdoor activities.  Everyone can enjoy these sports as age, gender or physical ability will not limit your enjoyment.  Every new shooter can tell you how exciting it is to hit the target and, whether participating as age, gender, ethnicity or physical ability will not limit your enjoyment. Every shooter can tell you how exciting it is to hit the target, and whether they shoot in competition or just for the challenge of self-improvement, they soon become shooting enthusiasts.

Shooting sports offer great avenues of self-discovery as well as channels of connection between the generations. The opportunity to spend time in nature has a positive impact on young people and studies show that children who spend time outdoors have higher levels of self-confidence and increased levels of intelligence. Shooting teaches discipline, patience, mental concentration, quiet determination and a love of nature. It is a versatile sport and can be a team effort, a single person endeavor, or a time of communion and communication for multi-generation groups. What child wouldn’t remember a day at the range with a beloved grandparent or mentor?

The overriding goal of FKSSA is to provide a safe and diverse facility that will allow memorable outdoor experiences in nature to a wide variety of people of varying skill levels, and provide area youth with access to more Hunter Education programs and training for safety and accuracy. FKSSA is the only multi-discipline shooting complex in Buffalo County. The range is 160 acres of grass, trees and lakes located four and one-half miles north of Highway 30 at mile marker #279 on Poole Ave. The facility is accessible to all Buffalo County residents and residents of surrounding communities, and provides safety training, educational classes and activities, leagues, open shooting, private and special events, as well as independent shooting opportunities.

This range provides much needed services as well as sporting opportunities. FKSSA has partnered with local law enforcement to provide a place for training and qualifying for the Buffalo County Sheriff Department and City of Kearney Police Forces. In addition, the range provides pupils of Hunter Education classes the opportunity to shoot a gun and demonstrate the safety skills that they learn. The FKSSA complex has allowed the Buffalo County 4-H Shooting Sports Program to expand program offerings to include trap, smallbore rifle and archery.  FKSSA is also home to several area Junior/Senior High School Trap Teams including Ravenna and Kearney Catholic, as well as the Gibbon Team on a periodic basis.  Pheasants Forever hosts their Annual Youth Mentor Hunt at the facility and the grounds have been used by Scouting groups as well for camp-outs and other outdoor activities.

The range complex has progressed at an incredible pace, especially when you consider that a little over 5 years ago, the property was an unfenced quarter section of farm ground and that 90% of the construction has been completed by volunteers.  A fence and three rows of bushes, deciduous and evergreen trees now surround the property perimeter.  The basic infrastructure now in place includes a Club House/Warehouse, lighted skeet and trap fields, a sporting clays range, 5-Stand range, Educational Building, and a 100M Rifle/Pistol Range with a covered firing line.  The construction volunteers continue to forge ahead as they finish one project after another. 

Take a little drive out in the country and check-out the facility.  Think you'll be surprised at the size, scope and quality of the FKSSA complex.  There are many ways you can become a part of this exciting project.  Make a pledge, memorial gift or a donation, and don’t forget how much we always need and appreciate volunteers!