UTAH AIRSOFT COMMUNITY AOs (AREAS OF OPERATION)
“Where are the airsoft fields in Utah?”
There are commercial airsoft “fields” in Utah. Commercial meaning a place you pay to play, or a place run as a business. BTA does not have any relationship with any commercial airsoft arenas, so we will not discuss them here. Most of the organized groups here in Utah play on public or private land with permission or tolerance. While there are a few locations that are actual private property where a team has been given exclusive permission to play there, there has also been a lot of misrepresentation of permission or who is allowed on some of these properties. BTA has decided to take it a step farther and for all the sites old and new, we have begun digging into the legality of playing airsoft where we all do. We call or meet face to face with Local Law Enforcement, City Offices, BLM (Bureau of Land Management), Forest Services, Indian Nations, Businesses, and Private Owners. These inquiries have been quite enlightening and we have received very mixed results. While we have been told “absolutely not” by some businesses and private owners (mostly due to liability), most public sources have been reluctant to say yes or no. Local law enforcement does not always have the authority to give or deny permission to use sites, yet they can enforce the law if you are doing something illegal (littering, disturbing the peace, vandalizing, shooting within city limits, lighting fires including smoke and fireworks, etc…). I have found the following to be the most common replies: Be careful, Don’t do anything illegal, Respect others (hikers, campers, bikers, shooters, paintballers, etc…), Be courteous to Law Enforcement (most will leave you alone, at worse some will ask you to leave), and the most common being… Don’t litter. Most of the airsoft community’s locations are public use lands, how we treat it and behave while using it determines whether we will be permitted to continue using it.
“Can you post the AO location?”
None of the local groups publicly posts these locations, due to the fact that a great deal of hard work goes into finding, securing, and maintaining a good airsoft location. While trying not to be rude, we do not want to freely give away our fields to other activities (such as paintball, 4-wheelers, “real-steel” shooting, etc…) that are potentially damaging to the terrain we enjoy using.
“Can’t you have games closer to my house?”
Traveling away from populated areas to secure airsoft locations is worth it. Playing too close to the public eye is not only dangerous but it could easily draw unwanted attention and could potentially lead to banning airsoft, or worse. Therefore, it is in the Utah airsoft community’s best interest to preserve quality airsoft locations safely away from the general populace.
“Will you tell my team where you play so we can play our airsoft games there too?”
If you want to know where to play, it is preferred that you attend a group’s events to learn the locations. However before you do, Look up each groups rules, so you will be prepared to “play” with each group on their terms.
If you know of a location that you think may be suitable for airsoft, and you are not sure how to go about making sure it is okay to use, e-mail this web site. We can check out the site as we do all BTA used AOs.
BTA has made it our mission to document the current central Utah airsoft AOs. Thus far, we have a list of over twenty AOs in six Utah counties, commonly used by BTA, BoE, UCA, UAA, JFFA, TAC4, and various other groups. Documented are details such as legality, safety, coordinates, addresses, directions, road conditions, terrain, history, and more. In 2011 BTA introduced five brand new AOs, and currently has more potential fields.
Check out the BTA AO list here…
http://blackthornairsoft.squarespace.com/ao-area-of-operation-code-name/