The Wyoming State Shooting Complex’s conceptual design, unveiled Thursday evening at the Park County Courthouse, features space for sporting clays, archery, rifle, action shooting, extreme long range, space for law enforcement training and more.

“The chosen site truly embodies the beauty of Wyoming and the spirit of the west,” said Glenn Ross, chair of the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board.

He said once the current work on the county road is finished, work can begin on the site itself and will “start in earnest” in the spring of 2026 with planned opening spring of 2027 for the just under $20 million project. 

Thursday’s meeting was all about the site, which has proved somewhat controversial as some people have objected to the land being developed at all — it’s frequented by mule deer and near sage grouse areas. 

Ross said they’re working with Game and Fish to develop a wildlife management plan and Director Angi Bruce and Commission Chair Ashlee Lundvall have been supportive of the process. 

“Consideration of potential wildlife impacts during design, construction and future operations is a high priority for us,” Ross said. “Along with the efforts to preserve the site’s Wyoming landscape and native vegetation, both for wildlife and grazing purposes, we anticipate continuing refining the site design and then constructing water, electrical and complex road arteries throughout this winter.” 

The $19.835 million price tag includes building site, design, engineering, complex construction, contingency monies, startup working capital and reserves. The board recently received $10 million from the state and legislators are working to get another $5.5 million in the next session. The rest is planned to come from organizations, sponsorships and fundraising.

“This is a very worthy project, but with that said, we have our eyes wide open,” Ross said. “Accomplishing a project of this magnitude takes much hard work and state and community collaboration.”

The site will feature an events center, which board member Danny Michael said will include space for 500-700 people as requested by the state, along with classroom space for educational opportunities and potentially even space for shooting small bore and archery inside, which could come in handy in the winter months. 

Michael said the goal is to have better facilities than are seen at many competitive shoots. 

“We’re envisioning a higher standard for our facility,” he said. “We want this to have nice amenities to be fully modern, fit in with the space, but we envision, you know, a very modern facility … we want to be able to host full service events.”

Beyond the building is roughly 2,000 acres of space to handle the many disciplines, which Ross said they’re trying to balance, from shotgun and rifle to archery. 

But what the board wants to offer for the range south of Cody that few others can match is the long range opportunities in a scenic location. 

Board member Jim Saubier said the standard rifle range will go out to at least 1,000 yards and be protected from the wind on both sides by ridges that provide natural buffers as well as a backstop. 

And then nearly half of the acreage reserved for disciplines is set aside for extreme long range shooting. 

“We have target capability out past 2,000 yards,” Saubier said. “We have plenty of space to do that,” adding that in some places they can reach 3,000 yards, “which, you know, is as far as any place in the country that I’m aware of.”