More than 2,000 acres about 7 miles south of Cody has been chosen as the site for a $10 million Wyoming state shooting complex, but the lead won’t start flying there until 2026.
“The site has lots of topography and opportunity for shooting events (and) for shooting on steep slopes and across canyons,” state Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
Hicks co-sponsored a bill with the 2023 Legislature authorizing the money for the shooting complex. That bill also authorized the creation of a task force to oversee site selection, which has been ongoing this year.
The task force, which Hicks co-chairs, voted Monday to approve the Park County site, he said, beating out a proposal from Campbell County.
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Won’t Open Until At Least 2026
Nine Wyoming communities entered a competitive race for the shooting complex, and Park County and Campbell County were announced as the two finalists last month.
The $10 million for the shooting complex was set aside in a special fund that can’t be touched until the Legislature says so.
The money includes $5 million from the state’s general fund, $2.5 million from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and $2.5 million from the Wyoming Office of Tourism.
If all goes as planned, the Legislature will release the money and greenlight the project in Park County during its 2025 session, Hicks said.
Then construction could begin at the site by spring 2025, he said. Park County has earmarked 2,036 acres about 7.5 miles south of Cody along Highway 120, also known as the Meeteetse Highway.
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There could be a ribbon cutting and first shooting events at the new complex during the spring or early summer 2026, Hicks said.
Park County has won a competive process to be home to a new $10 million Wyoming state shooting complex. It will be built on land about 7 miles south of Cody oaff Highway 120. (Andrew Rossi, Cowboy State Daily)
Park County has won a competive process to be home to a new $10 million Wyoming state shooting complex. It will be built on land about 7 miles south of Cody oaff Highway 120. (Andrew Rossi, Cowboy State Daily)
Park County has won a competive process to be home to a new $10 million Wyoming state shooting complex. It will be built on land about 7 miles south of Cody oaff Highway 120. (Andrew Rossi, Cowboy State Daily)
The Draw Of Cody Sealed The Deal
Park and Cambell counties both had excellent proposals, members of the task force said, according to a video recording of Monday’s meeting.
But Cody’s existing draw as a premier tourist destination tipped the scales.
“The draw is what smoked Gillette,” said task force member Dave Glenn, who is director of Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources.
That’s despite Campell County having better available infrastructure, he added.
However, there’s some concern that people coming to Park County for shooting competitions won’t visit other parts of Wyoming, said task force member Nish Goicolea.
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Part of the intent of bringing a world-class competitive shooting complex to Wyoming was to draw visitors to other areas of the state, added Goicolea, who is the communications and education chief for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
“I think if you bring people to Campbell County, they will end up in Park County at the end of the day. If you being them to Park County they won’t end up in Campbell County,” she said.
Making Wyoming A Regional Draw
From the beginning, Hicks and other boosters of the shooting complex have noted that several other neighboring states, such as Colorado and South Dakota, have expansive, multimillion-dollar shooting facilities.
Far from being mere target ranges, they attract top-tier national and international shooting competitions, which bring in some serious money.
With Wyoming’s reputation as a Second Amendment-friendly state, it only makes sense for the Cowboy State to have a shooting complex. And Wyoming’s facility should rival, and perhaps out-class, others in the region, Hicks and other boosters have argued.
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The vision for the Wyoming state shooting complex includes ranges for a huge variety of shooting sports, such as extreme long-range rifle, pistols, tactical shooting competitions, shotgun sports, archery and more.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — The Casper City Council voted Tuesday to approve on first reading a zoning change for a vacant 2.4-acre parcel located at 1530 SE Wyoming Boulevard, transitioning the property from residential to commercial use.
The ordinance reclassifies Lot 4 of the Methodist Church Addition from Residential Estate to General Business. Located between East 15th and East 18th streets, the irregular-shaped property has remained undeveloped since it was first platted in 1984.
While original plans for the subdivision envisioned a church and an associated preschool, Community Development Director Liz Becher reported those projects never materialized.
According to Becher, the applicant sought the rezoning to facilitate the potential installation of a cell tower or an off-premises sign. Under the new C-2 designation, a cell tower up to 130 feet in height is considered a permitted use by right, though any off-premises sign would still require a conditional use permit from the Planning and Zoning Commission. The applicant also owns the adjacent lot to the north, which the city rezoned to general business in 2021.
Becher said the change aligns with the “Employment Mixed Use” classification in the Generation Casper comprehensive land use plan. This designation typically supports civic, institutional and employment spaces.
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Despite the new zoning, the property remains subject to a subdivision agreement that limits traffic access. Entry and exit are restricted to right turns onto or from East 15th Street, and no access is permitted from East 18th Street.
The council will vote on two more readings of the ordinance before it is officially ratified.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Two men were detained in Wyoming in connection with a fatal shooting at a downtown Salt Lake hotel that killed one man.
Carlos Chee, 23, and Chino Aguilar, 21, were both wanted for first-degree felony murder after the victim, identified as Christian Lee, 32, was found dead in a room at the Springhill Suites near 600 South and 300 West.
According to warrants issued for their arrest, Chee and Aguilar met with Lee and another woman at the hotel to sell marijuana. During the alleged drug deal, Aguilar allegedly shot and killed Lee after he tried to grab at his gun.
MORE | Shootings
Investigators said they found Lee dead in the room upon arrival, as well as a single shell casing on the floor and a small amount of marijuana on the television stand.
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The woman told investigators she had met Chee on a dating app and that he agreed to come to the hotel to sell her marijuana. She had been hanging out with him in the room, which Lee rented for her to use, when Lee asked them to leave. Lee was then shot and killed following a brief confrontation.
Chee and Aguilar allegedly fled the scene in a 2013 Toyota Camry with a Texas license plate that was later found outside of Rock Springs, Wyoming just a few hours later.
The two men were taken into custody and detained at the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyoming (KUTV) — A man was hospitalized with critical injuries after he was reportedly shot by a deputy responding to reports of a disturbance.
Deputies with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office and officers with the Rock Springs Police Department responded to the Sweetwater Heights apartment complex in the 2100 block of Century Boulevard just after 4 a.m. on Monday to investigate reports of a disturbance involving an armed individual.
Information that dispatch received indicated that the individual had shot himself. When officials arrived, they found the individual on the balcony of an upstairs apartment “who appeared to have a gunshot wound consistent with the initial report,” a press release states.
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During the encounter, a deputy discharged their weapon and struck the individual.
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Emergency medical personnel rendered aid, and the individual was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
No law enforcement officers or members of the public were injured during the incident.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will conduct an independent investigation.
The deputy who fired their weapon was placed on administrative leave per standard protocol.
