Many of the members of the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Task Force said they were voting for the “dirt.” 

And those who did said you couldn’t beat the “wow factor” of the proposed shooting complex location in the hills south of Cody.

Following two days of presentations and discussions in Cheyenne, the task force overwhelmingly picked Park County and Campbell County as the two finalists to land a proposed state shooting complex Tuesday. Among the 12 members of the task force, 11 put the Gillette and Cody sites among their top two choices.

A proposal from Central Wyoming to build the complex outside Casper was eliminated after finishing a distant third. A fourth finalist, Cheyenne, dropped out of the running Monday morning. 

“If I could combine these two into one it’d be the best possible facility that could be thought of. Campbell and Park, the strengths of one is the downfall of the other,” said task force member Sen. John Kolb (R-Rock Springs), adding, “You can’t beat the wow factor with Park County, but you can’t beat the commitment, frankly, that I’m hearing from Campbell County.”

The task force members will now conduct onsite visits in both counties before determining which one to pick. 

The site visit to Park County is set for July 15. 

Members of the local group trying to bring a state shooting complex to Cody had expected they’d be a finalist, as Forward Cody CEO James Klessens, one of the group’s leaders, has repeatedly said Park County is the one to beat. 

That sentiment has only been furthered by the task force’s deliberations, as among the nine communities initially in the running, Park County scored the highest by a good margin. Heading into this week’s meetings, the state task force had awarded 77.57 points out of 100 to Park County, 71.9 to Cheyenne, 71.47 to Casper and 69.52 to Gillette.