A design for the Wyoming State Shooting Complex could be approved early this month after the design committee revealed a map of where various shooting disciplines would be located at the Sept. 25 meeting. 

Jim Saubier, head of the design committee, displayed a revised design for the complex in order to have the landscape meet the board’s vision and state requirements.

There’s space for an events center, a large pole barn storage building, multiple shotgun disciplines, pistol and action handgun/three-gun shooting, various long range bays and an extreme long range area where people can rent a bay, a trainer, and try their hand at hitting targets placed more than a mile away. 

The latter area is at the southern end of the range, meaning those long range shooters will go by the rest of the range on the way there and back. 

“Those people that want to shoot that long range and experience that can come in and they’re going to be able to go and see our entire range,” Saubier said. “They’re going to get to see all these different shooting disciplines on their way.”

The long range shooting options and the views that surround it were frequently mentioned as key aspects that will set Wyoming’s shooting range apart. 

“What we’re building makes the Rapid City [complex] look pretty minuscule. There’s nothing but a bunch of burns built out in the middle of a prairie. There’s no view shed,” board member James Klessens said, adding “Theirs looks institutional, ours is going to look natural, and it’s going to be amazing.”

Fellow board member Danny Michaels, also part of the design committee, said the redesign solved some earlier problems they had run into and was made to be scalable to allow for additional areas in the future.

“It allows us to get up and running,” he said, adding “We still have the ability to host any, any of these official [events] or whatever on our property in a manner that is world class.”

The board is planning on scheduling a mid October meeting to reveal the design to the public following the expected adoption of the design, which came about after a number of experts on various disciplines were brought out to tour the site. 

There was a lot of praise for the nearly $20 million projects design, such as from Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, a member of the legislative task force overseeing the complex, who said it’ll be “exciting to see how it all comes out.”

Not everyone, however, was as enthused. 

Shooting complex proponent Scott Weber, who also spoke during public comment, told the Tribune afterward that what is being proposed isn’t enough to make for a sustainable complex, which he said would need to make roughly $500,000 a year just to clear costs for salaries for employees. 

Specifically, the longtime competitive shooter is concerned there isn’t enough space in the shotgun disciplines to run even as large of events as can be done at the Cody Shooting Complex, of which Weber is a member. 

Last week he sent a letter to the board with more of his thoughts on the matter, expressing his concern that if the infrastructure isn’t in place, hosting a large shoot with issues would lead to a “disaster.”

“If you don’t have the facility to do a large shoot, what are we doing here?” he said.  

Cody resident and gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien likewise raised concerns that the complex does need to be self sufficient. 

“This thing has to be self sustainable,” he said, adding that having spaces for law enforcement and other governmental organizations to train would be a big boon to revenue. “There are opportunities here to bring in a lot of money so the taxpayers aren’t on the hook.”

Revenue for the complex is expected to come from multiple sources, including memberships and other revenue made at the range, such as from campsing spaces and clay pigeons, as well as sponsorships, which are currently being pursued.

The board meets Thursday morning at Yellowstone Regional Airport to potentially approve the design, with a public meeting scheduled Oct. 15, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the alternate EOC room at the Park County Courthouse to show off the new design to the public.