Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Worland High School student Tailynn Logan gets instruction from Kody Outland on holding and aiming a shotgun during a class at Worland Shooting Complex Thursday, Sept. 22.
WORLAND - Last week Worland High School physical education classes spent time outdoors learning how to safely shoot 20-gauge shotguns at the Worland Shooting Complex.
"That's one of our main goals, to get youth more involved but to do it safely," Complex Board President Tom Outland said.
He said the complex, on 400 acres of city-owned land, provides a safe environment for family-oriented shooting activities.
Outland said the Bureau of Land Management donated the land to the city for the purpose of a shooting complex and they lease it from the city.
Last week three complex members, Outland, Steve Roseberry and Outland's son, Kody Outland, helped students develop the proper stance for shooting a shotgun, let them shoot at a stationary target and shoot at a moving target at the trap shoot range.
Outland said in one class there were only two students who had ever shot a shotgun before.
He said they also worked with the students on determining right eye or left eye dominance.
In addition to Worland High School students utilizing the facility and taking advantage of the knowledge of some of the members, Outland said the complex is used by Washakie County 4-H Shooting Sports, Worland Police Department, hunter education classes and most recently the Wyoming Highway Patrol used the facility for its semi-annual qualifications.
"We encourage different groups to utilize the facility," Outland said.
He said over the past six to eight years, the board has invested $100,000 in improvements. There is a trap range, skeet range and 5-stand shotgun range, .22 range, archery range, rifle range, black powder range (where they have hosted multiple state competitions that includes shooters from around the country), regular and tactical pistol ranges.
Outland said the newest enhancement is a silhouette .22 range that includes a row of metal chickens at 50 yards, pigs at 100 yards, turkeys at 150 yards and a bighorn ram at 200 yards.
He said the Worland Shooting Complex is one of the only ones in the state with a 1,000 yard range.
The board would like to see more archery contests and shotgun competitions but it takes volunteers, something they, like many organizations, have a short supply.
Outland said they had a planned a hunter education challenge this month but had few registrations and realized in the fall there are many activities for youth. They plan to reschedule the event for the spring when school is out.
He said it will be an opportunity for youth to learn and try archery, .22 rifle, shotgun and muzzleloader. There will also be a hunter safety trail and wildlife identification. He said the challenge for wildlife identification is that a youth member would be given a license, say for a buck mule deer and as they come up against wildlife they must determine if it is OK to shoot the animal with the license they were given.
As a non-profit organization, the Worland Shooting Complex operates on membership fees, donations and grants.
Currently they have about 400 members, with Outland noting that many out-of-state hunters become members with the annual fee economical. It provides a place for them to sight in their rifles before going out hunting.
The complex can be found northwest of Worland off of the landfill road.
