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A lease to develop a 3-square-mile state-owned tract in the Absaroka Range foothills has been finalized without any mandatory measures to mitigate impacts on mule deer, which use “crucial” habitat that overlaps the site throughout the year.

The incursion into deer range and other designated wildlife habitat comes from the Wyoming State Shooting Complex, a subsidized public-private venture set in motion by successful 2023 legislation . Before a 12-member legislative task force voted in July 2024 to locate an event center, long-range targets and other infrastructure on the 1,956-acre property in Park County, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department issued a memo that e

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