Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight
South Dakota’s new state-owned West River outdoor shooting range has had as many visits in five months as officials anticipated for its entire first year, according to an update Thursday.
The Pete Lien & Sons Shooting Sports Complex has logged more than 30,000 total visits since opening in early November.
In 2024, officials with Game, Fish and Parks guessed the site would see that many visits annually.
“We’re there in 5 months of operation,” the agency’s John Kanta said during a meeting of the state’s Game, Fish and Parks Commission.
Kanta said a rather mild winter helped. He said the complex has also sold 700 memberships and brought in nearly $100,000 in total sales.
The 400-acre complex is roughly 15 miles north of Rapid City and 25 miles southeast of Sturgis. It includes areas for long-range shooting, clay target shooting and tactical training.
Shooting competitions are filling the calendar, officials said, with some events expected to draw hundreds of shooters, and law enforcement agencies regularly use the site for training.
Rising use will likely require more staffing, according to Wildlife Division Director Tom Kirschenmann.
The strong early turnout comes after years of scrutiny over the project’s funding and development. After tribal artifacts were found during initial land surveys, Game, Fish and Parks opted not to use federal money to avoid stricter requirements for studying the site’s significance to Native Americans. Former Gov. Kristi Noem directed $13.5 million in governor-controlled Future Fund money to the project after lawmakers repeatedly declined to fund it.
Gun-industry companies and groups contributed $2 million toward construction, and some Democrats raised concerns about whether that would give donors leverage over the state.
About $6 million of the project’s total funding has been given or pledged by donors.
The Department of Game, Fish and Parks initially said in 2021 that the project would cost about $9.9 million. That grew to $12 million in 2022. The state paused the project when calls for bids drew only one bid. The price tag had ballooned to about $20 million by the time the state broke ground in December 2023.
The facility’s summer hours run from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. from May through August.