The Lee Kay Public Shooting Range, as it’s been known by several names since its opening, has been educating people about gun safety and offering a safe space to practice archery and firearm target shooting for over 40 years.

To highlight and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the shooting range, several discounts for the various ranges will be offered throughout August, coinciding with National Shooting Sports Month. An instructor will also be available to offer training and tips for each of the different types of shooting sports at the range, located at 6000 West 2100 South in Salt Lake City. The discounts are as follows:

• Aug. 7: Visitors will be able to shoot at the archery range for free. 

• Aug. 14: Visitors will be able to shoot at the Big Bore rifle ranges (100, 200, 300 yards) for free.

• Aug. 21: Visitors will be able to shoot for half-price for one round at one of the shotgun ranges (includes trap, skeet and five-stand). 

• Aug. 28: Visitors to the 25/75 yard rifle ranges will be able to shoot for free. 

The site of the shooting range was previously called the “Utah Ordnance Depot.” It was used as a wartime ammunition plant operated by Remington to produce and test .30 caliber and .50 caliber ammunition during World War II. In 1949 – after the war had ended – Congress authorized the transfer of that federal land to be used for wildlife conservation.

Construction for the 1,034-acre shooting range began in 1979, and the dedication of the Lee Kay Public Shooting Range was held on Sept. 28, 1981. The range was created to provide a space where people could learn hunter education and gun safety, as well as safely target shoot in Salt Lake County. 

Utah began its local Hunter Education Program in 1957 because, at the time, the state had one of the highest rates of hunting incidents in the U.S. That year, there were 165,081 licensed hunters in Utah, and a reported 126 hunting incidents, 22 of which ended in fatalities.

 The range was named after Lee Kay, who was instrumental in helping to start the Hunter Education Program in Utah, as well as creating magazines, videos and other outreach programs to promote gun safety, hunting and fishing in Utah. He worked for the DWR from 1927 to 1962 and earned the nickname “Mr. Conservation.” 

The Lee Kay Public Shooting Range is currently the only outdoor shooting range in the Salt Lake Valley. 

“The dog training area is probably one of the least well-known parts of the facility,” DWR Lee Kay Public Shooting Range Manager Blanche Smith said. “It provides a 934-acre area where people can train hunting dogs, and many of our users have told us they consider it to be one of the top 10 hunting dog training facilities in the U.S.” 

On average, the Lee Kay Public Shooting Range has roughly 50,000 visitors a year to its various ranges. Over 1 million clay targets are thrown each year at the shotgun ranges.