For WNC Shooters

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission announced a temporary closing of Wayne E. Smith Shooting Range in Haywood County. The temporary closing is for annual maintenance. The range is in the shadows of Cold Mountain (yes, THAT Cold Mountain). As it is the closest (free) public range, I’ve shot there a number of times.

From the WRC:

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will close the Wayne E. Smith Shooting Range on Cold Mountain Game Land in Haywood County April 13-17 for routine maintenance and repairs.


Commission staff closes the range for one week each spring to clean the grounds, shore the backstop, grade the shooting lanes, and then seed, fertilize and lime the lanes. Staff also will repair and grade the parking area and entrance road, as well as repair or replace shooting benches as needed. The range is scheduled to reopen on April 18.


The Wildlife Commission does not staff the Wayne E. Smith Shooting Range, but it is open to the public free of charge during daylight hours Monday through Saturday. No shooting is allowed on Sundays. Shooters are allowed to use pistols, rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders on the range, which features five shooting lanes.


The range does not have an address, but it is located near Waynesville in Haywood County, about two miles past Lake Logan off of Hwy 215, when traveling from Hwy 276. GPS coordinates are: -82 56.385, 35 22.841.


For more information about public and private shooting ranges across North Carolina, see the Wildlife Commission’s online interactive map. For more information about the Wayne E. Smith Shooting Range on Cold Mountain Game Land, contact Land Management Biologist David Stewart at 828-648-0008.

The only correction I might make to this is that the range, in my opinion, is closer to Canton than Waynesville.