New public archery range opens at Antelope Island State Park

It only took one try for Cody Jones to pop the balloon attached to a red ribbon at the new archery range at Antelope Island State Park on Wednesday morning.

The professional archer from Roy, representing Wilde Arrow Archery at the event, has been shooting since he was 4 years old, so it only made sense to give him the honor of officially opening the new range. He did so with a titanium steel-tip arrow from 70 yards in the wind.

“My dad got me involved when I was really young, so this is pretty much all I know,” Jones said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Archery is something that’s growing for sure and there’s a lot you can learn from it. It’s rewarding and challenging and it’s cool to add another range to the state where people can come and experience sportsmanship.”

The new range — on the northeast corner of the island near the Gravel Pit Trailhead — features a unique six-station walk-through course that simulates outdoor landscapes that present various challenges, such as up and down elevations. It’s the only outdoor archery range in Davis County that features a 100-yard target lane.

“We’ve got everything from 20 to 100 yards and a 3D range,” said Wendy Wilson, assistant manager at the park. “It’s been a lot of work and took about a year to put together and we had a lot of help. Having this is a new opportunity and a great fit for the park and we’re excited to have it.”

The archery brings the total number of ranges at Utah state parks to nine. Partners and donors for the project included archery manufacturers Wilde Arrow Archery, Easton Archery, Hoyt Archery, Beehive-Wasatch Bowhunters and the Utah Archery Association, as well as Friends of Antelope Island State Park, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation. A local Boy Scout troop also assisted in the project.

“I feel like the archery range is symbolic of the focus of the ecology and the beauty of the Salt Lake region,” said Davis County Commissioner Lorene Kamalu. “I have friends around the nation who come here to go on vacation and several of them come here. It’s an incredible place in the state of Utah. It’s an incredible place in the entire world.”

Outdoor Recreation Director Jason Curry said he hopes the archery range will be of interest to a lot of people.

“Our business is outdoor recreation,” he said. “We’re really proud to be a part of this and it’s a perfect model for what we’re about. We would love to see the visitor experience in state parks to be broader and deeper.”

Archery participants will need to bring their own equipment. There is no additional cost to use the range, as it is part of the park’s general admission fee.

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