If you want to keep your arrows, BRING: a SCREWDRIVER, an ARROWPULLER, and a BUDDY. In a nutshell: This is an outdoor range with stratified carpet targets ranging from 20 — 80 meters. Did I mention you will need a screwdriver, an arrow puller, and a buddy? Parking: park close to the park entrance. Parking fee: $ 5. Range Fee: $ 10/YEAR. Get the pass at the Lake Poway Concession bungalo(close to the dock). COPY/PASTE: Lake Poway Concession: 14644 Lake Poway Rd; Poway, CA92064 I wish I could pay more so the park can afford better target platforms. Location: This range can be tricky to find. Just turn on the satellite image layer on your map app and remember to be wary of cross traffic. Walk up a little hill lined with gravel. ***********SAFETYWARNING!!!************* DONOT hop over the chained fence! You would be stepping into the line of fire. Many beginners come here to practice and may not be aware of their surroundings. The range entrance is marked with a sign, but the walkway is covered by a jerk eucalyptus bush. :P Safety: If it’s your first time here, be sure to take a short moment to read the advisories posted across from the entrance of the range. Targets: The targets here start at 20 meters and the furthest is at 80. For those who want a shorter range, I would recommend going to the Morley Field archery range — where the targets start at 10 yards(the units are differ at every range); and there is almost always a good Samaritan there to look out for your safety. There are 3 target platforms at 20 meters, 3 at 30 meters; and all of them have a hard spot on the center where arrows will not catch due to being worn out. Some of the usual archers here bring their own perforated surface(styrofoam wall insulator from Home Depot FTW) to make sure the arrow catches. The target platform material is made of stacks of carpet secured by wood on top, and on the bottom. Every time I hit the wood, I’m awarded a very audible ‘THONK!’ …Upoon which, I have to put my ENTIREBODYWEIGHTANDSOUL into the effort of pulling it out. Want some arrow tips? Come pull them here! You would deserve it if you can. The usual archers here always have the following: an arrow puller, a screwdriver, and a buddy to help pull the arrow. Trust me, you’ll need all three. Good news: a few of the newer platforms are made of closed cell foam which are softer on the arrow. Amenities: There is a permanent recess with two tables to rest from the sun. It gets very hot here during the day. A porta-potty sits just outside the range, and for goodness sake, please don’t hop the chain fence.
Eric L.
Place rating: 3 San Diego, CA
So I realized that there is no reviews for the Lake Poway Archery Range. There are reveiws for the lake itself, but none for the archery range. I want to write one specifically for the range because it is its own entity itself. Archery: Whether or not you’re trying to tap into your inner Legolas or Katniss, or if you’re just trying to prepare yourself for the zombie apocalypse, you have to practice. Practice makes perfect and the places to practice are ranges. You COULD do it in your back yard but if you shank an arrow and inadvertently injure Fluffy next door, there may be bigger issues at hand than an oncoming onslaught of walkers. Overall Facilities: Lake Poway Archery Range is just down the road from the Lake Poway Park. It is a range that has a wide variety of distances to shoot to from 18 meters to I think 50 meters. For a beginner like me, start with a 18 or 20 meter. The whole lot is on dirt so wear comfy shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty. It’s a little hidden from the street since you have to go a driveway a little and hook to the left up a small trail. This is the entrance to get to the shooter area. If you continue up the small road, you’ll end up to the right of where everyone’s shooting at. Crowdedness: I went on a Sunday at about 2:00 pm. Maybe it’s because it was really hot and humid out in September, but there was literally no one else there. It was just me. This is great because I didn’t have to worry about waiting for other shooters and I didn’t have to worry about other shooters waiting for me. Since it’s almost like a little personal shooting range, I’d give this a major thumbs up. Targets: This is where I think it’s fairly lacking. Most of my shooting has been done at summer camps and Performance Archery(On Miramar). These places have hay bails and rubber composite stops that have paper targets you can shoot at. In other words, you shoot, your arrow sticks in and doesn’t damage anything. At Lake Poway Archery Range, you’re shooting at stacks of old carpet that’s been sitting out, which means dried up and hard. During my session, at least 20% of my shots didn’t stick into the target and just bounced off. After each of these, I inspected the arrows to make sure they didn’t break. Luckily, none did. I’m not sure if I’m just spoiled or what, but this was a HUGE turnoff. You do have to bring your own targets, which isn’t a big deal since it’s just a piece of paper. Luckily there were old targets there. You can also use post it nodes and old coffee cup lids as I had also seen there. Cost: This is where this range shines compared to Performance Archery. First off let’s talk about parking. You have to park at the Lake Poway Park parking lot in order to get here, unless you bike or walk from a nearbye house. There is no public parking anywhere else. This is a major downer because it’s $ 5 each time you go on weekends/holidays unless you’re a resident of the city of Poway. Once you park, you do have to get an archery card. This costs $ 10 and can be purchased from the concessions stand(They take credit card). So for a year, it’s a one time fee of $ 10 + $ 5 each time you park. Not too bad comparing it to the $ 8 /hour at Performance. Summary: In the end, I’d say it’s definitely worth going if you want to shoot for cheap. if you’re a Poway resident, even better. There are some things that could be better but hey, it’s $ 10 for a year’s worth of shooting + parking. I’ll continue to shoot at Performance Archery on my work lunch breaks, but that’s only because Lake Poway Archery Range is too far. TL:DR — Cheap place to practice archery but without the niceities.
