HUDSON — McLean County residents wanting to visit an archery range will no longer have to travel to Decatur, Quincy, Pekin or Urbana.

The McLean County Department of Parks and Recreation plans to open a free public archery range at Comlara Park in May.

The archery range will be located just north of the intersection of 2300 North and 1300 North roads, and include five practice stations as well as 25 3-D stations.

The five practice stations will include either bag targets or blob targets.

“We haven’t decided yet,” said McLean County Department of Parks and Recreation Director Michael Steffa. “The bag targets aren’t as durable as the blob, but again it’s all going to come down to what we can afford, what kinds of donations we can get from conservation groups.”

The bag targets cost around $50 apiece and the 3-D targets cost $100-$1,000 apiece, said Steffa.

“We’re not going to have any of the $1,000 ones,” said Steffa. “It’ll just be the basic 3-D targets.”

The 3-D stations will include targets in the shape of animals. They will be located along a trail that will be secluded in the woods. 

Because of budget restrictions the county won’t be able to purchase and install all 25 of the 3-D stations this year. 

“We’re going to get some of the 3-D stations up and running this year,” said Steffa. “I don’t know how many our budget will allow.”

The county plans to provide archery equipment, such as bows and arrows, for park visitors sometime in the future.

“It’s similar to our fishing pole loan program where we have fishing poles here available for people to use at no costs,” said Steffa. “We’d like to do the same thing with bows and arrows. Those will probably be donated.”

For the past several years, county residents have contacted Department of Parks and Recreation, trying to find an archery range.

“We had people calling us up, asking us if we had an archery range or if we knew where one was,” said Steffa. “This has been something that the parks department has been wanting to do for several years.”

As an intern for the Department of Parks and Recreation, Brad Wood designed an archery range concept a few years ago. Now the operation supervisor for Department of Parks and Recreation, Wood is using the design he created as an intern as the blueprint for the archery range that will be built at Comlara Park.

“It was actually my idea when I was the intern for the park in 2004,” said Wood.

The range will meet or exceed all of the safety requirements set by the National Field Archery Association, said Wood.

“All the safety stuff is covered,” said Wood. “We have all of the adequate back stops for targets and plenty of space behind targets, in case someone was to miss.”

The range will complement the park’s deer management program that offers limited archery hunting for deer.

The Parks and Recreation Department hopes to get volunteers from conservation groups to help maintain the range.