Lonesome Road Archery a hot spot for the sport

Children and adults can learn the sport of archery at Lonesome Road Archery. It is owned by brothers Kevin and Jason Jones and has been opened since 1987 for 36 years.

It is located at 401 S. Main St. in Taylor.

“Kevin and I both started archery at an early age around 9 or 10 years old. We attended parks and rec programs which promoted archery. We enjoyed the discipline and competition,” Jason said.

“We were both very competitive archers and wanted to make our hobby a profession.”

Both brothers compete as archers and hunt. Kevin is a former world record holder.

“I like to shoot the leagues they have in the winter. It is fun to socialize and shoot with the people that come. I sometimes shoot in the tournaments throughout the year as well and have shot state and national tournaments in the past. I help with archery lessons on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We have six children and while they were growing up, we traveled many weekends during the years to different archery tournaments at different clubs in PA and also state and national tournaments every year. Our grandchildren are staring to shoot archery,” said Lisa Jones, wife of Jason.

Students come from schools throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, including Abington Heights, Scranton Prep and the University of Scranton, to shoot at Lonesome Road Archery.

Brother and sister Justin and Natalie Wince, of Ransom Township, have been involved in archery at Lonesome Road for 8 years.

“My brother received a gift card for a few lessons from my grandfather for his birthday. He came home every Wednesday telling me about how much fun he had, and I decided to join him. It only took one lesson for me to be hooked,” said Natalie.

She helps out at with lessons, organizing events and working on the social media account.

They have both traveled to Las Vegas for the Vegas shoot, which is the largest indoor tournament in the world.

Lonesome Road Archery uses targets both inside and outside. The color of the target indicates a scoring area from 10 to 1 point.

Bigger targets are used outdoors for longer distances and smaller targets for indoor shooting. Lonesome Road Archery has a computerized 3-D Animal shooting system and lifelike animal 3-D targets such as bear, deer and turkey.

Some of the bows used are recurve bows, long bows, compound bows and crossbows. Fatter arrows are used when shooting indoors and smaller more dynamic arrows are used for outdoor distance shooting.

“We host leagues regularly, do archery day camps and celebrate holidays such as Halloween where we shoot apples, pumpkins and grapes. Archery is for everyone nationwide,“ said Jason Jones.

Lonesome Road Archery holds regional, state and national competitions at their indoor and outdoor ranges, Many of the youth archers travel to national competitions throughout the state and nations, including Las Vegas; Louisville, Kentucky; and other states that rotate these competitions. Some have competed in foreign countries for world championships. Many of the shooters hold state, national and world records.

Natalie Wince has achieved many awards through her years through the sport of archery. These include a perfect 300 indoor score and a JOAD silver Olympian. She has placed numerous times in the NFAA indoor Mid Atlantic, including second place in 2023 in women’s, second place in 2022 for intermediate 15 to 17 and first place in 2021 Intermediate 15 to 17.

At the Lancaster Archery Classic in 2022, she placed eighth in the 627 qualification and sixth place in the Lancaster Archery youth and Collegiate Tournament in 2022. She placed 31st in the 2023 women’s division Lancaster Archery Classic. She has participated in the PSAA Indoor states and JOAD Indoor states, placing first through third in various events.

“There are many aspects of archery that I have enjoyed. I love being head-to-head in a competition. In practice, I love the calming and focused feeling I get. If I am having a bad or stressful day, shooting is a great way to reset. Another aspect of shooting archery is the visual improvement in score and in groupings. From the moment you start, you will constantly improve,” she said.

She graduated from Abington Heights High School in 2023. She was in the honors orchestra and honors choir while in high school and performed through the community in both groups. She has participated in Marywood University’s String Project. She plays the cello, guitar and sings.

Natalie Wince will be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology for Mechanical Engineering Technologies where she will be a performing arts scholar. She will continue archery on the newly formed collegiate team.

“I wanted to shoot because I wanted to hunt. I enjoy most about archery is the way it is relaxed and yet competitive at the same time,” said Justin Wince.

He also plays Lacrosse and will be entering ninth grade at Abington Heights High School in the fall.

They are the children of Heather and Mike Wince.

“Our boys and girls youth teams have won 25 consecutive national team championships. We have taught thousands of archers to shoot and as they have grown up, we are now teaching their children. Archery is a total family sport where children, parents and grandparents can shoot side by side. Archery is a very old, traditional sport known as the sport of Kings. It challenges your mental and physical skills and is a great social activity and a lot of fun,” said Jason Jones.

Lessons are available from age 7 to adult.

Hours of operation change from seasons. During the summer months, it is open 5 days a week with shorter hours and in the fall and winter open 6 days a week with expanded hours. It is closed on Monday.

It is a service center for all archery equipment. Hunting and target equipment is for sell.

For more information, visit the Lonesome Road Archery web page and Facebook page or call 570-562-0301.