Best target

[James Boyd]

#3473

What’s the best target?

[jpc]

#20860

the best target is that you can reach 😛

That aside , your question means nothing

[James Boyd]

#25708

My target holds on to my arrows ,and has anyone made a good fit target ?

[Stephen Graf]

#30918

I made a target some years ago that still works well. Make a roofed frame that will hold 3 bales of hay. Affix some rubber stall mat to the back wall of it. Put the bales of hay in front of it. There you go. Use hay not straw. Hay lasts longer and stops arrows better.

Over the years I’ve added new stall mat as the old mat gets shot out. Each new layer lasts longer than the last as it has the mat behind it to help absorb the shock.

If you just want to buy a target, I can’t help you much. Most store bought targets can be shot out in a few days by a traditional archer.

[Charles Ek]

#31259

Another variation on Steve’s concept is to use burlap or canvas bags densely stuffed with plastic wrap and/or bubble wrap, while still using the horse stall mat as a backstop. Arrows are easily removed with this arrangement.

If you save all plastic packaging material that comes into your home instead of discarding it, you may have enough in a surprisingly (and depressingly) short time. Retailers and other businesses that receive goods in plastic wrap are also possible sources.

I use polypropylene target faces in front of the bags, and these last a very long time: http://morrelltargets.com/target-faces/

Avoid the urge to use any foam for stuffing, as it has a tendency to seep out in small particles once you start shooting.

[grumpy]

#36303

We have a stuff bag (poly weave) stuffed with plastic bags. We got that after going through numerous Styrofoam targets. It has lasted us about 10 times the life of a styrofoam target.

When I worked in construction I used the same kind of bags for trash. Think they would be cheaper, but don’t recall where I got them.

[Ralph]

#36588

“If you just want to buy a target, I can’t help you much. Most store bought targets can be shot out in a few days by a traditional archer.“

Steve,I’m assuming you be hitting the target with regularity? 🙄

[Brennan Herr]

#36982

I have tried many targets. I get the best use out of these…

Morrell Yellow Jacket field

point target.

I get them at Wal-Mart in the fall for around $40. I have been using one daily for a year and have been getting good results. Every month or so I lay it on the floor and jump on it to redistribute the filling. I also added a Glen dale buck and replaced the foam insert with a crossbow feild point target. That has been working great as well. I am saving the foam insert for broad head practice starting late this summer.

[Stephen Graf]

#43391

R2 wrote: “If you just want to buy a target, I can’t help you much. Most store bought targets can be shot out in a few days by a traditional archer.

“

Steve,I’m assuming you be hitting the target with regularity? 🙄

Good catch Ralph! My philosophy is to only hit the backstop, avoiding the target at all costs 😈 Hitting the target is so predictable and boring. But missing the target each and every time in a new and unexpected way is invigorating 😈 👿 🙄 😳

[Ralph]

#45692

Seems a waste of effort to buy hay. Shoot to miss your backstop, Chase arrows in the woods during hunting season. Twofold effort then.

Gunny sacks filled with plastic works. Just takes maintaining now and then and new gunny sack put on over old.

Some have a ready supply of burlap bags. Mine cost $1 or so at local farm and ranch store.

I need to hit my target cause if not my fence is hard on wood arrows at times.

Good I have fence or Jose Goate out back wouldn’t be happy with accidentally arrowed goats or sheep (I prefer mutton to goat) 😉

[David Coulter]

#48021

I Have three types that I use. I set up bales, a la Graf, and it works well. I hang the stall matt so it swings and that scrubs off some energy. I also use feed bags stuffed with worn out tarps. Again, if they hang and swing the arrows don’t penetrate as far. I tried this set up with grocery bags but they punch out the back and make the yard look like a wally world parking lot. Lastly, I use a carboard box full of catalogs for my broadhead practice. When the face starts getting shot out just add some duct tape. Steve’s right. The less you hit them, the longer they last. Dwc

[wojo14]

#10124

Best target….rotten stumps!8)

[grumpy]

#16865

Backstop??? Actually our target leans against a stone wall (not the decorative type of stone wall, this one was to keep the cows in. About 300 years old) The first time I missed I broke a carbon shaft. So I put a 1 x 12 on each side of the target. Haven’t missed the target since. If I manage to miss all of that the arrow goes into the cemetery, they don’t mind they have been dead for 300 years.

[David Coulter]

#21050

Building those stone walls was rough on folks.. dwc

[grumpy]

#25688

…and they are everywhere. Many made with car size stones, and they go for miles around here. Every spring they would have a horse drag a sled across the fields, and dig up any rocks pushed up by the frost and add them to the walls that kept the cows out of the corn. Made by hand with the help of grumpy oxen and horses. They started in 1717 (or before) and continued until they invented barbed wire.

[wahoo]

#10104

best target — big bull at about 6yds . sorry couldn’t help myself. I shoot mckenzies the block , stuffed bags ,stumps all good

[Ed Ashby]

#41601

Hard to beat a sand pile or sand pit for a target, especially for broadhead practice.

Ed

[Mark Turton]

#61124

Engineers supply stores often have bags of rags that have been vacuum packed I have wrapped them in cross weave tape and they last well, broadheads open them up a little but another wrap of cross weave and they are good to go.

Out the back at work I have a ‘block’ of recycled plastic its darn hard and holds arrows like a vice I keep hoping it might soften up but shows no sign of it.

Mark.

[Greg Ragan]

#63201

Tractor supply now sells compressed straw bales. They run about $14 here. They come already wrapped in plastic with a carry handle. Mine has lasted many weeks of daily pounding with broadheads and it is still going strong I put it under the porch when I am done). Should last a season with field tips. My bag target on the other hand was destroyed by animals in about 3 weeks of only field tip use. For the price I could have had 3 of these bales and had an ice cream.

Greg

[James Harvey]

#28719

Those rhinehart(sp?) cube things that look like a big dice are about the most popular I see other guys with (you can pick em up and throw them on the seat of your car for example). But if you want a more permanent one, I’m sure if you did a search for “home made targets” or “target build along” you’d find some great ideas.

I remembered Steve put up some pics of his target.. try this thread:

https://www.tradbow.com/members/cfmbb/messages.cfm?messageid=804A1617-1422-1DE9-ED77786BC9184DBB#804A1617-1422-1DE9-ED77786BC9184DBB

Good luck!

Edit:

Here’s a photo of my old target.. same idea as Steve’s except I went to the local carpet store and they had rolls of old carpet out the back to go to the rubbish tip, they were happy for me to take them for free. I cut the carpet up into tiles which stack on top of each other. The whole thing was made from scraps so was just about free. Lasted a couple of years of regular shooting (but it’s no good for broadheads).

[Ptaylor]

#50506

These are all neat ideas.

I can’t use hay here cause it starts to grow in the rainy season and molds and falls apart. What I’ve figured out is to use the swamp below my house as a backstop. That way I can put anything out there as a target and if I miss the arrows goes into the mud, easy to find and no stones. So I’ll throw all kinds of targets down there. One of my favorites to use are washed up buoys I collect from the beach. And I like the pie tins cause they “tink” when hit.

I do have a yellow jacket field point target that is pretty durable. I like Ed’s idea of a sand pile for broadhead practice.

[handirifle]

#42205

I use plastic grocery bags stuffed real tight into a cardboard box. Easy to tote around and move where you want it. Does not work well in the rain and wet though. Pulling arrows is a 2 finger affair. Use it ONLY for field points or target. Broadheads will stay in the target when you pull the arrows.

[Ralph]

#60943

I like the ones I hit so most anything lasts a good while…:roll:

:D:D

I mostly use burlap bags stuffed with plastic along with my 3D animal parts and pieces.

For broadheads I have an old piece of foam from a floating dock but I about got it shot up beyond repair.. So best for me for broadheads is to go to the archery range and use the dirt banks for a backstop.

[handirifle]

#63693

How were those old round field targets constructed? I often wondered about making one of those.

[grumpy]

#12185

“What I’ve figured out is to use the swamp below my house as a backstop.”

OMG IS Kermit protected???

[handirifle]

#17217

LOL I think Kermit IS the target!

[grumpy]

#27100

PT isn’t like that!!!!

[codger]

#49973

I used to use hay bales i would take two of the large heavy green plastic trash bags and cover the bale from each end then duct tape the overlapping plastic.

the bales seemed to last longer and didnt get moldy and start to break down in the winter when covered. the bales were too hard to move and eventually the creek level came up in the winter and took them downstream so now I pretty much use the commercial targets now made of some sort of rubber bound together with metal strapping material they are easier to move around.these seem to hold up ok for long term use.

[cyrille 1]

#39759

handirifle wrote: How were those old round field targets constructed? I often wondered about making one of those.

The bought kind, are made with a grass called “Indian grass” and bound together with twine, rope, tape, string or whatever you have on hand that will work. However you may make them with just about any type of “stuffing” and a couple of card board pieces of fronting and backing cut to the size and shape you want.

A soft plywood also works well.

[Ralph]

#41327

cyrille 1 wrote: [quote=handirifle]

A soft plywood also works well.

Cyrille:

? ? For backing or ???? Please explain this “soft plywood”..

[cyrille 1]

#42075

Pine for one, cottonwood or china berry for another. Don’t forget you will have some kind of “fill” between the face and back of this target. The arrows from a low poundage bow will probably not hit the “backboard” if the “fill” is thick enough.

If you don’t like my suggestion on “plywood” maybe “particle board” is more along the lines of what you want. All you need is some sort of container to keep the “fill” between the front “wall” & back “wall” together. You will of course have use some kind of binding to keep the whole thing from falling apart be it rope, twine, tape or whatever.

[Bernie Clancey]

#42008

My best target is a feed bag filled with shrink wrap. Shrink wrap should be stuffed in as firm as you can make it, then sew up the open end of the feed bag. I go thru a bag a year, but when I see the bag is getting weak, I just put the old bag, shrink wrap and all, inside a new bag and sew up the end. Toss it on the ground and jump in it a few times to adjust the shrink wrap inside and rehang the bag.

I built a frame that has two inverted “T’s” on each side and a horizontal beam across the top and bottom. Hang the bag from the top beam and let it swing to absorb the energy from the arrow hitting it. Works great. Takes thousands of shots.

[Author]

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