Outdoor Backstops

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#4961

Doc’s recent post with the stall mat/frame backdrop that he built in his yard has got me thinking. As our semi-occupied development continues to develop, sooner or later we’re going to have neighbors who will inconveniently be in the direct path that I’ve enjoyed shooting into hay bales for years. I’ve constructively suggested that they should consider building elsewhere, but apparently I was far too subtle, and they didn’t catch my drift. 8)

So I’ve been thinking about a safer/more effective, and to be honest, better-looking, way to have a proper backstop to keep the neighbors from getting too nervous about my backyard practice. Even better if it was something that I could just close-up when I’m done and keep the targets stored inside, so that I’m not perpetually moving them around, as well as to keep them out of the weather.

It may be a little cheesy, but I’ve been thinking about simply buying one of those big Rubbermaid outdoor storage things, and then lining the inside of it with a few layers of carpet remnants to prevent pass-throughs. I can open it up to shoot, and then close it all up when I’m done, and it looks like a normal yard fixture when not in use. Something like this:

But before I commit to something like that, I’d be curious to see pics of other solutions that folks have come up with and get a few more ideas. Thanks in advance.

[Doc Nock]

#35645

[size=200]hey, Bruce. April Fool is OVER!!!![/size]

[Doc Nock]

#35649

seriously, Dude, back East they go so far as to build a development in the middle of farm land, and then put a Covenant on all property stating “NO projectiles may be launched in the development” Can you imagine… one guy had an 8′ board fence all around and he still couldn’t shoot.

Good luck

[Stephen Graf]

#35976

I shoot a bunch of arrows and have had a hard time getting something to work in the long term…

I’ll take a picture and post my target tomorrow. It’s basically a shelter with the rubber stall stuff behind some bales and a rain cover in the front. I think it will last indefinitely as I’ve been shooting at it for 3 years now with no sign of failure…

It’s got that famous southern redneck look to it, but an upstanding western citizen like yourself could make it more visually acceptable…

[Doc Nock]

#35983

Steve Graf wrote: I

It’s got that famous southern redneck look to it, but an upstanding western citizen like yourself could make it more visually acceptable…

Yea, what Steve said, but I guess Idaho is practically CAlifornia, huh?:shock:

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#36028

Steve Graf wrote:

…It’s got that famous southern redneck look to it, but an upstanding western citizen like yourself could make it more visually acceptable…

Yeah, I’ll hang some elk antlers off of it.

[Doc Nock]

#36034

Smithhammer wrote:

Yeah, I’ll hang some elk antlers off of it.

So…Bruce, didja find some shed hunting this year or what???:roll:

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#36064

No elk sheds yet this year, just deer, but the snow is just starting to melt in the dark timber to a point that I can start searching. I’m hoping to get out tomorrow for a little stump hike/shed hunt. Still got a few left over from past years though.

[Doc Nock]

#36082

I figured with your bassckward arras, only way you’d get elk antlers was to find them as sheds! :roll::lol:

WE had a couple nice days of dry and breezy. Dried out garden plot some, had it chisel plowed and then I rear tine tillered it 3 times after spreading some pellitized lime and gypsum on the ground.

Still had big clobbers of rock hard dirt…wasn’t wet when we chiseled it up, but damp enough down deep it didn’t break up good! 🙁

I FEEL like I was hiking in the mountains, but only wrestling a tiller!

This getting old sucks! You have a great time out there and don’t forget your emergency kit… never know when a storm might pop up and strand you up there!

Happy Easter to all readers and doers!

[Ralph]

#36102

Wonder what one of the bone busting EFOC arras do the clobbers. Clobbers a back east term I guess:?

Kinda like dirt clods:?

If one made his target shelter look like a trash dumpster would the bears come? For taking picture purposes of course.

[Doc Nock]

#36111

I guess I could dig out some ACE blunts and go see…but it’s raining now, Ralph… and I don’t think I can shoot enough to get em all… take multiple shots on them big ones…

Course, if ya’ll just fly / drive/ take a train to my place, we can throw a party and have a clod shoot… almost like a clout shoot, but dirtier!

Can’t advertise it as a CLOD SHOOT though…these fine Southern folks might take offense and misunderstand we be wanting to shoot dirt clumps, not fools….

[Ralph]

#36696

My blunts went right thru the green “cow clod”.:D

Not recommended material for backstops nor clout shoots.

Clobble shoot maybe???:roll:

[Doc Nock]

#36739

Where are Steve’s pics of his backstop to get this back on track to stop the bass-ackwards posts?

[Stephen Graf]

#37082

Tried to post pictures, but I keep getting the “waiting for Tradbow” message and then I get kicked out 😈

Tried 4 times, maybe I’ll try tomorrow…

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#37136

Steve Graf wrote: Tried to post pictures, but I keep getting the “waiting for Tradbow” message and then I get kicked out 😈

Tried 4 times, maybe I’ll try tomorrow…

Usually a sign that the server is going down. Which it did. Seems to be working again.

[Robin Conrads]

#37142

👿 Dang gremlins! That is one thing that I have no control over, and Murphy’s Law of Webmotherhood says as soon as I hit send on a support ticket the site starts working again.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#37203

Dang server hamster asleep at the wheel again…

[Doc Nock]

#37232

Server was Down???

Good thing I was out doing yard work today…after that rain last night, I needed to get OUT!

Trying to figure out where to hide my own Easter Eggs so I can find them before the skunks do…:shock:

[Stephen Graf]

#37881

One more try…

The rain cover is an old vinyl table cloth stapled up. Lasted 3 years so far and still going strong.

Backstop is stall matt cut in half and doubled up.

Bales are hay, not straw. Hay costs more, but lasts longer.

Bullseye is paper towel with bamboo shish kabob stick to hold it.

If I had it to do over again, I’d bury side posts 18 inches instead of 6 inches and skip cables. But I had cables so I got lazy.

I shoot a lot, and this target just keeps going. I replaced center bale after about 3 years.

[grumpy]

#37958

Doc Nock wrote: Server was Down???

Good thing I was out doing yard work today…after that rain last night, I needed to get OUT!

Trying to figure out where to hide my own Easter Eggs so I can find them before the skunks do…:shock:

Fred got into the chocolate in Arwen’s Easter basket. Ate enough to make him good and sick!! 😈

[Doc Nock]

#38010

That’s quite the riggin, Steve!!! Kudos!

Looks like the pro jobs at clubs!

So…inquiring minds want to know: What type bales you use? Excelsior? there was a place in MD that made up 100# bales with alum wire and were super compacted, for targets… beasts to handle, but held up well.

I never had much luck with hay bales or straw bales to be exact… shot thru too easily… yours look more substantial to me… Do tell!

Grumps,

Whose Fred? Cat? Dog? Chocolate make dogs worse then sick… I can only imagine what Arwen had to say! 🙄

[Stephen Graf]

#38272

Doc Nock wrote: …So…inquiring minds want to know: What type bales you use? Excelsior? there was a place in MD that made up 100# bales with alum wire and were super compacted, for targets… beasts to handle, but held up well.

I never had much luck with hay bales or straw bales to be exact… shot thru too easily… yours look more substantial to me… Do tell!…

Hay bales. Hay seems to last better than straw. The hay isn’t really there to stop the arrows, that’s what the rubber stall matt behind the bales is for. The hay serves to keep the arrows in place after they stop against the rubber stall matt and to affix a target too.

[Doc Nock]

#38302

Only bales around these parts I’ve seen so far are ROUND bales… bit much for my set up me thinks!

I missed the whole “stall mat behind” part after pics I got focused on that!

Makes sense… my 4’x6′ is 3/4″ thick…should take some abuse… like the fact I can use my Ames Pillow Target, but they’re not readily available anymore.

If anyone knows a supplier with the 40×40 “stuff your own” Ames pillow targets, please post! Contacted Ames and they replied, but when I asked how to order, I never got another reply… 🙁

[grumpy]

#38538

Everyone that has been paying attention knows that Fred is the mouse. Momma Skunk is the skunk, who was here last year with her 4 kids, and Audrey saw last night on the back steps. Bob is someone’s possum. The SOB is R2’s coon.

We have a rag bag target we got from 3Rivers, made by third hand archery. 30″ x 36″ You can hit that Doc, we have faith in you.

[Doc Nock]

#38568

grumpy wrote: Everyone that has been paying attention knows that Fred is the mouse. Momma Skunk is the skunk, who was here last year with her 4 kids, and Audrey saw last night on the back steps. Bob is someone’s possum. The SOB is R2’s coon.

We have a rag bag target we got from 3Rivers, made by third hand archery. 30″ x 36″ You can hit that Doc, we have faith in you.

Ahhh. Finally. A cast of characters in the life of Grumpy, Arwen and Audrey. Now I got it… I do these in the order they come into my puter and the first in was where you told me to pay attention…I’m so broke, I’d have to borrow money to pay attention…

I suppose I COULD hit a 30×36, but like 40×40 better! Has a reasonably sized deer printed on each side, one facing right, one left so you don’t shoot out the bag in the same spot.

I filled mine with rolled up shrink wrap…works for a couple years.

Have to check out 3 Rivers offering…

[David Coulter]

#38641

grumpy wrote: Everyone that has been paying attention knows that Fred is the mouse. Momma Skunk is the skunk, who was here last year with her 4 kids, and Audrey saw last night on the back steps. Bob is someone’s possum. The SOB is R2’s coon.

in you.

Sounds like a good children’s book, “Grumpy’s Furry Neighborhood.”

Doc, Feed bags are about 75 cents and will last all season. They might be quite as good of quality, but they do hold up well enough, especially for the price. Just keep Fred out of it.

I looked into a stall mat. Cheap enough, but that dead Presbyterian thing has me concerned… dwc

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#38684

dwcphoto wrote:

Sounds like a good children’s book, “Grumpy’s Furry Neighborhood.”

Uhh…I think I’d steer clear of that neighborhood….:shock:

New idea for my backstop – the brewery nearby has tons of pallets sitting out in the backyard. I might just build a frame out of those, stick the targets and a stall mat inside, paint it a pleasing color and plant honeysuckle or something similar to grow all over 3 sides of it. A year from now it will look good enough for “Better Homes and Gardens”. 8)

[Doc Nock]

#38697

Oh, Lordie…Bruce reads Better Homes and Gardens! 😯

Next we’ll learn he’s a hair dresser! :shock::oops:8):roll:

Dave,

I have a couple of those PLASTIC burlap bags… I dislike shooting into plastic burlap anything…

If I could find some coffee bean bags in real burlap, I’d be set!

Nice thing about Steve’s set up is you can pin up any type target you want!

That comment I made about the Presbyterian makes me laugh…way I heard it was “heavier than a dead Presbyterian minister…and I happen to have a dear friend that is a Presbyterian minister, 6’2” and went 360 back in the day…!

Only reason it was tough for me is that I left my 4×4 uprights 6’6″ tall out of the ground… 18″ cemented in tht ground. Why? I wanted to be able to stand erect and ‘work the bale’…with my bag target, sitting on the ground, I had to bend at the waist all the time which is great tree stand practice but introduces another variable and not my idea of how the bale work is approached.

I got the 4’x6′ mat, which is 3/4″ material. They had smaller ones that where thinner…like 1/2″ and cheaper…

young stud like you could hoist it over head easily with another like-minded folk. I have met 2 great neighbors, one in 70’s and other 80 and both have frozen shoulders…alas, one had the bucket on the tractor so problem solved!

[Stephen Graf]

#39138

Smithhammer wrote: …New idea for my backstop – the brewery nearby has tons of pallets sitting out in the backyard. I might just build a frame out of those, stick the targets and a stall mat inside, paint it a pleasing color and plant honeysuckle or something similar to grow all over 3 sides of it. A year from now it will look good enough for “Better Homes and Gardens”. 8)

Sounds like a good and easy idea to me except of the honeysuckle part. That there is a curse word around here. Honeysuckle is an invasive that out competes all the natives. It should be illegal to sell/plant imo.

[Ralph]

#39192

Doc Nock wrote: Can you imagine… one guy had an 8′ board fence all around and he still couldn’t shoot.

Good luck

Maybe that’s my problem, I only have a 6′ fence and I can’t hit. 🙂

[Doc Nock]

#39216

Steve Graf wrote:

Sounds like a good and easy idea to me except of the honeysuckle part. That there is a curse word around here. Honeysuckle is an invasive that out competes all the natives. It should be illegal to sell/plant imo.

Steve, I knew Kudzu (?) is invasive here in the South, but didn’t know Honeysuckle was… googled it and the Japensese variety is invasive and grows like wildfire down to Zone 5.

Deer thrive on it up North in bad winters and will destroy it if snow is deep…apparently has nutrients that other cedar and stuff do not that fills their belly but they’ll still starve.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#39224

Steve Graf wrote:

Sounds like a good and easy idea to me except of the honeysuckle part. That there is a curse word around here. Honeysuckle is an invasive that out competes all the natives. It should be illegal to sell/plant imo.

Well, I’m a long way from N. Carolina and honeysuckle doesn’t exactly run rampant on its own at 6200′ in the Rockies. We have some in the yard, along with other “non-natives” like apple trees, potatoes, hops, beets, and snap peas, none of which would survive for very long without my attentive green thumb. But I’ll keep an eye on it, and if it starts to unionize and concoct plans for world domination, I’ll get medieval on it. 😉

[Ralph]

#39660

Hey guys, I have three set ups in my backyard, the first is like 13 paces and I can shoot out to 20 paces at an angle. Not the dog!!!!

The second two, the pig I can shoot out to 25 yds, and my poor little Texas head-tail deer (droopy rebuilt)out to 44 yds.

The black behind some of them is conveyor belt I scrounged from a power plant.

That’s tough stuff. Takes a grown man and lots of kind words to cut and handle that stuff.

My 6′ fence has had it’s share of arrow wounds, guaranteed.

I’ve nothing but an alley with sheep and goat pasture behind me and the critters ain’t out there destroying the pasture, yet.

If anybody wants, I can get some bindweed starter sent to them if they want something to grow and cover their targets. D..n stuff.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#39689

Ralph, your yard looks a lot more pleasant than mine at the moment. It’s been snowing sideways here all day. I’ll be right over, with my bow…

[Doc Nock]

#39693

Ralph,

That’s not a very flattering view of ole Droopy… in fact, I don’t even see that sad sack of the archery rogue gallery…

Dog sure is confident in your ability, or knows the different between a camera and a bow!

You should’ve saved yerself a lot of grief with cutting conveyor (never heard of anyone successfully doin THAT before… ) and just hung the whole thing on the fence and saved the fence…

Bindweed? Must be another of those treacherous TX things that either bite sting or suck your blood…

[Doc Nock]

#39698

Bruce,

Take your Bass Ackward arras, Ralph wrote it’s blowing like a banshee there…I got calm air, just fixing to rain for next 5-7 days on and off with T-storms…but you’re welcome to stand out and shoot…I’ll hold an umbrella over ya!

[Ralph]

#39721

Doc Nock wrote: Bruce,

…I’ll hold an umbrella over ya!

That’s what those wheel boys do, right Doc? Umbrella to shed the rain and block the wind.

Come on over Bruce. With my three set ups I can usually have one of them not too windy.

Don’t know why 2nd pic disappeared but maybe it’s there now.

Doc you welcome too buddy. Between the three we ought to be able to figure out which end to use.

[Doc Nock]

#39729

Ah…yup, it’s there now…the HUMPBACK OF AMARILLO! God that is an interesting target…looks already like he’s gut shot! LOL

Never been around a lot of those Wheelie serious shooters… seen caddys hold an umbrella over a guy putting for $50K though on TV when I had reception…

figure out which end to use? WT?

I don’t know if I WANT to know what that means, but hoping on this fambly site, you’re referencing my smart-arse comment about Bassakward arras???:shock:

[Ralph]

#39798

Doc, I only have innocent and kind thoughts. 😯

Been working on my Ishi shots and my Texas heart shots. Done shot all the heart/lung shots outta that old target.:)

See:wink:

[Doc Nock]

#39851

PIck a spot and hit it…don’t matter where it is…

I know you’re a man of honorable intentions only, Ralph…:roll:

[grumpy]

#41021

With all the stuffed animals, Ralph’s back yard looks like Arwen’s bedroom

[Ralph]

#41029

That’s cause R2 is still young. 🙄

[Doc Nock]

#41047

grumpy wrote: With all the stuffed animals, Ralph’s back yard looks like Arwen’s bedroom

Grumps,

:shock::oops:

Say it aint so…tell us you DON’T go into Arwens room to do target practice on her stuffed animals!

🙄

[grumpy]

#42181

I’ve threatened and tried to take them out back for target practice. So much screaming, I’m lucky somebody didn’t call 911.

[Doc Nock]

#42330

😆 One shoot I used to attend at Whittingham NJ, had secured chunks of 6×6 pressure treated lumber into the ground with a rebar thru a center hole…then stapled velcro to the top… then glued velcro to stuffed animals and foam cut outs… set it on the “blocks”…

It was a Muzzy Course…all blunts…mostly under bushes for kids, but we adults had a blast sitting down and kneeling and even laying on our backs to shoot them low shots! They’d come flying off those velcro blocks and were great fun!

Maybe get one of those kids bows with suction cup arrows and attack the room while arwen is in it… next time she asks if she gets all your stuff when you croak… HA!:roll:

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