Archery target

[silverado]

For Christmas I got my 8 year old daughter a youth compound bow set at walmart. It has decent oomph to it (around 20 pound draw i think) and would like to know if anyone knows a cheap alternative to the 50 dollar target blocks I see at walmart and dicks. I don't have a large back yard so the most distance is around 12-15 yards. She will be supervised also in case anyone makes the comment. Thanks a lot.

[AlaskanGuy]

Need to get a box and fill it with old tee shirts... pack them in there....

Also, Look up ArcheryTalk.com forum. might have to google it... they have lots of of different target ideas for homemade stuff. I am a member there as well....

AG

[300savage]

a bale of hay will last a long time..

[AlaskanGuy]

Also, Look up the nearest NASP group.... it stands for National Archery in School Program... I am a NASP instructor as well.. and there is no better program for kids....

AG

[CastingFool]

Get everyone in your family to save the grocery plastic bags. Get an empty feed sack and stuff it full of the plastic bags, the tighter the better. Tie it off on the end, and you'll have a great archery target.

[silverado]

Get everyone in your family to save the grocery plastic bags. Get an empty feed sack and stuff it full of the plastic bags, the tighter the better. Tie it off on the end, and you'll have a great archery target.

That might be the ticket... I don't raise hogs anymore (did before the navy) but I have a 50 pound bag of dog food I'm about to empty, great idea, thanks

[TreeKiller]

Ask at the grocery store of walmart to see if you can get the used bags people bring in. Come up with a good reason that you need them.

[Boyscout]

Woven polyethylene bags used for grass seed, feed, and such and stuff it full of fabric, bags, old pillow stuffing. That will stop a 50# bow if stuffed properly. Straw will get to many pass throughs and tear off fletching. Bag targets are much easier to pull field points from also.

[southpaw]

Since you don't have a large back yard it makes me think that you live in town or atleast close to neighbors. You should think about getting something large enough to stop any arrows that miss the target. I have had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing some pretty wild ricochets (luckily I live in the woods). A 4'x8' sheet of plywood would work for this. Not cheap but better than explaining to a neighbor how that hole got there. Also, for a target I have seen my fil take a cardboard box and stand piece of cardboard on an angle leaning toward the shooter. It doesn't take many and they stop arrows from a 70# bow. Not the easiest to pull arrows from but works. If you have a bunch of rags or old clothes you could put them in the box.

Jerry Jr.

[300savage]

big difference between hay and straw.
if it will stop arrows from my 70 #recurve it will catch this littls girls arrows. another tip is dont shoot straight broadside, shoot it from a bit of an angle , that makes it even more effective.
buy a good tight bale and not a loose strawbale and it will stop thousands of her little pokes

[BD]

Excelsior bales work great, if you can still find them. Big feed sacks stuffed tightly with plastic bags work well. I used to have a 4' x 4' permanent backstop in the yard which would stop any arrow. I used old acoustic ceiling tiles cut into 12" strips and stacked flat with a piece of plywood top and bottom and all thread on the sides to compress them. I built a little plywood roof over it and it lasted about 10 years.
BD

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I use a box about 20"x20" and 12" deep filled with those plastic bags we get everywhere. Stuff them in there tight. Will stop my aluminum arrows from my 55# recurve at 12 yards.
Also I hang a 1/4 inch thick rubber mat behind the box which is about 4 feet square. Every now and then I let one go and it does not fly where I intended. Have not yet missed the old truck bed mat yet at my limit of 22 yards. A chunk of old carpet works as well.. just no carpet down here to rescue from neighbors throw aways.
Mike in Peru

[Cmm_3940]

If you want to go cheap, get one of those woven plastic feed bags, or possibly a large Tyvek pet food bag. Fill with stacks of old newspapers, flat-side on to the shooter. I have a commercial target made in the proper shape constructed from these same materials.

[6bg6ga]

My neighbor shoots his into a straw bale and he has a powerful bow probably over 100lb easy.

[waksupi]

I like the burlap stuffed with plastic. Go to a carpet store, you can get huge wads of it from carpet wrap. It will stop a heavy bow. The thing I don't care for with straw bales, is it makes a mess, sooner or later. The excelsior bales we used, were hard to get the arrows out of with the more powerful bows.

[dk17hmr]

Great stuff expanding foam into a 2x4 form, or about 4" worth of blue board insulation will stop those light bows. Hang a piece of carpet behind the target to catch any stray arrows

[NVScouter]

Straw bails are $5 each now. One will do ya but I'd buy three two on bottom one on top like a triangle. That 20lb will stick well but never make it through. The extra bails are for the misses you will have.

[NVScouter]

My neighbor shoots his into a straw bale and he has a powerful bow probably over 100lb easy.

My War Bow is 105# pull reflex/deflex and launches an arrow tripple the weight of what folks normally see. It will go through a bail of hay easily at 50y. My hunting bows are in the 42-70# ranges and the 70# gets about 75% through them at 30y. Past 65# is pretty uncommon, most modern archers use lighter arrows to get more speed.

When I met my bowyer he had a 92# @28" draw war bow for sale. When I asked to shoot it he told me nobody had been able to draw it that day. Took him and his partner to brace it. I warmed it up and measured it about 101# at my 31" draw and put that arrow through a bail at 10y and into the grass mid shaft. I got his card for one and met him later that day. He had dozens of guys try that bow after I left and only two other guys got it to full draw.

When you start with a bow it teaches you about muscles in your neck/shoulder you never knew you had. Teach her not to fight it or stoop into the draw pointing it skyward then coming down. Very bad habit and an oops can launch an arrow a long ways at that angle. Just straight back one solid motion and breath.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup a box of rags works just fine and you can use the rags as needed. A box of rags will stop even a crossbow shooting a broadhead but is thin enough to allow a childs arrow to penetrate
Need to get a box and fill it with old tee shirts... pack them in there....

Also, Look up ArcheryTalk.com forum. might have to google it... they have lots of of different target ideas for homemade stuff. I am a member there as well....

AG

[Rick Hodges]

A feed bag stuffed full of plastic shopping bags or rags...(cut out the zippers and buttons) will work just fine. Packed densely they will stop adult compound bows with field points.

[Johnch]

Talk to a store that replaces screens ( window screens ) to see if you can have the old screens they take out
The fiberglass screens area a great thing to stop arrows

I have a large cardboard box stuffed with old screen
It stops both the 70 lb compound bow and the cross bow bolts

I found I only needed 4" or so of fiberglass screens
After that , it was just filler

I know several people that stuff old feed bags with screen also

John

[Boyscout]

I used to hang a piece of carpet on the fence about 10 yards behind the target. It stopped any arrows that missed the target. Kids or hunting.