What do you guys shoot at?

[boomhowzer]

I've had a few different targets now. They've all been pretty crappy. My first one was a cardboard box with my old clothes in it. Its a good way to clean out your closet, and it worked fine with field points, but I like to practice with the broadheads I'll be hunting with and they were impossible to pull out. I had to force them out the back of the target, which was mayhem for the fletching.

My next target was 3 refrigerator boxes splayed open, laid flat on the ground, rolled up as tightly as possible, and then duct taped all the way around. I remember it was tough to make. Like wrestling a cardboard gorilla, but it was much better than the t-shirt target. It stood up on its own and it was mobile, which I liked, and it lasted an entire year before it wouldn't hold together anymore. The only problem was the broadheads were extremely difficult to pull out and a bunch of their heads popped right off.

The target in the picture is my best yet. Its a large cardboard box completely duct taped on the sides and the bottom, then filled with sand. The top is made out of another cardboard box and duct taped to the rest of the target after the sand was shoveled in, making a weatherproof enclosure. Its obviously not mobile. Its also very ugly as far as yard art goes, but I haven't lost a single broad head in it. Even delicate or slightly injured broadheads come out undamaged. Its only flaw is longevity. After just 4 months its beginning to deteriorate. All of the moisture in the sand has settled to the bottom of the box, so now when I shoot an arrow into the top of the target, it comes out dry and smelling like the beach, but if I shoot an arrow into the bottom of the target, it comes out wet and smelling like a swampy garbage heap. I guess drier sand might work, but I'm hoping one of you guys has the greatest target known to mankind and you would be willing to share its design with us.

[Morgan]

Northern tool and tractor supply sell trailers that come in stacked up with foam blocks between them. The blocks are something like 12”x18”  give or take. The tractor supply near me gives them away, northern wants a couple bucks a piece for them. I like them for random range targets as I kick them around the yard and shoot from block to block. My wife bought me a commercial target that I shoot for a fixed range target.

[mmattockx]

I shoot at straw bales but only use field points. Broadheads would destroy the bales very quickly. A while back I asked about targets for broadheads and someone suggested a target butt made from numerous layers of extruded styrofoam sheet (the pink or blue stuff, not the bead styrofoam). Buy a 4'x8' sheet of foam board 1" or thicker, then cut it into 2'x2' squares, stack all the squares and tape the edges to keep them together.


Mark

[Yooper Bowyer]

I am currently shooting at a pile of cardboard stuffed into a cardboard box.  It is really to small, but it is easy to move to the sand pit where I shoot.

[Don W]

It's hard to beat hay or straw for primitive and traditional bows. Hang a layer of two of carpet or carpet pad behind it and arrows will not go through even loose bales.

[Pat B]

A feed bag filled with sheet plastic or plastic grocery bags works well for target points.

[Hawkdancer]

I set up the foam sheets for my indoor range(15 yards).  Left them full size as I don't want holes through the shop wall!  Hope to find some rubber stall mats cheap to set up outdoors for bit more rang or some 3d type targets.  outdoor carpet  hung from a rack is also a good idea, and it comes in several colors !
Hawkdancer

[gifford]

I've had several targets over the years from cardboard boxes stuffed with magazines and newspapers, to a real woven grass target picked up at a yard sale.

More recently a bag target (at least 20 years old) was rejuvenated with a heavy contractor's black bag with duck tape for aiming points. Although I live in small town near the downtown, a combination of landscaping, fencing and existing trees hide both the shooting point and target site from prying eyes. When the contractors bag gets too shot up, a new one is waiting and we can repeat the process.

At MoJAM 2021 I noticed some of the fellas using the small crossbow yellow jacket  target, I got one, under 20 bucks at Bass Pro or Cabellas.

[Yooper Bowyer]

That's the type that voids Khan's arrows warranty; for some good reason I'm sure.

[Woody roberts]

Since I have both round and square hay bales that’s what I generally shoot at. Works great for field points, not so great for broad heads. With broad heads I use 4 layers of extruded blue foam. It’s a pain, I have to pull the layers apart and unscrew the point to get them out.
My cane arrows with homemade broad heads have a taper on the back. I can shoot them into hay bales and pull them back out.
Their pretty hard on the strings though.

[Gimlis Ghost]

Years ago I found furniture moving pads on sale and bought several for my dog to use as bedding. She has a habit of tearing holes in her bedding so they lasted about three months each at most. I took her last one, which was in rags and stuffed it in a cardboard box and taped it shut.
Its worked very well.
The dog has been sleeping on a large piece of foam backed carpeting I found on the side of the road. She managed to rip it into wide strips so I took the most narrow strips and cut then square to fit into a shallow box.
I was surprised that the furniture pad proved superior to the thick collapsed foam padding of the carpeting.

[Allyn T]

If you use cardboard stack it flat so the edges face out, if it's layered the other orientation that's what catches on the points.

[Eric Krewson]

If you are in it for the long haul and plan to be in the same house for a long time I would suggest you make a dedicated archery target that will withstand 10s of thousands of shots and the weather as well. I have changed my target cover 4 times when it has become shot to pieces front and back, a new cover costs about $20 now.

I also have collected a full set of 3D targets over the years from buying shot up ones for about $20-30 after a tournament and patching them. I don't put them out much anymore.

Here is mine;

[Eric Krewson]

The key to shooting 3D targets is to have enough to spread your shots out over and not completely shoot just one target to pieces.

I bought this one for $5 , fixed it and have been using it for the last ten years, it still looks really good because I have a lot more targets to spread my shots out over.

[Eric Krewson]

Here is how I fixed it, I use Great Stuff insulating foam, then paint the foam with the same colors as the original target. The racoon was $5 as well and had a hole in it you could put your fist through.