Good ideas on making a homeade Archery target?

Question

I have a bow that shoots about 310fps and am gettin tired of drivin to the local archery range. I was wanting to make a homemade target and my idea was to get a bail of hay and put a egg crate comforter in front, but was thinkin it would tear up the fletchings. please give me some of your ideas thanks

Answer 1

I have stuffed a burlap sack with plastic shopping bags from Walmart. I'm not sure about broadheads, but it stops my fieldpoints just fine.

Answer 2

Well I shoot a Browning compound that 80 lb draw, arrow speed with my rig on chronograph at 316 fps and bales of hay for me is a waste, even the big round bales shooting on the side I louse my expensive carbon arrows.
I use a Will Stop bag in front of the hay, but if I miss, I can kiss that arrow good bye.
I lost 3 arrows year before last to a round bail that were never recovered.
Last year I tried something new, I made my back stop out of 2 sheets of what is called, Molded Rubber Trailer Mat .
There is a Farm supply and Feed store here called Attwood’s here that I got them.
What it is, is a large mat made of rubber, just like a giant mud flap for a truck.
It’s ½ inch thick and 4 foot by 6 foot, I paid $45.00 each for them.
I made a frame work that is out of 4x4 post concreted in to the ground big enough to suspend 2 mats overlapping the center seam by 6 inches so arrows don’t fly between the mats at the center where they meet.
The mats are attached only at the top of the frame work just like a mud flap would be and are 6 inches off the ground.
Now I have a back stop that 6 foot tall and 7 ½ feet wide that I hang my Will Stop target from the top beam so it’s center of my back stop.
This rubber is self healing and my target point only makes it 4 to 6 inches through the mat before the mat robes all energy from the arrow.
I set back and launched 12 arrows at the mat to test it, not one made it through the back stop.
I have used it for all last year and not one arrow was ever damaged.
The savings of arrows lost or damaged in 2 years will pay for the back stop.
I made it look nice so as not to be an eye sore and all my friends are now setting up a mat arrow stop.
It should last for many years and don’t cause the mess of hay bales and cost about the same a 2 big round bales that I never have to remove or clean up.
Link attached of the mats


http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e0736c-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

Dead Stop and Will Stop bags are about the same.

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=39296&hvarDept=400&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=14&hvarSubCode=10&hvarTarget=browse

Answer 3

I made a frame with 1x6's covered with burlap and filled with plastic bags , I got the bags from a clothing store they were unpacking coats and the bags were going to the trash. I have used bales but they must be baled tight wire tied bales are tighter than string tied. My brother in law made a target using strips of cardboard held tight together between two 2x6"s using two all thread rods . The boards were used with the rods like a big clamp.
This worked good except you have to replace the middle after it is shot out .

Answer 4

Actually i have a bow that shoot 308fps and i use a 2 bails of hay one behind the other and it has never torn a single fletching

Answer 5

I have used burlap, styrofoam, shreded paper. They sell a foam target at archery stores, Wally World has one also with two wires that hold up the target in the back. Also remember that if you will be using field points vs. broadheads these will shoot differently when it comes to target practicing with different levels of penetration. I hope this helps a bit.

Answer 6

Find a hardware or farm supply store that sells lawn mower/garden tractor trailers. The trailers are shipped stacked on one another and separated by Styrofoam blocks. They just throw them away in the dumpsters. Ask the manager and you can have all you can haul away usually.

Answer 7

I've used hay bales for years. Wrapped carpet in burlap can work as well.

Answer 8

If you go to a recycling place they can sell or give away (if your lucky) a compressed bale of plastic bags. They make excellent stops and you can leave them out in the weather.

Answer 9

My favorite thing to shoot are pennies. They make a cool sound when you hit and help you improve accuracy. Also if the child is able to hit it, it will become a great souvenir. We have fun with gatorade tops, mini led lights and other things.

Answer 10

3 bails of hay works fine.One over the other.Just discard when they rot.