Homemade target warning!

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

Just remembered something I should have mentioned in the target thread I started. If you stuff your target with plastic make sure you don't use it in the rain or in the winter. Reason is when the plastic becomes wet the arrow slides right through. When the plastic is dry the arrow will cause friction not passing through. Sorry I forgot that one detail.
Hutch

[SonnyThomas]

I was going to suggest something and got sidetracked. Industrial shrink wrap. Large parts are sometimes shrink wrapped onto the shipping pallet. This stuff is outstanding compared to regular plastic. Rain doesn't effect stopping strength as the shrink wrap is fairly thick, 3 to 4 times that of a bread wrapper. My 3rd Hand bag is stuffed with shrink wrap that came from Caterpillar Inc. I would guess it some 6 or 7 years old. When arrows begin to go through the off side I pull the shrink wrap out and re stuff it into the bag and I'm good to go for a while longer.

Hint; Depending on the material you use, softer plastic, folded felt lay-down for carpeting or even old jeans folded on placed on the off side does help to prevent pass throughs.

[Ehunter]

I recently received a bag target that is filled with what I can only describe as plastic window screen mesh. Not sure what the cost would be to make one, but it stops arrows dead. Rain, cold, nothing effects it. Might be worth looking at for a target filler.

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

There is a lot of things you can stuff a target with. The best thing that I have heard is clothing. Minus the zippers and buttons and you are good to go! The best target I have seen on the market is Spyder web targets. But they are a bit pricey . They are filled with cotton cloth which seems to stop an arrow great. I heard that you can buy the facing material by the linear foot. But that is a bit pricey. So that is why we make our own. We experiment with facings and fillers. Just to see what works the best. Anyones ideas are welcome because it just helps with getting a better target and helps us all.
THANKS GUYS

[SonnyThomas]

Whoa! Clothing is not so good. Yes, it will stop arrows, but then pulling them out can be horrendous, especially if wet. We had a bag setup for our chronograph and quickly found this out. And then wet and it freezes! Kinda bad for arrows.

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

Whoa! Clothing is not so good. Yes, it will stop arrows, but then pulling them out can be horrendous, especially if wet. We had a bag setup for our chronograph and quickly found this out. And then wet and it freezes! Kinda bad for arrows.

Hey Sonny what about with a roof over it, Like Spikers? Will that solve the problem? For most of the set ups I've seen they have old clothes in them with roofs over them. And all said they were great.

[justin]

ok i just jacked the first target thread i could find. ive been shooting a foam makinzie shotblocker in my basement and on the top of it i saw some compant name tagged on there out of dike iowa.... i drive bt dike virtually every day on my way to work. im curious if they manufacture in dike? if they do i wonder if i could pick up some blem blocks for cheap.....

[Money Man]

I read somewhere about the homemade targets, that you can use landscape fabric, it's usually on a roll about 3 feet wide, and is a dark gray or black color. Roll out enough to cover the target, and you could even use chalk to draw targets. As for filler plastic, if you are looking for shrink wrap, garden centers, and hardware stores that sell bags of peat moss, potting soil and other similar items are all shrink wrapped to the pallet, and due to the weight of the bags, they use quite a bit of it.

[NeilM]

I fill all my bag targets with the wrap that is put around hayledge (animal feed) bales.

We have horses and there are lots of dairy farmers close to us, so there is always plenty of the wrap around, especially at this time of year. I pack it well in and it stops my 300fps arrows right in as close at 3 yards with no problems.

[ElkSlayer]

landscape fabric dose work well.
We used the kids old trampoline tarp. And the fiber fill out of a few old couches.. Works well.. son in laws fear of spiders keeps him from stirring up the fill so he did get a few that pass threw..
Lasted 2 years not bad for something we tossed together...
Now that we know what to do, once we redo it should last a long time.
Just to get him to commit to help redo it…after he strips of a few more fletching
I will just keep shooting our yellow jacket