Archery Targets

I am cheap. Despite my overindulgence in buying hunting equipment, I would really rather not spend anything on whatever I want to do. Case in point- archery targets. I've purchased a block-style target from Sportsman's Warehouse and a Legend Deer from my local archery shop. But neither was really suitable for field points because the foam held on to the arrow too tightly, and neither stood up to broadheads for very long.
I needed a backstop for these targets (because I'm in a suburban area) and it couldn't be too rough on the arrows, while still being able to stop them (65# compound). I made a frame out of 2x4s and draped old carpet over the frame. This gives 4 layers of carpet with a 4 by 5 foot window to shoot into. If I miss completely most arrows with field points will only go in as deep as the fletching. The trick is to not miss.

So what to do about field-point-friendly targets? The local shop sold a burlap sack with the image of an animal printed on it. The theory is that you stuff the sack with loose plastic and shoot away. Guess what- you can stuff a lot of things with loose plastic and shoot arrows at them.

I tried this first with cat litter bags. They're basically a plastic burlap, and they're free with the purchase of my cats' litter. I turned one inside out, stuffed it with plastic bags from the grocery store, stomped on it to compress the grocery bags and then stuffed in some more. Duct tape keeps these closed pretty well. They don't work at all for broadheads, but they do a remarkable job of stopping field tips. Plus, when the outer bag is used up (and it will be) the bags can be reused in another bag. If they get too wet, the inner bags get funky and are reusable, but kind of gross. Leaving them in the weather makes them brittle. Pieces of blue painter's tape make great targeting spots.

Since the proof of concept worked, I thought I would try to repair my 3D buck's vitals area. They're super hard to find, and expensive ($50) when I could find them. But- brown duct tape is available from Amazon. I taped over the back of the vitals' opening, making several layers to help keep the plastic from poking through. Then I laid the target on the ground, stuffed the opening with clear visqueen, stomped on that and stuffed in more. I think I ended up making five layers over the front. The brown isn't perfect, but it doesn't look too kludged, either. It was getting dark, but I put the deer in front of the backstop and gave it a shot. The arrow only penetrated 3". I am very pleased with my work, and repairs are super easy with more layers of tape.

If you try this, or come up with your own variation, let me know how it works for you.