I live in Fairbanks, Alaska, on the outskirts of town.  In my area, there is no trash collection, and we take our trash to a specified location, known as a "transfer site".  There are some 20-30 dumpsters there, and a covered concrete pad in the middle, where people leave their cast-off stuff that they don't want anymore, but others might.  I grab old volleyballs, soccer balls, foam yoga rollers, tennis balls, etc, and then assimilate them into the archery universe.  One year someone left a large number of large, semi-realistic stuffed animals  --- zebra, giraffe, gorilla, bear, and dog -- which turned into a great target range for the kids with rubber blunts.  Just last week I grabbed two padded hockey gloves -- very tough -- for shooting around the yard.  But back to the balls... I have been shooting them for years with blunts, and they make great targets.  You kick, throw, roll or bounce them, and they are a lot of fun.  And I fortunately have an endless supply.

This reminds me.
In the mid 1970s I bought my first Judo Point.
I had an idea, I'll kick the ball to practice for rabbit hunting.
Well that 45# K Mag spit that arrow straight through the middle.
 
It was a very good leather Socker Ball.

I'll get Pappy to give you an answer. I'm not sure.I generally shoot a selfbow with wood, shoot shafts or cane all with self nocks.

I've heard using Rit dye in alcohol works. If you use Kool aid be sure it is sugar free.

Zebco's are great until you forget to push the button...and you will forget to push the button.

I use a hand reel mounted to the stabilser insert.

It was back in 2007-2008 when i first really got into building bows, and was impressed by his Shrew design. I was amazed how he built those 54" bows to draw 30".
So i contacted him and told him i had a photo of one of his bows on my work bench, and really wanted to try building one myself. Ron said that he would take that as the highest compliment. Go for it!

 So i gave it a go, and built one similar. Actually i built a few before i got it right. but i never sold one.  This one was mine. I used elk hunting for a couple years and shot 1000's of arrows through it before it developed a "Click", and i quit shooting it after that. It holds a place of honor in my shop collecting dust and has been there a lot of years now.  I think of Ron every time i look at it.

54" - 57 @30".

Gallon milk jugs and blunts are good practice, too. 

Quote from: Pat B on March 08, 2026, 11:17:44 PMOne of my favorite things to shoot at is a small pine cone or something smaller hanging from a string. When you hit it you have a moving target to shoot at also.
The old saying...aim small, miss small! The smaller your target is the closer you will get to it. Like imagining a hair on the side of a deer. If you concentrate on that hair you have a better chance of hitting where you look.

Years ago i was at an archery club in San Diego where they had a 3D shoot and some novelty shoots. They had one where you through a dollar in the pot, and got to shoot 3 arrows at a ping pong ball dangling from a piece of fishing line. You talk about a tough shot to make... Just hitting the ball didn't count either. you had to penetrate the ping pong ball to take the pot. I watched the guys having a ball shooting at that thing before i hit the trail.  When i got back off the trail, that coffee can was full to the brim with dollar bills. They were shooting at if from about 10 yards... These guys i was shooting with were damn good archers and wanted to give it a go, so i joined them. They were whacking the ball pretty good, and one guy cut the line off it too, and it needed repair. i was laughing at them and razzing them as they added to the pot. Finally they told me, "come on hot shot! show us how it's done."  So i asked the guys if they had any problem with me stepping back a few yards? If so i'll give it a go. i threw a dollar in the coffee can, and stepped back to about 15 yards, and center punched it on my first shot.  You could have heard a pin drop in that moment... LOL   $87.00 in the pot too.

Luck you say?            I think id have to agree with that one.

The guys said i bet you can't do that again. and i told them why would i want to with that coffee can empty. So everybody threw another buck in the pot and we went after it again. i'll bet i hit that damn thing 15 times after that and never pined it again. It was great sport!  about 6 of us shot for an hour , and nobody ever pinned it.     

Planning on coming this year. I can't find any info defining the classes.  Are you required to shoot wood arrows in the longbow class and must selfbows shoot self nock arrows?

Good to hear from you...Sorry to hear about ya getting the crud... You have definitely  taken a beating here the last couple months. Glad to hear you are still kicking!