Shooting practicing for animals running

[Torsten]

What are you using to practice?

I go out on a windy day at an open field or gravel pit and use air baloons. Geee, that's a lot of fun.
When you do this, please take the residues and discard them prpperly and keep our sport clean.

[Joseph]

An old tire with a duct tape x across back with a balloon stuck inside the tire.  Find a hill and a friend and you are set.  Joseph

[deadeyed]

I cut balls out of old 3-d targets and kick and shoot.

[Torsten]

Hello Deadeyed,

great idea. I will get similar foam and start it and on weekends with a friend.

Can I name this K&S practicing?

There very many inventive and creative members in this forum. I hate to see arrow spine and broadheads the only item to be discussed weekly.

[Matt E]

Our group had a foam deer on a cable. Te cable was at an angle and the deer was on rollers . We took turns  pulling him up and letting him go. This was a while ago.Don't make the mistake I made. I cut numerous i2" cirles out of cardboard and glued them together until it was three inches thick. We rolled them across the ground and let it have it with arrows. The angle the arrows struck the target and the weight of it caused several arrows to be broken. Thought I had better warn you.
Take care all.

[Jim Spencer]

I went to a guys house once and he had a bag target hooked up on pulleys,on a cable running down hill.He had a bank behind it for safety.There was a latch to hold the target and the latch had a string hooked to it so that you could get in position to shoot and pull the string releasing the target.The bag would actually bounce just a little as it traveled,I had more fun shooting at that thing....Jim.

[Van/TX]

You can kick an old basketball around and use rubber blunts.....Van

[Stagmitis]

I am blessed with a 3-d target on downhill cable. If I didnt have that I would use the rolling tire.

[Pete W]

GOPHERS are almost out for the spring.!!!!!!!!

[Killdeer]

These photos are courtesy of ApplePie. They were taken at the Baltimore Bowmen Trad Classic last year.

This first one shows the javalina target and how it is suspended from the cable.

 

Next is a view of the queue of carabiners that carry the pull rope. This arrangement minimizes the pull rope's drag on the target as it moves down the cable, and keeps tangles out of the system.

 

The target is here shown proceeding majestically downrange.

 

And finally a shot of the Royal Reception. A merry time was had by all! (BTW, at this point, mere yards away, Byron Ferguson was busy NOT missing  his  moving targets!  )

 

Thanks, Bart, for letting me use these pics, as well as the one of Byron Ferguson in another post. It was nice of you to leave them stashed in the storage unit!  

Killdeer  

[Torsten]

Hi Killdeer!

Am I allowed to copy?
Our forest ground is big enough to make one. My neighbours know already that I am crazy...

Unfortunately we are not allowed to shoot javelinas or russian boars.

We make a roe deer then...

Happy hunting,
Torsten

[Killdeer]

Torsten, how kind of you to ask! The target is the property of Baltimore Bowmen, and likely there are no patent rights to infringe. I doubt that they would send reps worldwide to check on it, anyway!  

[Stinger]

When I was a kid we had a set up in the backyard that worked pretty well.  We had a hill as a backstop behind the shooting zone.  We tied a length of clothes line between two trees and then used one of those old styrofoam surfboards with the silhouette of a deer's vitals outlined on it hanging by some light pulleys.  One of us would then reel the target along with an old fishing pole from a safe distance.  This way we could very the speed depending on how fast you could reel it in.

[hawkeye n pa]

I have a made several running deer targets something like Killdeers photo.  I used a old piece of guy wire cable attached between two trees at a down hill angle and tightened with either turnbuckes or a heavy rachet strap.  A wire cable will subsitute the guy wire.  Welded up a little bracket with pulleys to support a cutout homasote deer target.  ( Two layers of homasote with truck innertube sandwiched between. Needed the homasote for weight  and will last for years.)  The hardest part was getting it stopped. Use a piece of 3/16 nylon rope tied back to starting point.  This also serves as "pull rope"  Keep the wire or cable well oiled to prevent rust.  jeff

[overbo]

Built the same type of target system as Killdeer shows in her photos using the old clothes line pullies on doubled up 3/8'' nylon rope (100ft).Used a feed bag stuffed w/ plastic.Tied the rope 2 trees at a downward angle then tied another 100ft 1/4'' rope to the target.Took 3 I screws set them into trees about 5 ft up and threaded the 1/4'' rope from the target to my shooting area about 20yrds from the path of the target.This way I could pull the target along the pully system,stand on the rope to hold the target to nock my arrow.Lift my foot and get ready to shoot.

[bowmac]

In our backyard we use a cheap round foam archery target via Walmart etc. One of us roll it down a plank at varying speeds while another trys to pick it off in the yard. At the club we also made a cable run havelina with wings on it. So much for when pigs fly.

[ApplePie]

I took those pics b/c I wanted to set up something at our club... glad they could be of some use to ya'll!  Just wanted to point out that the rope was actually connected to the guides that slide down the cable.  I thought this could be improved if weights were added to the loose rope in between each guide.  This could help keep the rope from being tangled over the cable.  Note that the target is connected in front and back to the pulley set in order to keep it fairly straight as it careens downhill.

The moving target setup at Baltimore Bowmen's range works pretty well, I have to say.  One person can operate the contraption, as long as they can pull the weight of the target back up.  (Perhaps this is why they chose a javelina instead of a deer target?)  Sometimes we had two people operating it just to have two pullers while keeping the rope untangled.  

Shooting the moving target was my favorite part of the weekend, next to getting to shoot with DocNoc, Killdeer, and the gang...

I don't know of any patent or property rights to these contraptions - the ones I've seen appear home-made and operate similarly.  I hope Baltimore Bowmen are OK with us sharing these pics!?!  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

[Chris O]

Me and my dad have 12" circle disks that we roll or toss up in the air.  works best if your shooting into a hillside so you don't have to go far for missed arrows.

[Rod Parsons]

I'm working on a flying fish idea  using a Carp 3D. It will be between a couple of heavy tripods 'cause it needs to be portable.
A question about using carabiners to support the line, does this add much in the way of drag?
And a suggestion. If you add a small bungee cord into the line, the deceleration may be softened when the line runs out.
I'm also thinking about ways of resetting it from the shooting line, perhaps a winding counterweight could be used to alter the speed and maybe reduce the work hauling it back, but I haven't thought this one through yet, ratios on the winding drum, weights etc.
Any suggestions from the mechanically minded?
Rod.

[ApplePie]

The caribiners (metal loops/ovals) slide down the cable quick-as-a-whip!  It doesn't slow the animal down a bit, and really helps with preventing tangle.

Great idea about the bungie.  The momentum of the target can really get going if the angle is steep, and it could stop too abruptly.  This can cause the pulleys to come off track or make the target bounce backward/sideways/up+down - which could break arrows stuck in the target.

As for the counter-balance idea, hmmm.  I don't remember it being so much work, as long as the pulleys were on track and the string untangled.

I smile thinking about a flying fish!  That should be fun...