ive been shooting my recurve for almosty a year now and am starting to get board just shooting at deer and block targets. what do you guys do to make shooting more fun?
Go stump shooting! :D
Yep! :thumbsup:
i would try that i just cant aford to breack arrows all the time
Go balloon hunting. Get a bag of little balloons - the ones made to be used as water balloons - fill about a dozen of them and place them around the woods or your yard. They are a good size target and fun to pop
I use the judo point and have yet to break an arrow stump shooting. I try to avoid the rocks and new stumps. There are still plenty of leaves or small trees or brush to make into targets.
Nerf football
Sorry, I might be the only one, but I don't get bored practicing.
I don't get bored either. But what I love to do is shoot with others whenever possible.
Quit shooting groups; shoot max two arrows at the same target. Stumping or some kind of 3D, either animals or free hanging parts (torso).
I was using a nerf football tonight with my sons. I live in a development. The yards are small. First I tried a soccer ball. The arrow came back at me. Then a tennis ball. Arrow went other places. Then a whiffle ball. Broke that. Then the Nerf Football. Blunt goes in and stops. Perfect. The way I see it; it is about the size of a rabbit. We are going rabbit hunting over the weekend so it makes perfect practice!
Martin
there are essentially two kinds of practice - form and accuracy. form work can be boring, but it's the basis for accuracy. accuracy just means shooting - hunting, roving, or targets. unless hunting, the best fun and the most practical form of 'tuning up' for hunting is roving. even the medieval yeomen roved on special courses designed to best simulate battle conditions (hunting in england was reserved for the noble and rich),
an excerpt from the 1942 printing of LE Stemler's "The Essentials of Archery" ...
Roving
Get yourself a good long bow and go roving. Tuck half a dozen tough birch shafts, fletched with long, low turkey feathers, under your belt or slip them in your quiver. Adjust your leather armguard and put the "tab" in place. If you have a dog, take him along, he'll get as much fun out of it as you will. Saunter down the lane or strike off across the fields. The first target that catches your eye is a corner fence post. Draw, hold a second and away whistles your arrow. You miss by an inch, but you secretly figure it was a darn close shot at that.
Next there is a burdock bush. "Now if there was a rabbit right at the base of it, I'll bet I'd get him." A quick draw, a snappy release and the arrow speeds clean and true-right through the imaginary bunny. "That's shooting," say you. You walk a bit more and catch up with a friend. "Let's see you hit that telegraph pole, bet you can't." You nock a shaft - a favorite one, for now you're shooting under the eyes of a skeptic and critic. You take careful aim, loose perfectly and-a real thrill - you hit the pole dead center. "Gosh, you hit it!" "I'd like to shoot too, must be lots of fun." You affect indifference, as if socking a pole at that distance - all of forty yards-is nothing at all, and begin telling him something about bows and arrows.
After four or five of your friends are equipped, you can have real fun. You plan a roving course through the woods and over a hill. You lay out targets of various kinds. A corrugated box full of sod, a small flour sack full of leaves and dirt, a whitened stake, a wooden figure cut to resemble a bird, a toy balloon. Each one is placed from twenty to fifty yards apart, down the road, through the woods and up the hillside. You start at number one and shoot from mark to mark. He who gets around with the least number of shots, wins.
Years ago, in England, the home of the yeoman and long bow archery, elaborate roving courses were laid out. One of the famous ones, built about 1594, was near London and was called Finsbury Fields. The names of the butts or targets breathe romance and adventure. From The Castle to Gardstone was 185 yards: from Turkswale to Lambeth was 75 yards; from Bloody House Ridge to Arndol was 154 ,lards. From the Scarlet Lion to Jehu was 82 yards. The course had hundreds of marks and could be shot over from many directions. After an exhilarating round of the course, the merry party could drop off at the Egg Pye or Whitehall for a tankard of ale and a cut of cold beef.
I just went today for the first time in fact aerial shooting. I found an area, tucked away, that is fairly wide open. I had my son throwing a basketball, soccer ball, frisbee and an older ball we don't use anymore into the air. I made up some flu flu's for an upcoming pheasant hunt. Now that was fun practice. It was fun to watch the arrows fly and I even hit the targets a few times. Woo hoo! Look out pheasants! I think...
-Jeremy :coffee:
Get together with some friends and have fun again , all the BS and a little compatition change the day!! :smileystooges:
Here`s a couple for you.
If you have an old aluminum arrow, cut it off a bit, and get some bright colored paintballs. They are fairly inexpensive, and last a long time.
Stick the cut off arrow in the ground about four feet in front of a good backstop, and place the paintball on the cut off arrow. You will be amazed at how quickly you start hitting the ball.
Aim small, miss small kinda thing. It won`t take long and you will begin impress YOURSELF!
You will also want some paper towels to wipe off your arrows, and a tubing cutter to recut the aluminum shaft, because you will damage it from time to time. A few extra bent shafts, pre cut are a good idea.
I do this with my kids during the summer...alot!
It is big fun, and as I said, you will impress yourself if you can get into the groove and up your concentration enough. You will get to know a hit way before the arrow gets there. You`ll start to FEEL it. Someone to shoot with makes it even more fun.
It can get messy, but messy things are usually fun.
I have tried other ways to hold the paintball, but a cut off aluminum shaft is the most available, and will not damage even wood arrows if they hit it.
A Nerf football suspended by a string in front of your backstop is fun too. Walk down and get it swinging, run back and try to shoot it. Hang it out far enough that the missed arrows stuck in the backstop will not interfere with the swinging football, so you can shoot again. A big treble fish hook works to hang the football. A rope threaded through the football will cause too much destruction to the football when the arrow hits. The hook tears out with little damage, and the football will last better. Just re-hook it after a hit. Be careful not to hook yourself when you get your arrows. Blunts are harder on Nerf balls than field points if you shoot high draw weight. Discarded stuffed animals work good for this too. :D
What everyone has said above.......as far as breaking arrows,you can't put a price on a good time. If your not breaking arrows or looking for them,your not shooting enough! :wavey:
Anytime I go hunting with my son or friends we find time to head out for a little friendly competition. Pick something out to shoot but not under 15 yards so as not to break shafts. The winner picks the next target and so on. If someone wants to shoot at a rock just miss it, shoot high so as to skip the arrow. If not hunting take a companion to a WMA area and just walk. You will find something to fling an arrow at.
where do you live in ohio?i could really use a shooting partner.i have a block and a deer target.they do get boring by youself.get a friend and just make up games.i get a quiver of arrows and walk around to different spots and shoot.this helps me with my different yardages.i also use grocery bags.put a stick through the handles and place them everywhere.the wind will puff them up and make them move.they are fun to shoot at and will not tear up your arrows.hope this helps,steve
Do a search for making a bomb proof arrow. I've been stumping with the same arrow going on 3 years now. Rocks, solid stumps whatever, this arrow takes them all on and has not been beaten yet.
QuoteOriginally posted by BOWMARKS:
Get together with some friends and have fun again , all the BS and a little compatition change the day!! :smileystooges:
I will second that notion.
I try to get out and stump shoot with a few of the fellas a least 1-2 times a month if not more.
After deer season we just go Rabbit / Stumpin.
I had some large boxes, flattened'em out and outlined a near-lifesized deer on it. Doing a turkey now.... Phil
Stumpin pays!! No need to shoot solid hard targets/stumps. Pick a leaf on a full bush, pinecone, dirt clod, beer can, etc. Take a fluflu for slow flying birds. Make your own judos & you;re ready to go. Always different & fun going on 30+ years since I've seen a range.
Man, there are a million solutions to your problem. One of my favorites is to go to a high school football practice field. Throw 8-10 golf balls into the field and walk around and shoot at them from different angles and at different distances.
Another thing you might try is to bore holes through 6-10 tennis balls, hang them from a string from a limb or on the ground and them shoot them from different angles and ranges.
I was a helluva shot when I used this as my primary practice. You are so right. Stationary targets are great for form, but form don't always count on a live target.
Shoot at pictures of the mother in law. Makes me smile every time.
I'm lucky enough to live next door to my hunting buddy. We will play a variation of HORSE, you have to repeat the other guys shot (standing, sitting, leaning around tree, etc.). We will also take turns pinning a dollar bill to the block, first on to stick an arrow in it keeps it.
I just built a backstop in my basement, can get a 20 yard shot so we can practice in comfort during the winter. I liked the stuffed animal idea! Got lots of those in the basement waiting to take an arrow.
My wife and I have a couple of really good friends that we stump shoot with. We go to the woods and pitch out a nerf football. Best hit gets to make the next toss. In a grassy field or forest with deep duff this can get really challenging.
We use blunts with no wings or claws so the ball doesn't get torn up too fast. It's a good time for a $3 nerf ball.
You can do it by yourself too, just not quite as much fun.
OkKeith
take a plastic water bottleand stuff it with as many plastic shopping bags asyou possibly can...It will simply amase you as to how many will fit in there...and throw it out and shoot away.
I use a dogs stuffed toy about the size of a tennis ball and hang if from whatever. They are made for dogs chewing so they hold up real well. mine has taken quite a few hits and is still mostly intack. Cost, about $2.00.
Don't use apples hanging from your apple tree no matter how hard they temp you. Feathers will never be the same. I have a yellow sand bag with a red dot in the center of it set up at 90 yards. My friends and I always take a few shots at it.
Use multiple target set ups. Dont have to be fancy or cost anything. Even one target with different shot angles. Its fun just to use your imagination. As far as bored practicing, can't help you there. No experience.
I love to throw out some apples or oranges even a head of lettuce and just walk around to different spots and shoot. I use judo points or ace bunny heads.
variety is the ticket. Stumping, 3Ds, balloons, moving targets. small game. just keep changing it up.
or
buy new bows... that always makes it interesting.
Hit the target every once in a while.
I really enjoy shooting big round bales in our pasture beside the house. When we cut it for hay (now that the cows are sold) I like to leave a few sitting out there and I use it as my own mini 3D course without the foam animals. When the hay is still fairly green the big bales stop my woodies real good, but after they dry out awhile they don't stop them so well.
It's a huge target and hard to miss. This is where I take longer shots without fear of losing an arrow, and I shoot from one bale to the next at unknown yardages. It's great mental practice for judging yardages.
I aim for the center mass with the first arrow, then chase the fletching on that arrow with all the rest and go for a good group.
It really helps break up the hum drum of standing in one spot pounding foam all the time. It's great practice for judging yardage as well as being able to shoot out in the open which is sometimes hard for me to do when there isn't anything around to use as a comparison for yardage estimation.
Maybe you can find a farmer who still has big round bales out in his field who would let you shoot sometime?
Purpose and variety are key for me.
I go chase ground squirrels. I have a lemon tree lemons are great targets put them out in the yard ,hang them from the tree and when you hit them they clean your arrow, kinda.
Had my boys help me make this new pvc frame and bag target. That made practice more fun!
(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n140/ryanita/004-2.jpg)
Consider making your targets legal and live.
Get some youngsters involved with your practice.
God bless,Mudd