Ok guys I am on day 13 from a back surgery and stuck at home going crazzzyyyy. So I decided I could make these up with no effort at all.
First I found some couch cushions(2 normal size) set out for the trash(4 weeks ago). Then I had some burlap bags I got for free from a tree yard(past summer). And some contractor trash bags.
1. I took the foam out of the cushion and cut it the size of the burlap bag.
2.I put the foam in a trash bag (for waterproofing help)and wrapped it up and taped it(duct tape)
3.Put it in the burlap bag and sew it shut.
total cost about $2.00 in trash bags I had.
I was able to make three larger ones(14"x 30" x 5") and a small one for throwing around and shooting(14" x 8" x 5"). Hope you like them.
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Burlap sacks make the best yard targets around.
I stuff mine with heavy plastic sheeting from the local furniture store. They throw the stuff away by the truckload. Other than looking at me kinda funny for asking, they were glad to let me haul off what I needed to stuff all the targets I can use.
Closed the tops of the bags with wire ties. That was the only expense for the whole project!
I was going to do something like this a couple of week ago, but I couldn't think of what to stuff the bag with. So, I bought an overpriced one from Dick's.
We used to use old clothes and rags in our targets, but I didn't have any. You guys have given me some ideas.
Shrink wrap that they wrap around all sorts of skids that go everywhere...works like Jeff's heavy stuff...
Ames used to make wonderful 40"x40" burlap targets, but nobody seems to have them... slit at top to stuff full of whatever. I used shrink wrap plastic for YEARS...
Nice inexpensive targets! Glad your doing something to help with the crazies!! Take it very easy!
If you know a soy bean dealer and a farmer with a silage pile, you can build these for free. They last for years and are tougher than anything commercially available. Plus if you stack them it makes a very large target that has room for multiple shooters.
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I make some like yours and they are lasting me 3 years against a 6 months for 3D targets. :thumbsup:
Nice job. :thumbsup:
Here's another idea:
Get either burlap bags or feed bags for a couple cents each. Then go dumpster diving behind a warehouse or other large supply store. You will be looking for the shrink wrap that they use to wrap pallets. Stuff the bags as full as you can and then zip-tie them shut.
If you stuff them tight enough, they will stop the fastest compound. You can also spray paint or draw the front half of a deer on for more realistic hunting practice.
If you can't get the shrink wrap, which I can't readily, I use shredded paper from the work office. It isn't weather proof, but it'll stop the fastest and heaviest arrows from a feed bag target. Our goat food comes in tough vinyl type wovern bags. I use a grommet kit for repairing tarps to allow for a rope tying eyehole.
I came up with something similar that works great. $5 walmart body pillow old synthetic wool sweater and feed bag. Stuff pillow in sweater and place in bag. Done. stops them every time and some times it bounces arrows out. The sweater is the key it alone will stop arrows. shot it over 1000 times and its still workin like the day I made it.
I have found that finding a large burlap or feed bag is very very difficult. Anyone have a source?
Are there any hog or cattle farms near you Rick? Try there.
Good suggestion, but I don't think so. Thanks!
Rick, try any local tree farms they buy them in bulk.
Type in a google search "farms near Cherryville, NC." I got several hits. One was a tree farm. One was an angus cattle farm.
Thanks a bunch!
If you have a coffe roaster place around the coffe beans are shipped in burlap bags.
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I am just glad to know I am NOT the ONLY Guy that stops along the street to Boost Couch & Chair Cushions!! :thumbsup: :biglaugh: :archer2:
doc noc, as far as I know you can still buy the ames target faces directly from ames, google on the web, or sportsmans warehouse still carries them as far as I know. anywhere from eight to eleven bucks. Just gettin ready to start stuffing some for my course. Have everybody saving their plastic bags and gonna make a run to the furniture store tomorrow :bigsmyl:
Talk to the guys selling deer corn on local farms. I found one that buys the bags by the bale and is willing to sell some cheap.
As far as stuffing, don't overlook anything. The little plastic bags from the grocery store will do a great job if you save enough to fill a bag. I use the waterproof wraps from surgical sets, kinda like big, free, disposable blankets. Carpet stores throw away LOTS of plastic wrap and padding/carpet scraps.
Fudd-y Buddy,
Yes...target faces...but I'm loving the 40"x40" BAG target...ti's sewed up 3 sides, 4 brass grommets in corners and a life size deer painted on each side in opposing directions...
Fill top slit with shrink wrap and shoot for a year!
Every on-line place claimed they were "B/O" when I checked...used to get them locally for like $15-$18 and they worked slick!
How would you "stuff the face pieces?" They're for stickin on bales...right?
Now I'm corn fused! :)
Sequoia, I'd be sitting there sniffing the bag instead of shooting... that is rightious! Wow!
The fulfillment of doing something yourself is unprecedented. Much has been lost yet seeing your reflection in what you have produced is a masterpiece in and of itself.
Well done!
Get well soon!!
Doc, The ames website has the pillow targets. I am going to call them today and check on availability and let you know. Take care, FUDD
TSC(tractor Supply Co.) sells a perfect size burlap bag for $1.49. 5 minutes behind any strip mall will get you all the stuffing you need. There is a TSC in Shelby NC.
The Ames Pillow targets are great.
Give Mike at the Nocking point a call, he has a couple styles available.
He is a sponsor here...
Thanks for all the compliments guys,
my next adventure is yard sales and stuffed animals. figure the kids will get a kick out of a course of shooting teddy bears and other stuffed animals(even squirrel size ones). I am on trash search duty all day today...LOL
I've made burlap bag targets and used plastic grocery bags for the stuffing. It will top any field pointed arrow. I have hung them longwise around my property for a makeshift 3D course. The burlap bag hanging sideways is about the size of a deer.
Thanks, Fudd.
When I went to actually "purchase" off their site (which was way more expensive than dealers) it said "B/O" as well.
Then every on-line I tried, including our guys here but not that one you mentioned perhaps.
The local Kinsey Outdoors, is fed by Kinsey Archery dealer supply place and THEY dont have them in their master catalog anymore.
Maybe they lasted too long? :)
Finding ANY burlap today is iffy locally. Everything is the fake white PLASTIC burlap... and oddly, it does NOT hold up as well as real burlap.
Oh..having said that, I no longer leave mine hanging outside in the elements, but bring the Ames burlap pillow inside each shooting session. In that regard, the plastic fake burlap excells...just not in shot for shot durability.
I made a bag target out of an 50# empty dog chow bag. I turned it inside out and stuffed it full of rags and painted bullseyes on it. It has taken a beating. I think the next one I make will be covered when not in use. I think the UV rays from the sun are degrading the bag material. I have 3 dogs so the bags are sort of free I guess.
I just though of a target my buddy made-he stopped at a construction site ans they gave him a bunch of scrap pieced of that hard foam insulation they put under siding. He glued 36" by 36" pieces together 4 deep and had a pretty good block target. He shot at it for a good while. When the center would get shot out he would get some of that expanding spray foam and shoot it in there and trim it after it dried. He also does that to his 3-D target. He also used that spray foam to fill a card board box to make another make shift block target. We have also filled 1 gallon milk jugs with spray foam for targets...Blah blah blah sorry to ramble!
My wife saves ALL of the plastic grocery bags brought into the house and then says she does'nt know what to do with them but does'nt want them going to some landfill. So I have plenty of filler for el cheapo targets.
Thanks to the suggestions here I stopped by the local TSC store today and picked up 4 burlap bags for $1.19 ea. and just did her a HUGE favor. Hope she appreciates my thoughtfulness. :thumbsup:
Lots of great ideas here.I can see me making some 3d targets here real soon.
If you live by the water along the marshes after a good nor-easter you can scan the marshes for floating dock foam,they make great block targets. At one point in time you could get a 2'x2'x6' new block from H depot for around $60.00 to make a floating dock. You could cut them up with a wood hand saw and shoot till your arms fell off.
I will say making small targets and using small stuffed animals as targets really gets your accuracy skills honed in. plus its a total blast shooting.We take lawn flags and make a rapid course and have at it, run from flag to flag shooting at the small targets.
QuoteOriginally posted by Rick Butler:
My wife saves ALL of the plastic grocery bags brought into the house and then says she does'nt know what to do with them but does'nt want them going to some landfill. So I have plenty of filler for el cheapo targets.
Thanks to the suggestions here I stopped by the local TSC store today and picked up 4 burlap bags for $1.19 ea. and just did her a HUGE favor. Hope she appreciates my thoughtfulness. :thumbsup:
Hey Gary, thanks for the post. :thumbsup: This weekend, I'm going to TSC in Fenton.
I found burlap bags stuffed with plastic grocery bags or bubble wrap to be the easiest and cheapest by far, sure do last a long time! Once the burlap get beat just slip it into another burlap bag!
I paint a deer target on this one!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/BowHuntingFool/utf-8BSU1HMDAwNTYuanBn.jpg)
Tim,
Sent you a PM since you don't get notices.
One shoot I attend puts chunks of pressure treated 4x4 into the ground and staples wide piece of velcro on top. then they cut out small game animals from 3" foam block, mount the opposing piece of velcro on the bottom and require the use of blunts on that range (mostly for kids) What a hoot! Hit them and they just fly a few feet. Great fun!
BHF,
It looks like you just painted a "background" around the outline of a deer! I might be able to do THAT! My "deer" target paint jobs or worse, pigs, look like some escapee from Jurasic Park!
Neat idea! Thanks!
Doc, the folks who run the nocking point are out of town until tue. I left a message to see if they still have the ames pillow targets. I am going to head over to tractor supply to see if they have any of those burlap bags as well. I made my living as an artist for ten years prior to becoming a nurse so I may have to got that route. We could always take two of the ames target faces and sew them together too. If I get some burlap bags I will paint one up for ya and send it your way! Keep this post going, There will be trad gangers all over dumpster diving!!!!
Here is what I have done. Go to the local coffee roasting coffee shop and ask for their empty burlap bags. Over the last year, I have picked up 30+ bags at no cost. Then go to the local grocery store that has a recycling barrel placed out to recycle plastic grocery bags. I asked the manager if I could periodically take them, and he said no problem. I can make as many target as I require at no cost, and when they are shot out, I simply slide them into a new burlap bag.
Mark
I stuff my empty chicken feed bags with used plastic shopping bags. A dozen feed bags will last me all year. Cost....... zippo! :bigsmyl: :thumbsup:
Doc Noc, I just talked to mike at the nocking point today, He called ames and ordered two dozen assorted and they will be to him by friday. His contact info is in the sponsors section. I am gonna order a couple myself. He said they have been out of stock for a while. I guess the folks at ames had some personal issues but they are now up and running again. Good luck!!!!!
Thanks guys, went the TSC route and used the filling from some old commercial bag targets along with plastic shopping bags, also saved the grommets of old bag targets and built frame to hold finished target in place , what would make a good backstop that I could drape off back of frame to catch the occasional,lol. flier. Zip ties , bags and reusing stuffing have about 2 dollars in each target and their awesome, drew the outline of shoulder etc. with a black marker and that along with the brown color of the burlap makes a pretty neat lifelike deer target, thanks for the idea.
Old carpet works for a good backstop, just double up a piece.
Friday I made a rack from a stainless steel table base for the bags. I had sewn each bag together side by side, and mounted them to a cross bar. The bags are able to swing when hit and absorb a lot of the impact. Total cost $o.oo. Thanks for looken
P.S. the blue was my kids idea, he had paint and had a bad desire to use it...LOL
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I see many, many broken arrow shafts in your future, my friend...
How do you figure that Jeff?
Dunno what Jeff's mind is thinking...wouldn't wanna guess...
But if it were me, I'd sure as heck whack those nice steel braces a few times and bet even my carbons will do an immitation of a grenade!
Otherwise, it's BE-UTY-FUL! I'd have had to make them braces waaaay far away from the bag! :) :)
David,
If I'm that far off target,Then I need to re-evaluate what I'm doing.Ha Ha I know the kids will pepper the poles for sure.
The frame was built like that and i cant adjust it and it is about 5'(L) X 3 1/2'(H) X 2'(D).
Nice and strong and free. Great idea. And, if you're that far off, maybe try hitting the ocean from the beach to tighten up your groups!!!!
Ahh. I didn't pay close enough attention...you cobbed this from a table, not welded it up from scratch! Doh! April Fool a day late! ME! :)
I also missed that the bags were 3 individuals... Is the deer outline a cardboard cut out?
Good use of 'recycle' all the way thru!!! Cudos!
The deer is something I cut out from an empty roll of birthday wrapping paper(they dont use the old school tubes anymore just rolled paper).
Can you tell I'm going crazy being stuck around the house. My next project will be a full size deer target made from empty toilet paper roles and the shedding hair from my dog...LOl
Here's are my "ersatz" deer and pig silouettes on my bag targets from the feed store (.70 ea.). Only problem is I have about 10 of them and the sun degrades them so I stuff the old bag into a new bag a couple of times/year.
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plastic grocery bags work as stuffing as well. Just wad and stuff.
Same for me, smaller deer sized burlaps that have a thick plastic liner, we use em in the oilfield.
Stuff, tie off, and tie black tarred nylon string on each corner, hang from trees on each side. I had an old 3d deer head I attached on front.
If suburbs like me, put a few potted shrubs in front for realism, shadows, etc...MAKE the target blend to FORCE u to pick a spot on a partial animal. Great for really getting your mind in tune before the season.