I don't like shooting targets...but love to bow hunt. My practice routine is to put out those small disposal plastic water bottle around my farm. I'll place them in high grass, under tree limbs, between small tree stumps...tight places that you are always fearful of taking that shot while hunting. Most of the time I can't even see the entire bottle but see the glint of the sun off the bottle like the eye of your intended prey. I tend to shoot 5 to 35 yards but never pace off my shots. I use those 200gr hex blunts as I hunt with 200gr broadheads. For me it is an extremely cheap target and the best hunting practice I've ever shot.
Small target/small miss...it really teaches you how to pick shooting holes, mentally block out a tree right next to the target, and there is instant loud sound gratification then you nail a plastic bottle! It helps to have a 15 acre field & woods practice course though...tippit
(http://images2.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp83232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv37497%3Enu%3D32%3A4%3E%3B87%3E672%3EWSNRCG%3D3%3A%3A957587432%3Cnu0mrj)
Good idea! And Im with u...I love to bowhunt but not a big fan of shooting targets.
X 2 on the blunts and bottles. Got the idea from my buddy Sean B. I just throw a few around my yard and shoot at 'em where they land. TonyZ
I gotta try that! And basketballs filled with spray foam insulation.
I enjoy roving along a creek bank and finding that area that just looks like a critter, maybe an area with no leaves, or a rotten log, and shooting one right in the middle of that area! Many times, sadly, you will also find plenty of trash including the "water bottle critter" to punch holes in. Awesome practice for the bowhunter...
Bueno!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Tippit, many moons ago I was fortunate enough to be invited to a regular weekly "bowshoot" set up on some guy's farm in central IN. It wasn't a club, there was no scoring or scorecards of any kind. Just guys walking the trail in the woods shooting at plastic bottles from gallon size down to pill bottle size. Some were weighted down and set on the ground, some were impaled on sticks and many were tied to strings and were hung from branches. It was a great use of trash and an awesome way to practice - especially when shooting a pill bottle swinging at 20 yds.
Jeff don't your horses drop enough targets for you? Lol
Put a few small rocks in the bottle before you throw it... That will help (it) go further and sometimes stand right up when landing on the ground...
But then, natural poop is hard to beat as targets. :rolleyes:
... mike ... :archer2: ...
meathead,
My Wife's horses have bull's eyes on their sides for my rubber suction cup arrows :)
Stuff those bottles full of those plastic bags you get from the grocery store and put a few wraps of duct tape around them and they'll last quite a long time. Works really well!
Steve
If you are shooting your yard or near anything you do not want to hit, be careful of deflections when shooting different stuff. There is a painted over arrow hole between my two upstairs windows on the bow shooting side of me house. There is a garage 20 yards away that completely failed to try to stop an arrow that skipped off a quart chocolate bottle. Those windows are 6 inches apart. My son thought an empty quart plastic bottle was close to a turkey size and would be a good practice target. We don't want to talk about the other hole where the power lines come from the house to the garage.
stykbow67,
Good idea...but my wife likes bottled water so our supply is limitless. No need to do anything more than take the label off. Once shot up, there are 10 more ready to replace it.
I use those all the time
Free and easy!
Stuff with some pastic bags and cover with an old grey sock
= squirrel!
I also like shooting smaller targets. Have a hard time focusing on a bag.
Plus these change it up a bit.
If you have a dollar tree store near you they have nerf type balls for a buck
Colorful targets.
This thread reminds me of another I read some time ago... "How Not To Teach Yourself Traditional Archery" aka "Honey, I Think We Need A New Garage Door!"
... mike ... :dunno: ...
That would probably help prevent hitting the mistaken maple, not fir, stump, or piece of granite that eats arrows. I walk around my property with the dogs a lot though, and the sight of bottles laying in the woods would bother me. I guess I m to lazy to set out a bunch and then pick them all up every time I shoot.
Been using bottles like this for a while. Good chit.
This reminds me of when I was 12 years old we had a "jug course" at the Boy Scout Camp. It was gallon milk jugs with a small piece of rope tied to them and then just staked to the ground. We had a blast shooting rubber blunts and "knocking" the jug around...
In going to try Ritz crackers this year. Minimizes cleanup and it will make the squirrels happy.
What you need to realize is this is on my private little horse farm. The bottles are pretty much hidden until you walk up on them. Down here in Aiken, SC it's all sand like Cape Cod not granite like the rest of New England. I wear out feathers before breaking arrows! When I get back to Boston, I'll be shooting foam targets again...that is once I hear the snow is All gone :scared:
I love shooting the way you described it. My grandchildren love to shoot... the target gets old quick, but they will shoot at ping pong balls, sticks and leaves... all day long.
The other day my grandson stuck a somewhat rotten stick into the top of my block target and we had a blast. Glanced several off of the stick and broke it into several pieces. He even set his iPhone up and took close up video to slow down the action.
Great fun!!!
Another favorite is using flu-flus to shoot flying discs (frozen pizza cardboard circles glued together), sycamore seed pods, walnuts, etc.
Tippit,
Great idea. I've used gal. milk jugs on broken arrow shafts stuck around the woods, but they're not that small. They are fun reactive targets though! Todd
I do something like that, though I don't need to place the bottles in the woods. Every spring, I shoot plastic bottles, beer and pop cans and whatever other trash the slobs deposit on the dirt roadside that runs near my cabin. Most of it is on public land.
I carry a trash bag with me and take out the critters I kill, and even those I don't. Usually average a full bag of trash in a half-mile of road. Sort of killing two birds with one stone so to speak. :goldtooth:
I'm not sure I'd want to pull my arrow out of some of the trash I see along the roads. At least my water bottles are clean ;)
There are two treestand hunters that hunt one piece of public ground near here that were peeing in Mountain Dew bottles and tossing them in a shallow gorge. I did not want to carry them around with me, there were quite a few of them, so I called the game warden. I thought that he did something about the problem, but I found some last year again at different ravine, so I called the game warden again. Not all Mountain Dew you find in the woods is Mountain Dew.
A great idea - sort of "urban stumping". I'd do it if I had the space but as it is I need to keep the backstop behind my target. However, I have those same heads in 125, but the 200 looks downright wicked!! Love it!
Just a side note... I friend of mine (herndondt) shot a flattened Mountain Dew plastic bottle with an Axis shaft and a judo. His arrow snapped like a twig when he hit the bottle. It snapped about 8" from the tip. I thought it was a fluke until he snapped another a few weeks later. The cheap water bottles are great, but tougher plastic and judos don't seem to mix real well.
The heads tippit used will plow right through.
That is a great way to practice. I have shot many a water bottle!
Another little game we have played with the water bottle is to put a stick in the bottom and stick it in a practice target and shoot at the hole that you drink through!
Bisch
I carry a tennis ball around and throw it out in front of me and shoot it with a blunt. Always have something to shoot at. Important note about shooting balls. If you shoot a good size ball where your arrow sticks in the ball then don't be surprised when it rolls and breaks your arrow. Seen it many times.
Guys, careful shooting trash.
Some of the larger sports drink bottles (20-32oz) are used for Meth by-products (popular in SE Ohio)
Id hate for someone to get sick off some "idiots"
trash.
I like to get 1/2 gallon plastic milk cartons and spry them with the crazy foam. Hag them from low branches around the property.
A lot of great tips in this thread. Thanks everyone. :)
Merida! My favorite Disney Princess! Makes me want to run through the glen with the wind in my hair :)
Great target ideas. Made me remember shooting the base of a stump last year and the arrow seemingly never stopped, to soft. Made me laugh when I gave up looking for the third time... looked like Mor'du had been there.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kevin Lawler:
I carry a tennis ball around and throw it out in front of me and shoot it with a blunt. Always have something to shoot at. Important note about shooting balls. If you shoot a good size ball where your arrow sticks in the ball then don't be surprised when it rolls and breaks your arrow. Seen it many times.
Darn it! One of my grandsons rubber balls has a puncture in it, and I bought a few cans of spray foam the other day, with the idea of using it as a target. Maybe I'll just stick with tennis balls, and the box I saved to fill with foam. Thanks for the heads up.
Bob
Too much fun "walking" tennis balls around the yard ! When we first started Trad we would put enough gravel in the bottom of a 2 liter to make it heavy enough to throw. Shoot it, get arrows, throw it back in the direction we came. So much fun we would even shoot after dark and the wifey screaming, " Supper Time ! "
I've done this a lot.
Started with a gallon or half gallon empty milk jug, shot it with a flu flu arrow from an unknown distance.
A lot of times your shot will just glance off the jug and it jumps around the yard giving you more unknown distances to shoot from.
Great fun, even if you have to go "pull" an arrow now and then from a good center hit.
I'll have to try the smaller water bottles.
Chinese Stick Ducks, as my grand daughter calls them. You've seen them, the little yellow and pink ducks with the cute face and a squeakier on the bottom that float in the tube. I alway have three to five in my quiver.
Take a broken arrow with a field tip on it and push the tip through the head and out the bottom. add a tie-wrap above and below the duck and stick them in the ground wherever you want. pre drilling the duck helps in pushing the arrow through.
I started off with long legged ducks, but now I have some short legged ones. I use rubber blunts that I added weight onto for matching my hunting weight. No arrow goes to waste :)