How do you find lost points in target?

Bldtrailer · January 26, 2014, 07:51:00 PM

We have all done

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xtrema312 · January 26, 2014, 08:19:00 PM

Had to deal with this back when I first started shooting GT trad with hot melt. Lost a few before I started to really rough up the inside of the shaft. I was luck to see the hole a time or two so I pushed in the shaft to get back on the point and push it out the back. Others just had to stay in. Not a problem unless you are shooting broadheads in the target. I ended up shooting that target up with only field points and shot a diffrent target for broadheads. I did lose one broadhead once and had to cut it out. That could have done more damage to future arrows or someone who didn't know it was there as the target deteriorated.

No problems with this now for a long time.

pghrich · January 26, 2014, 08:32:00 PM

No easy way short of tearing the target apart. We shoot broadheads at a broadhead only bail so everyone knows that the presence of broadheads are indeed possible.

Chumster · January 26, 2014, 08:36:00 PM

Can't say as I have ever had one come out in a target. Had a few stuck in wood or a possum, that I had to dig out!

macbow · January 26, 2014, 08:38:00 PM

Pretty much what has been said.
Learned many winters ago that arrow points create heat as the enter frozen bales etc. Then freeze and can be tough getting them back out.

Stumpkiller · January 26, 2014, 10:24:00 PM

I'd share my method but it got me kicked out of a local club. The carbon crowd didn't like my surgery methods and, furthermore, thought I was abusing the 3-D targets by "practicing" on them between formal events.

I will say it was much like the method I use to retrieve points from stumps. ;-)

Bjorn · January 26, 2014, 11:37:00 PM

I shoot wood and it has happened a time or two. I don't think I have hit a point that was already in there. So I don't worry about it. Broadheads would be a different story and might require more radical methods.

Paul/KS · January 27, 2014, 07:09:00 AM

I'll try to probe the spot to find out how deep it is then get a pair of needle nosed pliers to try and pull it.

Red Beastmaster · January 27, 2014, 10:06:00 AM

I let the compounders find it.

RAGHORN 3 · January 27, 2014, 11:54:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by Red Beastmaster:
I let the compounders find it.

LOL..... :D

January 27, 2014, 06:28:00 PM

I shoot at soy bean seed crate bags, stuffed with plastic from silage piles. It is tougher and larger than any fiber target out there and all free. I had a deal a few years back when that softer hot melt glue came out with my wood arrows. I got all of my points back by, once a year, pulling all of the plastic out on my nieghbors large driveway, when they gone, stretching it all out and then stuffing a new bag. What remained on his drive way were all of the target points that got caught on tough spots and broadheads from shots that missed the deer target. I have since gone to Stanley amber hot melt and no longer have any points come off.

Sam McMichael · January 29, 2014, 12:01:00 PM

Also, it is a good idea to use acetone to clean the inside of the point before attaching it to the shaft. Lubricants used during the manufacture of the point can cause hot melt to fail if not cleaned.

Mostly, I don't retrieve those points lost in targets. It seems I do more damage retrieving them than I suffer by hitting one that is imbedded in the target.

reddogge · January 29, 2014, 12:17:00 PM

I shoot at one club each winter that forbids shooting wood arrows because so many points came off and caused problems. I've lost points in my backyard buck target and when I replaced the insert I tried to find them but gave up. Too tedious and not worth my time.

Brock · January 29, 2014, 12:42:00 PM

I just leave them in the target until it is shot up....then if a 3D and falling apart I take apart the insert and remove them....if a layered block target I leave them until it is all shot up and cut straps to release layers...fish out points. That being said....I have targets that are years old...

I just dont worry about them to be honest...get another point...do a better job of cleaning machine oils out of inside with sandpaper and acetone/heat...get good glue bond and shoot again.

some things are really not worth fretting over in big scheme of things... just my 2 cents.