I wanted to practice some ground shooting a few days ago and tossed a plastic bag stuffed with other plastic bags out in the yard... worked well till the bag kind of blew up and there were plastic bags blowing all over.  I decided to make a burlap target ball that would last awhile.   I did that yesterday and put a "build-a-long" page up on the Howard Hill Longbowmen site showing step by step how I made it.  It's an easy sewing project and a real fun target.

Here's a direct link to the page:

http://www.howardhilllongbowmen.com/dicksballpattern/ballpattern.html

In case the link splits and doesn't work, here's a link to the HHL site index:

www.howardhilllongbowmen.com

At that page, scroll down to the section titled "Of Interest to All Archers".   The new topic "Captain Dick' Burlap Ball Target" is at the bottom of that section.

Dick in Seattle

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, looks like a load of fun.      

Add the possibility of breaking a bunch of your buddy's arrows, it becomes even more fun.  

cool !!!      

I'm to lazy todo all that sewing....
I just buy a Wiffle Soft Ball....And shoot at it with Blunts....

kinda like a giant hacky sack!
cool!!

I'm all thumbs when it comes to sewing Dick. Now the wife is a different story when it comes to sewing, maybe i can tell her it's for the kids  

I thought of another neat way to use it.... instead of sewing up the last seam, put velcro on it before you assemble all the parts.   Don't stuff it, take it with you to hunting camp, folded flat.  When you get there, stuff it with leaves and everybody can have fun and practice with it in off time.   then empty it and take it home again.

dick

Cool idea Dick  

Heck, that looks like My Rendition of a Football when I took Home Ec.!! Sorry, Seamster I aint, my daughter keeps bringing that to my attention.

Shakes....   liked your sign off.  I have been reminding people for years that statistics prove that exercise is harmful.   Think about it, 99.76% of all of the people who have ever exercised are dead!

i like your idea... i asked my wife to make me one... she had a good point... she says why not just take a round piece of fabric and wrap it around your stuffing material and cinch it tight at the top... that way you have a seamless ball with the capability of restuffing at the top... the stuffing material im going to use is shrink wrap from a warehouse...it compacts very tight and is waterproof..... im going to use a poly feed bag for the fabric...thanks for the idea ... looks like a great way to target practice ...

that would work... I only have two objections... I didn't think of it and doing it that way wouldn't have given me an excuse to use my antique sewing machine!   Actually, it would be an easy approach, but I don't think it would roll as well or as much, due to the topknot.   Of course, once you put an arrow into it, my versiion doesn't roll as well, either.  Good shooting fun either way!