Stump Shooting...Small Plastic Water Bottles

fnshtr · April 09, 2015, 04:36:00 PM

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.

Birdbow · April 09, 2015, 05:21:00 PM

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

Orion · April 09, 2015, 06:21:00 PM

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.

tippit · April 09, 2015, 07:05:00 PM

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

April 09, 2015, 07:13:00 PM

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.

Cavscout9753 · April 09, 2015, 07:41:00 PM

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!

Bud B. · April 09, 2015, 11:11:00 PM

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.

April 09, 2015, 11:14:00 PM

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

Kevin Lawler · April 09, 2015, 11:30:00 PM

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.

Slickhead · April 10, 2015, 08:17:00 AM

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.

tracker12 · April 10, 2015, 08:36:00 AM

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.

Lady Frost · April 10, 2015, 09:36:00 AM

A lot of great tips in this thread. Thanks everyone.

Sockrsblur · April 10, 2015, 10:08:00 AM

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.

Whitetail Addict · April 10, 2015, 10:23:00 AM

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

NoCams · April 10, 2015, 10:54:00 AM

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 ! "

beaunaro · April 10, 2015, 11:12:00 AM

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.

Broken Quiver · April 10, 2015, 12:25:00 PM

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