Possibly the first 3D shoot ever.

Straitshot · July 25, 2015, 02:01:00 PM

Many years ago back when there were no such thing as 3D archery targets, somewhere around 30 years ago, our archery club decided to put on a tournament and shoot at life like targets. We wanted it to be a special shoot, one like no other we had ever shot. We thought and thought until we finally came up with a plan. We decided to get as many members as possible to volunteer to make life like targets. We needed 60 such targets. The photos are some of the ones I made. We made them by gluing Styrofoam sheets together and sculpting them into animal figures. We strengthened the legs with either heavy cardboard or ¼" plywood and fastened them to wooden stands. We then covered them with burlap we acquired from old cotton sacks using wallpaper glue. We used water base house paint for painting them. On the deer I made I used real antlers I had found and I used taxidermist eyes. The teeth on the Grizzly Bear are the tips of deer tines and the eyes were taxidermist eyes. The ears on both the deer and bear are made from plastic milk jugs.
We made these back in the day when Stanley Hips had first come out with his foam silhouette targets. If I am not mistaken he came to the shoot just to see our targets. I don't know for certain but this may have been the first 3D tournament ever in the USA. This was back in the mid 80's. If it wasn't the first it had to be one of the first.
Anyway I thought you guys might like to see some of the targets. We made both North American and some African animals.

It is possible that there may be a few on this website that attended this shoot if you are still around.

sleepyhollow · July 25, 2015, 02:11:00 PM

Wow, great job !!

MO Bow · July 25, 2015, 02:28:00 PM

holy crap! those things are intense!

those deer would be some top notch decoys compared to even what's out now. beautiful work.

if i had any part in that, the bear would have looked like a big rectangle with smaller rectangles for legs. you went all out!

kennym · July 25, 2015, 02:31:00 PM

Those are great!! Somebody has to be a taxidermist here!!

Real antlers too ?

ChuckC · July 25, 2015, 02:38:00 PM

Good job. Back in the 70's if I recall correctly, there was an annual 3D shoot in Rockton IL ( just north of Rockford, just miles south of Wisconsin line, where they did the same. The shoot was awesome.
ChuckC

Straitshot · July 25, 2015, 02:51:00 PM

Here is a photo of my then 6 yr. old daughter sitting on the bear. She is now 36 yrs. old.

Car54 · July 25, 2015, 02:59:00 PM

Holy moly...you guys had some talent.

stabow · July 25, 2015, 03:22:00 PM

Very nice !!

M60gunner · July 25, 2015, 03:22:00 PM

Great targets to be sure. I would say the best "home made" 3D's I have seen. I remember cutting cardboard animal shapes and using paper and glue to make the body. What a mess and as we found out not waterproof! But you know we had fun getting together and doing these things as a club.

Straitshot · July 25, 2015, 03:32:00 PM

Believe it or not the bear is still used in a yearly shoot by one of the traditional clubs here. It has been repainted and is now a Polar bear instead of a Grizzly.

South MS Bowhunter · July 25, 2015, 03:39:00 PM

Wow :eek: :eek: Those are as realistic as they come even ones today don't get that good, seriously!

How did they hold up? And would you mind given a little more details, or a how to in making them?

Would they be cost efficient today? Sorry for all the questions but I would really like to build some for a home range.

I have made 2 dimensional targets using carpet and they look pretty good but those are the bomb!

elkken · July 25, 2015, 07:38:00 PM

That is really awesome, you guys had some talent ...

dnovo · July 25, 2015, 08:46:00 PM

In the mid to late 80's our club started to make our own targets similar to that. We had one guy really talented and he made a bunch of them. We found out also they were not waterproof, so we started buying sheets of ethafoam and making them from that. They held up much better. I need to look around and see if I have any pictures from then. I still have a mountain goat in my shed from 25 years ago that we made.

ZSL · July 25, 2015, 09:13:00 PM

Dang, those look awesome!!! Makes me want to try and make my own rather than buy one.

Stump73 · July 25, 2015, 09:46:00 PM

Those look better than actual 3d targets!

Thumper Dunker · July 25, 2015, 11:53:00 PM

Real cool stuff.

Straitshot · July 26, 2015, 01:07:00 AM

Since making this post I have been informed other clubs up north had been doing it before us so we were not the first in the USA but I think we may have been the first in Texas. Anyway it doesn't make any difference who was first. What it does show is our dedication to the sport of archery and the effort we would go to in order to make shooting our bows more fun.

Doc Nock · July 26, 2015, 07:07:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by Straitshot:
Since making this post I have been informed other clubs up north had been doing it before us so we were not the first in the USA but I think we may have been the first in Texas. Anyway it doesn't make any difference who was first. What it does show is our dedication to the sport of archery and the effort we would go to in order to make shooting our bows more fun.

Seemed like a fair assertion given the data you had. Now you know and your closing comment says it all!

Excellent results. Nobody asked, so I will... how did they hold up to shooting? Today, everyone is worried about the vitals getting "shot out" or the foam being so dense, you get a hernia removing arrows...

Jmatt1957 · July 26, 2015, 10:15:00 AM

shoot, you mean to tell me the 1980 were 30 years ago...that explains why my knees and back hurt every morning. I think the clubs around here were using flat foam targets with deer images printed on them but I don't remember who made them.

July 26, 2015, 11:15:00 AM

Those are awesome, and that bear is still in service! I got to fling a few arrows at it last year. It is white now, so it is either really old or it transformed itself into a polar bear!

Bisch