I don't have a lot of room in the backyard and need to make a backstop to set behind a block target. Any recommendations? I was thinking about a 5' x 4' made out of 2x4s and plywood, or maybe just a stack of heavy cardboard duck-taped together. I can shoot in the basement fine. Just need a little more range.

I still like just hey bales and in the winter
I use them for my dogs to bed on in their homes.
Two hey bales(little ones)can even stop a wheel
bow.  

I went to the local feed store and bought a 4' x 6' horse stall matt for 30-40 bucks. it's very heavy and about 3/4 inch thick. Sandwich the top between 2 2"x4" 's and sink dry wall screws every 8-10 inches then hang it between two posts and fire away, works well pretty much impervious to weather too.

If you have a gravel or cement plant near you, ask for some discarded conveyor belt. Usually about 2-1/2 to 3 feet wide, hang 2-3 behind your target. Let them hang loose, they absorb more shock that way. Biff

I have 3 bales and can shoot about 100 feet. As a backing I used a piece of carpet remnant; nothing gets through that combination.
In our town, maybe yours too, the local constabulary would frown on folks shooting bows and arrows in their back yard, so the fewer arrows that end up going astray the better! LOL!

a couple of sheets of hangin mesh can stop any arrow, plus it wont leave yu the mess of bloack of hay.

I came up with an idea similar to SuperKodiak38, except using a hanging canvas tarp.  This would be particularly good if shooting blunts, as the tarp would catch them and drop them on the ground if you missed your target.  The tarp is not as weather proof as the rubber mats, but it can be removed and stored indoors if it is hung on metal hooks.  I'm planning to build one this spring.  I'll take pictures of it and post them.

Mine's the woods behind my backyard.......

Pretty cheap......well,till ya start adding up the arrows I end up NOT finding!LOL!

I can shoot up to 60 yards in my back yard,but tend to keep most targets around 20-30,so the flyers usually just bury/snake themselves in the grass.

Doesn't really help ya much I guess,but thought I'd share.......especially since I'm awake at this absurd hour and have nothing else to do.

sand pile

I have used bales for years and also used rubber conveyor beltgs as the baqcking and that combination was good until the conveyor belts died.  After that I ruined so many fletching that I decided to try something else.  I found Pacific Bow Butts on the net and called the guy asking the price of the 3'X5' butt.  It was around $300.  I told him that was too much but I would think about it.  He called me about 3 weeks later and told me he was shipping a truck load to a town about 60 miles south of me and he could sell me one for half the price because the shipping was covered.  I ordered two, one for my son.  They are expensive but take many hundreds of shots per square inch with no pass throughs.  We have three using the target.  If you get one with the reduced shipping it is really worth the price.  No more arrows  with bad fletchings or lost in the garden.  I shoot 63# at 28" and after more than a year at the most used area I still only get about 4 - 6" penetration.

Anyone ever try to compress hay bales w/ threaded rods and sections of 2 x 4 with nut, or steel banding etc. Ive been thinking of trying this for some time but never got around to it.

You could build your own with treated 2x4's, chicken wire, plywood to cover it.  A trip to Goodwill to buy old clothes or rags to stuff it full.  You'll have to replace the chicken wire way before the clothes or rags.

2nd pacific bow butts...there butts really last a longtime , if ya turn them...and saves on damgaed arrows ...          

QuoteMine's the woods behind my backyard.......

Pretty cheap......well,till ya start adding up the arrows I end up NOT finding!LOL!
 

Hang an old piece of carpet. Sucks the energy right out of an arrow.