Summer season means vacation time. For people who like outdoor activities, it is fishing time, hiking season, and camping time! It’s time for fun games by a lake, fishing, cooking outdoors, sharing stories by the campfire, and sleeping under the stars. July will soon give place to August. This month also brings the beginning of hunting season. Scouting areas for signs of game, picking spots to set up blinds or tree stands, and of course cleaning and preparing hunting gear. Practicing and maintaining shooting skills is one of the top priorities of a hunter. The same goes for a bowhunter, too. To practice your shooting skills you need a target(or targets), so this article will share a simple do-it-yourself archery target that can be made with very cheap material and costs almost nothing. It is a nice project to do with your children also, especially if you want to introduce them to archery.
Gathering the Materials and Building the Target
To begin with the construction of your target, you need to gather a couple of materials first. The main thing that you are going to need are cardboard boxes. You can find them in the garbage bin of your neighbor or at any shop. Ask your local grocery store if they can keep a couple of boxes for you when they have a delivery day. You can then go and pick them up later. You need at least one big box and several smaller ones. The bigger box will be the body of your target, while the smaller ones will be used to fill the big one. You can also use plastic or paper wraps to stuff the target. You will also need duct tape, and can of spray, or an archery face target.
The box I used for my target is 54 cm x 30cm. You can use a similar size or smaller it doesn’t matter. I cut the small boxes, into smaller sizes and started to stuff the main box with their pieces and also with some plastic wraps and paper wraps. After, I closed the ears of the box and used duct tape to seal the opening. The next step is to draw a target with the spray paint or just use some duct tape to stick a face target on the box. I chose the second option.
Testing the Target
After that, it was time to test our target. The arrows hit their mark and it was much easier to retrieve them. When I was using my foam target, I had to apply a bit of pressure to retrieve one arrow. At the cardboard target though, the applied pressure to pull an arrow out is minimal. I always use wooden arrows, that I make myself, either cedar or Scott’s pine shafts with 100gr field points. These are my practicing arrows set-up.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantages of this homemade target are the low cost of material and minimal labor to fix it. It does not damage the arrows either. It will last enough time especially if you are not using broadheads all the time. Even when it gets ripped off, being so low cost you can easily make another one.
Being made from cardboard also has its disadvantages too. The main disadvantage is that can easily be destroyed by rain if you leave it in the yard without cover. Also, it would be better to have some sort of base under it, like two pieces of wood or cement stones, to avoid direct contact with the moisture on the ground. It doesn’t weigh much, so in case of strong wind, you might have difficulty keeping it in place.
Give this project a try. It is very simple to construct and will give you enjoyable times, while practicing your archery skills or while teaching younger archers.