Ok guys and gals here's my first question as I set forth on this new venture! I plan in practicing at the local range for the winter but is like to set up in my yard when the weather get nice! I can shoot from up to 20 yards in the yard! I'm in a residential neighborhood and there are no restrictions! Besides a piece of 3/4" ply what can I use as back stop for a field point bag or a large cube? Or is there something to put on the ply to protect my carbon arrows? A bad week in the wood is still better then the best day at work!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm a new shooter and just want to be a little extra safe for the sake of my neighbors! Extra protection goes a long way in my book!! A bad week in the wood is still better then the best day at work!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would just setup the plywood as a safety barrier....if your only shooting at 20 and you miss the target completely something is really really wrong Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Two bales of straw or hay will work for extra back stoppers just in case you miss. Also an old mattress works really good too.
Nice I am hoping that misses will be few and far between but I am in a residential area on Long Island and don't want any issues A bad week in the wood is still better then the best day at work!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not sure if it's an option for you, but I have a decent grade in my yard so I set up my block target in front of that, so just in case I miss it'll just end up getting stuck in the hillside. If not, the old mattress idea sounds like the best idea and you could probably get an old one that they'd drop off for free if you ask around.
Probably worth it the drive to a place a little safer. I'm not entirely sure of your exact setting but I wouldn't shoot towards other houses. Plywood doesn't stop arrows. Did that. Arrow missed target went though my fence across my neighbors yard and halfway through his fence. That's when I stopped shooting in a residential neighborhood. Well that's a lie I walk to the end of the street and shoot at the hillside. No houses behind target because that one time something goes wrong will be the last time you ever shoot
If you can get neoprene offcuts, it really pulls up arrows fast. I have one target only about 8" thick, and it works as good as my Mckenzie block target which is about 14" thick.
I'm from LI also and I use a double row of hay bales behind and on both sides of the target . I' m new to this to and just want to be safe like you. Most likely you won't miss from 20 yards but it's better to be safe.
Your best bet is to build (as you are able .. wood or metal) a frame backstop that is big and safe to stop any error shots down range. In your case I would take 2 sheets of 1" thick plywood .. stand it on end next to the other one... follow me? .. 8' X 8' square in total area. Lock that all together and now you can nail extra layers on top of that to get thicker..as needed. If your max is 20 yards flat you may still have elevated shots you are missing (the house) where you can setup your backstop effectively. A few things to keep in mind here. 1. I can put a slick trick broadheads through a 20 gauge steel gate and have .. field points .. Yup! 2. Always draw low raising your bow to the target. 3. Keep your Finger OFF the trigger. 4. Shoot somewhere more appropriate. I took my old bow about a year ago, off the wall one night...cause I felt like shooting. 11 yards down the hallway and into the garage where "I never miss the block". Missed and the arrow went through the drywall and was hanging outside the house.... No more shooting in the house now. Be careful... Seriously.
I have mine up against the garage because.... I missed the bag last year AUGH!!!!! I don't know what happened but I heard that arrow hit my neighbor's chain link fence and that was it. Made me clean sick n I had been shooting my bag there for 4 years, always on target, never an issue. I've yet to hit the garage but hubby says he'd rather me hit it than send one through the neighbor's yard again.
I'm fairly new to archery, but I'll have to stick hard to never shooting anything towards harms way. Don't throw, sling or shoot anything to where your neighbors are at someday you'll need their help and it'll be more helpful if they don't already have arrows in them. Nothing you put in between you and them is going to stop that wrong place wrong time accident waiting to happen. Mugz.
Why don't you try to put up a screen of a construction safety net behind your target? Choose the netting with the tightest weave, but not so tight that your screen will become a sail.
2 hay bales will do it... This is a pic from my photobucket account. Have used hay bales forever now ..... <+>< Ps 46: 1 ><+>
I have a very similar situation at my place. I have 2x12 up against the fence behind it. I dont want to risk it. I will buy a new arrow. I also have talked with my neighbors and have permission from them. Also if i were to miss somehow, the neighbors shed it there. I put my target on the ground and would have to shoot about five feet high to make is over the fence. I don't shoot if any of my neighbors are out either. Better to be safe then have a super unfortunate accident happen.
I use a couple feed-bags filled with thin plastic in front of a compact hay-bail. It has stopped every arrow I shot at it so far
