Building Practice Targets

These are portable 12 inch diameter targets. They are made out of plastic grocery or Walmart bags ( the kind with the handles on top), two 12 inch circles of corrugated plastic(political or advertising signs) and two "H" wire brackets that held the signs up. The ones I use are 30" tall,10" wide and the cross wires are 15 inches apart.

Save your plastic bags by stuffing old ones in one of the bags. It takes three or four stuffed full bags to make a target.
Start by placing three stuffed bags on top of each other and press them down by leaning on them with your knee.
                                      

Have something handy to poke holes in the bags to let air out. When the bags are pressed down, slip the plastic bags inside another plastic bag. With your knees on the bags tie the two handles of the bags together. Now press the bags again, slip another bag over the pressed bags and tie the top as you press it down. It will get smaller each time. Put the tied end in the bottom of the bag when you press it down and tie it off. This keeps the knots in different places. Each time you press the bags, air pockets form, poke a hole and let the air out. Then tie it off.

When the press bags begin to feel like "Silly Putty", place the 12" circles of corrugate plastic on the front and back of the pressed bags. Put a plastic bag over the circles and pressed bags. The 12" circles will not only give you a flat surface, they will define the shape and size of the target. Cover and press the target tying off the bags. You should have a round target 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick. Cover the compressed bag with it's plastic sides with another a bag pressing and tying it. Do this 5 or six times to insure the target does not come apart later from wear and tear.

Take the two wire brackets and bend them in the middle of the two cross wires, fold them back until the
upright wires are 2 1/2 to 3 : apart.

Place one wire bracket on each side of the target, with the bent center toward the target. Clamp the upright wire against the sides of the target. The bent center wires will support the bottom and the top of the target. Take the target with the wires and press the wires in the ground.

Try the target and see how well it stops your arrows. Adjust the amount of plastic bags to match your needs.
Make several and you can place the targets at different distances for practice or like a 3-D range. It is water proof and animals will not bother it

* Note if you have the large wire bracket you can tie the ends of the bent wire together and the wires will stay on the target when you move them. Also If you leave these target in direct sun light the plastic is biodegradable and will become brittle and breakup, after 5 or 6 months.

If you do not want to scrounge the materials, any sign place will sell the wire brackets ( about 25 cents each) and corrugated plastic( a couple of dollars). The plastic bags you will have to save or get them from friends. A lot of people like to recycle plastic.