How to Build an Inexpensive Archery Target at Home

Match Your Fill Material to Your Arrow Tips Before Building

Every home-built target relies on one simple rule: the interior core must absorb arrow energy through friction without destroying your arrows. How you pack that core depends entirely on the style of tip you screw into your arrow shaft (the main carbon, aluminum, or wooden arrow tube). Matching the fill to your tip style prevents broken equipment and keeps arrows from blowing completely through the back.

For field points (smooth bullet-shaped practice tips), scrap fabric and clean plastic wrap are the two best materials you can find. Old denim jeans, cotton bedsheets, fleece blankets, towels, and commercial pallet shrink wrap offer massive surface area. As an arrow slides between tightly bundled fabric fibers, the friction bleeds off arrow speed almost instantly. The smooth tip slips between the cloth threads without cutting them. When you walk up to pull your arrow, the compressed fabric lets go easily, allowing simple two-finger arrow removal without hand cramps.

Broadheads (razor-bladed hunting tips) behave very differently. If you fire a broadhead, such as a 2 blade mechanical broadhead, into a rag or plastic core, the razor edges immediately slice through the woven cloth fibers. Within a dozen shots, the fabric shreds into confetti, internal voids open up, and the razor blades snag firmly inside the tangled cloth. Pulling a broadhead out of packed cloth is dangerous because you risk cutting your fingers or bending the blades. For razor tips, you must use stacked slabs of dense, high-density polyethylene foam rather than cloth fill.

Avoid using loose agricultural hay or straw bales for modern archery setups. While a tight straw bale can stop a low-poundage youth bow, modern bows push arrows at extreme speeds. Fast arrows easily punch through the loose hollow stalks of dry hay, causing a pass-through (an arrow piercing completely through the target). When an arrow punches through a target up to its tail, the impact shears off the fletching (the plastic wings or natural feathers that stabilize arrow flight) and ruins the arrow.

Build a Sturdy Wooden Frame With Recessed Fasteners

A wooden box provides the backbone for your target. It keeps the core compressed and gives you a stable frame that stays upright in wind. Standard two-by-twelve construction lumber works best because its actual depth of eleven and one-quarter inches gives arrows plenty of stopping distance before they reach the back side. Follow these steps to build a square target frame measuring thirty-six inches across:

1. Cut the lumber to size. Cut two pieces of two-by-twelve lumber to thirty-six inches in length for the top and bottom plates. Cut two more pieces to thirty-three inches in length for the vertical side walls. When assembled as a box, these four boards create a square frame thirty-six inches tall and thirty-six inches wide.
2. Pre-drill your screw holes. Use an eighth-inch drill bit to bore pilot holes through the exterior edges of the top and bottom boards into the end grain of the side walls. Pre-drilling prevents the wood from splitting when you drive in large fasteners near the ends of the boards.
3. Fasten the corners from the outside. Drive three exterior-grade wood screws, measuring three inches long, into each corner joint. Sink every screw head slightly below the wood surface so no metal parts stick out.
4. Add side carrying handles. Drill two half-inch holes through each vertical side board near the upper corners, thread a length of thick rope through the holes, and knot the ends inside. These rope loops give you a comfortable grip when moving the box around the yard.

Keep the entire interior window of the frame completely free of crossbars, braces, or metal brackets. Never run a wooden board across the center of the box to hold packing in place. If an arrow strikes a solid interior board or a metal screw at high speed, the sudden impact can shatter a carbon arrow shaft or break the nock (the notched plastic cap at the arrow tail that clips to the string). All fasteners and structural wood must remain strictly on the outside rim.

Pack and Compress the Core to Eliminate Soft Spots

The secret to stopping high-speed arrows is dense, uniform packing. An arrow will punch straight through any air pocket or loose patch inside the target. Modern compound bows (modern bows using cables and cams to make holding at full draw much easier) shoot with substantial force. The higher the draw weight (the pull resistance or effort needed to pull the string back, measured in pounds), the tighter your core must be packed. Follow these steps to build a rock-solid core:

1. Prepare your fill material. Gather your old clothes, sheets, or plastic wrap. Inspect every piece of fabric and cut away metal zippers, buttons, rivets, and heavy snaps. A stray metal zipper can nick an arrow shaft or damage a field tip upon impact.
2. Pack the corners and lower edges first. Lay the wooden box flat on the grass. Shove tight bundles of cloth or crumpled plastic wrap into the bottom corners and along the wooden edges. Corners tend to loosen up quickly if they are not stuffed firmly from the very beginning.
3. Tamp the material down in thin layers. Add a six-inch layer of cloth across the entire frame. Step directly into the box with your work boots and stomp the material into a flat, dense mat, or pound it down with a heavy wooden fence post. Continue adding material in six-inch layers, tamping firmly after each addition.
4. Use a mechanical press board for the top. When the box is full to the brim, place a scrap two-by-four across the top of the pile. Wrap two ratchet straps completely around the wooden frame and over the scrap board, then crank the straps down. This pressure squeezes out remaining air pockets and creates room to shove several more armloads of fabric into the gaps.

Verify your core density before closing the target faces. Press the heel of your hand firmly against the center of the packed pile using your full upper-body weight. If the material gives more than two inches under direct hand pressure, you need to add more packing. When packed correctly, the center should feel as firm as a heavy vehicle tire.

Wrap the Outer Face for Weather Resistance and Easy Arrow Pulls

The exterior face of your target holds the packed core in place, provides a smooth surface for aiming marks, and shields the interior fill from wind and rain. A well-built target face should last for hundreds of practice shots and remain simple to replace when shot out. Use this checklist to finish the outside of your target:

• Galvanized wire mesh: Staple galvanized chicken wire or wire garden fencing across both open faces of the wooden box. Use heavy-duty construction staples driven every two inches around the wooden perimeter. This metal screen prevents the compressed packing from bulging outward, but the wire openings are wide enough that field points pass through without cutting the steel.
• Cardboard support layer: Slide two flat sheets of heavy corrugated cardboard over the chicken wire on both the front and back of the box. Cardboard smooths out the surface, stops small fabric scraps from poking through, and gives crisp feedback on where your arrows strike.
• Heavy burlap outer skin: Stretch clean burlap fabric tightly across the cardboard. Wrap the edges of the burlap around the outside wooden boards and staple it every inch along the sides. Burlap is ideal because arrow points slip between the coarse woven strands without tearing large holes in the fabric.
• Weather cap on top: Tack a strip of leftover asphalt roofing shingle, rubber pond liner, or thick sheet plastic across the top wooden board. This overhang sheds rainwater and keeps moisture from soaking down into your fabric core, which prevents mold and rot.
• High-contrast aiming marks: Use an inverted bowl and a can of dark spray paint to mark clear circular target dots across the burlap face. Setting up several small dots spreads your arrow impacts evenly across the box, which keeps the center from wearing out quickly. Clean, clear target spots also help your visual focus when learning how to shoot archery with both eyes open during practice drills.

Set Up a Safe Backstop and Inspect Your Practice Area

Archery safety requires planning for the shot that goes wrong. Even experienced archers make mistakes, such as plucking the string (the common error of jerking your fingers away from your face on release instead of letting the string roll off cleanly). A momentary slip or an accidental release can cause an arrow to fly several feet wide or high. Because of this, you must always set up a secondary safety backstop (a secondary safety barrier behind the target) directly behind your shooting area.

The best backyard backstop is a thick rubber horse stall mat hung behind your target box. These heavy-duty rubber mats measure three-quarters of an inch thick and stop arrows from even the fastest bows. Hang the mat freely from a wooden crossbeam using heavy chains or lag bolts, leaving the bottom edge unattached. When an errant arrow strikes the mat, the hanging rubber swings backward slightly, absorbing the arrow's kinetic energy and dropping it safely to the ground without bending the shaft.

Never place your target directly against an unyielding surface such as a concrete wall, a brick chimney, a stone pillar, or a sheet of thick plywood. Hitting hard concrete or stone will instantly mushroom an arrow point, strip the threads from your arrow inserts, and snap carbon fibers along the shaft. Plywood can crack carbon arrows just as easily. A natural dirt berm, a steep hillside, or a hanging stall mat are the only safe choices behind a backyard range.

Walk your shooting lane before drawing your bow. Confirm that the path between you and the target is clear of tripping hazards, garden hoses, pets, and children. Look past the target to confirm that no sidewalks, driveways, or neighboring yards sit within arrow range. Finally, inspect your arrow shafts before every practice session. Flex each shaft gently between your hands while listening closely. If you hear a faint crack or feel a split in the carbon fibers, discard the arrow immediately. Damaged shafts can splinter violently upon release, throwing sharp carbon shards into your bow hand.

FAQs

What is the cheapest filling material that safely stops an arrow?

Used stretch wrap, pallet plastic, and discarded clothing are the cheapest and most effective fill materials. You can often collect plastic wrap for free behind local retail, grocery, or furniture stores. Old cotton t-shirts, sheets, and denim jeans from thrift store clearance bins also work well once you cut off all metal zippers and buttons.

Can you shoot hunting broadheads into a rag-filled target?

No, you should never shoot hunting broadheads into a fabric-filled box. The sharp razor blades slice internal cloth threads into small pieces, quickly hollowing out the target core. The razor edges can also get firmly caught in the tangled fabric, making removal dangerous and bending your blades. Shoot broadheads only into layered high-density foam blocks.

How deep does an archery target box need to be?

A homemade target box should be at least ten to twelve inches deep. High-speed arrows fired from modern hunting bows require eight to ten inches of compressed fabric to slide to a complete stop through friction. Building the box with standard two-by-twelve lumber provides eleven and one-quarter inches of depth, which keeps your points from poking through the back wall.

What should you do if an arrow penetrates through to the back of the target?

If an arrow passes through your target, the internal core has developed loose voids or lacks overall density. Open the target face, pull out the packing around the soft spot, and re-pack that area with denser fabric or plastic wrap. Use a wooden post to tamp the layers down firmly and apply ratchet straps across the frame to compress the fill before re-stapling the burlap.