While helping our local 4-H group, a local farmer mentioned he has several cotton bales left over from the ginning process. We gladly accepted and had him deliver two bales to our neighborhood. They weigh about 400lbs each. We had him stack them two high. We put a Morrell whitetail target as a cover. To this I added a plastic FITA target to practice 50m shooting.
It is great to walk five minutes from the house and have over a 100 yard target face the community can use. It works well for my wife to teach new/current students.
Ya a roof sounds like a good idea. I wonder why he just gave them away, wow!
It looks like a great solution but I too would be concerned about water damage.
For those of us in a more Northern climate you can get something similar from sheep farmers. Raw unprocessed wool is probably the best material I've ever shot into since the lanolin is a natural lubricant and the material itself is pretty tolerant of moisture (although a roof is wise).
Maybe just a heavy duty contractors trash bag slipped over each bale might work great for very little money. Need some buddies to help lift those things or a tractor and loader, forklift, etc. Or 4-6 mil plastic like Lowes sell for vapor barriers in homes and tape it together with the weatherproof clear tape, then no lifting needed.
He gave them to us for my wife being their archery coach. His two daughters took 1st and 2nd out of 48 shooters in archery. They also took 1st each in their respected age groups. These bails are what is left over after they run through the cotton gin. For the gin, it is considered waste. We live just north of Tucson. Rain is not a major concern. I do plan on getting at least one large target face from Third Hand Archery to stretch across it, along with a bigger cover to take care of the top, back and sides.
Dan was saying the gin sales this bales for $45 each. He is interested to see how much pounding these can take to see how viable they would be as an item to sale.
Dan was saying the gin sales this bales for $45 each. He is interested to see how much pounding these can take to see how viable they would be as an item to sale.
There are a couple of ranges out here near Yuma AZ that have cotton bale targets. I shoot at one of them almost daily as do several other folks and the bales are going on 3 years for this set. They have even withstood dummies shooting them with .223 rifles. We average 3" of rain annually so moisture is not a problem.
Do they hold up to broadheads or just field tips? I'm trying to figure out the best broadhead target that has some size to it that won't cost too much.
Yes just field tips, you don't want to shoot one with a broadhead unless you don't want the broadhead anymore! I've seen some of these bales so hard that the arrow really sounds like it's hitting wood and they can pull the inserts out when you pull the arrow. That's only on a few really hard ones though.
Figures, seemed to be too easy of a fix! Oh well, by the looks of my bag target, that cost more than that bale of cotton, it might be worth investing in one for my field tips!
Oh yeah one other issue, out here they use a heavy, hard wire around the bale in 3 places and if you hit it just right it will destroy the end of the arrow.
The ones we use are the same, but the newer ones have the wire going around the bail and not across it if that makes sense. It's so much nicer
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ask a question
Ask a question
Archery Talk Forum
38.3M posts
213.3K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to bow and crossbow owners and archery enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about optics, hunting, performance, troubleshooting, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!