Over the years it’s been my honor to do a great number of ranges, but I’ve learned that I have to start looking at the calendar. Obviously, you have to work on the summer time ranges in the winter, and the winter time ranges in the summer. So I’m already working on Halloween.

Wanting to do something a little more fun and a little different, I decided to make a “boogie man.”

As usual, I clamped together three sheets of cardboard and one sheet of Coroplast. I use the same stencil over and over again – it’s a timesaver. You can see I drilled holes and used zip ties to put the cardboard and Coroplast together into a single target, avoiding glue. This also saved a lot of time.

After the pieces were zip tied together, I painted the cardboard black with paint from the dollar store and added large googly eyes. The artwork is very simple: you just gob on white paint for a makeshift skeleton. To keep it PG-rated, we added an old dish towel over his Celtic region.

Next, I zip tied together several more pieces of cardboard with a Coroplast sheet in the middle and added wires, making a small backstop.

I put some Velcro on the back of the boogie man’s legs and the backstop to secure him to the backstop. This will hold him up so you can shoot him down as shown in the video below.

When you retrieve your arrows, be sure to point out to your archers that his eyes roll back into his head when he falls over.

Since this target is so easy to make, I was able to build three of them in almost no time at all.

This month’s safety tip: as I’ve stated in the past, novelty shoots are a lot of fun, but you can see in the video below that some arrows did bounce off the witch and some blew through her, so keep a safe distance.

It’s a shame if you missed that shoot; we had a lot of fun.

In service,

THLord Deryk Archer

This month’s On Target is a pirate ship, or “Shipmates, beware of these treacherous waters, there be Pi-Ratz afloat!”

I always wanted to do a pirate ship, but to make it a little cuter, I decided to use rats as the crew.

I keep old, beat-up targets around to use as stencils. Using four sheets of cardboard and one sheet of Coroplast, make the target 52 inches long and 20 inches tall. Clamp all the cardboard and the Coroplast together, then drill some holes and use zip ties to attach them to each other.

Draw the ship and the rats, making the rats different sizes. I have them left to right and largest to smallest. Paint the sky, the water, the rats, and the boat. I used magic marker to put the planks on the boat. Make the rats different colors and give them googly eyes.

I found sticky-backed letters that I used to christen the ship.

Remember to add wires to the base so it will stand on its own. I found a broom handle to use as a mast. Put the mast close to the back to the ship to help take up the shock of the incoming arrows.

Finally, I used a bandana to make a pirate flag.

This is a fun target for all ages. Give everybody six shots to hit all five rats 🐀.

This month’s safety tip: Archery season is about to start up! There will be new people on the line and, perhaps, new marshals. Don’t ever be afraid to ask a question, and make sure you understand the rules of the range.

In service,

THLord Deryk Archer

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Underdog….

No, its not Underdog, it’s the second installment of Flying Creatures!

Thinking back to the Wizard of Oz, I came up with” parachute pooch.”

First you need to make a basket. To do that, cut construction paper in to strips.

Take a paper plate and tape the strips to the bottom of the plate, then turn the plate over. Weave the paper like you would a basket.

Then, take a small plush dog and a cloth napkin, Tie the napkin to the dog with heavy cord to make a parachute and place him in the basket.

Now, this is why the basket is made of paper…..You hang the basket from the front of the witch’s broom from last month’s column. If the basket is hit by an arrow, the paper will tear and the pooch will parachute to the ground.

There are two ways to play: 1) You shoot to hit the basket so “Toto” can jump for freedom, or 2) shoot to miss the basket and hit the witch because you don’t want “Toto” to fall.

Either way, you will need a lot of baskets.

If you want to try this shot, it will be at the Castle Archery Muster on April 22 in the Debatable Lands.

This month’s safety tip: Time to check your bow string.

In this picture you can see this string has not been waxed in years. Even if it was waxed, there are two broken strands and the serving is worn out on one end. Warning DO NOT REPAIR, Get a new one.

In service,

THL Deryk Archer

One night after watching ‘Once upon a Time,” I got the idea to do a “Flying Creature,” in this case an Oz-style wicked witch on a broom. Now I have to tell you, the finished product looks great and can fly from tree to tree, but it took a lot of time to build.

First, you need a female foam head (yes, they do make male and female heads).

Then you need to make prosthetics to get the right look. A rubber finger from any Dollar store (cut to size) fits over the nose.

You can use the tip of a paper snow cone stuffed with cotton for the chin, and googly eyes for realism.

I used green duct tape for the skin and black duct tape for the hair. Remember, if you don’t duct tape the head, an arrow will make it shatter.

Next comes the body. I used heavy construction paper and pool noodles for the body and shoulders. Rolled paper was used to make the arms. The paper gives you flexibility when you add the hands and broom later.

Now we go back to the Dollar store for the clothing. I picked up a costume intended for a five-year-old girl for 50% off after Halloween.This gives you some idea how big the target is. The hands are cheap gloves (Dollar store again) stuffed with cotton and glued to the arms.

The broom is a tree branch with colored pipe cleaners added to the back to look like flame as it flies. 
In the picture below, cords made of 10 lb. fishing line run from the witch to a heavy cardboard tube above the witch. All that is left is to tie a clothesline to a tree, run the line through the cardboard tube, and tie the other end to another tree. Tie a line to the witch’s broom and have the marshal stand at a safe distance while slowly pulling the witch across the field.

This is a “for fun” shoot, so be sure to pull slowly enough that the archers get 3 or 4 shots before you call Hold.

Finally if you want to try this shoot, it will be at the Castle Archery Muster in Debatable Lands this April. The witch will fly up to the castle roof, so if you ever wanted to go on a “flying creature hunt,” now is your chance.

This month’s safety tip: in the article I talked about a safe distance for the marshal to stand when pulling the rope. Check the diagram below. The marshal should be at least 10 yards back from the firing line so he or she can see the target and also watch the archers. 

In service,

Deryk Archer

Editor’s note: no actual witches were harmed in the making or use of this target.

This month’s On Target focuses on doing a late-season safety check of your equipment.

I’ve just come back from an event and started to look over my loaner equipment. In the first picture, notice the nock on the left arrow is cracked, the nock on the arrow on the right easily twisted off and required some superglue.

Pulling more arrows out of the quiver, I was able to easily twist off an arrow tip as well.

While inspecting arrow shafts, I thought I saw a very small crack. Giving the shaft a small twist, it shattered in my hands. This is the second time I’ve seen this. Lesson learned: darker shafts can hide splits.

 

Lastly, I took a beat up target off a piece of foam to replace it with a new target. The foam was so badly shot up it split. Any arrows shot at it would all blow through resulting in possible damage or loss of the arrows.

 

I’d like to take a moment to thank my editor, Mistress Arianna, for correcting my spelling, grammar, and punctuation that makes this article readable.

As always I would love to hear some questions or comments.

This month’s safety tip: never run down range. You may come across an arrow in the ground, or as we call it, “deadwood,” and trip.

In service,

THL Deryk Archer

 

Before I begin, I want to thank all of you who reached out to me with your condolences at the passing of my Dad. He got me started in shooting over five decades ago. I’ve never met anyone that had as much experience shooting as he did.

This month I want to do a backstop that’s hanging in the air. Once again, we take five sheets of cardboard and zip tie them together.

Next, add a thin piece of Coroplast, because the cardboard will rip without it.

Now, attach D-rings or carabiners so you can easily clip the target to a rope going from tree to tree. This also allows the backstop to go easily on and off the rope.

I’ve discovered over the years that no matter how hard you pull on the rope, after a while the rope stretches and there is slack, so on the far end of the rope, hang a counterweight to keep it tight. In the picture, that’s roughly 40 lbs. of concrete blocks.

As you can see here, two of the backstops come up out of the ground. The third one hangs in the air. Now it’s a triple-layered backstop.

Next, I have two videos that show how well-layering backstops work. You can see how they absorb the kinetic energy as they catch the arrow and rock back-and-forth.

Finally, another thing you can do for safety in your backyard is use flu-flu arrows. The extra large fletching causes drag that slows the arrow down.

I’ve also been asked about shooting without tips. If you shoot without a tip, it will not penetrate the cardboard, and could throw the balance of the arrow off and break the shaft, which would be very unsafe in your backyard.

This month’s safety tip: marshals and shooters, beware of distractions on the line. In these photos*, the shooter is it at full draw when something behind her gets her attention. As she turns to look, she swings the loaded bow around and has it pointed in the wrong direction. Remember, where the eyes go, the body goes, and the body will bring the bow with it. Never hesitate to call a Hold.

*Thanks to our model, Lady Thalia Papillon, who graciously staged these photos.

In Service,

THL Deryk Archer

This month, we have a question and answer from Hereward of Richmond. Hereward wrote me about do-it-yourself backstops.

I use four sheets of cardboard and one sheet of Coroplast, a corrugated plastic used for signs. It’s slightly stronger than cardboard and is water resistant. The pictures below show how they go together with zip ties. Note that in this picture there are only three sheets of cardboard, but I found since making this backstop that four is much better.

Remember, glue makes the cardboard harder and less arrow friendly, so you don’t want to use it. Coroplast can be found on most street corners for free because church fish fries, gun bashes, and political signs are never removed after the event. By law, the signs should be removed 10 days after the event, so on the 11th day, if you take them, you’re performing a public service.

Carefully remove the wires from the Coroplast sign before adding it to your cardboard. Then, with a little cutting and artistry, you can have a ninja.

After completing your target, take the sign wires and push them back into the Coroplast at the bottom where the ninja’s legs are. Zip tie everything together and then push the ninja into the ground standing upright.

In the picture below, we have a dark, gloomy scene on the left and a bright, sunny day on the right, both of which are backstops for the ninja.In the video below, I’m shooting a 35 pound bow at full draw at less than 10 yards into the ninja. It stops all the kinetic energy. Even if you have a blow through, the backstops behind the target stop what little energy the arrow has left.

Once again, thank you, Hereward, for the question. Next month, I’ll do even more on backyard backstops.

This month’s safety tip pertains to situations that happen at Pennsic when you have a large number of archers. If people go looking for arrows behind the nets used to stop arrows that miss the targets, they will seem to disappear, so marshals need to be alert. Here’s an example of why this is important.

Note: the arrow in this video was NOT actually fired, it was pushed through the target by hand for the purpose of demonstrating the danger to people hidden behind targets. Obviously, archers should not be firing when someone is standing behind the target.

‘Til next month.

In service,

Deryk Archer

A moving target will add fun to your outdoor shoot. Imagine a pig or a deer running across your field.

Take two 4 foot long 2 x 4’s, drill two holes in the bottom of each board, and hammer in two very long nails. Next, take a set of bolt cutters and cut the heads off the nails. This turns them in the spikes. The spikes hold the boards up right so you can set this target up by yourself.

Next, run guy wires off the boards. Take a 50 foot piece of rope, double it and twist it to make the rope stronger so it will not sag when you pull the target across it.

Next, take a hard cardboard tube and cover it in camo duct tape. This’ll make the tube disappear into the background. Next, zip tie the wings to the tube and then zip tie the tube to the top of the pig. Then, take the twisted clothesline and run it through the tube and tie it to the upright 2x4s.

Run a guy wire from the nose of the pig back behind the firing line to the marshal. Pull the pig across the range to give the illusion of flight. The guy wire is over 100 feet long, allowing the marshal to call the line and pull the target at the same time.

At Hornwood’s Scarlet Guard Inn earlier this month, I ran a range just for fun with these targets. I made a flying pig, and everybody enjoyed the pun all day long.

THLord Deryk demonstrates the moving pig target

This month’s safety tip: check out the land around your range. I found a hole in the ground that was well over a foot and a half long and almost 10 inches deep. The hole was full of dead grass and leaves; it was deceptive how deep it really was. If someone had stepped in it, they would’ve twisted an ankle. I marked it with some fluorescent orange tape to make sure no one was hurt.

Until next month, in service,

THLord Deryk Archer