I need a hay bale for a archery target

I recently picked a compound bow so now I'm looking for a hay bale to use for an archery target. A donated hay bale would be greatly appreciated.

Here ya go, price isn't too bad: http://lancaster.craigslist.org/grd/3397708519.html

Not too far from you either.

If its your very first bow, you my need more than one bale.

I have a four stack, and its a good thing too! Since I picked up a recurve to complement my compound, I've spent a bit of time pulling arrows out of the straw....

Make sure the bales are tight tight tight! Otherwise, you'll get pass through and the straw (or hay, whichever) can strip the fletchings off your arrows. Repairable, but a pain in the ass...

Also, I backed mine with OSB. So even if I get passthrough, the wood stops the arrow from disappearing into the field beyond.

As a final thought, get accustommed to searching for arrows. It happens to all of us. And remember that arrows follow an shallow arc (unless you are firing at a 45 degree angle into the air), and will bury themselves rather than stick up out of the ground. Finding arrows is half the fun of shooting. At one point, I went out looking for a lost arrow and found three others (but not the one I was originally looking for. Found that one a month later).

Welcome to a new hobby. The upside is that carbon arrows are reusable (when you can find them) which makes ammo a bit cheaper than firearms. Plus, since its quiet the neighbors can't bitch as much. You can practice short range achery in your own backyard (longer if you have enough land, of course.)

Thanks for the help and suggestion fellas.

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Originally Posted by texanron

I recently picked a compound bow so now I'm looking for a hay bale to use for an archery target. A donated hay bale would be greatly appreciated.

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I have to warn you.... Archery is addicting.

I would suggest a bag target rather than bales, the bales are cheaper, but the bags are much better at stopping the arrows. Keep in mind if you go with bales, only get bales bound with wire, not twine. There is a chance you will hit the twine and break it, then the bales are useless. Don't get me wrong, the bales work great as a backstop behind a smaller target, but the bags last near forever. I've used one similar to this for a long time.
http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/spo/3508673423.html
Just don't use broadheads on them, or even the bales.

Dan