Tag Archives: target boss

May 17 2024

Response to follower on boss repairs

I’ve had a question about  target boss repair and the type of banding fastener I use as it allows the banding to be adjusted, i.e., tightened if the boss is not compressed enough.

The original post goes into some details and another on boss repairs.

They are a type of buckle that holds the banding tight, and if like I do, you leave a long tail on the banding and don’t cut it short. You will have enough to feed back into your banding machine and can then tighten the boss if needed.

close up of banding buckle
leaving 5-6 inches tail on the end of the banding seems to work well for my banding machine.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions drop me a line.

Jun 7 2022

Range Set up

I’ve had a few discussions recently about range set up and how I’ve set up our range. I thought I would share how my range is set up to support both marked and unmarked distances practice.

We as a club don’t have any indoor facilities so our range is outdoor and this means we need to consider how it can be used all year round. Currently all the trees are in full leaf, but in winter months it can be quite cold.

Range image

We have only 2 bosses unlike other clubs that have several. These are in static positions, meaning we don’t have to set them up each time we want to use them. There are only 2 due to the space available.

These are arranged in 2 shooting lanes.

Each has a 60 ft overshoot behind, which enters into a small cop of trees, with catching mats at 30 feet behind each boss in the trees. These catching mats are sections of old carpet hung to act as a simple arrow stop. Beyond the 60 ft overshoot there is a 30ft high earth embankment. Most of the time arrows don’t reach the backstop mat but they are there just in case. If necessary, I can rig a backstop net between the trees, though I’ve found this seldom necessary.

The 2 shooting lanes are set up near parallel to each other with approximately 10 yards apart at boss end and 15 yards approximately at the furthest shooting pegs.

One shooting lane is marked and pegged at 5-yard increments for archers to develop their eye for fixed distance, to calculate their gaps or set up their sights. This is the one shown in the photograph above.

The other is unmarked distances with coloured pegs used by NFAS adults, so red, white and blue. You can just see the target boss beyond the yellow shrub in the above photograph. These are set to use the available ground and vegetation to simulate what you might encounter on a shoot. So, the red is by a tree, which forces the archer to adjust stance to avoid branches as they draw up. The white is on a small mound of earth so the forward foot touching the peg is higher than back foot. This helps archer develop their stance and balance on uneven terrain.

The blue peg is in the open but with trees between the peg and target giving an optical illusion on distance.

Periodically I move these coloured pegs slightly so they are slightly different. So, I might move the white peg forward, resulting in the archers back foot now being higher. This ensures archers don’t get complacent.

The coloured pegs are not set at 5-yard distances so the red is around 33 yards, white 27 and blue 21. This is deliberate again, so not at 20, 25, 30-yard distances that they might have practiced on the marked distance.

This has proved to help archers who want to get these gaps in and then practice unmarked distances with feedback being positive.

I hope this helps, thanks for reading.

Apr 3 2020

Setting up a target boss – revisited

With recent worldwide developments concerning COVID-19 seeing more and people self isolating, working from home or simply having a lot more spare time on their hands, there has been quite a lot of posts on Facebook and other sites about home ranges, or practising at home.

I am going to highlight a few things you might need to consider. I am no expert and this is by no means a definitive list, but more of a starting point of things for you to consider.

  • What are you going to shoot at? What type of target or target boss? Will it be sturdy enough to stop your arrows at close range? Check out What target is best for me?
  • Can you safely shoot in your garden without endangering yourself or others? Think of pets, child, wildlife or even surrounding livestock? Consider also garden sheds, greenhouse and garages.
  • What of overshoots into neighbouring gardens, farmers fields etc?
  • Do you have insurance if anything goes wrong? Chances are your house insurance won’t cover you and you may have to take out some form of specific insurance.

Location, location, location

No I’m not talking about the TV property program commonly seen in the UK, but the physical location of your target boss. Look at the space surrounding the boss in the image below. What do you see?

Target Boss

Firstly there appears to be a stile behind and to the right of the boss. Does this mean there is a footpath behind the gate and we are likely to see people walking past?

What about the space behind the boss with regards to overshoot? Do you need to have something that will catch and stop a stray arrow? A safe over shoot area is vital for any target positioning. The metal gate seen behind this boss is also a risk. If an arrow misses the boss and hits the gate it is likely to deflect in any direction.

Did you spot the wall of the building to the left side of the target? You wouldn’t be able to see people approaching from that direction.

Securing the boss to the stakes is vital to ensure it doesn’t topple over when arrows are removed. It is worth considering whether the stakes need to be proud of the boss, unlike the image below. Also try to put them to the side or rear of the boss frame so as to avoid or limit the number of arrows hitting them.

One quick cautionary tale of a friend who set up a target boss in his garden. Unfortunately it was quite an old target boss and the arrow went through it, through the wooden shed wall behind and straight into his lawnmower! He wasn’t allowed to practise at home anymore.

Those are a few thoughts and topics to consider when positioning practise bosses. Have you got any further advice? If so why not add a comment below. Lets look at the orientation and securing of the target boss now.

Securing the boss

Setting up a boss is a common activity, but does require some thought and care to ensure it is done both correctly and safely, whether this be on an archery course or as in this example in the garden for a home practice range. Here you can see a boss having been erected ready for practise. Looks good? Can you spot any issues?closeup

Well one commonly made mistake when setting up a boss of this nature is forgetting to check where the metal binding for the plastic strapping is located. These should always be on the back of the boss and never facing the direction of the shot.

Why? The binding clips used for banding can damage arrow tips if they are hit. I have also seen arrows shot from a compound bow hit one of these metal fastenings and bounce straight back some 15 yards, landing at the archers feet.

You should also ensure the wood frame of the boss is always to the side and not on top or bottom.

Why? If the arrow falls low, it will run the risk of hitting and embedding itself in the wooden frame, which is likely to  result in some work to extract. If the arrow impacts at the top of the boss it runs the risk of deflecting off in any direction . So rotate the boss to ensure the wood frames are on the side of the boss.

Target Boss

Insurance

Give some serious consideration when it comes to insurance. Some people believe that being members of a national archery society or club gives them cover to shoot at home, which isn’t necessarily true. I know this is something that has come up on the National Field Archery Society Facebook group and I expect it the subject has been raised on other sites too.

We have our own personal insurance that covers Sharon and myself when shooting on our home range, which we got through Gunplan (https://www.gunplan.co.uk/) . The field is also registered as one of the clubs sites as we use it for training sessions.

N.B. The target boss doesn’t normally sit there, it was simply positioned there for the photos for this post. It’s normally in the field beyond the gate. We are fortunate in owning the field at the rear of the property and know there is no public access or routes to it other than via our boundary. We have set up a 40 yard pegged range, with a 60ft over shoot before a backstop of old carpets at the fence line and then  30ft high earth embankment beyond.

I hope you find this article of interest and if you have any comments let me know. I’m putting a brief one together on the use of backstop nets too, when I get the chance. Thanks for reading and stay safe everyone.