Targets used in field archery are different than the commonly recognised round multi coloured target archery version,  field archers do like variety in their targets, besides that they simply can look stunning

Whatever the target may look like THEY ARE NOT REAL ANIMALS, although with the really good targets it can hard to tell the difference especially from a distance

One of our favourite annecdotes is about when the son of a farmer that bordered our shoot ground spent 2 hours creeping towards a sleeping deer and didn’t know it was a target until about 20 yards away,  yes some are that realistic

Field archery targets mostly come in 2 different ways 2D & 3D 

The 2D Targets are printed pictures of animals bird reptiles or even fish,  these are rarely life size but shrunk down to fit onto the bosses that are available,  the “boss” is the archery term for whatever back stop the target is fixed to,  in field archery this is usually compressed layers of foam rubber squeezed between top and bottom wood frames, these bosses are made so that they will stop any arrow or crossbow bolt.   2D faces as they are called used to be printed onto tough paper, but they weren’t weatherproof and would tear easily,  now faces have moved on and although paper faces arestill available printers now print the faces onto the same waterproof material used to make banners, they don’t turn soggy or tear and although more expensive to buy initially they last many times over the life of a paper face

The 3D Targets are made from moulds and are as the term says 3D,  the moulds are filled with 2 part polyurathane expanding foam and usually some secret ingredients specific to the manufacturer,  the foam expands filling in all the crevices and shapes of the mould and once the foam has set and has passed its first period of curing the target is removed from the mould and left again to cure fully before moving onto the paint shop to have the realistic colours added.  3D Targets range in size from the very small like a crow or rabbit up to the massive grizzly bear over 8ft 6 tall and the bison and include some targets you may be surprised in such as the 3D Ostrich and a 3 foot wide bird spider (not to scale, at least I hope not)