mauser06

the original poster was using the backstop as extra protection INCASE he/she missed the TARGET i believe. in that case i think hay bales would work fine. i wouldnt use hay bales as a target with todays bows. id think they would more then likely wind up burried prettttty good. im going to be in the same dilema hopefully if i get my bow i want. my yard is fenced in. one neighbor has kids that play in his back yard and theres only one fence so i dont think ill shoot that direction. the back of the yard there is a school...but its empty for the summer and brick(i may shoot that direction..theres a fence between me and it) the other is a doubled fence..the neighbors put up there own against ours...i may shoot that direction. i dont wanna shot towards the front yard because the fence is new and thinner then the original..though all wood fencing. i have an old over grown apple tree at the corner of the double fence and the school fence. i may shoot into that corner and trim out the apple tree. but no matter what direction i shot i plan on building a hay bale wall. i heard carpet works very good at stopping arrows so ill put a layer in there somewhere. maybe a layer onfront of the hay..in between the wall(2 bales thick 3 high should work well enough...if i miss that bad i shouldnt be shooting! lol) and thena layer on the back sideright before the fence. that should stop a bullet let alone an arrow. 3 layers of carpet...2 layers of hay bales and 2 wooden fences. i am more then sure the arrow will stay in there somewhere and no worries. thats JUST IF i miss my target. be careful shooting inside city limits. check the laws. you really dont wanna get caught doing something like that if illegal. im lucky i live juuuuuust outside city limits by a few houses and live in the township where im fine but still wanna be safe doing it. if caught they could probably confinscate your gear and leave you with a stiff fine or something along those lines. depending on how the situation is and everything. just because you say you live in a city you may have a big yard and it would be safe to shoot a bow in. just gota be smart and be careful. the last thing you want is a biggggg uht ohhhhhh or OMG...lol. you could get real fancy and build a whole building to stack the hay bales into etc. my buddy did that. its almost like a mimi tool shed. he built it because theres nothing but houses and fields around(though the houses are 100s and 100s of yards away. better to be safe then sorry. so he built it and put a roof on it and a thick board on the back. it holds 3 bales high and 2 across. keeps the bales dry and they last a long time too.