Burlap coffee sack target

[highpoint forge]

Well i'm sure this is an old topic but just to see it with my own eyes, I procured an 80-100lb burlap sack used for shipping coffee beans from a neighborhood coffee bar. I stuffed it with all the plastic bags I could find, plus all the plastic bags I'd normally recycle for 2-3 months. Today I finally got it full enough to shoot at it. From 25 yds it stopped my field points cold. Maybe 8" or so penetrated. I am going to keep stuffing it until it's totally full, and sew the top shut. Cost to me was nothing. Works like a charm

[reddogge]

I've been going to the local feed store and picking up free the 100 lb grain feed bags which are plastic mesh and I have a little deal worked out with a supermarket to save the plastic shrink wrap from the pallets when they get their freight trucks at night.  I stuff them, sew the tops shut and have made 4 so far.  They work great.

[highpoint forge]

Yeah Red I wanted on of the plastic ones so it won't get smelly eventually (if it gets wet) but I don't have a local source....wanna send me one?

[Oregon Okie]

That's what I'm doing. I found a place that had a stack of coffee bags for the taking so I stuffed one, double bagged it and stitched em shut with fishing line I think. I've been shooting at 'em for a while and now I'm going to open up and stuff some more. I think I had some foam in there too that has broken up some.  I got some spray paint and put some animal "shadows" on em. I made the "animals" with a front and back but end up shooting as if it was two front ends so I have two spots to shoot at. Or I flip 'em over and just shoot at the bag. I try to keep em dry but figured I would just go get more sacks if I need 'em.

[Pat B]

I've used burlap bags stuffed with plastic bags or old sheet plastic for a few years now. Like Okie I have made deer targets out of them and set them around my woods hanging horizontal. Thompson's Water Seal or similar product will help the burlap bags last longer outside.
  I have used the plastic mesh bags but they deteriorate too quickly in sunlight.

[Bow-n-Head]

I use zip-ties to close the bag. Use the nock end piece as a "needle" with tie inserted. Run the needle all the way through; tie stops, zip&tie!!

[Bow-n-Head]

Woops; Use the nock end piece of an aluminum arrow for "needle".

[reddogge]

highpoint forge,
Unfortunately these start out smelly from the feed in them.  They are a little sour smelling.  PM me you address and I'll try to pick some up for you if you want.
Richard

[Onehair]

I have checked a couple of coffee shops and no bag source. Any store brand you can suggest. Thanks

[barebow17]

I put a coal stove in this year.The coal comes in the plastic bags like the burlap.Looks like I will have a bunch of new targets this year.

[Marvin M.]

Wal-Mart occaisionally has burlap dog beds.  They're about 30" by 30" and probably a foot thick.  Heavy duty burlap with a very lage zipper on one end.  I bought six of them a couple of years ago when I found them.  They work great.  I save all my grocery bags and stuff them in there.

If I remember correctly they cost $3.95 each when you can find them and you don't have to sew, just zip them up.

[PurpleCajun]

I also go to the local feed store for the plastic grain bags.  They run about 50 cents a piece and hold up for a long time against field points.  I fill em with plastic bags from the grocery store, or in a pinch, I hit the dollar store and buy their black garbage bags (our local dollar store has these ultra-cheap and rather low quality garbage bags made out of the grocery bag like material).

I've also recently taken to using the dog food bags that my mom had been stockpiling.  These particular ones seem to be made of the same mesh material that the grain bags are made of, but slightly thicker.  It's somewhat disturbing shooting the picture of a golden retriever though.

At our feed store, they also sell the burlap bags, but I think the plastic is better suited to the task at hand.  I've checked the local coffee joints, but most get their beans by other methods these days, I think the burlap coffee sack may be a thing of the past, at least here in the Northwest, perhaps more efficient means of transporting coffee were required to fulfill the coffee drinking needs of Washington State.

[stickhorse]

All our feed for the horses & mules comes in the plastic 100# white bags, usually end up throwing most away. if anyone wants some send me a PM with address. I stuff them with the same white bags. last forever.

[BowHuntingFool]

A good source for the bags are at Cooperseeds.com, they sell em for $2.00 a bag. I have a couple that I stuff with old bubble wrap and plastic bags. Works like a charm for field points! I love the thwack you get when the  arrow punches the bag!  

[Oregon Okie]

for coffee bags you have to find a roaster or an importer. If you can't find coffee bags in the Northwest you can't find 'em anywhere. this is the coffee'nist place I've ever seen. Maybe you are right, they just fill a truck up without bagging for out here.  I found one in the phone book that was an importer and just dropped by. No store front just a small spot in one of those industrial buildings.

[Bill Tell]

I find the coffee bags smell pretty good.  They even come with an X ring.  You know ME X ICO.  Aim for the X.

2nd to the zip ties for sewing them shut.  

Also if you really want to make sure you wont have pass through issues on the back face of the target put in a layer of window screen.  Just extra precaution.

[highpoint forge]

I was going to say use zip ties....that came to me this morning while I was laying in bed. Also X2 on the roasters' coffee houses as they tend to have the bags laying around. My local guy just chucks his.

[Frank V]

I've done the same thing with plastic feed sacks & burlap feed sacks. They work just fine only they are a little smaller. Great targets. Frank

[Ray Hammond]

you can also use that silt fence material from construction sites to fill them with...just ask a builder to let you know when he is pulling it off the site and you can usually get enough to fill two or more of those feed bags...works great with field points.  NOT WITH BROADHEADS..especially grizzlies...they get all twisted up in teh fabric.

[Dave2old]

The only coffee shops that regularly have bean bags are those that do their own roasting. Fortunately/unfortunately, I live near a yuppie-infested mountain town that runs on high-end caffeine, and can get all the bags I want for 75 cents each and have been doing so for years. But what about a good source for plastic stuffing? Go to your local post office and ask them to save it for you. They get large quantities of heavy-duty clear plastic -- parcels are wrapped in it on pallets. In one trip years ago I got enough to make two coffee-bag targets, both of which are still going. My only problem is in the fall when tree squirrels "harvest" the burlap for their nests. So each spring I stuff the old ragged target with a bit more plastic and stomp it down -- with the Postal plastic properly stomped, you will not shoot through it with a target point -- then insert the old bag into a fresh bag and lace it shut with baling wire. Another advantage, other than being almost free and rather lifelike -- turn horizontally and a coffee bag approximates the torso of an elk -- is the lightweight portability. I can pick 'em up and move 'em around the yard as I wish to replicate different hunting angles, etc. In contrast, recently I paid $17 for a WalMart foam target on sale, and shot it out in a month. To me, burlap targets are the ultimate in sensible recycling. d