The Good The Bad - Straw Archery Target (Target review #9)

Paul! I've always wondered if these straw targets are any good, and I never purchased one until now. So let's find out. This specific target has three layers to it and a back handle. I believe this is what you hang it from. So we have some sort of woven straw in these three layers and the front is a silk layer on the target. So this is not painted. It's actually a silk material that is wrapped into this woven straw material. Online it says to have no targets sitting directly behind it. I think that's so that when the arrow hits it, the target will move, helping it last longer. We'll test this one the exact same way we've tested the past eight. The only difference now is this is a non-broadhead target, so we'll avoid shooting this with broadheads. And the bag targets we review in the future are non-broadhead targets as well. So let's see how this holds up to some traditional arrows and compound arrows. I secured a board up top. That way there's some room behind the target in case the arrows do push all the way through. Arrow penetration test. Let's see what happens. Trad arrow. Yeah, we are swinging a lot and we are poking through the back side. Let's shoot one with a compound. Hey, that held better than I thought it would. All right, let's mark these. I like smell the straw. It smells like someone's starting a fire. Not terrible. So the compound went in 11 and a quarter and the traditional went in seven and a quarter. In comparison to all of these targets, that's right in the middle of the road. With the compound, we had 13 pounds to pull it out. With the traditional, we had 18 pounds to pull the arrow out. This is so thin, there's not a whole lot of friction to pull these arrows out. I guess the question is, how many shots will it take until this compound arrow goes all the way through the target? Yeah, it's still moving. That is something quite interesting is you might have to wait 30-ish seconds before it's relatively still to take your second shot. Yeah, you can still shoot it. It's just might be harder to see if you're hitting what you're aiming for. Nice shot. All right, we're going to shoot one off to the left around the blue line. I thought it would be... You smell, it's like fire. All right, we're eight shots in. Yeah, I don't know. Call it the dancing target or something. Here you'll notice on the back, it's pushing the target out, but I think when we pull the arrows from the target, it sucks it back into place. I'm not sure if it does from your perspective, but yeah, now it's more even. We'll see how long that holds up or if it'll completely bust. I don't know. We're 15 shots into this target, and it's pretty clear that within the first 50, the compound's going to bust through. I went ahead and checked the listing, and I realized that they have recommendations for bow poundage to how many layers are on the target. And for like a three-layered, it's supposed to be a 30-pound bow. For the compound, we would need a seven-layer target. So instead of using the consistent bows we've been using throughout all these reviews, I want to give this target a fair shot for the right poundage. So I'm going to shoot the rest of the shots with a 30-pound bow and see how well it holds up. I'm testing an XS bow I have real quick to see the poundage. Yeah, so this one's at 26.5 pounds. Let's go ahead and use that 26.5 pounds and see how the target holds up to a proper bow for the target. If this said, like some other targets, 500 feet per second, I'd use whatever I want. But since they made it really clear on their listing, let's use this bow. I don't have a knocking point here. I should throw one on. It feels like this could hold up a really long time now. The more arrows you shoot in the same group, the more it's pushing this out. And it's not all the way back in. Push it in a little bit. If you're struggling with your form, grab a 25-pound bow. It makes it easy, much easier to have better form. What happened? Oh, maybe you did break it earlier. Oh, look at the backside. It kind of like... Do you think the target broke it? Look how it caught it. Like it stopped it super hard and like sheared it almost. You know what? Well, think about this. If it... I don't have it on slow-mo, but think about this. Let me grab an arrow. If your arrow is coming through and then it pushes out this backside and it catches, this part's going to bend up. And I think it just tried to go up and it couldn't and sheared right there. Yeah, I think it's the way it hit it. And I did shoot this while the target was still moving, so maybe that had something to do with it. Because I'm not waiting 30 full seconds. Yeah, those people who are super smart. Tell us what happened. If you know what happened, comment below. Give your hypothesis. Is it starting to go for... Yikes. I was unraveling it from the inside out, huh? It's not going to do much if I push it back in, is it? I didn't hit the same spot enough. I think if I split the difference, the arrow's going to struggle holding on, you know? We might get to 100. 83 shots and we're still holding on. Hey, I think that counts. That bounce off and... Yeah, I'll count that one. 84 shots. I actually think this would not be a bad beginner target. I know you're saying, Kramer, it just didn't hold arrows with only 84 shots. That's correct. But remember, I was shooting from close distances and purposely concentrating all the shots in this tiny area. All right, Kaz just brought up a very valid point. He was saying he thinks it would last longer if you don't shoot the middle. And I think that's true because in the middle, the spiral comes together. So you're pushing out the spiral. But if you shoot out here, you're not really going to push out that one area because it's not the center of the spiral. So basically, if you created your own separate targets around, I think it's going to last a lot longer. I think if you shot 86 times up here, it would still be holding up. As I started editing the video, I realized it's unlike me to make a hypothesis and then not test it. So I created a little mark right here with a black Sharpie and started taking shots at it. And as a matter of fact, right now, we just surpassed the center. Check out how much penetration we're getting. I think that does it. So the idea that the side will wear out less is true. It definitely wears differently. The inside unravels and over here, it just starts to shred until it can't hold anymore. But if you miss, let's say, an inch or two inches off, it stops the arrow, no problem. But if you're a beginner and you're shooting light poundage bows, this will last you a long time. I'd rather get one of these targets for the price because they're so cheap. If I'm testing out archery, maybe with a light poundage bow. But for those of us who have been shooting for a while, I wouldn't recommend this target unless you fall into these two scenarios. The first scenario is using this as a backdrop. They make this style of target in much bigger rounds and you could put your primary target in front of it. But just in case you missed your primary target, this could be behind it to stop the arrows. It would be a good backdrop. The second scenario is a review I read about this target. And the person who left the review said they would put this up against their hay bales and their hay would stop the target as well. But this gave them a good aiming spot. And I thought that was an interesting way to use this target. I've never done that myself, but I think it would work out pretty well. I repeat, the hay would stop the arrow. The hay would stop the arrow. Cas thought it would be a good idea to use this as a throwing target and shooting out of the air. So we're going to try it out real quick. And don't worry, I installed this black wall. It's completely arrow proof. Here, scoot this way a little bit more so you're more with me and throw diagonal so we're safe. Okay. Yep. Pull! I think it'd be pretty fun, especially if you were outdoors and had a big wide area. If you want to practice with moving targets, a big one like this to start with would be pretty fun. Oh, that's gotta hurt. No, no, no, no. Stay shatterproof. We'll see you on the next.