Rhinehart Targets

Mark, Nate, and I have all committed to competing at The Vegas Shoot next year. In preparation, we have been shooting at a three-spot target from 20 yards on flat ground with colored scoring rings. I am talking thousands of arrows. Last week, I finally got my Mathews ARC 30 set up the way I want it for hunting season and decided to shoot a few arrows outside at my Rinehart 1/3 elk target at about 26 yards. At full draw, my brain went into full freakout mode. No yellow bullseye? Where the heck am I supposed to aim?

Those thousands of arrows and the thousands more to come have not been a waste of time. I have learned so much about controlling my release and the mental challenge of trying to execute three perfect shots 10 times (a full round in Vegas). But none of that will make me a better bowhunter if I can’t put one shot exactly where it needs to be on a game animal.

Nobody would argue that practicing on a realistic 3-D target isn’t the absolute best way to prepare for hunting scenarios. Going to a local shoot is a good way to test your progress, but you usually get to shoot one arrow at a predetermined distance and angle.  You are rewarded for hitting a scoring ring, but as the angle of the target increases, that scoring ring is not where you would want to impact on an animal.

If you make a bad shot, you don’t have the opportunity to shoot until you figure out what you did wrong. If you nail it…maybe you got lucky. Who really knows? The best way to perfect your game is to own your own target and shoot it from realistic angles as many times as it takes to get it right.

When it comes to realistic 3-D targets, no company does it better than Rinehart Targets. All of their targets are anatomically correct (including the legendary Velociraptor), so you are not just aiming at a dot; you are training your brain to pick the most lethal angle through the animal.

Rinehart is the predominant target you will see at 3-D shoots because their self-healing foam will take more arrows than any other target. With replaceable cores available, they last even longer. I have had three Rinehart targets for going on 10 years that have lived outside in the Arizona sun, uncovered the entire time. There is some dry cracking and color fade, but they still have many years of life in them.

I bought those targets when I lived close to a range where I could put them out to 60 yards or more. At my new home, I don’t have that luxury. I do have 26 yards, though.  So, I bought the Rinehart 1/3 elk for regular practice. As the name implies, this target is one-third the size of a 600-lb bull elk, so at 20 yards it is like shooting at 60 yards. It also weighs one-third as much, and at $330, it costs way less than 1/3 the price of a full-size target. It is a genius idea!

Bowhunting in the West rarely happens on flat ground under perfect conditions. We need to be ready for any eventuality. With a 3-D target, you can practice any shot angle you can dream up: shooting from your knees, sitting in a chair, one foot on a cinder block…you are only limited by your imagination. Practice like you hunt!