# DIY Full Scale Elk Target



## Allen cox (Dec 29, 2018)

That looks great, and I hope it helps well when you get that shot ! Goodluck.


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## hoyt fo life555 (Jan 31, 2005)

Looks great, I believe I would have cut the “ target” out a touch forward, but that’s cool.


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## cs1983 (Jun 2, 2018)

hoyt fo life555 said:


> Looks great, I believe I would have cut the “ target” out a touch forward, but that’s cool.


I agree. About 4” forward.

Otherwise, it looks great and WILL help. 

Solid effort, OP!


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## Shawnneefl (Jan 19, 2011)

Great job

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## papachuby (Nov 19, 2008)

Great job. Super cool target[emoji106]

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## Miarcher321 (Dec 12, 2019)

That’s awesome 


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## onesavage (Apr 30, 2012)

Very cool. Good luck!


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## link06 (Mar 3, 2008)

Great work! [emoji106][emoji106]

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## 356Brutus (Feb 24, 2020)

Great job man, its awesome👍


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## khaglund (Jul 29, 2012)

Very nice


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## Getchusum (May 11, 2020)

Nice! Hmm now how to apply this to other smaller game for fun shooting in the yard [emoji848]


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

Thanks guys. It took a solid day to make, but I think it was worth it. Hopefully if the opportunity presents itself muscle memory will kick in to help overcome the adrenaline and make a lethal shot. Either way, It is always nice to be able to shoot at something other than the same old block, bag, or 3D whitetail target.


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

hoyt fo life555 said:


> Looks great, I believe I would have cut the “ target” out a touch forward, but that’s cool.


I see what you are saying. Ideally, I should have drawn it up with the "right side" leg forward which would have moved the shoulder crease forward a few inches. Regardless, I can still use the leg as a guide to float my pin right behind the shoulder.


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## johnno (Apr 11, 2006)

Looks good - just shoot at the bottom right white dot...


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## Alaska at heart (Aug 25, 2009)

Really nice work and problem solving. Creative way to get a functional killzone inset and colored similar to the body. If you dump a shot into that plywood, you will really know it.....:wink:


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## Blackeagle1 (Aug 19, 2014)

Nice work! Saved a bunch of money over a full size 3D target.


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## ppkaprince98 (Mar 13, 2008)

I like it. JUst dont miss!! :mg:


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

Alaska at heart said:


> Really nice work and problem solving. Creative way to get a functional killzone inset and colored similar to the body. If you dump a shot into that plywood, you will really know it.....:wink:


Lol, funny you say that. My dad didn't have his bow and insisted on shooting mine once at the target and of course, hit the plywood. Didnt have it up for 5 minutes... It did stop the field point from going through and you can definitely hear the difference!


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## Alaska at heart (Aug 25, 2009)

JFife said:


> Lol, funny you say that. My dad didn't have his bow and insisted on shooting mine once at the target and of course, hit the plywood. Didnt have it up for 5 minutes... It did stop the field point from going through and you can definitely hear the difference!


:mg::embara:


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## jhardysvaz (Apr 13, 2020)

Very cool.


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## kresso (Jun 1, 2020)

That looks really sweet. I have a New Mexico elk hunt this year and would love to make up one of these.


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## hmmmnomaybe (Mar 23, 2020)

That’s awesome! Good work.


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## gun278 (Apr 12, 2003)

Nice Job


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## azscorpion (Feb 12, 2010)

Idrew another AZ elk tag this fall and thought about a target like this....also pondered a life sized elk purchase ($2000) hard pass!:mg:......decided that my Glendel full sized mule deer buck is fine....If I can hit this with consistency (I can) out to 80....an elk inside that distance is child's play. 

Did the same preparaion for elk season 2 years ago and smoked one on the 3rd day at 80 yards on the nose, heart shot, no wind, no rain, and he had no idea I was there....dropped less than 100 yards away.....the hours and hours practice at a smaller target definately lets you feel 100% confident in both your ability and your gear.


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

azscorpion said:


> Idrew another AZ elk tag this fall and thought about a target like this....also pondered a life sized elk purchase ($2000) hard pass!:mg:......decided that my Glendel full sized mule deer buck is fine....If I can hit this with consistency (I can) out to 80....an elk inside that distance is child's play.
> 
> Did the same preparaion for elk season 2 years ago and smoked one on the 3rd day at 80 yards on the nose, heart shot, no wind, no rain, and he had no idea I was there....dropped less than 100 yards away.....the hours and hours practice at a smaller target definately lets you feel 100% confident in both your ability and your gear.


I agree, the more I practice on a realistic target, the more muscle memory is formed so when the time comes and the adrenaline is pumping the shot will be second nature. I'm sure a full size mule deer target works just fine to prepare. The only 3D target I have is a Rhinehart woodland buck that has a pretty small body size (similar to small east Texas deer) so I wanted something larger that put the target at the proper vertical height.


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## gas49428 (May 30, 2020)

Nice!


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## 82ndArcher (Aug 13, 2009)

Thats awesome!


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## NockSteady (May 23, 2020)

Turned out great!!


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## RavinHood (Sep 17, 2015)

Looks good sir 


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## JSTTH5US (Dec 12, 2012)

That my friend is freakin AWESOME! Great job. Is there anything you can put on it to preserve that art? Some kind of lacquer maybe? That is awesome 

Nate 


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

JSTTH5US said:


> That my friend is freakin AWESOME! Great job. Is there anything you can put on it to preserve that art? Some kind of lacquer maybe? That is awesome
> 
> Nate
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind words. I suppose I could do something like that. I used OSB because it was quite a bit cheaper than plywood so that in itself will hurt the longevity of it sitting outside in the weather. Some type of clear coat is a good idea though, I will look into that.


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## JSTTH5US (Dec 12, 2012)

JFife said:


> Thanks for the kind words. I suppose I could do something like that. I used OSB because it was quite a bit cheaper than plywood so that in itself will hurt the longevity of it sitting outside in the weather. Some type of clear coat is a good idea though, I will look into that.


Yeah it’s awesome bro! I was thinking it would protect it from rain etc. you did such a good job on the drawing and painting. How did you do that by the way? Freehand? I think what you did is an awesome idea and a fun project. When I get back to the states I’m going to do the same thing for deer and [emoji203]. 


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

JSTTH5US said:


> Yeah it’s awesome bro! I was thinking it would protect it from rain etc. you did such a good job on the drawing and painting. How did you do that by the way? Freehand? I think what you did is an awesome idea and a fun project. When I get back to the states I’m going to do the same thing for deer and [emoji203].
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Not freehand, I don't have that kind of talent. I found an image of an elk that I liked on google, blew it up until it was 8" from nose to tail (1/12 scale), taped a piece of paper to the computer screen with a 8"x8" grid drawn on it (1" squares), and traced it. On the OSB, I laid both pieces on the ground as an 8'x8' square, used a chalk line to make a 1'x1' grid on the wood. Then I carefully transposed what I had traced on the small piece of paper to the OSB, one square at a time. I just took my time and did the initial drawing in pencil. Then I went over the lines in sharpie, and spray painted the body. After, i outlined everything with black paint with a small brush and then roller and brush painted the background in some green paint. For the target, I just covered the surface in gorilla tape and spray painted it the same color as the body.


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## JSTTH5US (Dec 12, 2012)

Wow man that is impressive! Smart way to do it too! Great job again brother


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## TrumpkinTheDwarf (Jun 8, 2020)

I'm still a little confused about the tracing. Did you blow up an image and print it to scale? So you had a bunch of partial elk pictures on paper? Or you printed one piece of paper with grids, and just eyeballed the lines?


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

TrumpkinTheDwarf said:


> I'm still a little confused about the tracing. Did you blow up an image and print it to scale? So you had a bunch of partial elk pictures on paper? Or you printed one piece of paper with grids, and just eyeballed the lines?


Well you could print the image on a piece of paper with grid lines, but I just found an image that I liked on the computer and enlarged it (on the screen) until it measured 8" from nose to tail. Then I taped my piece of paper to the screen (with and 8"x8" grid) over the image, lined the elk up in the grid, and traced the outline on the piece of paper. Just make the screen bright enough so you can see the image through the paper so you can trace all the details. As far as drawing the full scale image on the plywood, I pretty much just eyeballed each square on the paper and imitated it square for square on the wood. I did do some measurements occasionally, you need a 1/12th scale ruler or you can do some simple math to convert measurements on a standard scale ruler to the full scale and just measure where to start your lines on the plywood. Does that make sense?


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## TrumpkinTheDwarf (Jun 8, 2020)

JFife said:


> Well you could print the image on a piece of paper with grid lines, but I just found an image that I liked on the computer and enlarged it (on the screen) until it measured 8" from nose to tail. Then I taped my piece of paper to the screen (with and 8"x8" grid) over the image, lined the elk up in the grid, and traced the outline on the piece of paper. Just make the screen bright enough so you can see the image through the paper so you can trace all the details. As far as drawing the full scale image on the plywood, I pretty much just eyeballed each square on the paper and imitated it square for square on the wood. I did do some measurements occasionally, you need a 1/12th scale ruler or you can do some simple math to convert measurements on a standard scale ruler to the full scale and just measure where to start your lines on the plywood. Does that make sense?


Yes, that makes sense!


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## hawkeye2 (Jul 18, 2008)

great looking target! Here’s mine.


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## strapassasin696 (Jun 9, 2020)

looks good!


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

hawkeye2 said:


> View attachment 7178399
> 
> great looking target! Here’s mine.


Nice. Is that foam board?


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## hawkeye2 (Jul 18, 2008)

Target face is cardboard, 4” of insulation foam glued behind cardboard. 

Back stop is 4” strips of celotex compressed with threaded rod.

Celotex link: https://www.lowes.com/pd/r-1-5-comm...f7Du6jShs_UcFWRtb98aAmVxEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I used one of these to draw the Elk. 
https://www.amazon.com/Artograph-EZ-Tracer-Art-Projector/dp/B007VTPATO


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## Qcapplegate (Oct 22, 2019)

damn that is awesome.. great work


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## sdh1994 (Jan 10, 2013)

Looks useful


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## imbeam (Jun 5, 2020)

Look awesome, you don't mind if I ask you how much total for this?


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## JFife (Feb 1, 2011)

imbeam said:


> Look awesome, you don't mind if I ask you how much total for this?


12 bucks per sheet of OSB x 2
4 bucks per can spray paint x 4
Had spare 2x4s, hardware, and some landscape timbers already to frame and mount it, already had the rhinehart target. Also, I already had a pint of black paint and a quart of green paint for the outline and background. 
So I spent ~40 bucks but I already had some of the materials.


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## colin_co (Mar 11, 2011)

Great idea and nice work!


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## Trick688 (Jul 24, 2017)

beats $2000!


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## southernhive (Feb 5, 2020)

How many strips? Does it stop broadheads?


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## hawkeye2 (Jul 18, 2008)

southernhive said:


> How many strips? Does it stop broadheads?


You get 24 strips from each sheet of celotex, these stack to 1’ tall. I think mine is 5’ tall so 120 strips. You can stack the celotex and cut through several sheets at a time with a circular saw. Make it taller than you want, mine shrank over time (5+ years).

I’m sure it will stop broadheads, I’ve never tried. Field points stick out the back 4-5”. Probably have to take your broadheads off to pull out the arrows.

This a backstop not a target, the arrows aren’t to hard to pull out, but not easy either. It leaves some residue on the arrows that is East to scrape off with the back of a knife blade.

You don’t need to compress the stack tightly, just enough to hold it together.


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## Eddie12 (Jan 20, 2008)

Very nice. I just bought a Rhinehart 3D 1/3 scale elk target from Cabela’s. It’s about the size of a nice whitetail buck and really should be 1/4 scale to a life sized elk. It’s still fun to shoot and for $180 bucks I can live with that. Aim small miss small I guess. This was my first 3 shots and yes I need to practice more. lol 











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## Offtargetagain (Jul 14, 2018)

I may just borrow this great idea 👍


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## Chullin32 (Jan 18, 2020)

Really cool idea! Well done!


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## Smithtopher (Jul 6, 2020)

This looks great and is a fantastic idea, thanks for sharing.

Good luck on your hunt as well.

CS


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## daniel240 (Jun 19, 2015)

I like it! Nice job.


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## flyingturbines (Jul 11, 2020)

Wow great idea. And great job. Still takes me back when you realize it takes 2 of the 4x8 sheets to get a monster to fit. Best of luck to you. Be safe.


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## 27travis (Jul 18, 2020)

Nice! Gonna do this for a deer for sure!


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## Duramax01 (Jan 30, 2009)

Well done!!


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## TimKimberley (Dec 27, 2019)

cool idea


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## TimKimberley (Dec 27, 2019)

27travis said:


> Nice! Gonna do this for a deer for sure!


I'd like to see people post some monster plywood bucks


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## Buckhustler (Oct 25, 2010)

wish I would have thought of that a few months ago!


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## tjb50cal (Jul 5, 2010)




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## LukesDad08 (Jun 20, 2021)

JFife said:


> I am going to Colorado for my second elk hunt in September, and I have been looking around to see if there were any elk 3D targets available so I could get in some good realistic practice this summer before the hunt. What I discovered is that there are full scale elk 3D targets out there, but Im not willing to spend a couple thousand dollars on a target! Anything in a decent price range is like 1/3 scale, which IMO, seems like a waste. I mean, an important part of having a realistic target of an animal is having it be the correct scale... So I did some research and found a couple of people on youtube have made an elk cutout out of plywood and just cut out the vitals and used some sort of backstop behind it. So I decided to make my own version.
> 
> It is two full 4x8 sheets of plywood with a square cutout in the vitals where my Rhinehart Rhinoblock XL can sit on a platform that is mounted to the back side. I traced a 1/12th scale version on a piece of paper with a 1"x1" grid and I used chalk lines to put a 1'x1' grid on the plywood and just transposed the lines from each block in the grid to the full scale. I covered the face of the target in duct tape and spray painted it the same color as the body of the elk. I think it turned out pretty darn good. Here are the results:
> 
> ...


Cool


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## thirdhandman (Nov 2, 2009)

Excellent idea. Got to be tons cheaper than a full-size elk target. Just gave me an idea. Set one of them up against our 4'x4' DIY box target. That would make it much easier to pull arrows and about the same cost as the 18-in -one target.


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