Sporting Arrows: Skeet Shooting With Bows? SHOT Show 2016

As I walked past the Laporte America display at the 2016 SHOT Show, I couldn’t help but notice the huge skeet-throwing machine right out by the aisle. At least, that’s what it looked like. So I stopped to take a look.

Turned out, it was a machine (one of two models, according to the video below) that throws disk-shaped foam targets up into the air so folks can shoot them with bows and arrows. Say what??

That’s right. The targets are fairly large; they have both 10″ and 13″ diameter foam disks and can be tossed out at pretty much any angle. They can hop along the ground like a rabbit, sail straight up into the air vertically, or anywhere in between.

Even the throwing force is adjustable, so the targets can hop out in a leisurely way or zip across the sky and fly farther, like the doves I usually miss with my shotgun.

Laporte offers standard flu-flu arrows with field points, as well as two different types of safety arrows that probably wouldn’t even put an eye out.

The Phoenix 65T slings a 10″ diameter target, while the 20T handles both 10″ and 13″ targets.

Pretty cool.

They also have targets designed for paintballs.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.