Prelude:

As many of you may be aware, last year, practically all Archery Clubs in Nova Scotia received some promotional materiel on a new cost effective ($ 160.00 Cdn) Deer 3D target from a company in St Jerome QC, called CIBLEX. At that time, I was in the process of ordering some new target centres for our club, so I decided to try some of these targets. I also purchased one for my family, which is comprised of six avid archers who shoot everything from a five year olds long bow, to modern high-speed compounds.

In order to do a fair appraisal on this target, I decided to look at the aspects of aesthetics, cost, durability, self-healing, and ease of arrow pulling. Given these test criteria, I needed another type of commonly found 3D target to use for comparison purposes. In this case, I decided to use the Mackenzie TG 20 N Medium Grazing Deer. To assist me in gathering data for this product review, I placed three C-145s and the Mackenzie on our range for everyday shooting, and I also observed the wear and tear on the target in my back yard. I should add here that the C-145 targets were brand new; however, the TG 20 N was approximately one year old.

The Trial:

About a week after the C-145 targets arrived at my suppliers. I went to pick them up, anxious to get ours set up for our kids, as my partner and I had purchased it as a surprise for them. My first impression was that he target was a lot smaller than I expected. The literature said that the target emulated a 145 lb deer. To me it more closely resembled in size, the 100 lb doe that I tagged the previous fall. I also noticed upon picking up the centre, that it felt much softer than the centres of other targets that I was familiar with, most notably the TG 20 N. I also saw that the surface paint on the C-145 was very splotchy and had appeared to rub off in shipping.

Aesthetically speaking, the C-145 looked exactly like the picture in the promotional materiel. The head had a somewhat blocky look even from a distance of 30 or more yards and did not realistically depict the features of a live deer. The TG 20 N in comparison is very detailed and accurate in its resemblance of a deer. Both of these targets come in three pieces. With the C-145, the separation between the three components is very evident, and becomes even more pronounced upon placing the target with the head down hill in relation to the rest of the body. The is the exact opposite of the TG 20 N, where it is very difficult to discern the separations even if the target is situated on very uneven terrain.

The C-145 comes with a horn set the attaches to the head with two “nails”. After taking about twenty to thirty hits from a high-speed compound, the horns would consistently fall off. The TG 20 N also comes with a horn set, which is fixed into the head of the target via a bayonet style appendage. This set up has proven to be much more durable than the C-145 variant.

Another item of interest when choosing a target for club use is the visibility of the scoring area. Here there is a vast difference between the two types of target. The scoring area on he C-145 is delineated by a small raised ridge, which is practically impossible to see through binoculars and in fact it is highly difficult to see with the naked eye at distances greater that 10 yds. Conversely, the scoring area on the TG 20 N is etched directly into the target, as it is with all MacKenzie targets. This makes it very easy to see the scoring area with binoculars and the naked eye.

Durability is always an issue when purchasing targets for a club or for personal use. Here my initial impression of the C-145 was negative as the one I purchased for my personal use began to “chip out” badly. The TG 20 N however, although a year old, stood up readily to my high- speed compound. I did change my opinion on the C-145 however, as time progressed. I discovered after several rain storms, that the C-145 was retaining arrows much better, and with all carbon arrows, the foam was self–healing. I then examined the aluminium arrows that I had been using and discovered that there was a slight “lip”, where the field point was larger than the shaft, which was responsible for my “chipping out”. Supporting this new impression was the data that I collected from the three club C-145’s that I had left out on the range for the majority of the summer. These targets where shot on a daily basis by at least three or four archers and were used for three tournaments. The targets stood up very well under these conditions; in fact I estimate that these targets will last the club for three to four years before requiring repair or centre replacement. The key to this success was getting them wet prior to using them. I found that once they were immersed in water, they retained it well, even when situated in direct sunlight. This greatly enhanced the target’s stopping power and aided the foam with the self-healing process. The target that I had placed in my back yard was initially bone dry which caused it to allow partial pass throughs on my Easton Axis 400’s. When it was saturated with water however, it readily stopped all arrows.

The final thing I considered was the ease of pulling the arrows. Here the majority of time, the arrows could be removed from the C-145 with one hand. I cannot say the same thing for the TG 20 N, as even after one year use, many times removing the arrows shot by a high-speed compound was a two-handed gut strainer.

Summary

In summary, I looked at two similar products from a well-known and firmly established company and a relative new comer to the 3D target industry. As can be expected the Mackenzie target won easily in the categories of aesthetics and possibly durability. The C-145, however was the hands down winner in the categories for cost ($160.00 for a full target or $80.00 for a replacement vital), self-healing, and ease of arrow pulling. I would now also give it very good marks for durability. So in conclusion I would definitely recommend the C145 to anyone who is just looking for a target for he backyard, or for a club just starting out and operating on a limited budget. The C-145s should be more than capable to carry you to the point where you cold afford to cycle in the higher priced Mackenzie’s and Delta’s. In addition CIBLEX has expanded its inventory of targets for 2005. For more information, they can be contacted at ciblex@hotmail.com or Tel (450) 712-5661.

Bill Hoskins