Common sense is invaluable.  I own 22 acres of heavily forested land in Texas.  I was out shooting one of my pistols.  A neighbor and his friend came out to see what I was up to.  After talking for about five minutes, they proceeded leave the area by walking down range.  Basically, they left in the exact direction I was shooting.  That was that.  I knew they were out there and I couldn't see them, so for safety's sake, I stopped shooting.  Common sense, folks.

notice how his archery targets have the center shredded but nothing else

I've had arrows bounce or skim off a target or back board and then go flying up into the air, resulting in the arrow landing in neighbors gardens. I now fire into a shed, at a target inside.

To add onto this, you can create a projectile curtain to help catch wayward arrows. Get a yoga mat and put it up onto a frame. Make sure the top is secured, but the rest of the mat is unsecured. When the arrow hits it, the mat moves, which absorbs some of the energy of the arrow. If an arrow makes it all the way through, you have your backing material as a backup. In addition to this, it all but eliminates the chance of a ricochet.

OMG the chirping birds

I remember the first time shooting in my back yard. Little did I know, my cat was hiding in a shrub off in the back drop, and I only missed it by about a foot after going off target. It was quite the shock for both of us. I never shot arrows in my backyard again.

My older brother made a crossbow from a railway sleeper, car spring and wire cable. He made an arrow in woodwork class. He thought galvanised iron enough to stop the arrow. When launched, the arrow pierced the iron, crossed the yard, through the fence, across the neighbour’s garden and through their other fence, and stopped in the street adjacent.
My mum then pulled it apart.

What I used to do when I lived in a house with an empty 10 meter long room.  I had a foam block, like yours, and behind it I had a cheap carpet hung over a coat rack.  I was using a 40lb long bow with field points, and with the carpet folded over the coat rack, arrows never went further than about 8-12" deep.  For a $25 investment from IKEA, it's not too bad.

I had my first archery lesson yesterday. Everything went pretty great, but I managed to accidentally hit a tree (it was a 3D-parcour). I was using a beginner's recurve bow, max 18". The arrow ricocheted, flew 15 feet to the side and still had enough force to get stuck in another target. I am glad this happened to me right at the start, because now I have great respect for the sheer cinetic force of a stray arrow.

Imagine being some old ass guy who lived his life for 80 years dodging death through out them just to be nailed to your porch by a zoomer with a bad shot there's something morbidly silly about that

I love it that I live nearby open fields of NOTHING but grassland. Clear field, huge visibility and I even have a rived dam to stop arrows. Nothing could go wrong :D

"Someone on reddit posted a freak-out message where they shot an arrow over the fence... for the second time"
Obviously they didn't learn their lesson the first time. The fact that the person shot an arrow in to the neighbour's house, accidentally or not, is bad enough when it happens once. Any more than that and I'd consider that wilful and gross negligence and disregard for others' property, health, and life. You can actually kill someone like that.

Tweet tweet. Tweet tweet.

This dude has the best most informative archery channel. Every question I have he has a video on it!

I just started archery yesterday and I’ve already thought “omg, what if a cat runs in front of me and I shoot it?!” Lol.

I shoot in my backyard, you have watched my video of me speed shooting like bo krause, you commented on it! it was the most exiting comment I ever got because you are like the go to archery guy on youtube

One of the absolute safest set-ups is in my basement with a particle board backstop as it's a closed lane with the only entrance being behind me and nothing of value I could hit.

Thanks for scaring the crap out of me 😱😲.....
But that is what will keep us from setting up for a backyard shoot that could ruin someone's day completely.
Good no nonsense explanation
Thank you 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍

Sound advice about everything mentioned. Especially thinking about selecting a shooting lane way. I once lived in a city in Ontario Canada. A young man was shot with an arrow by friend when they were messing around with a bow and arrows. At that point the city made it illegal for anyone to shoot any type weapon within city limits. This included air weapons and bow and arrows including crossbows. Always know the law, always know your backstop and what is beyond it. It is a weapon not a toy.

in the shed with the tweety bird you can see it flying in the shot