Brand · Archery & Bowhunting
Morrell targets are archery targets for backyard practice, hunting prep and tournaments: layered bag targets like the Yellow Jacket line, foam cubes and blocks built on what the maker calls High Roller foam, the Transformer Buck 3D deer, big range targets and paper faces. The short version: Morrell's bags are mostly field-point targets, and its foam is where the broadheads go. Decide which tip you'll shoot first. (Uncle Walt calls every Morrell "the yellow one." He has never once checked the color.)
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On this site, Morrell covers one product type: archery targets. Inside that type the brand spreads wide. The grid above holds these groups:
The maker's own store adds apparel, replacement target covers and a few accessories. This site doesn't list those.
The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the families and what separates them. Many of the specs in the grid come from Amazon listings and are marked that way. Where I could read the maker's page, I've used it here.
Here's what actually changes from one Morrell to the next. Almost everything in the lineup is either a bag or foam, and the two behave differently.
A bag target is a woven outer shell with layers inside. Archery 360, the Archery Trade Association's site, describes bags as a shell stuffed with plastic or fabric, and calls them good options for recreational archery. Morrell's version is built in many layers. The maker lists 90 "layers of arrow stopping power" on the YJ-425 and an internal frame system that holds the shape.
Foam is a block instead. Archery 360 splits foam targets into layered strips and solid, self-healing plastic. Morrell's foam models use what it calls High Roller foam, and that's the material the maker rates for broadheads.
Kitchen version: push a pencil into a stack of folded towels. It slides between the layers and stops. Push the same pencil into a bar of soap. It goes in, and the soap grips it. Field points like the towels. Broadheads need the soap, because a cutting blade slices towels apart.
That split decides almost every choice on this page.
Yellow Jacket is the line people search for by name, and the maker uses it for its bag targets and wraps. The two I could read in full:
Both pages carry the same warning: not recommended for outserts or for field points wider than the arrow shaft. An outsert is a sleeve that fits over the outside of the shaft, so it's wider than the shaft. A wide tip tears a bigger hole, and the arrow drags on the way out.
Quick math on the Kinetic X: over 50 spots spread across four sides, so roughly a dozen per face. That's a lot of fresh bag before you wear one face out. It's also 51 lb of bag. Lift with your legs. I say that for a living.
The RT-450 sits outside the Yellow Jacket name. Its listing gives a 450 fps rating and 24 by 14 by 24 inches, so it's a larger face than the YJ-425. The grid also shows a 3-pack, which suits a club, a school range or a family with three archers who don't share well. The listing doesn't give the point rating in the grid, so read the listing before you thread on anything but a field point.
The BIG High Roller is a foam cube. The maker lists it at 16 by 16 by 16, six sides, 21 bullseyes and a 500 fps stop. It says the cube is built for "any and all arrow tips including field points and broadheads" and for all bow types. It has a carrying handle, and the maker says it resists weather and fading.
Six sides on a cube matter more than they sound. You turn it to a fresh face instead of moving it to a new spot in the yard. (Walt moves the target. Then he moves the stand he shoots from. Then he complains his yardage changed.)
The BOA blocks are the least documented family on the maker pages I could read. Their listings call them foam blocks. The 18-inch BOA lists 465 fps and field points only. The 24-inch BOA lists broadheads and field points but no speed in the grid. Two sizes, two different tip ratings, so check the size you're buying, not the family name.
The Transformer Buck is Morrell's 3D deer. The maker's tagline is "any bow, any tip, any speed," and its page lists a High Roller foam shooting core, vitals and universal score rings, a detachable stand-alone target, and a head that rotates 360 degrees. Morrell also sells a Transformer Buck mid section on its own, so the part you shoot most can be replaced without buying a whole deer.
A 3D target teaches something a cube can't: where the vitals sit on an animal turned at an angle. If that's the practice you want, the 3D archery target page covers other makers too.
The FITA 1 Outdoor Range is a tournament target. The maker lists it at 49 by 13 by 49, rated to stop 450 fps, with interchangeable High Roller foam targets: one in the center for long shots and four around it for closer ones. It's meant for USA Archery and 4-H events with 40 to 122 cm faces, and the maker ships it only to commercial addresses. It's a club purchase, not a backyard one.
The NASP 80 cm faces are paper scoring faces for the National Archery in the Schools Program. Morrell says on its history page that it supports NASP. If your kid's school shoots NASP, these are the faces the program scores on.
Field points only, or broadheads too? Most of Morrell's bags are field-point targets per the maker. The BIG High Roller and the Transformer Buck take both. If you'll shoot broadheads before the season, that decision rules out most of the bags before you look at anything else. The broadheads page explains the heads.
Match the target to your setup's speed in fps (feet per second, how fast the arrow leaves the bow). Morrell's ratings in this grid run from 425 fps on the YJ-425 to 500 fps on the Kinetic X and the BIG High Roller. If a crossbow will ever shoot into it, check the crossbow's listed speed against that number first. The crossbow target page covers crossbow-rated targets across brands.
Two sides, four or six. More sides mean more fresh material before you're done. A bigger face spreads your shots, which also stretches the target's life. A smaller cube carries easier and fits behind the truck seat.
The maker calls its bags weather-resistant, not weatherproof, and asks you to store them under shelter. The maker says the BIG High Roller foam resists weather and fading. If the target will live outside from August to January, that tips the choice.
If you shoot one compound with field points twice a week, the range targets are more than you need. If you only want to sight in broadheads, a bag isn't the right target at all. If you're shooting with a youth bow, the Archery 360 note on bag targets as recreational options fits well, and the archery target page compares sizes across brands.
My one opinion for this page: hang a bag target whenever you can. The reason is on Morrell's own care page. It says hanging the target by its eyelets lets it swing, and the swing absorbs energy from the arrow, which extends the target's life. A bag sitting on the grass takes the whole hit. A hanging bag gives a little, like catching an egg with soft hands instead of a frying pan.
The maker recommends rotating bag targets every 75 to 100 shots and switching bullseyes often. The same spot hit again and again is what wears a bag thin. That's the reason the faces have so many dots.
After heavy use, the care page says to lay the target face down on the most-shot side and press firmly on the back to shift material toward the worn areas. In the maker's own words: "Stomp heavily on the back side of the target." Finally, a target-care step Walt does with enthusiasm.
Morrell says practice tips that match your shaft diameter make arrows easier to pull. It's the same reason the bag pages warn against outserts. If arrows are hard to pull, check the tip before you blame the bag.
The care page asks that only broadhead-tipped arrows go into Morrell's broadhead targets. Its reason: field points create more friction and heat in the denser foam and can bond to it. If one sticks, the maker says to twist and pull to break the bond. Don't yank straight back.
Set the target in front of a safe backstop, with nothing and no one behind it. Keep broadheads covered until the arrow is on the string, and walk to the target together after everyone has shot.
Both make layered targets, and both sell several sizes. The difference is where each brand leans.
Morrell's lineup leans on bag targets, and the maker lists its Yellow Jacket bags for field points only. Its foam cubes and 3D deer use High Roller foam rated for broadheads. Block's Classic, per its maker's page, is a two-sided layered foam cube in 18 and 22-inch sizes that stops field points and broadheads "with friction rather than force."
So the practical comparison is tip type and speed. If you'll shoot field points into a bag, compare Morrell's bags with Block's Hurricane bag. If you want one block for broadheads and field points, compare the BIG High Roller with a Block foam cube. The Block brand page has its lineup.
Here's what I could verify on the maker's history page:
This page doesn't cover warranty terms. For questions on a specific target, its pages list a phone number and an email address.
Tip first, speed second, sides third. The color can be argued later, and Walt will win that one anyway.
What can be checked is in the specs. The maker gives speed ratings such as 425 fps on the Yellow Jacket YJ-425 and 500 fps on the Kinetic X and the BIG High Roller, says which models take field points only and which take broadheads, and publishes care steps. Whether one suits you depends on your tip, your setup's speed and how much you shoot.
Yellow Jacket is Morrell's line of bag targets and wraps, including the YJ-425, the Kinetic X, the Supreme and the MOD Pro. The maker's Yellow Jacket pages describe field-point targets with layered construction, carrying handles and weather-resistant covers. The YJ-425 page, for example, lists 425 fps, two shooting sides and an internal frame.
Only into the models made for them. The maker lists the Kinetic X and YJ-425 bags as field points only, while it says the BIG High Roller foam cube takes field points and broadheads. Its care page also asks that only broadhead-tipped arrows go into its broadhead targets, because field points can bond to that denser foam.
Morrell Manufacturing, Inc., now known as Morrell Targets, in Alma, Arkansas. The maker's history page says Dale Morrell started the company in 1986 after designing a bag target in his garage, that it is family owned and operated, and that its products are made in the USA.
The maker's care page gives four habits: hang the bag by its eyelets so it can swing, rotate it every 75 to 100 shots, use practice points no wider than your arrow shaft, and keep it under shelter because the bags are weather-resistant, not weatherproof. After heavy use it suggests pressing on the back to move material into worn spots.
