What we used to call "Penny Lollipops" ... the kind with a loop of twisted paper for a handle. Party stores sell them by the bag full for cheap. So do Big Lots. The debris dissolves in the next rain or the critters get it. Necco wafers are good, and so are Ritz crackers or Nilla wafers. Most grocery stores will sell you produce like oranges or grapefruit, tangerines, peaches, carrots, peppers, and such that are past their "best by" dates for cheap or give them to you. Carrots and celery stalks are harder to hit than you might imagine, especially if they're placed upright on a slight angle. Best to pick these all up by pre-arrangement just before the match, though. Eggs are always good, but pricey unless they're old, and who wants to eat one of those?
Ice cubes made with colored water with pieces of paper straw for handles ... or craft sticks ... and make the shooters pick up their targets, walk out and place them in holes in a 2 x 4 or a tree limb, walk back, load on command, then start shooting when they're ready. Put the firing line far enough back to make it a challenge to hit. Anybody who misses can reload and try again ---- but the target gets smaller.
Craft sticks -- what we used to call popsicle sticks -- are good for short range and they're available in craft shops like Hobby Lobby or Michaels by the bagful.
Take a dead sapling or tree limb and cut half-inch thick slices. Drill a hole in the edge of the slice and hang it on a piece of cotton kite string. They will be different sizes, so hang a row of them from a tree limb or horizontal pole in groups of 4 or 6 or 10 or whatever. Have your shooters draw a number from a hat to determine which one they have to shoot at. Miss and you're out. Hit and you shoot in the next relay. If you hit them they go away. If you cut the string it doesn't count unless you call your shot ahead of time. Last man standing is the winner. These are fun on a breezy day.
One club I used to shoot with had a Thanksgiving match every year. The target was a live Tom turkey staked out behind a log that was as thick as the turkey was tall. Range was 100+ yards and all shooting was off-hand. The trick was to call the bird so he would peek over the log and you could shoot. The prize was the turkey. That was of course considered cruel and inhumane
by a group of the shooters wives and it was discontinued and small party balloons were substituted for the turkey, hung on a foot-long string. The prize was still a turkey but it was alive. The one time I got lucky and won, I got 20+ pounds of angry turkey on a leash and I was 40 miles from home and driving a VW bug. I hollered "Rematch! $2 a shot!" and did NOT shoot myself. The winner got the bird and I took home about $30. Fair enough.
