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I am relatively new to the forum so please bear with me. I have a Namibia based plains game hunt coming up in late August/early Sept '08 time frame and need advice/comments on shooting sticks. After much research, I just purchased a "Bog Pod" tripod from Bog Gear. I read Craig Boddington's review of this product but am interested in any real world advice /opinions from forum members & any experience with shooting sticks. Thanks in advance for your time. | ||
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Dave, Do a search and you will find a lot of information regarding shooting sticks that might help. | |||
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Dave: Welcome. You might want to do a search on this topic as it has been covered many times including a recent thread a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what you bought, but your PH will probably have shooting sticks and they will be carried by him or one of the trackers. On my hunts in Africa, RSA and Zim, the sticks were made of straight, stiff branches bound together with old inner tube strips. You can make a similar set by going to the Home Depot and buying three 6' bamboo poles in the garden section and binding them together with a vacuum cleaner belt. I have done this in preparation for my hunts. Total cost around $10.00 and very similar to what you will use. Again, do a search on this forum for comments and IIRC pictures of the rig I have described. Let the PH and staff carry their sticks or yours if you want to bring them. I really think it might not be necessary to bring yours after you confirm that your PH uses them. Save the weight and space i your luggage. Good Luck. RCG | |||
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I did the same as RCG, it works very well and is cheap. Jerry Huffaker State, National and World Champion Taxidermist | |||
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i use 6 -3'x3/4" wood dowels with a copper tubing coupling in the middle so I can use them standing or sitting, works well for me | |||
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I mimicked a pair that Use Enough Gun had made with the vacuum belt and 6' oak dowells from Home Depot. I took a couple of friends to help them shoot pronghorn this past August here in Nevada. I carried the sticks as I was getting them up on the herd, and both shot their antelope off them. They are great for any open country hunting even here in the US. I've used them on every trip to Africa and love them there. My advice would be to make a pair of your own and practice with them. There's no need to take them with you across the pond, as all PH's in my experience carry a set when hunting plains game. | |||
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I bought a set of collapsing tripod sticks, practiced with them, and then took them with me. Worked fine. I recommend the approach. Mike -------------- DRSS, Womper's Club, NRA Life Member/Charter Member NRA Golden Eagles ... Knifemaker, http://www.mstarling.com | |||
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Check with your PH and see if he uses 3 sticks or two. The shooting sticks I used on my last 2 Safaris only had 2 sticks. DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
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Hope this doesn't sound like a stupid question, but does anyone have pictures of the HomeDepot setup? I bought some 6' bamboo poles, but after that it is a bit cloudy - 1 - Do all three poles need to be the same length? 2 - How tight of a belt or innertubes do you need? Do you tie/knot the innertube? 3 - Is there a way (maybe a ziptie) to keep the belt/tube on one of the poles? 4 - What does the final "V" look like? I would assume with one of the poles shorter than the other, it would just look like a tripod, but with a "V" above the area where all three met, since one is shorter than the other two poles forming the top "V" Thanks! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt | |||
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NE 450 No 2 has some good advice, the main thing is to practice shooting off sticks as quickly as your accuracy allows. I have settled on a 3 leg extendable set of sticks made locally out of aluminium. Cost is around $80. Harris Safaris PO Box 853 Gillitts RSA 3603 www.southernafricansafaris.co.za https://www.facebook.com/pages...=aymt_homepage_panel "There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne." - Karen Blixen, | |||
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I decided to look up the product. It appears the manufacture product is well thought out. It has adjustable legs, made oflight weight alummium and the V swivels 360 degrees. It cost $99 and would be a good investment plus I am sure it would make a good PH gift. Just my perspective. I have used all kinds of shooting sticks that the PH supplied. I am impressed with these. Brooks | |||
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Just emailed you photos - email will come from a tulsa housing email address... Let me know if you need any other views, etc... Best wishes, Brian "If you can't go all out, don't go..." | |||
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Here's pics of the tripod. I have also made a bipod as well. Both work very well. I chose to wrap the tops with a bicycle inner tube to protect the rifles.     | |||
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I want to thank all forum members who provided advice and also "shame on me" for not searching for prior posts on shooting sticks as well as other well thought out advice on the different aspects of African hunting & travel. Once I get a chance to practice & hunt with the Bog Pod I will report back w/pictures. | |||
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Dave: Here's a couple of pics of the shooting sticks carried by the tracker. The first is the PH, Armin Fietz, and Gerson, the tracker on an oryx spoor.  The pic below is the tracker Gerson pointing out a good hideout that will conceal us as we observe the oryx at a pan.  The sticks that were provided worked very well. To raise or lower your point of aim just move forward (to raise) or move back (to lower). I found bipods being quicker for me than tripods and almost as steady. Monopods don't hold my rifle steady enough for me. I would recommend practicing all three configurations and see which works best for you. I wouldn't bring sticks with me because the PH will have some for you to use and, anyway, they wouldn't fit in the gun case. I still bring a monopod but not for shooting. I use it strictly for camera work but it can also be used for shooting or for moving puff adders out of the way. Namibiahunter  . | |||
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Thanks much Namibiahunter. I'll try all three & see what works for me. Most of the shooting that I do offhand or standing right now is tactical w/one of the "black rifles" and an EoTech but I suspect that just as you mentioned the bipod will be faster & more useful to me since I will be using a bolt action Cooper. Again, thanks for the time & insightful pictures. I'll let you know how it goes. | |||
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I made a tripod out of bamboo poles much lighter then wood rods. I cut one shorter then the other to have a v to rest my hand in. I also used the vacuum cleaner rubber belts. | |||
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Thanks for the stick photos. They will help me to build mine. Does anyone have some photos showing rifle/hand positioning while on sticks? If you don't mind, I for one would like to see them. | |||
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Here is a picture of me practising on my Home Depot shooting sticks prior to my trip to Namibia this past summer. They utilize the 6' lengths of 3/4" dowel lashed together with vacuum cleaner belts. If you look closely you can see my hand position. I became quite proficient at making 200 yard shots with my RSM in 375H&H.  Unfortunately, when I got to Africa, the sticks I was to use were quite flimsy in comparison to the ones I made, and I had to change my hand position in order to steady them. Once I got used to them, however, they worked just as well. Here is a photo of the African sticks, but unfortunately I do not have a photo showing my modified hand position.  | |||
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Having used shooting sticks - provided by the different PHs I have hunted with - I much prefer the two leg sticks to the three legs ones. I found it difficult sometimes to find suitable places to put all these three legs, and wastes time in trying to get a shot off quickly. This is much of a problem with a two legged stick. Sometimes I have just used the stick as support for my rifle - not opened, but just as one. Use the sticks whenever you do not have any sort of natural rest, which I find suits me better than the sticks if at all possible. They are, though, much better than shooting off hand. | |||
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3 pices of 6 ft bamboo and round vacuum cleaner belt...what else is there to know? Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Here is a little tip if you are making a longer range shot off of sticks, and have the time, have some stand so that you can rest you elbow [from the trigger pulling hand/arm] on their shoulder. It is almost like shooting off a bench rest. Works well if the support person can be still, and you have the time to get set up. DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
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Watch Saeed's video posts on his latest buff hunts and see how the bipod is employed. Notice how quickly it can be deployed, moved, and adjusted. Notice, too, how Saeed and the PH work well together, kind of like a well-trained 2-man basketball team or a tactical entry team. This comes when the PH and the client have worked together before or each have total confidence and trust in the other. I have also taken shots with my rifle resting on the PH's or tracker's body, kind of like a human sandbag, to take long shots in the prone position. You just have to tell him when you are ready to shoot so that they can hold their breath to minimize their body's movements and to plug their ears. Namibiahunter . | |||
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Wooly, Thanks for the photo. When I saw the other photos with inner tube wrapping, I thought maybe you rested the rifle directly on the sticks. | |||
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I do rest the rifle in the sticks and then hold the sticks with my left hand. On the sticks I've used in Africa it's the same way, bi-pod or tri-pod. | |||
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You might consider taking your own. I take my Stoney Point tripod in my gun case and it works well.(so far!) I also like the tripods made by using the dowels and combination inner tube and vacuum belts. John, you will find some of the sticks used by Phs are very rigid and stiff while others will be flimsy(comparatively) with more give requiring more support by the shooter. FWIW find something that works for you, practice a lot with them and take them with you and there will be no surprises. BTW some use bipods and some use tripods. It would relly be great to shoot well enough offhand to refuse the sticks but this is not the case with me. | |||
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This approach worked well with the sturdy sticks I constructed myself. The African sticks I used were more flimsy, and I had to grasp the sticks around the join area and force them into the ground to steady them. I hooked my thumb over the join area, and rested my gun's forearm on my thumb. With a bit of practise this method seemd to work just as well. It's a bit difficult to explain without a photo, but I hope you follow my description. It goes to show you that there is more than one way to skin a cat. You need to develop a technique that works for you, but more importantly, be prepared to innovate when circumstances demand it. | |||
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I ordered a very nice pair of breakdown wooden shooting sticks to train my dad to shoot off of for a recent buff hunt in Zim. If you are time limited like I am this may work. www.sportwc.com Jeff | |||
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I've shot off aluminum bipods and tripods as well as break-down wooden tripods. They all work and for me it wasn't a huge difference from shooting off a bench except the position was a lot more comfortable and it was easier to handle the recoil. Any of the options is a whole lot better than off hand. Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do. | |||
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I have two naturally occuring shooting sticks that I carry with me year round. | |||
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I have a set of Long Grass Outfitters take down shooting sticks.  Each set is made height specific and they break down to go inside a rifle case. Great product! Rusty We Band of Brothers! DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member "I am rejoiced at my fate. Do not be uneasy about me, for I am with my friends." ----- David Crockett in his last letter (to his children), January 9th, 1836 "I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son." ----- Jose Antonio Navarro, from Mexican Prison in 1841 "for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Arbroath April 6, 1320-“. . .It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” | |||
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Thanks to Namibiahunter, Wooly ESS, Use Enough Gun, Saeed, and all other AR members who posted pictures & advice. I will be practicing w/both bi-pod & tri-pod to use some of the techniques you posted. I will also have the chance to talk to my PH at the DSC meet in Jan '08 to find out how he handles the sticks. | |||
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I have done the same, as I'm a short arse at 5'7" and the cut to measure sticks work a lot better.  The only things I did with the Long Grass sticks was wrap camo tape around the joins on the couplers, as they had proven prone to come undone while practising on 'roos here in Oz, prior to the trip and wrap padded camo tape around the top to cushion them. Verbera!, Iugula!, Iugula!!! Blair. | |||
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Blair, Please PM me regarding your sticks. All shooting sticks from Long Grass carry a lifetime satisfaction guarantee. If you are having any trouble, I want to know about it. Thanks! Melody www.long-grass.com | |||
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+1 for Long Grass Bob  There is room for all of God's creatures....right next to the mashed potatoes. http://texaspredatorposse.ipbhost.com/   | |||
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I have several sets of shooting sticks. I made a Home Depot set and have a Long Grass set and an adjustable aluminum bipod type. My preference is the Long Grass set, they are well crafted, portable and very stable. I use the aluminum set for turkey hunting since I can set them low for a sitting position, however, they are not as stable as a three point set up like the Long Grass set. ~Ann   | |||
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plus three on the longgrass sticks, I practised off them here before I went to RSA and it really paid off. I brought them with me and my ph liked them so much I gave them to him. I practised two quick shots on chicken sized gongs at our range for three months. i got to the point where I hit the chicken 8-9 time out of ten. Definitely they made me a "minute of spingbok" shooter out to 300 metres. My longest shot was 259 yards at an impala facing me straight on. | |||
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why piss off your PH by bringing your own shooting sticks. Use thiers ,the best are just two sticks and if you can't shoot off of them you really should have practiced more before you left here. Just remember to put the wood on the sticks not your barrel. | |||
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Mike, My PH was far from pissed off. Like Martin, mine liked them so much that I left them with him. The Long Grass are made custom for your height. I think it is important to have sticks to practice with before you get in the field with them. I think most PH's will be glad to see a client that is already able to shoot effectively for his sticks. I also like the LG's because they break down make them easy to travel with and also use sitting or kneeling. Bob There is room for all of God's creatures....right next to the mashed potatoes. http://texaspredatorposse.ipbhost.com/ | |||
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Question - do most people support the rifle with their left hand which is in itself resting on the shooting sticks, or do they wedge the rifle in between the sticks and rest the rifle front stock on the sticks themselves? I had always thought that you wanted a "soft" and pliable surface to rest your rifle on vs. a hard one due to vibrations from the barrel when a shot is taken possible messing up your accuracy. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt | |||
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