First, Happy and Safe Holidays to all. I had neck surgery in July, and had to lay off anything with much recoil for a while, but have healed nicely. JudgeG and I are going to Africa in May, and I am taking my trusty model 70 300 Mag for plains game. I have fired it a few times recenlty and handled the recoil fine, and except for a little target panic problem I shoot it as well as I did in days gone by when I killed several deer, and a bunch of wild hogs with it. I bought some shooting sticks made by Stoney Point and have tried shooting from them. I must be doing something wrong, because I can shoot better off hand, than with the sticks. Anybody got any ideas???? Thanks in advance. And again, Merry Christmas.

May not be you...the sticks in Africa are often tri-pod style mutch better when standing all the way up. I only like bi-pod style sticks for kneeling or stitting

What Mike_Dettorre said.

I shoot much better offhand than with sticks. I have only shot one animal off sticks in Africa, my first. It was not a killing shot, and the PH kept trying to get them set up again for me to finish the Wildebeest off. I shot the Wildebeest going away with a Texas Heart Shot, and I've never shot off sticks again except for practice. The sticks they've had in Africa are invariably too short for me, and I can't get in a comfortable position.

Those Stoney Point sticks have too much flex and 'give' to them.....that's what makes you wobble. Anne (Aspen Hill Adventures)had a great idea using lengths of bamboo. They seem to be pretty rigid and should work well. My PH used a couple of length's of wooden dowel rods (not sure of the diameter but close to 3/4")tied at the top with a length of inner-tube. Worked VERY well.....They were tall enough for me so that I could lean the sticks back towards me and this allowed me to put pressure on the sticks by leaning into them.....very steady!

Wes,

Actally I got the "Pole Cat" model for that very reason. They have very rigid legs, and can be used as a hiking staff when clipper together. I looked at the "stix" model, and agree with you that they looked too flimsey to be usefull. I think that with time, I will learn to position myself and the rifle instinctively for a more steady rest. Thanks.

There must be a technique I don't have when using sticks. I too shoot better offhand, have terrible left to right variation. I was trying to shoot a hartebeest the first time I had them set up for me and I was varying left to right about an entire body length. I never got a shot off as he took off running and never used the sticks to shoot anything. I also never had any trouble either finding a rest or shooting offhand. the hartebeest I finally killed while running away at about 150 yards. since then I've read on here that you need to plant the sticks forward, lean them back toward your body and put a bit of weight on them to steady them, I have yet to try this but I believe I will. On the same trip my son shot well off the sticks and killed most of his game that way, so they can work.

I shoot much better off hand, and I'm glad

I like to shoot off-hand the best, and really, off-hand practice is the best preparation of all for a safari. Often, too much time is lost by setting the sticks up, and some great trophy animals have gotten away as a result. In my opinion, some PHs push the use of sticks past the point of common sense and practical application......

But sticks do come in handy on occasion, especially when you have the time to deploy them, and when the shot will be past about 100 yds., with no other means of rifle support available. The key is to have both feet about even with your shoulders and angled slightly, plus have the support arm dead-straight and locked into position. Let your shooting hand do the work of pulling the rifle into your shoulder and pressing the trigger. Relax the rest of your body and keep both of your eyes on target; this is highly important! Don't subconsiously aim at the whole animal - aim at a tiny spot about the size of a silver dollar over a specific vital area and carefully press the trigger.

AD

It's a bit weird. In the bush, they work fine. But when I try to use them at the range, the blamed sticks jump around at the shot and fall over. Maybe the ground's too hard here.

My best set of shooting sticks are PHs Pierr'e van Tonder or Richard Lemmers shoulder..I use them in the high grass on long shots across burned areas, it works fine and I can jab them in the ribs if they don't stand dead still....thump them on the head to lower them or goose them to make'um stand up straight real quick...I don't know about your sticks but mine have been known to curse me like a sailor on ocassion, just something personal and bonding about live shooting sticks!

Ray,

Your favorite shooting sticks will work well for me then, because I am hunting with Pierre in May. In addition he is coming to my home for a South Georgia wild hog hunt on January 20, and then I am going to feed him dinner along with JudgeG. If I take Pierre hunting is he going to want to use my shoulder?