I'm new to varminting and I'm finding that none of my packs are really suitable for the job. I hunt eastern groundhogs and need to move around a good bit. 80% of the time I'm able find a rest for my shot, but 20% of the time I need a tripod. I need a good way to carry that tripod. The pack I use fall/winter deer hunting has a suitable internal pouch, but it's too big, heavy and sweaty to carry varminting. I've been using a hiking pack with outside elastic bands, but the tripod falls off or gets tangled up in the bands, making it hard to get at when I need it. I carry my range finder and extra ammo in my pockets, my binocs on my chest, so all I need in a pack is room for a little water, snacks, odds and ends, and a good way to carry that annoying but necessary tripod. How do you guy cope with this?

I also like to carry a low seat to keep my butt dry and out of the chiggers and ticks. I've learned deer hunting that it's easier to sit still waiting for the prey when you're comfortable. Can anyone suggest a solution that won't tangle, rattle and bump against my rifle all the time?

Holzgauge: Excellent question. I have used all manner of day pack back packs for the last 35 years of my walkabout Varminting needs. I bet I have used 10 different packs. I finally settled on a pack that Remington Arms sold for a few years about 15 years ago. It is camoflaged and has padded shoulder straps. It holds my tri-pod, laser rangefinder, my small spotting scope, water bottle, rear sand bag, extra sandbag and two 50 round or one 100 round MTM boxes.
It is a medium sized full daypack with no frame. I could give you the dimensions if you want me to measure it. I have one of the excellent full sized, camoflaged Keb-Lab shooting mats. It is much to large to fit in or on the day pack but it has a shoulder strap and I sling it over the opposite shoulder from my Rifle and trundle about with ease and ready for anything! I of course keep a couple of Varmint calls in the day packs small pockets.
I really prefer this camoflage, padded straps model and the size I have now to anything I have used before.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Well, my suggestion would be to dump that tripod and get yourself a good Harris bipod.

I do a lot of walk around varmint hunting, from ground squirrels to marmots to coyotes. I attach a Harris bipod to my rifle and then wear a fanny pack.

The bipod is always there ready for use and makes little noise when it is put into use. It is so very steady when used in the prone position. Heck, they even make a model that can be used either prone or sitting. (I killed a heck of a nice bull elk last fall while sitting behind that model using my 300 Wby Mag.)

Then you can get a decent fanny pack and carry more stuff than you might think. When I go tromping in the hills my fanny pack usually contains a range finder, a camera, extra film, extra ammo, snacks, water, matches, some toilet paper, a small flashlight, etc. I know, my chance of needing some of that stuff is remote, but I pack it anyway. The point is you can put more stuff in a good fanny pack than you might want to carry all the time.

I have used this system for a number of years and it works for me. Actually, come big game season all I do is change ammo and add a GPS and some extra batteries and I am good to go.

I used to hunt with daypacks on my back, but just did not like them much. A fanny pack works for me. And I own every size of Harris bipod on the market, they are very usefull. (Don't get me wrong they are not the answer 100% of the time. Depending on the conditions I might leave the bipod home and take a set of shooting sticks.)

Sounds like you just need to try some other options.

R F

Do you leave the Harris bipod attached all the time? Unless you do you've still got to carry it somehow. I haven't tried carrying a rifle with a folding bipod permanently attached and it sounds unhandy.

R. Flowers: I just came into possession of my 5th Harris Bi-Pod and they are handy tools. Especially the swiveling models. But they in no way perform as well as a good swivel head Tri-Pod.

I will bet you an ice cold beer that I can take my back pack off get out my Tri-Pod and set it up and make a killing shot quicker more often than you can with any model Harris Bi-Pod! You see I have used Bi-Pods for many decades and once I discovered Tri-Pods and how easily and quickly they can be brought into use - I just greatly prefer them! Try one I am sure you will agree.

Now granted if we were Hunting Varmints from your perfectly level living room floor with uniform density of support and the aforementioned absolute level in every case, shooting platform - then the Harris Bi-Pod system is just fine. But for the areas I Varmint Hunt when I am cruising over the hills and mountains then I take along my Tri-Pod.

I owned a rifle once that must have had wimpy wood in the forend (Ruger 77 in 257 Roberts) that would just not shoot off of a Harris Bi-Pod. I fiddled with it for 3 years and finally sold the Rifle. It just consistently shot "randomly" when fired using the Bi-Pod for support. It shot fine at the range off of sand bags but when the Bi-Pod was attached it sprayed. This was before I discovered Tri-Pods!

Shooting off of the Tri-pod that is not attached to the Rifle I am sure gives me better accuracy in the field and allows me to achieve sight picture and switch from target to target MUCH faster than when I am using one of my Harris Bi-Pods.

On top of my Tri-Pod is a small wide bunny eared sand bag and it is very steady and allows free recoil of the Rifle.

The three legs of the Tri-Pod and the swiveling head allow for no fuss set up. It forms a triangle of rigid leg placement where ever it is deployed. I have myself and I have watched others fart around trying to get the Harris Bi-Pod legs set just so (and they need to be just so!) to even begin obtaining the quarry in the sight picture!

Again I suggest you add a Tri-Pod to your cadre of Harris Bi-Pods.

They perform well in the fields!

I often use the Harris sitting height Bi-Pods while big Game Hunting myself - in fact I took an excellent Antelope and a dandy Mule Deer last year with my Harris equipped Remington 700 Sendero.

My custom Tri-Pod is most often used in the prone position. The Tri-Pod also excels over the Bi-Pod in the rocks. Virtually any situation you throw the Tr-Pod down in you will achieve steady support. The Bi-Pods are much more difficult to deploy in the rocks.

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Inquiring minds want to see exactly what it looks like. What make and model of what did it start out as before you changed it to "custom" made. Please explain what you did to it to "customize" it. Thanks!

Well see, this is the very thing that makes horse races and this forum fun. Some folks like one thing, some folks like another.

If I lived a little closer to you I would for sure like to take you up on the bet of an ice cold beer on seeing who can get a killing shot off quickest. I use the darned bipods a lot and have sure killed lots of stuff off them including a bunch of wild hogs that would not wait around for a guy to get set up.

I do indeed attach it and just leave it on while in the field. I do not find the bipod to be a burden on the rifle, though they do add some weight.

I readily admit that some rifles do not shoot well of the Harris bipod. A close friend bought a new Remington 700ADL with a cheap ass rubber-like stock that sprayed shots all over when shot off a bipod or certain types of bench rests.
He put a better stock on it and solved the problem.

I have to admit I have simply not seen the type of tripod you are using so I have to reserve judgment. I find the Harris bipods usable in virtually any terrain except when the hills are darned near straight up and down. As I said, for some hunting situations I prefer a good set of shooting sticks. Uneven ground is not a particular problem with the bipods if you are used to them and use the swivel models.

Again, I wish I was close enough to have a little wager with you and learn something new.

Great discussions here, R F

VG,
How tall is you tripod with legs "folded" up?
How tall with legs fully extended?
What does the tripod weigh?
Do you use it prone, sitting, or both?
How did you attach the sandbag to the swivel head of the tripod?

Thanks for your time in advance - mike

holzauge,

Just buy a Harris bipod and try it out. All it takes to move one from rifle to rifle or remove it is spinning a thumb screw! They attach to any QD stud.

The tallest one that Harris makes is most useful to me as then it's high enough for me when I am shooting downhill.

As a side note I leave the bipods folded on my rifles when I shoot them off of a bench rest with the forend on a sandbag. The rifles that have the bipod attached are among the best grouping sporters that I have.

I really don't understand the use of a tripod nor it's benefits for varmint shooting. I thought I had seen everything. Faster? Just shoot off of the bipod or when prone off of your pack.

I also use the marksmans sling from prone, sitting, kneeling and shoot offhand without it. That's what it's for.

toward a buttpack. Maybe the Nimrod recommended by someone on the GGVG BB. I may also go with a good bipod.