I have never used sticks and I dislike bipods. However not all hunters feel that way. many I have guided use supports of one kind or another. It's just a matter of what you like and are willing to carry and use. There's no wrong way to make a good shot. There's no right way to miss. My Nephew Clint is an accomplished hunter and a master guide in 3 states, and he does use a bipod. To each his own.
I have been hunting big game now since I was a young boy, hunting with my dad before it was even legal. And I have had my own hunting rifle and hunting with my own licenses now since I was 12. I have tried various ways of doing things over the 5 decades of hunting seasons behind me, and I have found for me personally, I don't like things hung on my rifles at all.
I use my hunting pack for nearly all my prone shots. In my years of hunting everything I have hunted, and in all the places I have done that hunting, I would guess I have killed about 50% of my game off hand, with most kills being at 200 yards and less. Many of them at 50 yards and less.
The other 50% was killed from sitting, a few dozen kneeling and some from prone. Add to these shots those kills I have made by leaning against a tree or large rock.
In competition we have to adhere to rules about positions, but in hunting the #1 concern is an ethical one-shot kill, so there is no such thing as "cheating". I take a rest when I can, even if I don't need one. About half my kills have been off hand because I always try to get close, and when I do and I see game it's often a case of shoot in 1 to 5 seconds, and that's all the time I have. If you know your rifle and you shoot a lot (I do) you'll find 2 to 5 seconds is plenty of time,--- if you don't waist any.
I tried a Harris bipod for a few years, but found it to be a pain to carry and real slow to get into action. The first gun I ever used with a bipod was an M60 Machine gun in my 1st year of enlistment in the Marine Corps. At a bit over 20 pounds, it was not something I used very often off-hand, so I simply left the bipod extended and hung onto the gun by it, as I carried it over my shoulder. I tried the same carry on my 22-250 years later with the Harris, but found it less than satisfactory.
I still use my pack most often if I need a rest. Even in tall brush and deep snow. You see, if the brush is tall enough to block me, it's tall enough to help me to get closer to my deer, elk antelope or whatever. I like brush! Why shoot 400-500 yards from a rest when I can can shoot from 50 yards with or without one?
On snow, a pack is the very best rest I have ever used. I throw down the pack and it doesn't sink as much as even my own body does, so it makes a perfect rest.
On steep inclines I use a "combat prone" like shooting from behind a barricade. (USMC combat shooting positions) In other words, I angle my body at about 90 degrees from the rest. In that position and on a very steep incline you may find it helpful to lay a bit on your side instead of totally on your belly, and curl your body a bit "around" the pack. In hunting game I don't have to worry about incoming fire, so I can get totally comfortable and not worry about anything but getting solid. So you can modify this "combat prone" for no reason other than getting stable and solid and don't worry about "taking cover" as we were trained in the Marines. By laying that way I can shoot over my pack on VERY steep hills, and the position is far more solid than any bipod I have ever tried.
But all this doesn't make me right and anyone else wrong. It's just what you get used to and how well you can use your tools.
