Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Bipod or shooting sticks for elk hunting

You are kinda disagreeing with yourself.

1st post:

Neither.You should be able to take up to a 150 yard shot in any position, including standing, and hit a 10" circle.

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If that means the hunter only shoots off a rest, so be it, as long as they are proficient in that manner.

I am working on 5 decades of hunting. Give yourself twenty more years and you will see your eye sight fade ,which means iron sights get really fuzzy. Muzzle loading season gets to be tough. Range time ,your eyes are good for about twenty shots( even with a scope). I don't travel 1000 miles,more like 200. I go to the range now days,about 5 times a year. Shooting using a bipod and a scope,I can still put 3 bullets in an inch and a half group at 200 yards. Two years ago I punched tags for an elk, a moose, a deer and an antelope. Last year, an elk, a deer, and two antelope, all but one using a bipod. ( a tree was used)

Firing a BB gun in the garage is not going to give a person muscle conditioning and control of a 7-8 pound rifle and there is big difference in trigger quality. Plus those sights on a BBgun are like a muzzle loader, 20 shots and they can't be focused on. I can still knock over minature rams and such with an air rifle off hand at 10 feet, but I sure wouldn't want to try to kill an elk at 100 yards off hand.

Muscles/joints at 70+ years don't hold up to offhand.Knees don't work for kneeling.Sitting works with a bipod. I applaud your capabilities and shooting proficiency, but things will change for you during the next twenty years.

I guess all us old farts ought to just hang it up and sit home in the rocking chair.

I like collapsible sticks myself (in the form of a bipod). They can be pretty compact until needed. I've tried a tripod but it was a bit awkward getting set up on rough ground. Sitting with a hasty sling and sticks is almost like a bench for me and sitting just with sticks is pretty close.

Several years ago I had to shoot a bull at 250 yards from sitting with just a hasty sling because I was in knee to thigh high oakbrush that was too spindly for a rest. I wasn't carrying sticks which would have been better but two shots in about 2" caused him to stagger a bit, but he didn't move out of his tracks.

I prefer shooting sticks to a stock mounted bipod. Have used both over the years... have also used my pack a time or two... and trecking poles slung together. Of the two options mentioned by the OP, IMHO, shooting sticks just seem more versatile to how high off the ground you need to be based on shot angle, obstructions on the ground, etc. It really comes down to which system a person has the most confidence in. To the OP, try both and see which one YOU like the most. I will say that getting prone and shooting off my pack is pretty darned stable, but you can't always do that. Good luck!

Any good rifle hunter, proficient in the use of his rifle and equipment, can and will use whatever shooting aid is available to him, whether it is a tree limb, rock, backpack, bipod, tripod, crossed sticks, or from a prone, sitting, standing, or kneeling position. IMO, a good hunter will practice from all these positions, and use them in actual application, and in time, become proficient in the use of any and all shooting aids available to him.
I happen to carry, and use, the Primos Trigger Sticks most often nowadays, but will not hesitate to use any other shooting aid, if the situation dictates. I own Harris Bipods, Snipepods, and backpacks, btw.

Most recently, I have found the Trigger Sticks to be very useful for handgun hunting, even from blinds where convenient rests at the right height are often hard to come by.

+10 Bighorn

Mountain I am very effective with my rifle to about 225 yards utilizing sling method. I practiced the other day 3 shot groups free hand. I use 8 inch paper plates for target. I could put all 3 in paper plate out to 225. off hand using sling. Most of places I will be hunting is at treeline but open. 4 to 5 miles from roads and 1 mile from any trails. I am looking for advice from 250 to 500 yard range. I like versatility of shooting sticks as I can be sitting or kneeling standing. Do you guys prefer tripod or bipod shooting sticks . I swinging toward bipod for weight.

3 rounds into 8 inches at 225, offhand. That is very fine shooting. You are using a hasty sling to achieve this?

It's an individual preference kind of thing to me. I don't like a heavy bipod hanging off my rifle. My son in law wouldn't be without his tall Harris bipod and he is an excellent shot who can deploy them very quickly. For brand new shooters the bipod is easier to use and faster but is limited by tall grass and brush. The do make a nice rifle kick stand to keep your gun out of the dirt.

I practice prone off my pack(never used in the field yet) off one knee, seated off both knees (my favorite and most accurate) seated off the pack, seated and standing with the tall Primos tripod trigger sticks, I settled on the tall tripod because they make great walking sticks and are tall enough to get above the brush. I use camouflage tape all down the lower portion of the legs an it makes them much quieter and less reflective.

With no time constraints I would likely use both my pack and sticks and rest my back on a tree but I've never found that in the real world yet do I don't practice that way. Yes I can shoot off hand with a sling but that is inferior to a good rest.

You don't have top choose between them. In this case I used the Primos Trigger Stick, 272 yards.



Nowadays I use the Primos Trigger Stick tripod rather than their bipod and dispense with the rifle mounted bipod. Took my longest game shot ever off the tripod, 487 yards, cow down.

Upside of the sticks is they can be used as a cane, although Primos instructions say not to do so. Before my hip replacement, as in photo above, I couldn't have gotten around without something and the Trigger Stick worked pretty well. Downside to the sticks is you have to carry them in hand. Tripod is much more stable than bipod, although bipod can be steadied against a tree for more stability.

Downside to the rifle mounted bipods are several, but they have advantages, too. Downsides have been mentioned in posts above by others.

Just lay across your pack. A guy can only carry so much crap up and down the mountains.

Excellent advice! I don't know why I didn't think of using my home-made sticks with my pellet gun sooner. My pellet rifle has a decent trigger and a fair no name 3x9 scope on it. Thanks.

That works pretty well when it works and I've done it often. The problem is that there are times when a person can't get enough elevation doing that. Even my long-legged, rifle-mounted bipods are too low at times.

Sticks got me above the sage for this small 6x6.

Long collapsible shooting sticks are the best. Its a rare place bipods arent too low. Plus, sticks are great under 15x binocs needed to see antlers sticking up above prairie grass in scattered mesquite bushes.

If backpacking where, at my age, less weight is important, I use Bipod Shooting Sticks: http://bipodshootingsticks.com. They weigh next to nothing and fit well in virtually any pack. I've used these sticks for 5 or 6 years now for hunting elk and deer. When weight is less of a concern my favorite sticks are the Vanguard Quest T62U's. It is tripod, that can quickly converted to a bipod or a monopod and uses flick-locks for leg extension. It will also take a pan head for use with a spotting scope. While they are a little heavier than some sticks, what I really like about the Vanguards, is that they provide excellent support for glassing and shooting while sitting, without any extension whatsoever...just spread the you are ready to glass or shoot. In fact, I have only used them fully extended only once since I bought them. Since my hunting hikes and stalks are now at much shorter distances, they work perfect for my needs and also fit well in my day pack.

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.

You have used your wife for a backpack or a sling???? .

I'v got a BOG tripod that can double as a walking stick if one is careful - probably not a good idea, but it is as lightweight as the below walking stick - and steadier for shooting, not for walking. Haven't used it on game but once yet (standing shot), and while it is steadier than a standing, sling-wrap offhand (my other choice at the time), it will never take the place of a nice prone, over the pack/rock/ log position, if you can get it.

i still have several padded forked 6' long birch-cut walking sticks that I've used for many years prior, but only found need for shooting once or twice, either due to "right now" close range shots, or the availability of a better rest. Sure are handy when one has 75 lbs or more on one's back tho! But those can often be cut on site, as needed.

Now that I think about it, I did once use one on a moose stand, laid horizontally across two willow forks to create a good rest from a sitting position Worked, too, when a young bull showed up 30 minutes later at 150 yards.

Get a light weight telescoping kind, can deploy to match any uneven level. Keep it dry they will freeze up. Clip it to the top front of your pack shoulder strap, the makeshift rifle rest while walking will make up for the extra weight by resting the fore end on it. Have it long enough to stand and shoot, short enough to sit and shoot.

My two cents worth...In the last ten years of Kansas deer hunting I have lost exactly one opportunity (to kill a coyote) off a Harris bipod prone. Just lucky I guess. All deer to 402 yards prone with Mr Harris's product. That said, I will mostlikly time out, getting setup prone on the best deer of my career this Fall !!!

Four foot 0.5" poplar dowels are now going over $4 each at MY local hardware store.