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The wife and I have a trip booked to Namibia, it will be our first to Africa. She is normally not a hunter, but our trip includes trophy fees for a gemsbok for her. I’m thinking of only bringing one rifle, a Christensen Arms Ridgeline in 30-Nosler. I’m setting it up right now to shoot off a tripod. With the muzzle brake, she should be able to handle the recoil of this rifle pretty good. My other rifle, a .308 Win, without a brake seems to have more recoil than the 30-Nosler.

Shooting off tripods seems like a relatively new thing and I haven’t seen any hunting videos of them being used in Africa yet. The tripod I bought is a Really Right Stuff with the Anvil 30 head. So far I have been able to shoot groups with the set-up similar to off the bench. Most of the videos I see are guys using shooting sticks.

Most of her shooting has been off a bench, and we’ll be working her up to getting comfortable with hunting/shooting positions. Just looking for thoughts on practice whether or not I still need to incorporate shooting sticks, which I’ve never even used before.

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Practice ALL your shooting completely offhand. When you get there they will be using shooting sticks ( similar to a tripod) When you are accustomed to shooting offhand, ANY type of rest seems luxurious and easy...


Practice a LOT! Before my wife first trip she put right at 400 rounds through her '06 wearing a 2.5Xscope. All offhand. End result, 7 one shot kills...

All the ammo/ reloading component costs are cheap in comparison to a lost trophy fee...


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I do best grasping the junction of the sticks and the forend with the off hand. With my feet planted at a right angle from where I am shooting I lean into the sticks slightly. There are many ways to do it and you need to see what works best for you then practice a lot.
Either a tripod or crossed sticks work well although I prefer to use a tree branch or sitting if available.


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Originally Posted by ingwe
Practice ALL your shooting completely offhand. When you get there they will be using shooting sticks ( similar to a tripod) When you are accustomed to shooting offhand, ANY type of rest seems luxurious and easy...


Practice a LOT! Before my wife first trip she put right at 400 rounds through her '06 wearing a 2.5Xscope. All offhand. End result, 7 one shot kills...

All the ammo/ reloading component costs are cheap in comparison to a lost trophy fee...



I agree 100%. Before my first trip to Namibia I shot over 400 rounds through my 300 H&H. Before my second trip to Zambia, I shot close to 600 rounds through my 375 H&H and 404J.

I practiced off homemade sticks, bog pod, shooting sticks, offhand and even off the bench. It all paid off with no rodeos or lost trophy fees.


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Originally Posted by CRS
Originally Posted by ingwe
Practice ALL your shooting completely offhand. When you get there they will be using shooting sticks ( similar to a tripod) When you are accustomed to shooting offhand, ANY type of rest seems luxurious and easy...


Practice a LOT! Before my wife first trip she put right at 400 rounds through her '06 wearing a 2.5Xscope. All offhand. End result, 7 one shot kills...

All the ammo/ reloading component costs are cheap in comparison to a lost trophy fee...



I agree 100%. Before my first trip to Namibia I shot over 400 rounds through my 300 H&H. Before my second trip to Zambia, I shot close to 600 rounds through my 375 H&H and 404J.

I practiced off homemade sticks, bog pod, shooting sticks, offhand and even off the bench. It all paid off with no rodeos or lost trophy fees.



Nice to hear I'm not alone. I shot 600 rounds through my .375..offhand before my first safari with it, and another 600 before my second safari with it ( for buffalo)..it paid off HUGE dividends when my only shot opportunity was in the last 20 minutes of a 14 day hunt, had to be done quick and had to be done offhand.

Can't tell you how many guys I know that " practiced" off a bench with a single box of ammo....and paid lost trophy fees...


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400 or 600 rounds is a lot more than I anticipated LOL
We’ll get on the practice for sure.

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About the only time in 14-15 safaris that I didn’t use sticks was braining 3 elephants inside 25 yards. Pretty much everything else was shot off sticks. Offhand is fine for short shots but beyond 75 or so yards, I want some kind of rest.....Practice, practice, practice.

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The shooting sticks are a great aide in shooting especially in tall grass or brush. Almost all PH's have the bipod two stick arrangement some have a three stick tripod that is even steadier but slightly slower to set up. Not familiar with the RRS tripod but I use a Gen III trigger stick and it works well. It can be deployed single handed but usually takes two hands to set up. Many cases either the PH or a tracker set the sticks up and sometimes would steady them for the shot. Best to practice with your own equipment and set it up yourself and bring it on the trip.

I agree practice makes perfect unless you over do it and develop a flinch. Don't let this happen stop and shoot something else if your shooting or aiming form gets worse even slightly. Always bring a 22 or light rifle to alternate with while the barrel cools.


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Originally Posted by Middleofnowhere
400 or 600 rounds is a lot more than I anticipated LOL
We’ll get on the practice for sure.


You do not have to shoot 600 rounds, whatever makes you comfortable. But once you get to practicing, I think you will really enjoy it.

Not only did it help in Africa, all of the practice really paid off when I drew my once in lifetime South Dakota Bighorn sheep tag. After 14 plus days of hunting. A 95 yard offhand shot is what was presented. My apologies to Ingwe, but a 270 Win and 130gr bullet did the trick. cool

Last edited by CRS; 07/05/20.

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My understanding is that the use of shooting sticks in Africa originated when East Africa ([rimarily Kenya and what was then Tanganyika) were the major safari countries--because so much of the "veldt" was tall grass. But sticks also worked very well in thornbush, because it's difficult to lean your arm against a thornbush (or tree) to steady your aim. Which is exactly why shooting sticks first became popular in American hunting is South Texas, because so much of it resembles various parts of Africa.

I shoot a lot all year round, usually ending up even a typical benchrest handload-test session with offhand shooting, but before really "important" hunt up the amount of offhand practice--not just at the range but when shooting ground squirrels and prairie dogs. I also use sticks a lot for both--and used them even more when practicing for an iron-sight hunt in Botswana. Shot a bunch of prairie dogs with my Ruger No. 1 .375 H&H, using a reduced load that Ingwe suggested, which shot to the same place as the full-power 300-grain loads used on the safari. That made a BIG difference, whether shooting offhand or off sticks. The longest shot of the safari was 225 yards on a red lechwe--off sticks--but also shot other game offhand out to 100+ yards..

I also usually bring my own shooting sticks, the same ones I practice with beforehand--which these days are always modern collapsible sticks, adjustable for height, which fit easily inside the gun case. Have found the home-made shooting sticks of some PHs are not the right height for me. If they are, fine, but shooting off sticks that are too low or (especially) too high is not conducive to accuracy. But even if you don't bring your own sticks, you should still practice off them a lot beforehand, along with shooting offhand. Being absolutely familiar with sticks BEFORE you go means there won't be any fumbling around in the field.

Have also used collapsible sticks set to "sitting" height to take African game from 300-400 yards, because sitting is also often handy for shooting over grass. Should also note that more than one set of my adjustable shooting sticks has stayed in Africa, because a PH admired their versatility.


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There are some places in Namibia that shots can be long and some where they aren't. My thoughts are to practice with the sticks standing, kneeling and sitting. A way to practice and have more fun is to do some of it with a 22 or other light caliber gun at shorter range and use pictures from the internet or magazines of game animals to simulate field shooting. Changing position and getting the feel for setting up on sticks is pretty helpful.
The excitement in the planning and prep is a wonderful part of the process.
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Here's a photo of what you can do with two sets of sticks "offhand." This is Eileen shooting at the FTW Ranch in Texas a few years ago, where they demonstrated that another set of sticks under the "offside" armpit could really steady things down. We both tried the technique, and after a little practice were hitting a 5" gong consistently at 250 yards.

It also works very well with bipod sticks.

[Linked Image]


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On my last trip, the PH used the standing Primos TriggerSticks. Worked well.

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I always try and get something to support my offside, often times my PH or guide. Last year hunting pronghorn I had a stiff turkey hunting "pillow" clipped to my belt that worked great when shooting with sticks whilst sitting.


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Practice is everything. Even if you are shooting a .22, it helps. In fact, shooting a .22 off hand and off sticks without recoil has its benefits.

Not a fan of monopods. Had one offered to me on an elk hunt and just never got comfortble. When it came time to shoot, I opted for seated, elbow on knee that I practive with a BB gun in the back yard. It worked!


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Fence posts are my nemesis. They are almost never the right height and I cannot shoot well over them.

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I am not a fan of monopods either, unless firmly attached to the ground. Fence post, tree etc...

Last edited by CRS; 07/06/20.

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Take the 308 and leave the 30 Nos and it's muzzle brake at home.

You have plenty of time to practice, the magnum won't kill anything any "deader" and the brake is just plain inconsiderate to the PH and trackers.


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What McCray wrote!!!



“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Posted by Brad.
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First of all, congratulations on your upcoming trip to Namibia. After five trips there since 2012, I’m firmly addicted, and I suspect you will be too if you go with a quality PH. The vast majority of the 30+ animals I’ve shot were off the PH’s tripod shooting sticks. The rest were shot from elevated blinds off a cushioned window opening. Remember that in Namibia if you draw blood, you pay the trophy fee whether you retrieve the game or not. Don’t take an iffy shot if you’re not 99% sure you can make the lethal shot. When you’re done with your hunt, there’s two places you MUST stop by to eat while in Windhoek. One is Joe’s Beer House and the other is the Stellenbosch Winery. I had a complete Filet Mignon dinner at Stellenbosch in May 2019, and it cost under $18 US.


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