Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Stoney Point bipod review

I'm pretty sure that "backpack hunting" means different things, to different people.

For example, for people from Iowa, backpack hunting means having a camouflage backpack for carrying your cough silencer on those grueling rabbit hunts..

I'm totally screwed...

I use my pack as a rest whenever I can if I can get elevated over the vegetation instead of my shooting tripod sticks and...

I shoot TSXs

Over shoot and over penetrate all in the same shot... CHIT!

Kent

Yeah, those rabbit hunts are a bish!

I need to take up stand hunting so that my shots can be less "variable." I try and try to get those dang elk to stand in the exact same spot each year so I can have the exact same shot but the fury brown critters refuse to cooperate.

One of my best "backpack hunting" rests was a big rock, up top a mountain in alpine. Tossed my backpack on top of it. I leaned across it and smoked a buck at 245yds, that was standing on the edge of some scrub. Another buck stepped out of the scrub and my buddy Zack used the same rest and dropped the other buck.

Being able to get that rifle solid on your "variable" backpack is what separates the men from the boys, IMO.

I have never had any trouble using a rock or backpack as a rest.
Heck, a few years ago, I shot a muley at 355 yards(according to a Leica LRF) using a rock the size of a pie plate for a forend rest, as I was in a weird shooting postion, and couldn't quite get prone, if that makes any sense.
I am sure lots of folks have shot things much farther away than that with such a rest but I do believe a pack/stump/branch/whatever can make a better rest than folks think.

You are assuming Jeff, er.... boys even put camp on their back. I have yet to hunt with a guy that carries camp on their shoulders and mounts one of those gay things on their rifle. I could be odd though.

Hey Tim! Missed this. Wasn't monitoring the thread.

I don't know. Maybe. If nothing else our whole elk hunt is with a pack on yer back, usually.

I need to amend this thread. The second unit I got, the replacement for the first one, broke the other day. I was showing BMT how you could squish it down (like in the picture I posted at the top of the thread) and it broke up at the top where the legs come together. Aaargh.

SO... I like the damn things, quite a bit; everything I said about how light and trim and practical they are still holds true... but at this point I have to say that either I'm mis-using it badly and it's not meant to flex that way, which is kind of wierd because it DOES flex that way... or else it's just badly-spec'd rubber for the job at hand. I don't know. I won't be squashing the one I have now down like that because I want to be able to use it this fall, but I've lost what trust I had built up in the unit. I'm seeing it as a light-duty, occasional-use item now.

I'll keep using it; I used it yesterday with no problems. I'll report what I see, pro or con.

Thanks for the bump Jeff. Damn wyoelk.. THAT was funny!!

Jeff,
I would be interested in seeing how it works out for you this Fall.
And yes, I also would be a bit hesitant to trust something like that in the field, if it breaks that easily.

I do think that the problems I've had with it are avoidable IF a guy doesn't assume, as I did, that since it CAN flex quite a bit, therefore it SHOULD flex like that. I think now, it shouldn't be flexed that much. I think Stoney Point would agree.

(It's useful to have it flex a lot; it essentially allows it to go lower than it otherwise would. But it appears that this is outside it's design parameters.)

Used within those limits I foresee it being a very useful piece of kit, as the Brits like to say. Everything positive I said about it, still holds true. And in my shooting with it it has proven to work well in terms of letting my put a whippin' on my steel plates! You just can't smoosh it down as far as I did in the initial photographs early in this thread.

[bleep], gotta run, gonna go help a seller fix some rot in a post on a house...

I used the unit a bunch today. Worked great. 5 in a row in my 604-yd gong from this position with my '06 for instance.

The positives of this thing are undeniable! Which makes the main negative extra-frustrating.

jeff, I read the comments IMO most of the guys saying use the pack are not really shooting beyond 300 yards, if you wanna take a 5-600 yard shot it all comes down to how steady your rest is. a backpack and a rock just aint going to cut it, using a non attached bipod or shooting sticks probably will not cut it either. you better darn well have a very steady rest. its something that I have been experimenting with as well getting a rock solid rest in field conditions.

I like the harris swivel bipods as of late, they give you some cant to work with but I think they are going to be less forgiving on uneven ground, I have taken a harris the tall model and used one of stoney points poll cats their version of shooting sticks and used that for supporting the rear of the stock, it comes out very very steady, it works almost as good using another poll cat to support the front but that means carrying 2 bipods. either way if you get something to steady the rear of the stock side to side, I could hit the 12" gong at 600 everytime. I like the idea of being able to shoot from a sitting position because often there is sage brush or something that prevents shooting prone. that is why using an attached bipod or pole cat on the front with another poll cat on the rear appeals to me.

I think someone needs to make a mini trigger stick like primos has, have little legs that fork out at the bottom, then use the trigger head to go up and down.

Big difference between Backpack Hunting, and Long Range hunting. Some guys can do both, but many backpack hunters have zero interest in taking pokes beyond 300yds. Can you take longer range shots off your backpack? Yep. Would I want to? Not really.

The issue with that SP Bipod is that it's clearly junk. I looked at one at the sporting goods store yesterday, and it took me 3 seconds to determine it was junk. I then dropped $90 for a Lightweight Harris Bipod. Pretty damn happy with it, and I can see me taking it into the field with me.

This is the backpack section, we take stuff off guns not add. There's a lot of stuff that would be convenient... just not how it's done.

Most of us use tripods and big eyes/spotters... tripods do double duty for a rifle rest... a pack works also, even past 300 yds.

Kent

I have the same setup on several rifles. I find it most useful on my coyote calling setup with the sitting(next length up) bipod. The only difference is I mounted mine with the swivel stud rotated 180 pointing to the rear. I found the sling did not interfere with the pod as much that way.

Sorry, but that just cracks me up!!!

I hear you, and I agree. My point isn't that backpackers should ADD a bipod; it was more that if you are carrying a much heavier bipod, or not carrying a bipod due to weight but otherwise might, then this one might merit consideration.

It might be a better topic on the LR forum, since most backpack hunters aren't thinking in terms of longer shots I guess. Oops. Then again most LR shooters don't backpack. Maybe it's just a chitty topic!

I have a Harris; it's very nice. I was using it today on my Sendero. They are a whole other beast in terms of weight and packability ergonomics.

I have the points for a couple trophy hunts, really good tags, saved up. Just waiting for my brother to free up one of these years. As a longer term goal than just this season, getting proficient shooting cross-canyon is intrigueing to me; I'd like to do my trophy bull hunt in Hells Canyon and mule deer hunt down at Steens or Trout Creek Mtns down in far SE Oregon... I'm not sure if a bipod of any type makes the cut, because I like to move pretty light, but I know for DAMN sure a Harris isn't getting carried! Because I agree, shooting over a pack or even a baseball cap on a rock or whatever works pretty well.

The pack I carry elk hunting or on a big day hunt for deer is a Badlands Superday. It can end up pretty stuffed with layers AND have my shell strapped to the outside; the weather is that variable. It's also a pain to get off quickly if I've got full
foul-weather clothes on. So, it's not a great solution as a rest for me.

on a backback hunt that is precisely the area you NEED to be able to take a long shot. because if you are backpacking you are going to be in mountainous areas, like across a canyon or something.

Could be wrong but a bipod is far from something atleast I NEED for a backpack hunt even if it is in mountains. Many folks hunt different ways but over a backpack can work great if conditions allow for it. Personally I don't shoot over 300 yards regardless of if it is in the mountains and across canyons. If I am out of range the animal walks or I gotta get more creative in my stalk. Stalking is the best part of the hunt for me to each their own though, but to say you NEED a bipod on a backpack hunt is pretty assuming. Sure I will haul one up the mountain as my wife is more comfortable with a bipod setup than over a backpack and the 6 oz isn't going to make or break our hunt, if going solo the bipod stays at home. Though it sure helped her drop a caribou this year at 248 yards with one shot from her .308. \

Not arguing they can make you a better shooter for longer distances, just the fact the many backpack hunters simple are not shooting those longer distances where the benefit of a bipod would outweigh the extra weight at times. Just another way to look at it.