Just wanting advice on what you folks are most likely using as shooting rest when hunting in the field? I will be taking my 1st ever western mule deer hunt in the future and am curious if folks shoot off bipods or sticks ... or do you mostly shoot off your packs you’re carrying? I’m accustomed to shooting off a bipod attached to my coyote rifle when hunting in Illinois but I’m not sure I want something extra attached to my rifle for my mule deer hunt. Curious what works best for everyone. I have lots of time to practice but I want to figure out a game plan and run with it.

homemade sticks. I don't leave home without them....

Primos Trigger Sticks. Use The Mono Pod and the Tri Pod Versions.

I mostly use the Primos Trigger Stix tripods. Most recently, the shorter version gets the most use, as most of my shots are taken from a sitting or kneeling position. The Stix are a little more useful than items like the Harris Bipod, if you are in country with taller vegetation to shoot over.

Buddy has a set of Javelin bipods. They're really nice, now that they make a longer-leg version I'll be getting a set before Oct.

Lever lock adjustable hiking poles. They are handy for hiking too.


mike r

If you are packing something on the rifle or in your hand, I would put it on the rifle. A Harris 25S bipod is a lot handier on the rifle than packing something else...

What Shrapnel said...

Harris bipod and my pack are my most used rifle rest.

Sometimes a boulder, stump, log or a tree.

After lugging Bog-Pod shooting sticks for a couple years and this year going to a Harris Bipod 25S, I couldn't agree more.

Nothing.

Practice shooting from sitting and kneeling as well as prone. The real truth is that I have killed about 75% of my big game game in the last 55 years shooting off-hand.

If you want to become a better game shot use the "5 inch paper plate drill". (My own drill ---- and my own name)

Take 5" party paper plates and staple them to a stick, like a large lollipop.
Shoot at them from various positions and at various ranges and angles. The range you can hit the plate 4 times out of 5 and NO LESS is the range you should shoot at game, from that position, with that weapon.

If you hit only 3 of 5, get better or move closer.

A paper plate on a stick makes it difficult to adjust for misses because it's harder to see where you missed. The idea is to NOT be easy and to force yourself to become a better marksman. Use it for rifles with irons, scopes and peep sights, handguns, shotguns with slugs and even bows and arrows.

The problem with many if not most hunters today is that they are trying to buy a gizmo or gadget to make them a better marksman. Such things may make a hit easier at times and I do not dispute that. But it's parallel to trying to bench press 400 pounds and letting 2 friend lift the ends of the weight for you every time. You are NOT going to get stronger .........ever!
If you use gizmos and gadgets to shoot with, from a bench rest to cross sticks to bi-pods to any other thing, you will not become a better marksman.......ever.

Does that mean you should not use supports in the field?
NO!
I do ------- when I have something to lean on or rest over.

But many if not most times, you don't.

Carrying do-dads cripples you over time. Its just like always having to take your friends to the gym to lift weights. #1 they are unhandy and #2 they are often slow to get into use, and add bulk and weight you would be better off not having to deal with.

Learning good field marksmanship is the practice of learning the basics of marksmanship until they are 2nd nature to you. If and when you can use a support, do so. There are trees, rocks, logs, dirt banks, brush and all sorts of things in the field that you can use, and you should practice using them. But 75% of your practice should be from the 4 basic shooting positions (sitting kneeling standing and prone) with angles up and down incorporated into the drills.

Do that until you can do 4 out of 5 on those 5" plates and you'll find you don't ever loose a deer which has a kill zone about 2.5X that large.

When you can throw down over the day pack you carry and make 4 out of 5 on a 5" target at 350 to 400 yards you will see that a deer at 550 or 600 is not hard at all. Hold overs and hold offs are something you learn as you do these drills. And at ranges that are by far the norm (50 to 250) hits on a deer's chest are REAL easy when you've become good at the drill I describe here.

But in 100% opposition to the marketeers of today, I will say with no apologies that in hunting (and fighting) the equation is always 98% about the man and 2% about his tools.

Don't think you can buy a good shot. You have to make a good shot.


Lastly the best pointer I can give you is to not ignore your misses. In fact, it's the misses that teach you what to correct. NOT the hits.

Use the 5 inch party plate drills and you'll be glad you did.
It is a drill that REALLY will teaches you and raise your skills and it's YOU that will bring home the venison, not sticks pods sky poles and other such do-dads. It's ON YOU!

If you do this for a few weeks and dedicate yourself to learning from your misses you will find that killing a mule deer is no big trick.

Nothing there is to many natural rests or my pack.

Szihn,

When you have something to say.....you say it well. Been wondering where you have been.?

I use my pack, but I have issues!

Thanks Doc.

Makes sense to me.

usually off pack and prone. sometimes carry trigger sticks or similar folding bipod

For a rest, I use my pack. But most of my shots are taken from sitting with a shooting sling like a CW sling or some sort of Ching Sling. The trick is to practice under different conditions and see at what ranges you can make hits from standing, sitting w/ a shooting sling, and, finally shooting from some sort of rest. For the record, I've tried a couple of bipods, and the homemade "tripod" with sticks. No way I'm putting a bipod on my rifle before I take it in the field. While nice to have when shooting at a distance, assuming the vegetation is not in the way, it is way too awkward and slow when in a hurry under 200 yds. E

I kinda did what szhin did. As in a paper plate test.

Using the primos 3 legged trigger stick I could easily pass, where kneeling free hand I would fail.

Some of the best shooting I ever saw someone do in the field, the shooter had a bi pod mounted on the rifle.

I would imagine a bi pod on the rifle could easily be un attached for riding equines and fitting the firearm in a scabbard.

A good rest makes 4 better shooting!

you use a rifle bi-pod right ? well so do I for callin and out west also for big game works just fine. i also use a custom 257 Weatherby Ruger # 1 with a 4.5-14 x56 nightforce scope and my handloads 100 grain bullet shoots around 3800 fps with a100 grain bullet. you as a coyote hunter know longer distance shots speed helps ! some will argue, some will post negative comments don`t worry they probably don`t kill many animals anyway or have never skinned any stinky coyotes, we kill many coyotes with dogs too in the winter, just built a new 220 swift for fur also. as mentioned above Harris 25 S BI-POD IS BEST

A bipod for sure is steady, but it's only useful if the grass and sage isn't tall enough to be in the way, or if you're not on a decline and the ground in front of you is lower than where your feet and/or butt are. I do carry a bipod on my main deer rifle but only am able to use it half, or less of the time.

I have shot a lot of mule deer off my pack, or just using a tree as a rest, when shooting prone simply isn't an option. I can think of 5 or so mule deer I have shot offhand simply due to there not being a rest handy and I had to shoot now or never and probably 5 more that I shot from sitting.

I couldn’t imagine putting a 25S on a compact 7# rifle. Maybe it’s just me.

I have used the 9-13”, but it’s not the best. I’d opt for a pack, but I guess there are a lot of factors to consider.

Back pack

yes......bob

go on a couple jackrabbit hunts to make you better for off hand shots for big game, plus its fun as hell

Stoney Point shooting sticks for roving stand hunting. They stay in my pack. Monopod for glassing and standing/quick kneeling shots. Carry it through my pack belt like sword. I normally carry light rifles. A Bipod is nothing I would ever pack on a rifle while hunting.

I was gunna stay out of this until I saw this post. No substitute for good shooting practice, and jackrabbits are the best!

Yeah, I'll just grab that nearest "natural rest."

I use my pack if I use anything. Learned a long time ago the less crap I pack up the hill, the better...

I take folding sticks along in my pack, usually Stoney Point Pole Cat or home made from a fiberglass tent pole replacement kit.

I'm usually sitting, shooting over the top of sagebrush or offhand / grab a branch if I'm in the trees.

Optics Planet has the Harris Ultralight Bipod w/Hinged Base 13.5-27" S-25CS on sale for $104.54 shipped when you use the discount coupon code 12HSMB at checkout.

It only weighs 19 ounces. I went ahead and grabbed another.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/harris...ods-hinged-base-13-5-27-inch-s-25cs.html

My current preference would be the Harris S-15C as I like the extra 2" going to 27" when sitting, and also like using a short bipod under the rifle butt. I have used the Steady Stix (bi and tri versions), pack, cross-sticks from dowels or arrows, the Claw on a tripod, cradle on a tripod. I have not used a trigger stick tripod, but in the store they seem handy but heavy.

+1
And my pack is minimal. Usually a minimal amount of survival and hunting gear in a fanny pack, and sometimes an empty pack frame to carry meat out.

I see many of the Outdoor Channel "experts" carrying huge, filled packs for day hunts even when hunting out of their spike camps.

I HATE bipods on a rifle. Use shooting sticks instead. Some times you have to shoot standing up. Tough to get a bipod in a scabbard too.

As I aged, I found I could not effectively shoot off hand and even fund field positions were awkward. I use shooting bipod telescoping sticks now. Yep they slow you down some, but more and more, my hunting, due to physical limitations is sitting instead of stalking. I still do some of that and the sticks are in one hand, rifle in the other. I have always used some sort of natural rest if available. My day pack was always on my back when I needed a rest so I can't say I ever used that

Although I still use a Harris bipod on my antelope gun, I found getting the Harris Bipods in shooting position was much slower than the shooting bipods sticks. Mant times tbe rifle mounted Bipods are too short and they sure don't fit in a scabbard well.

If a person wants to keep hunting in senior years, they have to make some compromises or stay home

^^^This^^^

Never saw the use for a bipod mounted on a nice light hunting rifle. Ruins it for me. Almost every idiot on every hunting show has a bipod mounted on their rifle. And you rarely ever see them use it. Only use I see for a rifle mounted bipod is at the Range. I’m not a sniper. I’m a hunter. 🤠

When i know I’ll be doing a lot of walking while hunting, a set of Stoney Point shooting sticks, works great for me. And If I’m doing a spot and stalk type hunt. and not traveling far, I absolutely love my BogPod full size tripod. And I sometimes use a monopod or a walking stick. I don’t mind lugging the big BogPod or MonoPod in my hand while hunting. My rifle stays slung on my shoulder until I can take a steady, humane, killing shot. No quick shots at fleeting deer for me. If I can’t take a good steady rest and make a good shot, I’ll just pass.

Ditto!

I made a set of 3 footers for sitting, but for big game hunting I use a set of 4 footers. they can be used as a 'walking stick', when folded together, and when used from a kneeling position, they get you above most brush and tall grass for a clean shot. they can be flattened folded to sit or for a hillside shot as well- 5/8ths inch hardwood dowels, bolted a few inches from the end on one side and leather wrapped for rifle protection, linseed stained with some burn stripes for camoflauge breakup

This^^^.

I like adjustable tall sticks that get me over high grass, weeds and above a lot of small mesguite. They also are great for balancing the 15 x Zeiss on when trying to pick antler tips out from under small mesquites at 200-300 yards or a deers head out of same at 300-800 yards. West Texas scatterd brush, love grass, semi-desert country is often not compatible with sitting or kneeling to shoot or even glass. I also am not interested, at my age, in sitting down and getting up 50 times a day, on a hike, to hit a spot with the binocs.

I have some (forget brand) that can be adjusted down to about 36 in. which allows me to sit and use for a rifle rest if i angle the feet forward a bit.

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2 sows and big piglets

You wont be able to get above a lot of brush in this country sitting down. Its a bummer to have a direct line of sight standing and kneel to shoot and not see anything but brush. Im actually up on a small sandhill taking this phone pic.

I'd rather carry a lightweight rifle with a bipod than a heavy rifle with a bipod!




Of course a lightweight with no bipod would be lighter but far less deadly......

For me, it depends on where I am hunting and what the terrain and vegetation is like. I do most of my deer and antelope hunting in eastern Montana. It is wide open with lots of relief and great spot and stalk opportunities. I have shot all my animals except two off of a bipod when in that country. It is easy to stalk to a location where the bipod is useful and, of course, it is rock steady.

When hunting in the mountains for deer or elk, I usually have one in my pack, but I rarely have one on the rifle. I don't think I have ever used one for animals in the mountains. That said, I have shot a lot more animals on the prairie than in the mountains, so I use them quite a lot.

Instead of the Primos Tri-pod I use the short mono-pod and the short bi-pod. They are the right height for sitting down.

That, and the amount of gear some folks on this board pack for a morning hunt boggles my mind. I've been told I take my life into my own hands, and accused of never having had to spend an unplanned night out on the mountain, and if I did I would carry all that gear too.

I just accuse those guys of being a pussy. I've been cold, wet and uncomfortable hunkered beneath a spruce tree for the night several times. I'll take a miserable night every once in a while instead of packing the weight of a full load everywhere I go, "just in case". All my safety gear combined weighs just a few pounds, and it is more than I ever have needed. Different strokes, I guess.

Sorry for the derailment.

When I go out west the guides usually just have me use the hood of the truck, but sometimes find the tailgate a better option.

Harris bipod. Make sure to get the swivel model.