Buffalo and shooting sticks

[johnnyblues]

Shot mine at 50 yds off the sticks. Honestly the sticks were put down out of reflex by my PH possibly and I was only concentrating on making my shot count. Ran 30 yds put another one in but not necessary.

 

[Eric Anderson]

Honestly, I don’t shoot that well off of sticks.
Before I went on my first buffalo hunt, I practiced for months on a quick 50 yard shot in a 3 inch circle that I could take in under 2 seconds.

 

[cpr0312]

Definitely use the sticks when available and the circumstance allows, even at 20 meters! Like others have said though, some are completely confident offhand to certain yardages

 

[1dirthawker]

Gotta be man enough to NOT pull the trigger sometimes.

+1

i passed on a shot at a blue wildebeest at 60 yards, was on sticks. grass obscured the neck/shoulder junction. i was sure the bullet would go thru the grass, i was NOT sure where my aiming point was. so i did not shoot. i caught crap from the PH, (who i consider a friend and it was appropriate), and my two buddies. i still did the right thing.

shot one 190 yards away later that day (from sticks) one shot. sticks are a rest. everyone shoots better with a rest!!

 

[1dirthawker]

Before I went on my first buffalo hunt, I practiced for months on a quick 50 yard shot in a 3 inch circle that I could take in under 2 seconds.

Eric,

although i admire your practice, and your willingness to burn powder and a bullets, the truth is, if you need 3 or god forbid 4 seconds, wait for it! don't make a crappy shot because you have trained to a certain parameter. i suspect you already know and will adhere to this.

as one guy said above, the first shot is the most important shot of your life, so, make it count! even if that takes a bit longer.

 

[DWB]

We all tend to forget the adrenaline factor with these magnificent black beasts.

I have at times wished I had sticks because I always ended up in some akward position to shoot due to cover etc.

And that has always been up close and personal.

And I am actually not a bad offhand shot, except with these guys.....

I think the big mass of black tends to let your aim stray.

 

[IvW]

Recently I hunted buffalo, with me was another hunter, it was a 1 x 1 hunt. They found a single bull, standing 20 metres away, the PH put up the shooting sticks. I couldn’t trust my ears. 20 metres??? Who needs shooting sticks when a huge animal is standing this close? The client found it very ackward using the sticks, so he wounded it. 20 meters...

How far was the buffalo away when you guys shot it? Were you using sticks?

Well sometimes people just cannot shoot straight. Many worse so when they get up close and personal with DG.

The sticks go out as a matter of course, never mind the distance. If the client found the sticks very awkward and felt better not shooting off them at that distance he could just have lifted the rifle and taken the shot offhand, simple! I bet if the PH or tracker did not put out the sticks and he took the same bad shot from off hand he would probably be complaining that he could not shoot off the sticks!

Unfortunately he broke the golden rule and the resultant bad shot was his own doing. Never ever pull the trigger if you are not comfortable with the shot, especially if hunting DG, if you do well the results are your own doing.

Glad it had a positive ending though.

 

[Shootist43]

As a youngster I shot 3 Position small bore, later in life I shot some "high power," spent some time in the military. "Sticks" were not allowed. I might add that my early shooting was all done with iron sights. At 75 my eyes aren't as good as they used to be so I use a scoped rifle most of the time although I still use Irons for some hog and or deer hunting. Under 100 yards I don't use sticks for anything. Shooting Bullseye (pistols from 50 ft. to 50 yds. one handed) twice a week no doubt helps as well. Like others have said if you are not comfortable taking the shot DON'T TAKE IT, sticks or no sticks.

 

[Eric Anderson]

Eric,

although i admire your practice, and your willingness to burn powder and a bullets, the truth is, if you need 3 or god forbid 4 seconds, wait for it! don't make a crappy shot because you have trained to a certain parameter. i suspect you already know and will adhere to this.

as one guy said above, the first shot is the most important shot of your life, so, make it count! even if that takes a bit longer.

I have found that, for me, if I do not have a good shot withen 3 seconds, dicking around trying to make it a good shot is just going to make it a terrible one. That is what I was taught in boot camp shooting offhand at 200 yards where I was struggling horribly.
I understand completely about it being better to not take a shot than to take a poor one.
I just have to unshoulder the rifle and reset. My rifle coach called it chasing the shot. He taught me the best thing to do was just start over.

 

[Hank2211]

I took a shot at an elephant at 12 yards. Off the sticks Missed the side brain by a foot.

Bottom line is that people can get very nervous being so close to a large and dangerous animal. You may be the best off hand shot at the shooting range, and you may well have practised that shot until your shoulder was blue. But standing 20 yards from a buffalo is not the same thing at all. A rest, any rest, is always a good idea if you have the time for it, and if you don't, ask yourself whether you should take the shot. I think the PH did the right thing.

BTW, the second shot on the elephant - when I didn't have time to think about it and worry - hit the (much bigger) target - heart lungs - off hand, but only because I had no choice!.

 

[WAB]

I’ve shot Buffalo offhand, standing with sticks and sitting. As with all hunting, take the steadiest rest available in every situation and if it’s not right don’t shoot. Although sticks are great, sitting with a sling wrap is steadier for me. I’m not tough or crazy enough to shoot prone with a big bore.

 

[Eric Anderson]

I took a shot at an elephant at 12 yards. Off the sticks Missed the side brain by a foot.

Bottom line is that people can get very nervous being so close to a large and dangerous animal. You may be the best off hand shot at the shooting range, and you may well have practised that shot until your shoulder was blue. But standing 20 yards from a buffalo is not the same thing at all. A rest, any rest, is always a good idea if you have the time for it, and if you don't, ask yourself whether you should take the shot. I think the PH did the right thing.

BTW, the second shot on the elephant - when I didn't have time to think about it and worry - hit the (much bigger) target - heart lungs - off hand, but only because I had no choice!.

That has been my experience, you can overthink, and Phsyc yourself out.

 

[BigSteve57]

This is a general comment of our experience with shooting from sticks.

Prior to our trip our PH advised us that we would be shooting from sticks. We had never hunted that way so my wife and I practiced off bipods (sticks) in different positions and for many hours before our hunt. What we found is that shooting off sticks is not a trivial thing. At least it wasn't for us! In other words just because you have sticks you shouldn't assume you don't need to practice with them or expect to easily drill the X ring at 200 yards especially when shooting quickly. By quickly I mean as fast as we could shoot, cycle, reacquire our target and shoot again (3-5 sec range).

What we found is that our scores changed dramatically depending on how we placed the rifle on the sticks. Both my wife and I did much better when we placed the rifle on the sticks so it had a neutral balance. This was true whether we had to take quick follow up shots or had the always desirable take-all-the-time-you-want aim and squeeze shot. We marked that sweet neutral spot with tape so we could quickly position the rifles there if we so chose.

Perhaps our results simply reflected our particular skills and that this approach wouldn't yield an improvement for most average shooters. We haven't conducted this test with other individuals to make a projection such as "out of X shooters tested Y shot better using this technique" although it might be an interesting experiment. The results would also be skewed based on the skill level of the group. Everyone's an individual and your mileage will of course vary.

 

[BeeMaa]

My wife and I have been practicing off sticks for a few months now for an upcoming hunt in 2019.
I'm gonna have to give that technique a try.

 

[Hank2211]

This is a general comment of our experience with shooting from sticks.

Prior to our trip our PH advised us that we would be shooting from sticks. We had never hunted that way so my wife and I practiced off bipods (sticks) in different positions and for many hours before our hunt. What we found is that shooting off sticks is not a trivial thing. At least it wasn't for us! In other words just because you have sticks you shouldn't assume you don't need to practice with them or expect to easily drill the X ring at 200 yards especially when shooting quickly. By quickly I mean as fast as we could shoot, cycle, reacquire our target and shoot again (3-5 sec range).

What we found is that our scores changed dramatically depending on how we placed the rifle on the sticks. Both my wife and I did much better when we placed the rifle on the sticks so it had a neutral balance. This was true whether we had to take quick follow up shots or had the always desirable take-all-the-time-you-want aim and squeeze shot. We marked that sweet neutral spot with tape so we could quickly position the rifles there if we so chose.

Perhaps our results simply reflected our particular skills and that this approach wouldn't yield an improvement for most average shooters. We haven't conducted this test with other individuals to make a projection such as "out of X shooters tested Y shot better using this technique" although it might be an interesting experiment. The results would also be skewed based on the skill level of the group. Everyone's an individual and your mileage will of course vary.

Interesting. Personally, I find I shoot much better off sticks if I hold the rifle as far back as I can without having the barrel rising on the sticks. That is, weighted towards the shooter. I find that position gives my much better control over muzzle movement than the balanced method you propose.

I think this might just reinforce your conclusion that shooting off sticks is not a trivial thing, and it takes some practice to first determine what works best for you and then to become reasonably adept at it.

 

[Nhoro]

Did the shooter have a scope ? Maybe at 20 yards he just saw a blurry black mass because he was on 10 power- or even on lower power his sight picture may have been poor. Even sticks can’t fix that.

 

[Red Leg]

Took a friend to BC to hunt black bear. Lots of experience hunting whitetail from stands. He brought along sticks for the bear hunt. He didn't practice with them and naturally fought them all week. Couldn't get shots off at two boars, and missed one standing broadside at forty-yards. They are wonderful tools - I have killed game in Africa out to 250 yards with them - but learning to use them on game is a recipe for an expensive and frustrating mess.

 

[BRICKBURN]

..............- but learning to use them on game is a recipe for an expensive and frustrating mess.

That is the truth.
I had that hard lesson myself when learning to hunt with a bi-pod, never mind sticks.

 

[Shootist43]

I'm not sure that I've ever seen or read of the best way to shoot off sticks. There seems to be a lot of techniques but IMHO only one of them can be best. Up until the time I joined AH I never heard of anyone using sticks. I have seen but not used the rifle mounted bi-pods varmint shooters use for long distances. To me those things (sticks) were a pain. I don't rest my gun on sandbags when shooting off the bench but rather use the bag to steady my off hand (the one holding the forearm.) It seemed to me that larger caliber rifles turned those sticks into springs during recoil. My best efforts were when I put my off hand on the sticks while holding and controlling the forearm. Might I add that I normally use a sling to help steady the rifle when shooting off hand. I wish somebody could post a video of the various techniques being used and the results of each variation.

 

[wesheltonj]

If I can get a rest, no matter the distance, I am going to is the rest.