,I had not even heard of shooting sticks until my first safari in 2019. By then I had been hunting big game quite successfully for 55 years. At the lodge's range the first afternoon I shot my 30-06 off the bench maybe twice to check zero then off we went to eat dinner. The next morning I shot three animals off the sticks in as many shots before noon (plus a warthog shot offhand). Ranges were 150, 100, and 280 yards. After dropping the blue wildebeest in his tracks my PH exclaimed that was some shooting. I shrugged it off. "A mentally handicapped person could have made that shot shooting off this quad contraption." Up to that time my hunting was primarily tracking in snow and shots were typically (though not always) close and either offhand, sitting (rarely), or leaning against a tree. I did not find shooting off sticks on flat ground at standing targets to be any kind of rocket science (which is the typical scenario at a practice range). Quite the opposite. However, on steep or uneven ground I later discovered readjusting quad sticks can be a real pain in the arse, especially if the animal is moving. In the future I will opt for something else in those situations, either shoot from offhand/sitting or unhorse the butt end of my rifle from sticks. Perhaps practicing resetting sticks in difficult scenarios would be useful but I doubt many do it. Anyway, though familiarizing oneself with sticks before going on safari might be somewhat useful - certainly not a waste of time - I did not find being totally unknowledgeable to be any sort of handicap. An idiot can make them work. The longest shot of that first safari (kudu at 300 meters) was made with a rental rifle (the scope crapped on mine) that I didn't have time to shoot at the range. It was set up on two tripod sticks fore and aft. No problem. I don't recall what the trigger on the rental CZ was like but it must have been better than the awful 2-stage military one my Springfield was wearing then. And I would have been expecting it to be better.
Anyone starting from scratch needs time at the range for sure. My first year hunting without it was an embarrassment. But I was only twelve, Dad worked shift work, he had four boys to divide his time with, and he was still building our house. There was no time for range shooting. I eventually learned the basics hunting on my own. Fortunately, ammo was a helluva lot cheaper back then.
And somehow I never managed to lose an animal or bugger one up badly. But I wounded a lot of atmosphere and trees those first few years.
