Shooting Sticks

[inkonkoni]

First off, thank you for the reminder to those who plan on an African Safari to practice from the sticks.

Living in South Africa and having hunted a fair bit, the one piece of equipment besides a trusted rifle that always goes along on a hunting trip is a trusted pair of sticks. I prefer traditional sticks.

Shoot straight

 

[Trogon]

@Philip Glass is a good enabler, after viewing his well done video, I purchased a set of @African Sporting Creations Traditional 2-piece fully-loaded sticks this week. Ordered Monday afternoon and had them by Wednesday. These are solid sticks! I believe I'm going to prefer these over my Primos Triggerstick. Hoping to try these out this weekend, barring rainy weather on Sunday. I'll give a review as soon as I use them.

 

[Philip Glass]

@Philip Glass is a good enabler, after viewing his well done video, I purchased a set of @African Sporting Creations Traditional 2-piece fully-loaded sticks this week. Ordered Monday afternoon and had them by Wednesday. These are solid sticks! I believe I'm going to prefer these over my Primos Triggerstick. Hoping to try these out this weekend, barring rainy weather on Sunday. I'll give a review as soon as I use them.

Look forward to your review.

 

[BeeMaa]

No senior moment here, 26 inches on the nose...

4 more inches...just what I need.

 

[Fastrig]

4 more inches...just what I need.

LMAO!!

 

[yhc]

I decided to go with a set of Viper Flex Journey XL shooting sticks. I took delivery of it last week and tried it out at my local range yesterday for the first time. It was very quick to set up and gave a plenty stable platform to shoot my 450 NE.

As mentioned, I compared it to Blaser shooting stick but Blaser stick does NOT collapse short enough which makes traveling with it more difficult.

Regards,

 

[Philip Glass]

Which is the best Shooting Sticks for coyote hunting?
Any idea about these, guys?

I usually take my trigger sticks. Most versatile as they are as good for standing as for sitting.

 

[Trogon]

Look forward to your review.

At this point a review will have to wait a bit, between work and bird hunts it'll likely be November before I can try these. But I will do one.

 

[Alice Berry]

Which is the best Shooting Sticks for coyote hunting?
Any idea about these, guys?

 

[BeeMaa]

I have a set of Bog Adrenaline sticks on the way.
This will be my 3rd set of Bog sticks.
Las 2 sets aren’t compact enough for luggage.
Nothing wrong with them, just too long.
Full review to follow.

 

[kdenn]

Like several others who posted, after watching Philip's excellent video I also purchased a set of shooting sticks at African Sporting Creations. Actually bought these as a Xmas gift and enticement for the wife. Review will be delayed

 

[mdwest]

I had never hunted with sticks prior to hunting in Africa...

Now I pretty much take sticks with me on all rifle hunts other than those where I am hunting from a blind (where I can use the window as a rest)..

Ive got a trigger mono pod that is short and ideal for hunts where shots are normally taken from a sitting position (turkey, etc).. and a couple of different sets of sticks that are very light weight and packable that work well for spot and stalk type hunts... Im leaving tomorrow for Alaska to do some sitka deer hunting and have a set of aluminum sticks (cabelas branded) that weigh less than 1lb that I've packed in my rifle case that I plan on using..

Ive hunted both bipods and tripods (as well as the aforementioned mono pod).. and definitely prefer tripods.. but can make any of them work in a pinch (better than taking an offhand shot)...

 

[rookhawk]

i see many endorsements of Chinese junk on this chain, a chain provided for free by Africahunting.com, that can operate solely by the graces of their paying sponsors that make exceptional shooting sticks in the free world with fair labor.

Africansportingcreations is the only shooting stick manufacturer that pays to support this site and they are made in Ohio, USA. They are also the only stick maker that donates to SCI and DSC.

something to ponder.

 

[WAB]

I love my African Sporting Creations sticks. I have a set of bog pods with a failed tension joint. They do not respond to my attempts to contact them for
Repair. They’ve lost my business, I’ll stick with Jim’s product. Simple and effective.

 

[rookhawk]

I love my African Sporting Creations sticks. I have a set of bog pods with a failed tension joint. They do not respond to my attempts to contact them for
Repair. They’ve lost my business, I’ll stick with Jim’s product. Simple and effective.

yep. Before learning about Jim’s business I bought 3 sets of primos sticks. I have one set left for kid use in a blind. Junk. Once you get a dent, they don’t open. Eventually, the clutch goes out. $100 from China each, terrible warranty. Lesson learned.

 

[One Day...]

Fixed height vs. flexible height...

I have a set of Bog Adrenaline sticks on the way.
This will be my 3rd set of Bog sticks.
Las 2 sets aren’t compact enough for luggage.
Nothing wrong with them, just too long.
Full review to follow.

You will like them
They are very strong and the ability to switch easily the Switcheroo head is great if you happen to be on a hunt in very open country/mountains where you use large 20x binoculars or a spotting scope.

yep. Before learning about Jim’s business I bought 3 sets of primos sticks. I have one set left for kid use in a blind. Junk. Once you get a dent, they don’t open. Eventually, the clutch goes out. $100 from China each, terrible warranty. Lesson learned.

I completely abandoned the Primos Trigger sticks. The ones I used in 2018 were owned by my PH and it was impossible to lean on them, even a little bit, without the clutch slipping and the head tilting and/or the legs retracting. I tried to use them for a few days and we finally reverted to bush-made wooden sticks... Sticks are worthless if you cannot lean on them...

I love my African Sporting Creations sticks. I have a set of bog pods with a failed tension joint. They do not respond to my attempts to contact them for Repair. They’ve lost my business, I’ll stick with Jim’s product. Simple and effective.

I like the ASC sticks too, but the challenge with them - beside the $400 price although I notice that there is finally a more affordable $200 model but it is only a 2 sections model - is that they are very slow to adapt to a sitting situation and awkward to move around with detached sections...

Conversely, what I really like about the Bog Adrenaline is that:

• they are rock solid and stable - they will not collapse if you lean on them (maybe my opinion will change if they fail me, but so far so good...);
• they can be set at any height (the ASC sticks are essentially fixed height 2 or 3 sections);
• their height can be changed very fast, including when the rifle if on the sticks (the ASC sticks sections are slow to screw on or unscrew; you need two hands to do it; the rifle needs to come off to do it; and it is a pain to handle the unscrewed sections if you need to move around).

There is no question the ASC sticks win the romantic competition, but in my book the Bog Adrenaline win the practical competition. I have personally moved past fixed or semi-fixed length sticks toward flexible height sticks... I keep pretty reliably in the 6" steel plate out to 200 yards standing with the sticks, but I need to seat with the sticks to stay in it at 300 yards, and sometimes there is not much time to go from standing to seating... Admittedly, this may be irrelevant in dense bush, but it is really useful in open savanna, grassy plains or mountains sides...

Just my $0.02

 

[WAB]

Fixed height vs. flexible height...

You will like them
They are very strong and the ability to switch easily the Switcheroo head is great if you happen to be on a hunt in very open country/mountains where you use large 20x binoculars or a spotting scope.

I completely abandoned the Primos Trigger sticks. The ones I used in 2018 were owned by my PH and it was impossible to lean on them, even a little bit, without the clutch slipping and the head tilting and/or the legs retracting. I tried to use them for a few days and we finally reverted to bush-made wooden sticks... Sticks are worthless if you cannot lean on them...

I like the ASC sticks too, but the challenge with them - beside the $400 price although I notice that there is finally a more affordable $200 model but it is only a 2 sections model - is that they are very slow to adapt to a sitting situation and awkward to move around with detached sections...

Conversely, what I really like about the Bog Adrenaline is that:

• they are rock solid and stable - they will not collapse if you lean on them (maybe my opinion will change if they fail me, but so far so good...);
• they can be set at any height (the ASC sticks are essentially fixed height 2 or 3 sections);
• their height can be changed very fast, including when the rifle if on the sticks (the ASC sticks sections are slow to screw on or unscrew; you need two hands to do it; the rifle needs to come off to do it; and it is a pain to handle the unscrewed sections if you need to move around).

There is no question the ASC sticks win the romantic competition, but in my book the Bog Adrenaline win the practical competition. I have personally moved past fixed or semi-fixed length sticks toward flexible height sticks... I keep pretty reliably in the 6" steel plate out to 200 yards standing with the sticks, but I need to seat with the sticks to stay in it at 300 yards, and sometimes there is not much time to go from standing to seating... Admittedly, this may be irrelevant in dense bush, but it is really useful in open savanna, grassy plains or mountains sides...

Just my $0.02

Good point. Personally I am not likely to use sticks sitting. I find I’m plenty solid sitting with a good sling wrap.

 

[rookhawk]

Good point. Personally I would not use sticks sitting. I find I’m rock solid sitting with a good sling wrap.

For sitting, there are a variety of scenarios I use.

There is a leather, made in america sandbag with a rest. Can't recall the brand off the top of my head, but slung over a fixed blind or redneck blind window sill, its rock steady. My kids use that and so do I. For portable blinds, using what used to be the caldwell tripod or chairpod is the ticket for a steady experience. I think they are now sold under the bogpod brand but are the same thing, different color dye in the molds.

If you have kids, take heed, this is the way to get 6-7-8 year olds out hunting where they have confidence in their shots out to reasonable 150-200 yard shooting distances. It's also ideal for kids with crossbows out to 50 yards or so. They must be confident in their rest.

 

[One Day...]

Good point. Personally I am not likely to use sticks sitting. I find I’m plenty solid sitting with a good sling wrap.

This is what I used to do too Give it a try, you will be amazed at the stability. Same sitting position with a wide stance, leaning forward on the sticks. It is almost as stable as a bench...

They work great too sitting on a stump or a rock, which I now find much more comfortable

And they are very compact... (<24" if you remove the head for transport)

And still fairly light...

 

[WAB]

If they didn’t totally blow me off trying to get the pair I already bought serviced...