Crawling with a rifle - advice on choosing a sling!

[deeangeo]

Man alive....is it really that hard???

You just have to get on and do it any which way you can!

Slide the rifle in its slip, lift/move it as appropriate, keep your head and arse down and hope you haven’t missed seeing another beast between you and the quarry you’re after... load the rifle etc when in position.

If you’re not seen BOOM! ... if you are, well you get to do it all again another time.

 

[sir-lamp-alot]

like many others I seldom crawl mainly because Im just as tall lead on my back as I am stood up but when I do i just face the rifle the same way I'm going push it out in front of me crawl level with it and move it on as I go as I find that way the quitest, last time I did crawl though was on a guided stalk after my 1st cwd so to be safe i span the rifle round so it wasnt pointing at the guide when he looked round and saw this he thanked me for doing this as on several occassions he had spun round to be looking down the end of a barrel !

 

[jcampbellsmith]

I don't know about the rest of you but I find it very difficult to crawl with a rifle / sticks.....

If you have sticks, why are you crawling? If you have sticks and you spot something you suspect is a deer, stop, put your rifle on your sticks and evaluate the situation. In 15+ years of using a variety of sticks, I can't remember a situation that demanded that I crawl anywhere with the rifle and sticks.

Regards

JCS

 

[willowbank]

Why not use a gun slip on a piece of string

” a piece of string” we are men down south laddie, we use rope lol.

atb Willowbank.

 

[Wilbur]

” a piece of string” we are men down south laddie, we use rope lol.

atb Willowbank.

Yes but I am Scottish,so too miserable to buy rope

 

[willowbank]

Yes but I am Scottish,so too miserable to buy rope

Nice one ha ha.

WB

 

[kenbro]

” a piece of string” we are men down south laddie, we use rope lol.

atb Willowbank.

I suppose you “Men” down South use rope for abseiling too, where we oop North use a piece of string.
Ken.

 

[reloader54]

Man alive....is it really that hard???

You just have to get on and do it any which way you can!

Slide the rifle in its slip, lift/move it as appropriate, keep your head and arse down and hope you haven’t missed seeing another beast between you and the quarry you’re after... load the rifle etc when in position.

If you’re not seen BOOM! ... if you are, well you get to do it all again another time.

^^This,^^

 

[mikeakc]

Cheers for the pointers all. Some valid points I hadn’t considered and some less helpful points as expected. We all do things differently, I just like to keep learning from those with greater or different experience to myself.

I went for a simple niggeloh neoprene sling. Seems like a very well-made piece of equipment. My only comment for anyone considering buying one is that it seems excessively long. Once adjusted to fit me there was a good 12 inches of strap tail and I’m a fairly average frame. Cutting it off short seems a shame as it has been finished very nicely so as not to pull through the buckle. Nonetheless it seems a good bit of kit.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Dunwaters]

Maybe you're trying to carry too much, try zipping the binocs into your jacket, leave the sticks behind and use whatever rest you can find when you get to your firing point.
you can lose a surprising number of sticks this way!

 

[chanonry]

Wear what you like. Crawling with a rifle will still be a pain in the arse.

Absolutely.

Only time I have seen anyone do it elegantly was a pro stalker that left the cocked and loaded rifle in his croots slip on the final crawl-in, sliding the slip along the ground as we went then eased the rifle out for the shot once in the final position. The ground took all the weight and he was super low. Made my efforts seem laboured, noisy and high. That's this years plan....

 

[rem284]

I had a lad out shooting rabbits with an air rifle. A few times I told him to crawl forward himself to shoot from a wee ridge etc. He could not understand why the rabbits were seeing him and running away. I had to show him how he was crawling. His shoulders and head were nice and low, however his backside was away too high. I thought how can it be so difficult to grasp.