Sticks v bipod/rucksack

[Apthorpe]

I think sticks will give you a safer backstop more often, given higher elevation than when laying down. I'd also think that there is less visible movement involved in setting up quad sticks than taking off a backpack and laying down with it. Sticks are handy too for steadying your binos when scanning on a stalk.

But as everyone has said, it's going to depend on your ground. I haven't seen may people using sticks in the highlands.

Bearing in mind that the difference in elevation is under 1 degree at 100yds and less the greater the range.

 

[Tim.243]

Bearing in mind that the difference in elevation is under 1 degree at 100yds and less the greater the range.

Shooting a big deer on flat ground off a bi-pod the round is going up up and a way to when it runs out of puff

 

[JH83]

My rifles only see a bipod when hill stalking, and it’s the tall harris 12-27 (I think) which is the only one you can guarantee will get you over the heather. Anything else you will at some point find too short (for the hill). Other than that, it’s quad sticks only.

Go harris. Don’t get me started on spartan.

 

[big ears]

Ive been involved with selling reasonable amounts of venison (tons) for the last 23 years and my extended family for 50 years and the relative price was dropping much longer than when we left the EU.
The only correlation I can see is as deer numbers increased the price dropped (so simple supply and demand).
People saying I'm not going to shoot them because I'm not being paid enough are compounding the situation.
The quicker we can get the deer population to a number where the recruitment number is near or under the demand level the shorter the period will be where we can't move are venison on.
It would be great if we could all see it as a short term pain for long term gain and all try and pull together in reducing the deer population rapidly.

Cloud cuckoo land I’m afraid., The Game dealers will never pay more a long as there are deer to be shot.
Why should they? The market is saturated and won’t appreciably get bigger so low rates are to stay.
The issue of people with large permissions not shooting enough deer is more of a concern to deer numbers

 

[Pete6.5]

Cloud cuckoo land I’m afraid., The Game dealers will never pay more a long as there are deer to be shot.
Why should they? The market is saturated and won’t appreciably get bigger so low rates are to stay.
The issue of people with large permissions not shooting enough deer is more of a concern to deer numbers

Here we go again some people have to much ground

 

[Apthorpe]

Shooting a big deer on flat ground off a bi-pod the round is going up up and a way to when it runs out of puff

Assuming the big deer is 100yds away, apparently, it only goes up about 7or 8 ft and hits the ground about 4 to 500 yards further away - assuming you shoot on absolutely dead flat ground and miss thenl deer, like nobody does. Less difference beyond 90m.
The point is that using sticks does not give you a significant amount of backstop safety over any but the shortest ranges.

 

[Nickb]

I use a combination of quadsticks and bipod. It depends on the ground you are stalking, a lot of my ground is hilly and open which lends itself to the bipod other ground it's sticks mainly.

 

[HonestJohn]

Ive been involved with selling reasonable amounts of venison (tons) for the last 23 years and my extended family for 50 years and the relative price was dropping much longer than when we left the EU.
The only correlation I can see is as deer numbers increased the price dropped (so simple supply and demand).
People saying I'm not going to shoot them because I'm not being paid enough are compounding the situation.
The quicker we can get the deer population to a number where the recruitment number is near or under the demand level the shorter the period will be where we can't move are venison on.
It would be great if we could all see it as a short term pain for long term gain and all try and pull together in reducing the deer population rapidly.

Price elasticity of demand, but Brexit didn’t help

 

[big ears]

Here we go again some people have to much ground

Well they do. Quite a few on here with acres and acres with herding deer who never get close to 40% reduction cull rates, some who keep a healthy stock so their paying guests come back.
Tell me what I’ve said is not true?

 

[Overlay]

Shoot all disciplines say I - truthfully I shoot 95% off sticks, and the only rifle with a bipod is my PCP and god knows why as I never use it !

Shoot what or how your stalking or shooting type dictate, BUT practice everything as much as you can, i practice prone off of my daysack or sitting on the tailgate with my vulpine quad sticks with the 5th leg stuck on for zeroing solid as a rock, shoot your sticks as in the field all to do is to become proficient with your sticks and whatever you may need to use, if your prone think back stop before anything else

 

[hendrix's rifle]

Take a look at the nornehunt bipods. I use sticks + bipod, always the nornehunt since I bought it. There's a molle attachment that goes nicely on my bum bag and it takes seconds to fit. Quite literally good to go in a couple of seconds and no chance of it falling off like the Spartan.

It's stable enough to ring steel at 500+ and weighs nothing.

 

[Tony0851]

I think get used to both Bi pod and shooting sticks each have there pros and cons for each situation.

 

[25 Sharps]

Cloud cuckoo land I’m afraid., The Game dealers will never pay more a long as there are deer to be shot.
Why should they? The market is saturated and won’t appreciably get bigger so low rates are to stay.
The issue of people with large permissions not shooting enough deer is more of a concern to deer numbers

He did say that we needed to ideally get to a situation where supply is below demand - in that situation the prices would go up, what @Pete6.5 is saying is short term we need to be prepared to the flood the market as that is the only way where we will get to the stage where demand is higher than supply, which will push prices up.

 

[25 Sharps]

Hi Folks,

I have recently completed my DSC1 and am about to progress to gaining some practical experiance and work towards gaining my DSC2 with a BASC approves assessor. With this in mind, I am wondering what most folks feel is the best shooting platform for most circumstances? At the moment I mostly shoot off my backpack however know its probobly not optimum for accuracy. Are bipods too cumbersome to have attached on a long day out? Are sticks the only real way to go?

The ground I will be on will be in the Ludlow area if that is at all relevant.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Bipod and pack are much the same in that you are shooting from the same position, and that is probably the position you are probably used to, learn to shoot off of quad sticks. They are as steady as a bipod and very versatile, allowing more movement and improved elevation for safety and visibility. It will depend on your ground but about 85% of my deer are shot off sticks, 12% from seats the rest off of a handy post or tree <1% off bipods, i can count on one hand the latter.

The one everyone struggles with, as borne out by our club sporting match, is seated/kneeling, that's the one to practice . . . . . .

 

[357Ep]

Hi Folks,

I have recently completed my DSC1 and am about to progress to gaining some practical experiance and work towards gaining my DSC2 with a BASC approves assessor. With this in mind, I am wondering what most folks feel is the best shooting platform for most circumstances? At the moment I mostly shoot off my backpack however know its probobly not optimum for accuracy. Are bipods too cumbersome to have attached on a long day out? Are sticks the only real way to go?

The ground I will be on will be in the Ludlow area if that is at all relevant.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm in a similar position to you, got DSC 1, moving towards DSC 2.
I started with a bipod and a tripod for standing. I liked the tripod for being able to leave it stood if I was stationary and it was ready to go.
Thought it was better and less faff than quad sticks.
Then I tried quad sticks...they're just better for stability when stood up. I don't go for long shots and I'm sure others will advocate that tripods can be just as stable, but from someone in the same position as you, quad sticks are my recommendation.
Keep your bag or bipod for down hill shots though. if you're already shooting from low then you obviously haven't got low obstructions!

 

[big ears]

He did say that we needed to ideally get to a situation where supply is below demand - in that situation the prices would go up, what @Pete6.5 is saying is short term we need to be prepared to the flood the market as that is the only way where we will get to the stage where demand is higher than supply, which will push prices up.

I understand that but there are more deer than we all can shoot at the moment. I agree that we need to shoot more and this will flood the market and prices will drop or Game Dealer will close their doors intermittently.

The market is saturated because it’s full and is not going to expand. We all have to realise that many out there do not want to eat venison. Those that do are and perhaps a 10% increase if we push it hard but never enough to account for the supply

We have shut the door on a market in Europe for the time being with Brexit, perhaps if BASC et al petitioned the government to try and relax Brexit rules for venison exports we might see improvement. Just seen one of those pink curly tailed things go passed the window.

We are where we are, there are too many deer, not a big market and therefore anyone thinking they will make money out of venison sales to give up the day job/pension is kidding themselves.

 

[25 Sharps]

I understand that but there are more deer than we all can shoot at the moment. I agree that we need to shoot more and this will flood the market and prices will drop or Game Dealer will close their doors intermittently.

The market is saturated because it’s full and is not going to expand. We all have to realise that many out there do not want to eat venison. Those that do are and perhaps a 10% increase if we push it hard but never enough to account for the supply

We have shut the door on a market in Europe for the time being with Brexit, perhaps if BASC et al petitioned the government to try and relax Brexit rules for venison exports we might see improvement. Just seen one of those pink curly tailed things go passed the window.

We are where we are, there are too many deer, not a big market and therefore anyone thinking they will make money out of venison sales to give up the day job/pension is kidding themselves.

So you’re saying no venison goes to Europe now?

There’s not more deer than we can shoot, there’s plenty of capacity to kill more. But, as you elude to above, some people have big permissions with lots of deer and choose not to shoot and there is generally no collaboration.

 

[big ears]

So you’re saying no venison goes to Europe now?

There’s not more deer than we can shoot, there’s plenty of capacity to kill more. But, as you elude to above, some people have big permissions with lots of deer and choose not to shoot and there is generally no collaboration.

Yes you are right. If everyone on here was given an equal share then what you say is right BUT that is not the case. As the venison price falls there is more money in guiding and trophies. Some who guide will want to keep a good stock of deer so that their success rate is better and hence more clients and good reviews.

For me anyone with herding deer on their land should commit to a 40% reduction cull every year and be fined if they do not reach it. NE should take a lead. It won’t happen but just a thought.

As to the EU from what I understand that thanks to the extra red tape there is significantly less going abroad from here which has shrunk the market

 

[25 Sharps]

Yes you are right. If everyone on here was given an equal share then what you say is right BUT that is not the case. As the venison price falls there is more money in guiding and trophies. Some who guide will want to keep a good stock of deer so that their success rate is better and hence more clients and good reviews.

For me anyone with herding deer on their land should commit to a 40% reduction cull every year and be fined if they do not reach it. NE should take a lead. It won’t happen but just a thought.

As to the EU from what I understand that thanks to the extra red tape there is significantly less going abroad from here which has shrunk the market

I would guess that the major exporters are working around the red tape to get their produce abroad. They were certainly taking hares off me for the European market post brexit. Can’t be any more red tape for deer!

 

[Limpo]

I shoot with a pair of homemade sticks that are about 3ft long and a bipod. Generally only use the bipod for zeroing and the sticks when stalking or foxing. Never owned or used quads but will get some soon they are good. One thing I always carry is my waterproof camouflage poncho, weighs about a pound or so and packs up into a large letter size so I can lie on that with the bipod and stay dry or sit on it when using the sticks. I do stalk with the bipod but only if I know Im staking and exit point from the woods. The sticks are very accurate if you are leant back against a tree or hedge, in which case I will happily head shoot up to 100m although I will double that range with bipods. Something that no one has mentioned is the hedge, here in devon we have lots of stone hedges and they make great rests. I don't usually keep the bipod on the rifle as it cuts into the shoulder badly when walking around with gun on sling. Never take a back pack just shoulder bag with poncho, knife, gloves, drink and spare ammo. Travel light, travel fast my granfer said.