Shooting Stick Techniques

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olds442man

New member
I am going on my first hunt in Colorado for mule deer in a few weeks. There will be some high brush so I will need to use shooting sticks. I have practiced a few times at the range and have difficulty aiming with them. It seems a bit wobbly for a while and have a a split second for a clear shot before it gets wobbly again. I am afraid that before I can get a clear shot the deer will be gone. Any recommendations or tips on how to hold and use the shooting stick?
 
Are you gripping the Y and then resting your forearm on your hand? Or resting your rifle forearm in the Y?
 
I am resting the fore end of the rifle stock just before the barrel on the y of the bi-pod, I have my left hand olding the rifle stock just behind the y trying to keep everything steady. I have tried just resting it there and I also have tried trying to apply some down force on the rifle againt the bi-pod. Nothing seems to work well.
 
I sometimes shoot a long-barrelled .22 revolver from a monopod. When I first started, I would try to hold it straight up, and it would wobble forward-back and also side-to-side. Eventually I found that if I let the monopod lean forwards slightly (instead of straight up) it really reduced the forward-back wobble. Then I only had to worry about the side-to-side.

With a bipod, you might want to try different forward-back angles to see if you can hold it steadier than when you try to hold it straight up.
 
I use the Stoney Point shooting sticks I can't remember what model. I love them and they really provide a steady rest. I find that if you don't stand them straight up and down but lean them into you, so that when you lean into the shot it provides a really firm rest. I grip the sticks and not the forearm of my rifle as well, letting it rest in the "Y" formed by the sticks.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0005830222262a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=shooting+sticks&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=shooting+sticks&noImage=0
These are the ones I use.
 
Eventually I found that if I let the monopod lean forwards slightly (instead of straight up) it really reduced the forward-back wobble. Then I only had to worry about the side-to-side.
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Thanks for the tip Julian. My wobble seems to be only side to side, but I will give it a try.
 
I grip the sticks and not the forearm of my rifle as well, letting it rest in the "Y" formed by the sticks.
Thanks Taylorce1. I see in most of the picture of shooting sticks on Cabela's website they also are gripping the sticks and not the rifle stock. I am trying that at home using some snap caps. That seems to help although hard to tell since being indoors I do not have much distance. The longer distances tend to increase the wobble when looking through a scope.
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I was at the shooting range today practicing. It started miserably. I started shooting standing up. I had about 35% on the paper at 100 yds. I then decided to sit down and use the sticks. After a few rounds I had 85-90% on paper. Once I felt comfortable and confident with that it was back to standing up, the first shot was a perfect bullseye. Then I was able to keep 90-95% on paper. Most shots were in 4" groups. Not great, but good enough for a kill shot.

I used some of the techniques that were recommended here. I leaned the sticks back and then leaned my body into the shot. That seemed to help a lot. I also move the stick back behind the swivel studs as well. This was a big help as it gave me a marker to make sure I had the sticks in the same place each time

Thanks guys. I'll be off to Colorado in two weeks for my first hunt.
 
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