Is a tripod worth the money?

[DesertRam]

The kind of cover I like to hunt even an attached bipod is a hindrance to me.

Yep, me too. I've hunted with a couple guys with big steady tripods out here and they just seem to be too much hassle. I can roll in, drop my Critter Sitter, set my Trigger Sticks, put the call out, and be sitting down and ready to call while they're still adjusting legs. Then they're kind of locked to that position, while I can easily move the TS, stand up with rapid redeployment, or even pull the rifle out of it for an off-hand or running shot.

Of course, this is all day hunting. I suspect I would have a different attitude/approach if I hunted at night.

 

[zr600]

I think you’ll get a variety of different answers but here’s my take.

I absolutely love a tripod for daytime calling and hunting. I think it needs to be the right tripod and head though. In my personal opinion the best head for daytime calling is the RRS Anvil 30 head or the knock off leofoto MA30 head. They’re both just so easy to adjust on the fly and give a ton of maneuverability. I have a vortex radian with a leveling head and it’s not as versatile as the cheaper Leofoto that I primarily use.

I hunted with the longer swagger bipod for a while and still really like it for what it is. However, it didn’t give me enough stability for longer range shots (400 + yards). Don’t get me wrong, you can nestle something up as a rear support and make good shots but a tripod does it a little better. I hope this doesn’t come off as bragging but I have a 685 yard confirmed kill off the swagger last year but it took a while to get set up just right. Many other kills inside of 350 yards, which is where it shined for me. The swagger sucked to prone out with too. I also have a bunch of cactus out here so I don’t prone out a ton but when I did, the legs were so flimsy I would lost the animal on recoil sometimes.

With that in mind, I bought a Leofoto carbon fiber tripod with the MA30 head at the beginning of 2024 and dedicated time to practicing off of it. My intention was to avoid playing musical bipods based on the different calling or big game hunting I was going to do.

To start, it was so much more versatile to shoot off of but a bit of a learning curve. However, I could spot my impacts better and my recoil management seemed to improve with the more solid foundation. What I really liked was having the adjustability to shoot in tall grass, brush, or sagebrush. Killed my elk this past year at 480-500 yards in tall sage without clipping in. I wouldn’t have been able to make the shot with my tallest Harris bipod. Could have with the swagger but let’s be honest, the biggest downfall of that bipod is the housing that attaches to the gun. Not packing that around with a bunch of other stuff elk hunting.

With the tripod, I feel like I’m more versatile for each calling scenario. You just have to get accustomed to moving it or adjusting your body on the fly sometimes. That’s been my biggest issue for calling so far. It hasn’t cost me a coyote yet though but I’m hunting big open country like you are.

The long range impacts I’m making now are worth the weight of carrying it into stands though. So far I’ve got a confirmed kills at 790, 518,515, and a bunch between 450-200 yards. Had a really close miss at 1018 yard a few weeks ago. I watch all impact in my scope and that gives me a big confidence boost.

Modern day sniper, Phillip Velayo, and a few others have good YouTube videos on body position and fundamentals of shooting off the tripod.

This is my set up. Got the tripod on sale on eBay for $280 with the head. View attachment 13668

What leofoto tripod is it you got? I have been eyeing them on eBay also. My buddy just got a fat boy and he thinks it’s the only way to go.

 

[Ermine.]

I’m a fan of the tripod. Can make shots much easier than using a bipod. So much more steadier for me. The only con is the added weight of carrying a tripod. But it’s worth it for me.

 

[Duhhh]

What leofoto tripod is it you got? I have been eyeing them on eBay also. My buddy just got a fat boy and he thinks it’s the only way to go.

I have the Leofoto SA-364C with the MA 30 head

 

[AWS]

Since I wrote my first response, I decided to play with tripods a little more. I put together a pretty lightweight rig Sirius mid grade carbon fiber tripod, half-ball leveling head with a swiss acra base and attached swiss acroa rails a to two open country rifles 20P and 22-250AI. I've been running into some really open country miles back of the main roads.

I get an invite to shoot PDs occasionally, small ranch and we shoot just a few in the pasture, the rancher likes to shoot them, I built him a shooting bench for in his equipment shed and his grandson put together a 223 for him and keeps him in ammo. Cool old guy, he has a hemi powered Studebaker he built for Bonneville stashed in a shed. The tripod will be perfect with the 20P when I get up that way.

The tripod is much lighter than the BOG, steadier with the rifle mounted to the tripod than just clamped in.

I've just played with it at the range and doubt it will ever take the place of sticks for most of my hunting. Just like having a dedicated open country rifles, rarely gets used but handy to have if needed. I was able to put the tripod together for under $200 with half off coupons and Amazon off brands

 

[YoteslayerWA]

I ended up buying an Athlon optics tripod. I have had it out a few times and it is rock solid. Although it is not as quick to get on a coyote as my swagger, it is way steadier for some of the longer shots.

 

[RSG223]

I've recently been looking at bipod/tripod options but keep going back to my shooting stickes I made some 30 years ago. Around here when the snow gets deep or crusty it's hard enough to move my shooting sticks let alone a fixed bipod or tripod. I like the stability idea but fear the legs would get hung up trying to move side to side.


Let us know how your tripod works for you YoteslayerWA!

 

[204 AR]

Since I started night hunting I've come to appreciate tripods alot. I can see myself and my daughter, as she shoots more, will be using one alot for targets, pdogs, and deer hunting open country.

However, I don't think it would be practical for hunting sandhills, sitting on the side of some of these hills I just don't see how it would work. Most of the time there's nothing but a random yucca to sit by and usually not even that, then having the legs adjusted for the slope of the hill in front, and you need to shoot to one side or the other quickly would be mess it seems like. Between that and the longer distances walked in the daytime, I'll probably stick with sticks for day.

I recently looked into the Viper Flex sticks, those look like the ticket for any type of walking and stalking operation, giving great stability from standing. Super light and appear to deploy quickly. Still not the greatest on uneven terrain possibly. But I'm trying to figure out how they could work at night. The upside is two points of support should be rock solid. But you'd have to pick it up and move it for different directions which could be an issue in tall grass, corn stalks, snow, etc. Again I think they'd be great for a lot of deer hunting situations, but probably don't apply to most coyote calling.

 

[jmeddy]

However, I don't think it would be practical for hunting sandhills, sitting on the side of some of these hills I just don't see how it would work. Most of the time there's nothing but a random yucca to sit by and usually not even that, then having the legs adjusted for the slope of the hill in front, and you need to shoot to one side or the other quickly would be mess it seems like.

Russ, it took me a while to figure this out but what I found was that I keep the shortest leg towards me (uphill to start) and if a critter comes to either side, I always spin the tripod to keep that leg on the uphill side as I reposition it. A lot of times a secondary leg adjustment is needed but that has become 2nd nature to me. I do run a ball head with independent pan adjustment.