Most common field position on big game animals?

[JohnJohnson]

Went on a pronghorn hunt with my father and both of us shot ours at 360 yards fully standing from my tripod (different situations/locations/days). First time either of us have shot game from the standing position. Last year I shot my coues deer at 380 yards from my tripod in the sitting position. I think my tripod is going to be the main shooting support I use from now on.

 

[huntnful]

Went on a pronghorn hunt with my father and both of us shot ours at 360 yards fully standing from my tripod (different situations/locations/days). First time either of us have shot game from the standing position. Last year I shot my coues deer at 380 yards from my tripod in the sitting position. I think my tripod is going to be the main shooting support I use from now on.

I admittedly have never shot a single shot from a tripod. I’m starting to feel like I’m missing out on something haha.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I admittedly have never shot a single shot from a tripod. I’m starting to feel like I’m missing out on something haha.

Keep in mind that I have a RRS TFCT-34L w/ Anvil head so it's an extremely beefy tripod for the primary purpose of shooting (it's like 5 pounds). I clip a RRS PT-Scout pan head into it for glassing that I can remove and replace with my rifle, via my rifle's ARCA rail, in about 5 seconds. But the tripod's main purpose is to be extremely stable for long range shooting, and it does that amazingly, but its weight reflects that. It's the next best thing to prone stability in basically any position even up to fully standing. And I'm still very much a tripod shooting novice with a hell of a lot to learn.

Would I be able to take it if I was sheep hunting? Absolutely not. I'd have to get one of their lighter versions. But for shooting/glassing that stability is amazing for the weight penalty.

Best of the West (I was as surprised as you probably are) put out a 6 part series of learning long range techniques for hunting with Phillip Velayo as a guest teacher. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's some of the best instructional content I've come across on Youtube. Tripods feature HEAVILY in it.

Edit: I also have a PDF that's too big to post here of various tips/tricks to using shooting tripods.

 

[Jason Snyder]

My longest two shots in recent years were both wasted over the top of my pack. A couple others were seated over the top of my spotting scope on a tripod.

Standing/offhand are lease common. Prone does happen, but is often impractical because of vegetation.

 

[JGRaider]

99% if the time, vegetation doesn't allow for prone shooting where I hunt. Probably 75% of my big game kills are sitting, off of bipod, tripod, or some other structure (limb, tree trunk, rock, etc) for stability. The other 25% are mostly standing off of sticks.

I've killed several hundred big game animals, and way more hogs/'yotes than that. I've never once had a stop watch with me whether I'm hunting or guiding.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Shot one prone. A few standing up leaning against a rock or a tree. Majority has been off hand though

 

[StupidLightweight]

Cool idea for a poll. It's interesting to see how the numbers break down. In Wyoming, nearly everything I shoot is prone. This year's deer, elk, and antelope were all prone with a Javelin bipod.

Growing up in western Washington, support was nearly always a stump or tree trunk. When I lived in the Midwest, however, you could say my tactics were a bit unorthodox.

 

[Shraggs]

Cool idea for a poll. It's interesting to see how the numbers break down. In Wyoming, nearly everything I shoot is prone. This year's deer, elk, and antelope were all prone with a Javelin bipod.

Growing up in western Washington, support was nearly always a stump or tree trunk. When I lived in the Midwest, however, you could say my tactics were a bit unorthodox.

View attachment 778443

That is funny!

Hmm suggest a little more parallel torso on that position…

Love this thread too - except my last half dozen deer kills were elevated and don’t fit into ground based positions. But tree stands for legitimate long(er) shots is a positional challenge imo.