Trekking Pole Tripod

[taskswap]

Do you want a genuine tripod? IMO for binos a monopod works about as well and is insanely easy to DIY. I:

1. Drilled a 1/4 hole in the end of a Cascade Mountain CF trekking pole.
2. Cut a 1" or so length of 1/4-20 all thread (in my case I just cut the head off a bolt).
3. Epoxied that into the hole with about 1/4" of it sticking out.
4. Installed an inexpensive V/Y-yoke "rifle rest" on the top.
5. Installed an Aziak bino clamp on my binos.

While hiking/hunting, I keep my stick set very tall. I hunt with a single pole so I have one hand ready for my rifle. If I have a snap-shot opportunity, rather than just shooting off-hand, I can unsling and rest my rifle on the yoke and I'm ready to rock. I've taken 150+ yard off-hand shots this way successfully.

If I want to glass, it takes 10 seconds to unthread the yoke and thread on the binos. It's not QUITE as fast as some of the quick-change options out there, but I don't need instant access to binos, and this way is lighter, cheaper, more bullet-proof, and more stable (there's no play in the components like with some other options).

LMK if you want a pic. I rant about it here a lot - you can probably find it in past threads.

 

[Chris in TN]

My daughter and I have been experimenting this afternoon with an arrow shaft rubber-banded or zip-tied at one end, just below the handle of a trek pole, and the other end secured lower on the pole with a hair tie. Forgive me for being cheap during the testing phase. Hair ties are plentiful around my house.

Basically, when you need to make a trek-pole rest, once you have the two-pole cradle set up, you pull the hair tie off the lower end of the arrow shaft and twist it out in front to make a third tripod leg.

My daughter is doing WAAAAAY better off this combo of two trek poles and an arrow shaft up front, and two arrows rubber banded together in the rear, than she did trying to shoot off just two poles up front, especially with our day pack. There are scenarios where the pack works great, but for the classic seated position, this seems to be working better for her.