How to use a tripod for shooting and game watching

Tripods for guns have basically the same purpose as tripods for cameras and camcorders. In short, it's all about keeping your hand from shaking at the crucial moment. Their main purpose is to increase shooting accuracy - but it's important which model you choose.

Some models are adapted so that you can mount your weapon on them in seconds and thus significantly increase your chances of successful hunting. In the dynamic disciplines of sport shooting, you can count on hitting the target quickly and accurately.

Hunting without a tripod

Of course, you can hunt without a tripod. It just won't be easy. You have to find another support for your gun that won't be as stable - for example, a window of a seat, a backpack or a tree branch. You'll also need to line this support with a piece of cloth or clothing so that you don't scratch your precious weapon unnecessarily on a rough surface.

Stability when hunting without a tripod lags, reducing the likelihood of hitting your prey on the first try. At the very least, you might not hit it the way you would like. And it's in every good hunter's interest to not worry about the animal you hit and, if possible, kill it with the first shot. It may very well happen that you will not have the opportunity for a second shot and the wounded animal will die long and painfully somewhere in the deep woods where you will not be able to find it.

Tripod for beginners

Naturally, you'll have to get used to the particular gun tripod. And to make it as easy as possible, manufacturers have equipped their modern tripods with superior features and elements that combine easy collapsibility, reliability and ergonomics.

Tripod (not only) for beginners should be adaptable to the terrain. Therefore, the tripod legs should be adjustable in multiple heights. Some tripods allow incremental height adjustment for each leg separately, which is especially useful when you need to create a shooting position on uneven surfaces.

Then the material of the tripod is important. The ideal is aluminium (ideally anodised), which is both durable and lightweight. Carbon fibre models have similar properties, but tend to be more expensive. 

Low weight is naturally one of the most important features of a tripod, which some perceive as an unnecessary extra burden. In this respect, modern tripods are likely to pleasantly surprise users.

And finally, we have sufficient load capacity. It should be matched to the weapon we're going to mount on it. Or a scope or other optics, as we'll see below.

Usability of tripods

As already mentioned, tripods are primarily used for weapon placement, but they hold optics just as well. For hunting, but also for casual animal watching, you can mount a scope, rangefinder or other optics on top of the tripod. Examples of hunting, sighting and observation optics include this one or this model from Vortex Optics.

In addition, however, the gun tripod can be used as a versatile camera leg. So you can easily hunt with or without the gun and not carry any extra equipment. However, for each model of tripod, be sure to check which thread or joint head the tripod uses. Alternatively, try to coordinate the individual pieces of equipment so that they all fit on one tripod, even if you use a reducer.

Try to match each piece of equipment so that it is compatible with one model of tripod.

Tripod or monopod?

You don't have to support your gun or binoculars only with a tripod, but you can also use a monopod or telescopic pole. Unlike a tripod, a monopod does not have three legs, but only one, which is possibly supplemented with a stand at the bottom for greater stability. The advantage of a monopod is that it is lighter and more compact compared to a tripod of similar size. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that it is not nearly as stable despite the possible end with short legs.

Tripod, on the other hand, has three legs that provide greater stability. It is made up of three telescopic rods that are connected by joints on one side to the surface on which the desired device (be it a gun or optics) is placed, i.e. the tripod head. On the other side there are rubber end caps or spikes that hold the tripod in place.

Tripod and monopod differ from each other by the number of legs and the tripod head. While tripods most often have a spherical head, monopods only need a head that moves in one axis. With tripods, the ball head is usually part of the tripod itself and the end device is threaded or placed on a platform above the ball head, which you can then use to adjust the shooting axes.

Last but not least, we should mention the bipod, which is a kind of compromise between a tripod and a monopod. However, it does not offer as much flexibility as a tripod, because when shooting with a bipod, the third point of contact with the ground is usually the stock of the gun itself, so you have to have the gun fixed in place before shooting. In other words, you need to know roughly which direction you are going to shoot.

Basic mistakes when shooting with a tripod

When shooting with a tripod, users make some mistakes that should be "caught", for example, during training at the shooting range and so on. One of these mistakes is the wrong tripod height setting. If your tripod has an adjustable height, you may set it wrong, in which case you may hunch over the tripod. By doing this, you not only ruin your back, but you also complicate your shooting because you're focusing on stance rather than accurate aiming.

And even if you end up setting the gun height correctly, you may be in the wrong position when shooting. You can practice correcting this mistake with an experienced shooting coach.

Another mistake can be the wrong position of the gun on the tripod. In this case, you don't estimate the center of gravity of the gun, which will tip either way, which again complicates accurate shooting.

In the end

Shooting with a tripod is much easier than shooting without one. Provided, of course, that you experience using a tripod and learn how to use it. The tripod is an invaluable tool, especially when hunting, where if you avoid the mistakes mentioned above, you can target your prey within seconds. In addition, you can hunt without a weapon, as the tripod can be used not only to mount a rifle, but also to stabilize a camera or optical device (binoculars, rangefinder, etc.). Therefore, the tripod is definitely not an extra piece of equipment that you would carry into the field unnecessarily.