RASS top adapted to surveying tripod.

[Fitch]

I bought a RASS a couple of years ago. Hadn't used it much for hunting unless I could drive to the stand or haul it in the back of my Kubota RTV. I have some pastures where I hunt ground hogs that require me to be able to cover over 100 degrees of azmuth with a GH able to appear anyplace in that range out to several hundred yards so I need to shoot off a rest.

It occurred to me that all I'd need on top of a surveying tripod was a 3/4" post and I could put the top of the RASS on the tripod. That would make it possible to haul it around on the front rack of the ATV with my portable chair and shooting sticks on the back rack.

It looks like this so far:

And it's easy to strap it on the front rack of the ATV:

I had it out in the field 4 days this week and shot 4 ground hogs off it. It works quite well with sporter weight rifles. I will modify the adaptor to move the pivot point so the rifle balance point is over the tripod - I've figured out how to do that. So far it's working well enough that I'll leave it alone as long as it's good hunting.

I may work on the modified adaptor if I get some rainy days.

I padded it with an old throw rug I rescued from the dumpster. The throw rug doubles as a prone shooting pad when I'm in a place that allows that. With the grass as tall as it is right now there isn't much prone shooting - but it is good to have options.

Speaking of options, I carry a folding chair/stool and shooting sticks on the rear rack.

Bottled water and a couple of granola bars go in the zipper storage compartment in the chair. I shot a couple standing off the sticks, a couple sitting using the sticks, and 4 off the tripod/RASS combination. It was a good week.

Fitch

 

[Gene Jr.]

I have the same tripod with a cheap shooters ridge (I think?) rest mounted in about the same way. Works very well. I use mine for GH and fox at night. I need to rework mine so it swivels more smoothly though.

Yours looks very nice!

 

[Topshot]

Great idea.
I use a Survey tripod also and use a Dumpy level as a spotting scope.
The horizontal adjustment of the level permits very slow panning and it is very steady.
When shooting with another shooter, the cross hair on the level allows me to point out to the other shooter where the small targets are.

Having a rifle set up on a tripod like this is ideal in long grass.

 

[Fitch]

Definitely an advangage in the tall grass of rocky pastures where one has to cover a rather wide front. Here is is as it was set up yesterday with my Rem 700 BDL in .17 Remington on it:

I sometimes think of things to try while waiting for the next ground hog to be beamed into the middle of the field that was empty just a second before, heading for cover of course. Yesterday I decided to take a picture of the most recent ground hog through the rifle scope using my iPhone camera. After rotating it and cropping it, the dead GH is visible just above the center of the cross hairs through the rifle scope. Scope is a Leupold VX-II 3-9x40mm set at 4X like it was when I took the shot:

I had no idea how the picture would turn out till I got it home and downloaded it. I can't imagine taking that picture with out a good rest of some sort.

Oh well, it was something to pass the time ...

Fitch