BOGgear TAC, XSR & Switcheroo -- SHOT Show’s Best New Products (Part 8) –

by Bill Miller

www.huntingclub.com

I spent the last few days enjoying an event that’s one of the highlights of my year – taping the season’s “You Call the Shots” segments for North American Hunter TV at the Clubhouse on the grounds of ATK Federal. It’s fun because it’s a break from the dreariness of midwinter in Minnesota and brings all those memories of last fall’s hunts rushing back. It’s not uncommon to find any of the cast dazing off in his or her own little world, fondly recalling a hunt we just reviewed on screen. It’s also a blast because I get to hook up with the likes of Mark Kayser and Larry Weishuhn and share good-natured kidding and some laughs.

This year producer Lonnie Garland asked us to bring along and tape a brief segment on two pieces of hunting gear each of us considers to be “can’t hunt without.” I figured this might be a problem between Larry and me, and it was! He beat me to the reply and selected his two items first so he got to do the piece on BOGgear tripods shooting sticks.

Now the BOGpod sticks, affectionately known as the Red Legged Devils,  are not new by any stretch. Larry and Craig Boddington and Ron Spomer and Kim Hicks and I and many others have hunted game around the world with them for half a decade now. In my estimation they are simply the best shooting sticks out going.

But the 2010 Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade Show unveiled some significant expansions of BOGgear offerings. Top among them is the TAC series. TAC tripods are completely matte black finish with gray detailing. Vel-Coat finish on the top tubes make them one of the quietest shooting platforms available. The legs of the TAC tripods have rapid adjust lever locks with noise reducing rubber ring guards.

XSR stands for “Xtreme Shooting Rest” which is a new support system to mount on top of any BOGpod tripod. It acts as a benchrest in the field and is ideal for hunting from ground blinds. It holds your long gun in ready position so all you have to do is drop your head to the stock and squeeze off that long range shot.

Finally, there’s the “Switcheroo” quick-change head system that lets you quickly adapt the tripod sticks from shooting rest, to camera tripod, to spotting scope base and back in the field. This eliminates the need of separate sticks for each – really important when you’re carrying it all on your back in rugged terrain.

On my Dall’s Sheep hunt  last fall, I carried a BOGpod Red Legged Devil on every inch of the trip… or I guess I should say, it carried me! I used it as a walking stick on that incredibly rough and unsteady terrain. It never failed once despite the combined weight of me and my pack! While I ended up taking the shot prone and rested on a rock the BOGpod played a big part in getting me there. In fact, it’s now as much a part of my “can’t hunt without” gear as my binoculars, compass and hunting knife!