Funny ha ha.
While everyone is having so much fun poking fun at the newby, everybody forgot to answer the question. If they had read it carefully they would have seen that he didn't ask if anyone *had* used a sling, but if anyone *does* use a sling.
I'll try again... I'm a 76-year old experienced hunter using smokeless, big bore leverguns for the first time for hunting whitetail deer. I always hunt on the ground, sitting on my weary old rump at the base of a tree, waiting for the deer to come to me. I never move while hunting. I therefore can never find a convenient tree, log, rock or whatever to rest my gun on. I fully understand the efficacy of such rests, but they are not, never will be, part of my hunting situation. Shooting a scoped rifle at deer at a distance is more than I can manage offhand, so I need some help. The only two things i could think of were a sling or crossed sticks. I'm very familiar with slings, have used them a lot, but when I went looking for one for my 336, I couldn't find one. Gun shops don't have them here, none of the clerks or shooters I could talk to even understand how a shooting sling works. So, I wondered if some cool young dude had figured out a better way. Viola, searching for info online, up pops the Latigo sling by Brownells at a cool $100. Must be miraculous what that thing can do. But my gun shops can't tell me what it does, how it works its miracle. So, I call Brownells, and they tell me its a hasty sling. A $100 hasty sling.
Well, that's no solution, but there must be someplace where info about this problem is available... how about Shooters Forum?
Whether or not that works out is still to be discovered.
Spence
Spence,
Thanks for being good-natured and please, forgive me for apparently misunderstanding the question you posed. Your original question read as an accusation, or maybe I've become too quick to see something genuine as a snide comment...again, I apologize.
Also, being roughly half as "seasoned" as you are, I must confess: I don't use a sling for anything more than a convenient means of conveyance for my rifle. In fact, I often hunt without any kind of sling at all on my guns, transporting and elevating them (in a treestand) by use of a soft-sided carrying case. With certain climbing-type tree stands, I will ascend to the desired height, pull up the gun case with a rope, and lay the fully unzipped case across the stand in front of me, held there by the arms of the climbing stand. The gun leaves the case only when it is fired.
However, I often sit in ground blinds or, as you stated, on my tired old butt, waiting for my intended quarry to happen by. In fact, I much enjoy hunting this way, as it requires more of the hunter and thus, is more satisfying when one is successful. Still, I must refute your assertion that while hunting at ground level, "I therefore can never find a convenient tree, log, rock or whatever to rest my gun on...". I find this notion disingenuous, as when I select an area to hunt, sans any type of man-made contrivance, I purposely use the natural cover and structure of my hunting grounds to provide a good improvised rest, should a shot present itself.
Case in point is one of my favorite memories of a hunting camp in Wisconsin. A truly giant old oak tree fell about 80 yards into the front 40 acres of the property, within sight of a corn field that had been harvested only 8-10 days earlier. The landowner had gone in and trimmed must of the crown of the tree off, for firewood, leaving several sturdy arms poking out. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, I sat a little stool in the crown of that fallen tree and used two or three small branches, with leaves still clinging, to screen my impromptu little blind. The ends of the cut-off limbs made for an excellent shooting rest, on either side. I harvested a decent 7-point buck and a doe, using that blind, in 3 days of hunting.
I even taught my daughter the same concept this fall, when she took her first deer. When a mature doe stepped out into the field in front of her, at ~70 yards, my little girl placed her left hand firmly against the small tree in front of her, the barrel clasped between thumb and forefinger. This improvised rest allowed her to make a lethal shot, using open sights and the old 44/40 Model '92 Winchester did its job.
So, to more politely answer your original question: I recognize the value of a shooting sling, but I have rarely hunted where I might benefit by the use of one. Even when hunting on the ground, it has always made sense to me, to make use of the surrounding terrain to both conceal my position and afford an improvised rest.
I hope you will forgive my earlier sarcasm and continue to enjoy our little forum.
Jason
