I have been thinking about this for a while. I actually got the idea from Gary and I finally made one. A lightweight portable bench for hunting charlies. The tall Harris bipods are in the front and an arrow in the back for legs. I have three arrows made for the 3 different heights of the bi-pod. In the picture, two of the 3 sections are extended (middle height). The barrel is at 28" off the ground. I have a small rabbit ear Caldwell bag on a little wood riser in the front and the 3"X8" Peltor Sissy Bag under the rear grip. I figure the whole rig only weighs 4 pounds. I don't think you can see it but there is a handle slot cut in the plywood table so you can carry it with the legs away from you very easily. Gun in one hand and the table in the other It works awesome in the flat fields with the grass getting deep. It's just right that you can sit on the ground and see right thru the scope. With just a little forward pressure on the bench it's very stable. As you can see the 218 BEE was on today at 194 yards. The gun recoiled enough that I lost the charlie in the scope but I keep my eyes open and I saw the water mist out of his fur when the bullet hit.

It was about 9:30 this morning and he was still wet from the dew and rain. I was sure it was a hit. I paced off 150 and didn't see the charlie at the little roll in the field where I thought he would be. I was sure I hit him. I had to pace another 44 yards to find him. He was a little further and just starting up the next little roll. The river bottom where this field is has little 2-3 foot gentle rolls and the portable table works great for just the right height advantage.

I'm going to give it a camo paint job and make a little small rail that the sissy bag can be hooked to but still moveable to get a good sight picture. I might make a few other small adjustments. I had 2 hours this am to get out and try the "prototype" before an afternoon commitment. The BEE had been hissing at me every time I opened the safe and grabbed the Striker. So I took her out for a little execise this am. I must confess the BEE barrel is my all time favorite.

Nice shootin' and perty gun. Is that Ga Jims furniture? I need to make me a little bench like that 'cause I hate bibods. But there is a place for them after all. Great idea ;-)

Great bench, great gun !

Sting is good! Of course if you don’t think she is getting enough action you can always let me shoot her Tig. LOL

Nice shooting!

nice idea dale i may look into that and a very good looking
gun tcman i am closer i may get to shoot it sometime

larry

Nice looking TC !!!!!

Lee

Whimper Whimper

Tig, is that a full bull barrel?

Love the bench and the BEE! {Mine's on a G2 frame and not near as purty)

Sweet Tig! Nice shot. Great idea on the bench too!

Nice lookin shooter there!

good idea dale did you draw up plans for it

larry

Great looking BEE
Awesome looking portabench

Way to go Tig!!!!!!!!! I like the look of your portable shooting bench. Got me thinking I need to make one also, around here where I hunt there are very few holes in the middle of the fields 90% of the holes are in the edges of the fields in the woods is that the case up North? When I hunt the hay fields I can pretty much park in the middle of the field I'm hunting and watch the edges. Alot of the fields average anywhere between 50 acres to 300 acres what are your fields like.

s4s4u, yes the stock set is GA Jims. The Barrel was an SP group buy in 2005 from OTT. Then GA Jim offered a special buy on the yellow black laminate. I got the Jimbo thumb rest grip.

TCman the old BEE gets a lot of action. I have over 800 rounds down the tube so far. It just didn't get much love this spring. Yes it is a full bull 15" barrel form OTT.


No plans drawn up... it's all in my head... with alot of small voices. LOL<LOL

Clayzzz, I live in the foothills of the Adirondack Mts. My house is at 1664 feet above sea level. In less than 5 miles I'm at 2300 feet. We have lots of hills and deep valleys. Most fields are 5-150 acres. Most are 20-40 acres average. The fields are contoured to the landscape to reduce erosion. So theye are alot of diversion ditches and hedgerows to work around. Some fields are relly long and skinny because of this. The chucks are evenly dispursed in the hedgrows, woodlines and in the fields. What really get the farmers wound up are the holes in the fields. They dig a hole and pile up a mound of dirt. It can break a spindal off on a hay wagon or tractor easily when dropping that deep. Besides dulling a nowing machine if you dont see the dirt pile and raise the cutting deck.

I usually hunt the fields from the edges out. It gives me cover with the trees and makes for good cover on stalks. Usually there are rock piles, tree stumps, round bales or just an area that is elevated to get a litle height advantage on the rest of the field. I also like to find a big old tree right on the edge of the field for shade and cover. Then set up and watch both ways along the edges of the woods for them to come out into the field to feed. Walking the hedgerows can be quite fun with a revolver and makes for some quick close action when suprizing a charlie feeding a ways from the hole. The 357 Max has piled up quite a few this way. You can cover a good bit of ground and get good recon on active holes and the times of day when that charlie is most active. A little pice of surveyors tape on a branch over the hole will let you set up later from a longer distance and snipe him with a long range handgun.

Here is a terra server link of the typical fields I hunt. As you can see there are fields broken up by woods, roads, hedgrows and deep valleys. In the top right of the map the fields are long and skinny, in the bottom right it drops off steep to the road and the creek. In the top left the field edges are very erattic following the wood line.



http://www.terraserver.com/view.asp?cx=2...ovrl=-1&drwl=-1

Tig let me backup a little we do have smaller fields around here and those are the ones I can set up in the middle and hunt the edges. The bigger fields I'll scout them from a distance and were I see the hogs is were I'll set up. I kind of make up a grid and hunt different blocks. I guess now that I think about it I pretty much grid everything. I don't know what elevation I'm at but I'm only a hour and half from the Atlantic ocean. Need to check on that I don't hunt in the woods edges much because I get posion ivy, so bad thats why I try to stay out in the fields as much as I can. Alot of our bigger fields are in corn this year. Some of the soy beans are to tall to hunt so until they cut the wheat, and alfa is cut agian I have to hunt the hay fields with as much rain we've been having they won't last but so much longer.