When I’m packing for a mountain hunt, there are a few items that I will never forget at home and which form the basis of hunting style. Binoculars (10×42) and a binocular case, spotting scope (27–65×85), rifle, bullets. You get the idea. The final component of the necessary hardware is my tripod.
I used a cheap little tripod for my spotting scope for the longest time. It was tiny and light but didn’t allow smooth panning, and even a light breeze was too much for it, forcing me to stay very low to the ground and find a windbreak when I was glassing far off. Additionally, the aluminum legs weren’t strong and were too short for any glassing where I wasn’t seated, making using binoculars to glass over bushes impossible. Shooting off this unit was totally out of the question.
My new tripod for mountain hunting addresses each of these shortfalls. The Really Right Stuff Ascend-14 with the Anvil-30 ball head allows for smooth panning, letting me focus on what I’m looking at instead of trying to get a good sight picture. The Ascend is built with premium carbon fibre tubes, offering incredible stiffness in a lightweight package and can withstand a stout breeze before I have to look for cover from the wind. The 1/4-turn sealed twist locks make extending the legs a breeze.
The Ascend’s legs extend the tripod’s maximum height is 59.9″, allowing for all kinds of flexibility. I can extend the legs out at a wide-angle in windy conditions to give a huge footprint and outstanding stability in all but the worst conditions. In rocky terrain, extending one or two legs out quite far may be necessary to keep the tripod level and allow me to sit in the place that gives me the best glassing. I had to choose my position to suit the tripod with my old tripod, rather than the other way around.
Weighing in at 3.2 lb, the Ascend is strong enough to handle any optics I own. Paired with the Anvil-30 ball head, I can also shoot from the tripod, which has been a revelation and transformation of my shooting capabilities. This configuration is suited for flat, downhill, or uphill shooting, whether prone, seated or kneeling.
An additional feature that I really love is the extendable quick column. The centre column allows me to raise the height of my optics even higher but is also easily removed to save weight. I tend to remove the column in the mountains as the tripod has sufficient height for the vast majority of my use cases.
If you’re in the market to upgrade your mountain hunting tripod, the Really Right Stuff Ascend-14 should undoubtedly be at the top of your list. Investing in a premium tripod like this will make every future hunt more enjoyable and more successful.
