I have never used a bipod - but am considering starting ... I was in some scenarios last year where I think one could have been useful - obviously if I was familiar with using it, sighted in accordingly, etc. In both the scenarios I am thinking of - I just had to get closer. One scenario I still screwed up (though much closer), and the other scenario I made quite good just a few minutes later (closer on another critter).

Piggy-back to the original question ... both my big game guns are short barrel ... so I am wondering if I would cancel out the bipod advantage because I have less rifling, stability (mass), and dimished velocity.

With that in mind - if I go bipod - I will have to get a new rifle to put it on.

(I wonder if my wife will buy off on such logic?)

Yea, I think you really need a new Rifle.
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She's gone now, right? Your going to be carrying your rifle with a sling anyway, try a military sling and learn to use it. You would be amazed how well they work. CG mentioned something awhile back about some cheap comp. stocks being able to take the pressure a military sling put's on the front end. I never though of that but it could be. I sure wouldn't try iy on the 700ADL I have, probally bend the stock in two! Fortunately that is the only one I have, every thing else is wood.

I've never tried a bi-pod, I just don't like the idea of having them on my rifle. I do use shooting sticks however. The "holster" for the sticks is on the strap that goes over my chest on my backpack. That let's me pull them out quickly and use them. (And prevents me from forgetting them) I have been able to use them on 75% of my harvests with great success. The other 25% of the time things happened too fast but a bi-pod wouldn't have helped me in those cases.

I don't own a bipod but I do carry shooting sticks with me most of the time. They're usually in my backpack where they do little good when you're in a pinch. That's when you wouldn't use them anyway because you're nose-to-nose in the timber with a bull. I carry them and pull them out if I find a place to sit with a view. So mainly I carry them but don't use them. The rubber belt carrying strap they came is pretty inconvienient so I don't use it. If I had something like RBH has, I might use them more often.

I use a mono-pod. It's extremely light weight, extends to 60" and fits quite nicely between my shoulder blades and day pack. I ordered mine from Cabela's and love it. It has a swivel head rest and has the threaded insert which will accommodate a camera or binocular adapter. I hunt a lot in northeastern Arizona, and the winds here can be extreme. I use my mono-pod to glass and shoot from. Using a pod of any sort is not a show of weakness or lack of shooting ability. It makes good sense to use a rest and doing so does nothing but increase your shot accuracy. I've yet to meet a hunter that blamed a bad shot on his rest.

Yes , I too think you should be able to shoot accurately from a standing or free-hand position, but I can use my mono-pod as an added means of accuracy whether I'm sitting, kneeling or standing. :

BTW, the last two big-game animals I've harvested were while using my mono-pod. A really nice 33" wide 4X4 muley buck in 2002 and a nice 6X6 bull elk in Nov. 2006.

AZ~Thunder