A few years ago, I was whitetail hunting with my muzzleloader and a doe stepped out about 100 yards broadside in front of my treestand. It was the perfect opportunity to fill the freezer, so I steadied my muzzleloader as best I could and made the shot. I completely missed. I remember how unsteady I felt while I was aiming, and had to move around quite a bit in order to get in a different position before I felt steady enough to shoot. How I wish I had a SkyRest for that hunt, and a couple other past hunts that I can think of! I recently tested the SkyRest and have my feedback below.
The SkyRest is a lightweight shooting rest that you mount overhead onto the tree above any open treestand. It’s easy to install and works with any rifle, shotgun, or muzzleloader, even crossbows and pistols without having to make any modifications to your firearm. The SkyRest and included mounting hardware only weighs 3 pounds, so it can easily be transported to your treestand as well.
Once the SkyRest is mounted to your treestand, you can adjust the elevation of your aim by using a cord release behind your head. To raise the gun, you just pull on the suspension cord, raising a saddle. To lower, pull on the ring of the cord release as the weight of your gun slowly lets out the suspension cord. Once the general height of your aim is set, you can then pivot the SkyRest back and forth horizontally and track your game.
The instructions for mounting and adjusting can be found at this link:
Not all treestands have a shooting rail so the SkyRest is perfect to use with the stands that don’t. Before the SkyRest, I had always used a shooting stick in those instances, but it was still difficult to get a good steady shot with them from my treestand, and I had to move around more than my liking in order to get a somewhat steady shot. Also, an advantage to the SkyRest over a shooting rail is you can silently track your target in motion with smooth, 180-degree side-to-side movement, as well as the ability to move it up and down just by sliding the forearm grip. (See photo)
Check out the videos on this page for a good demonstration on : https://theskyrest.com/pages/about-the-skyrest
I also found I could rest the butt of my gun in my lap with the barrel resting on the SkyRest, making it easy to hold onto until while I’m waiting for an animal to show up and a shot to present itself.
The SkyRest is made with rust-free aluminum construction, so you can leave it in your treestand all season long if you’d like.
The cost of the SkyRest Shooting Rest is $59.99. You can purchase the Base Kit ($29.99) and a Replacement T-Screw ($9.99) separately as well. You could actually buy several of those if you would like to have some mounted in several different stands, only having to move the remaining parts of the SkyRest each time, which assemble and disassemble easily.
These are all available at www.Theskyrest.com
Connect with SkyRest on their social media sites:
IG : @shootskyrest