The Claw

I am a hunting fan just like you guys (it is my passion). I visit the site occasionally just like you to chat, read stories, and look at pics to get my mind off of the stresses of the day. When I respond to posts (like mentioned that were started by hunters) regarding The Claw I try to be mindful and respectful of the advertising thing. This is why I have not listed any of our contact or website info. I respect what Amanda is doing and do not want to do anything to take advantage of what she has created. But like redrabbit says I can't do anything about others talking about product. However, This is why I mentioned that site sponsors were carrying The Claws, like Jim White and The Outdoorsman's, to drive business their way. Also, so you know it was Amanda who approached me at a show and asked if I would donate a Claw to the ADA banquet.......We have donated two. Turns out I will not be able to make it to the Banquet but my partner Jay should be. I hope a bunch of you are able to attend and have a great evening.

Bob, I knew what your were intending by you remarks when you made them (thanks for them by the way), I was just clarifying for those who have not shot The Claw that it certainly does not take away skillful operator use. Now, regarding your shooting extravaganza in 2005, feel free not to post those remarks if you experience that again using The Claw......LOL! JK, I am sure we all have one of those times to share! At least I have some friends who have

Redrabbit did some testing with The Claw and has since purchased one (I hope you don't mind me saying that Redrabbit). Maybe he, or others who have one, could describe and testify to the quality of it's manufacturing. All I will say is it carries a lifetime warranty but it will last yours and your kid's lifetime. It is CNC machined aluminum and nothing really to break on it.

It was a pleasure meeting many of you at the NRA show. I am looking forward to seeing the bull that Scott shoots this elk season. Great guy to talk with. I won't comment too much on the Claw's ability to "change hunting as we know it", although I did find some of the conjectures pretty creative and funny. Like any device (ie four-wheeler, GPS, radio, or different types of weapons themselves) it has the potential to do many things, but it is the ethics of the hunter that decides how it is used. Having said that, I wish I could say all you have to do is get a Claw and the shooting is all taken care of. I appreciate BobbyO's review but shooting with the Claw does NOT make up for poor shooting gear or poor shooting techniques. If you are not up to par with either of those then you will still be a bad shooter. What The Claw does is provide for the most versatile shooting platform on the market so that you are able to dictate when you have a shot versus the terrain or animal dictating if you have a shot. Now, my dad and his dad did pretty well shooting off of tree limbs and rocks but for most of us we do not feel bad about already making the jump to utilizing some kind of shooting support. Sure you can shoot very long distances off The Claw but only if you can already shoot long distances accurately. I am sure BobbyO was already a great shot. But his enthusiasm that exuded when he described shooting off of it is the normal response. It is really fun to shoot off of and it is for that reason that it is particularly enjoyable for the beginner or youth hunter as well. For those of you that have already purchased a Claw, Enjoy and please send pictures of your adventures to us! My main purpose of this post was to make a comment on the price. There will always be some who have a problem with the price of something. I have problems with the price of many things, not just outdoor gear. Heck I paid over $200 for a level and angle indicator for my rifle but when that equipment played an integral part in my dad being able to shoot his elk this year with all his sons there to watch.....I would have paid double that. Having said that, it has always been our goal to make the Claw more affordable without sacrificing the imperative quality restrictions. Now that we are near the end of our first fabrication lot when production costs were outrageous, we are anticipating being able to reduce fabrication costs and have thus decided to reduce the suggested retail price of The Claw to $120 in advance. I know that this may still be high for some and I wish we could do more but all I can say that if you can afford it....it will be a worthy lifetime gear investment. It is true, Jim White and The Outdoorsman's has started carrying some units. As you may already know they are tripod pro's as well so they can get you outfitted into the tripod that best suits your hunting needs if needed. I would also like to mention that we donated two Claws to the Arizona Deer Association for the upcoming Banquet so that may be a good opportunity to get one and help a worthy cause at the same time! Enjoy the summer and get ready for what looks to be like another great hunting season!

Forgot to mention, as of last week Jim White is excited to start carrying The Claw to offer along with his vast and great product line of tripod/hunting products. I believe he will have a booth at The NRA show also so be sure to visit him if you've never visited with him. He is a big supporter of CW and a very pleasant guy to deal with.

Scottyboy, I was going to post some upcoming shows that we will be at but I did not want Amanda to construe it as advertising but since you asked it should be ok. We will be donating a Claw at the ADA banquet and may do a display there however if we do we will not be selling so as not to take away from the fundraising efforts. However, we will be having a booth at the annual NRA convention which is in Phoenix this year. It is at the Phoenix Convention Center, May 15th-17th. We will be having a show special there as well so please stop by. I am excited for the show, should be a good one! Hopefully get to meet some of you all then. Cade

Scottyboy, In answer to your question, The Claw works as well as with anything on your break open muzzy. It simply clamps forward of the break on the stock like with a rifle. This does not interfere with the break open action. if you need to reload ever then you can still do it with The Claw clamped on or you can simply remove the muzzy from The Claw/Tripod and reload (takes 5 seconds). So it is not an issue whatsoever. Congratulations on your Elephants by the way and now a coveted elk tag.....WOW. You will absolutely love having The Claw on your hunt. I remember drawing an early rifle elk tag in 10 back in 2003. I wanted a rifle bipod that had the most amount of panning capibillity so that I could quickly set up and anticipate a big bull peaking his head out of the thick junipers. Then no matter where he appeared I could quickly pan and shoot. To my amazement nothing met my desire. The best I could come up with at the time was the Caldwell bipod which had like 30 degrees panning, not much. Now with the Claw you have 360 degree panning, 180 degree tilt, and unlimited height adjustment. It is perfect for an early season elk hunt. I am attaching a couple pics of a 416" bull 15 year old, Cody Nicholson shot last year on the early Muzzy hunt. As you can see he shot it with a break open muzzleloader. Good luck on your hunt Cade

Was fortunate to go out with friend Mark and watch him call and film some critters. I was just there for the ride. I watched Mark work his magic with the call. We were set up in some real thick stuff (manzanita) but Mark was able to set up standing with The Claw. No other way to hunt it. He made a great standing shot. Thanks for the trip Mark.

Sad how it played out.

Dan, Awesome mount. How much was the total. I am looking for a place to take mine. I would like to do a pedestal of the locked bucks with my drop beam buck behind them just like yours. Need to get some quotes as I expect it to be expensive. Got one question though...........Are you sure he didn't mount an Eastern Whitetail rack on your mount...lol? Again, What a stud!

Mike, I appreciate your kind words but you are the toad thumper! You all know what Mike killed this year right. Probably the biggest typical taken this year. What a freak. I can't wait to see him and you can't hold my buck up against your buck!

I was asked by some to post these pics, so I will make a story of it. It started in August when good friend and owner of Borderland Adventures, Matt Woodward called me stating he had found "the" ranch. He felt it had great potential based on what he had seen and that was all I needed to hear. Matt knows coues deer. Matt and I made 3 different short trips together for scouting, including trail cameras on water. All we managed to find were a couple does and LIONS! we had three different cats on film. Here are a couple pics. We mad a trip in October, December, and mid January. Each time with similar results...not much to get excited about. It didn't help that each time we were there was horrible weather with very high winds. Matt and I have seen a lot of coues deer country in our time of growing up and hunting in Arizona and this country looked phenomenal so we were dumbfounded as to why we were seeing so little. However we also new that much can change when the rut kicks in especially on this type of ranch so we kept at it. Well something did happen to give me a little hope on that first January trip. I was out glassing by myself as Matt caught a serious 24 hr flu bug. The morning proved to be uneventful with just a couple small bucks so I decided to head back to truck to get Matt back stateside when all of a sudden I almost stepped on these! I couldn't believe what laid before me and I made Matt hike to where I was even though he could barely move. This was a very exciting moment for us as like most of you we are shed addicts. I realized the rarity of this find and was very grateful however I couldn't help but think that between the lions and the locked bucks I was fighting an uphill battle..LOL! We took the heads back to the ranch house to add to the already impressive collection. Well I went home only to return again for the actual hunt on the 23rd of January. I had chosen that start date based on prior experience in Mexico along with the moon phase even though it meant Matt would be taking two hunters in there the week before me. One of the two hunters ended up harvesting a typical with mass galore which taped out at 117". For the hunt it would be myself and good friend Eric H. hunting. The first day was spent in the area where I had found the locked bucks. The day was slow with only a couple small bucks and does spotted. At the end of the day I ended up glassing up a very large buck. He was on top of a plateau across the way but moved out enough to get a good look. HUGE. I had the cross hairs on the buck following his every move on The Claw. The only problem is the buck was over 600 yds away and he never even for a split second stopped running that doe before he slipped back out of view. Very frustrating but still I made a good ethical decision. The next day I hiked into the backside of where that buck appeared to discover the honey hole. That afternoon as I glassed I started to find doe after doe appear in the thick country when all of a sudden a buck appeared head on at 350 yds as he stood up from a nap. I saw a mature frame and not willing to risk another missed opportunity and knowing I had 2 tags to fill I quickly swapped out my Leica Duovids for The Claw and rifle. Without a hesitation I let the air out of the buck at 348 yds. Although the buck was not the 120+" buck from the day before I was not disappointed at all. He is a beautiful 3 X 4 which scores into the mid 100's. The next day was Eric's last unfortunately as he had to get back to the office. We decided to give the area where I shot my buck a rest figuring we buggered it up enough the night before. Boy was that a mistake. As we glassed an area we had found does, Matt took some time to glass the area I shot my buck. To his amazement, right out in a grassy opening on the plateau was One of the largest framed deer we had ever seen running does around like mad! We couldn't believe our luck. We waited to see where they would move which was right into the Palo Verde thicket where the bigger buck from the first day came from. Nothing came out that afternoon but while I was glassing down into the surrounding low country I just about lost it as I cught a glimpse of another giant buck. I sent Matt and Eric down only to have them see the buck just long enough to know it was the largest deer they had seen on the hoof but not long enough to get the shot. Did I say this country was tough hunting?! The next day we took a day off while we took Eric back stateside. On the way back down Matt and I said "it's time to put one of these bombers on the ground!" The next day we started the hike up into the area where I had shot my buck and where the hot doe was keeping the good bucks. Unfortunately, they moved down ridge and we bumped them. We got a glimpse of two BIG framed bucks. One disappeared into the Palo Verde thicket before a good look but the other I noticed was a HUGE framed buck and a drop tine of some nature. He disappeared over the saddle and into the pocket where I shot my buck 2 days before. We snuck up to the rocky knob overlooking the pocket. We picked up the does immediately so I instantly set up my tripod and Claw system. The does were in the 550-650 yd range. I told Matt I am putting the smackdown on whichever of those two bucks that comes out first. Sure enough I caught movement of my buck running out of the Palo Verde thicket towards the does. he stopped behind a thick Grey thorn and I asked Matt for the range. "640 yds" he replied. I clicked in the MOA and settled in for the shot. With the Claw that actually means lightening my grip and support and relaxing all my muscles. All I could see now was his front shoulder but that was all I needed and was not about to watch the buck of my dreams run a doe out of sight for a second time. So I gently squeezed the shot off. At first Matt thought I had missed but then the buck started stumbling and he dropped to the ground. Amazingly, he found a way to get up again where I proceeded to put another two bullets in him. One was farther back as he walked but the other was on the front shoulder again. In fact the first shot was perfect up/down but 2" forward taking out the shoulder muscle but missing the shoulder barely. You can see both shots in the pics. The other shoulder shot put him down for good. As we walked up on the buck we were amazed at the uniqueness and size of his frame. We didn't know exactly what he would score with the weak G-3's and didn't care as we knew we were looking at a buck of a lifetime. he has double drop main beams. The right beam is 20" on the button and the left 18.5". His G-2's are 9.5" and his frame shoots straight up. He even has a 14" spread and above average mass to go with it which is deceiving because of how tall he is. Score definitely does not do this buck justice because of his lacking G-3's (3 and 4" respectively). Even so he scores in the low teens. As He Lay I shot both deer from the same rock on the same rock knob. I told Matt it is now dubbed, "Cade's Point" as I have a date with the "Picket Fence" buck next year. I am including a pic of me minutes after the 640 yd shot on my buck. Notice the front tripod leg on the ground and the other two legs on the rock. This was literally the ONLY place from which to effectively shoot from that distance. It was impossible to get prone anywhere on that knob and the knob was the only elevation high enough to see into the plateau the deer inhabited. I can honestly say I don't know how I would have killed my once in a lifetime buck without great tested shooting equipment and aid from The Claw. Take that for what it's worth. I know I am biased but it is the truth. Shot Set up the point in background is where i shot from I had a trip of a lifetime, full of ups and downs, ending with a buck I will never forget. It reminds me of why we hunt in the first place. The memory I will have of all the hard work put in experienced with lifelong friends is priceless. I want to thank Matt again of Borderland Adventures for a true high quality Sonora Mexico Coues deer hunt. Hopefully next year I will be posting pictures of the "picket fence" buck!

Josh, I was not on the ranch Jay went down on, although as you know it's a good one. Jay was just guiding this year and they did kill some whoppers again. Dan, Thanks but he pails in comparison to your buck. We never made it onto the ranch you shot your buck on. We found some hot does and never left but I was itching to go over there. Liked the look of it. Just not a lot of deer, eh?

Thx for all the posts guys. Yes it was a trip/experience of a lifetime..more than I could have hoped for. What made it all complete was shooting the bucks we did. Otherwise it would have just been a tough time. We really didn't see much in our other trips down. It was a testament to perseverance. Keith, Give me the call and i am there. After this weekend with The Western Hunting Expo, it will be time to catch some slobby fish! Cade

Gagger! Awesome. That is one fine looking deer!

Great buck and story! Very much congrats. I met Jim in 03' in unit 10 during elk hunt. We have mutual friends. Great guy. Congrats again

Manfrotto got it right with their new heads. The recognized a flaw with their past plate design, such as the RC2 models. It utilizes the 200PL plate. It is slightly faster to engage into the head but the stability of that junction has flaws due to the style of the cam lock. With the new heads, such as the case with the 701 HDV, they introduced the larger 500 PL plates. The plate has to "slide into its slote and then it is locked down. There is significantly more surface area of attachment along a longer retangular shaped plate. This greatly reduces an movement at the plate/head interface. If you are getting a new head I highly recommend the new models, such as the 701 HDV for this reason. You will not be able to use your old plates and will need to buy extra new plates for multiple uses in the field but in or testing it is well worth it. Just our .02 cents. You have to weigh the cost benefits yourself. It will make a difference with heavier higher power optics.

lol....i have seen that before and every time it reminds me of that sheep tied up as T-rex bait in Jurasic Park...........can anyone say, "Here, kitty,kitty!"

Jade, Yes, I remeber you. We met once before probably some 10 years ago. Yes, you should get a Claw report from Bill. He was there to witness the one shot 725 yard kill on my Dad's bull. In fact I seen the bull scouting and Bill glassed it up that afternoon. He was really impressed that my dad (who is your typical weekend warrior hunter) was able to make the shot that he did. No BS, he made a one shot kill smack dab on that bull's shoulder right through both lungs at 725 yards with very little practice. It sounds cliche but if my dad can make that shot then anyone can if they have the right equipment. Obviously, The Claw doesn't make your rifle shoot better but rather it doesn't limit your rifle's potential by limiting your shot opportunities. For instance, my rifle would have killed Dad's bull at 725 yards without The Claw but not in that specific situation because the canyon side was a 70 degree angle and it was thick oakbrush. No way to get prone and would have taken forever to set up with bipod and sticks under butt of rifle for him because he is not skilled enough to manage both. Anyways he made a great shot, on video no less. I do wish Jeremy was there to help pack out (he has always been my packhorse, although he didn;t get put to use much when we were teenagers..lol). I attached a picture of Bill packing the rack out. Of course he had to be the one to pack the rack out..would Bill have it any other way?...lol Cade

Here's a pic of Bradley's buck. Good job Bradley. Had lots of fun!

Hello all, I have enjoyed reading the posts on this topic. As part owner and inventor of The Claw I felt some answers or responses to some previous posts were warranted. First off, shooting equipment is very personalized and varying. Everyone has their favorite caliber or make of gun. Why do some swear by Remington while others swear by Weatherby, Sako, Browning, etc? Even then, some will not shoot stock firearms but rather demand custom. In most cases, their choice is largely based on their own anecdotal experience in the field. Well, shooting supports are the same. Many have had great success with many different types of shooting rests and aids. After all, if the shooting support worked once then why wouldn’t the same support work again? The Claw was born because we, as very demanding hunters, felt there was a need in the field for this type of shooting aid and the wide spectrum of benefits it affords the hunter under unpredictable hunting conditions. I am not going to breakdown every advantage of The Claw because there are too many to discuss each one on this forum. This post is long enough as it is..lol. However, there is a list of these benefits on the website and I highly encourage people to review this list and contemplate how each of those advantages could help them in a hunting situation. I am most certain that each of you have had a situation where you were not able to harvest an animal but would have been able to if you could have eliminated the restricting factor of your current setup. As a quick example, I guided a relative on a coues deer hunt this last weekend. Bradley is 15 yrs old. He was shooting a 300 win mag with a 5 power fixed Leopold scope. This respectable (75”) buck stepped out at 100 yds broadside. I informed him that we could do better being only the second day of their time in the field and he elected to pass the buck. Well the buck started off across the hill side trotting up and down cuts with his flag up, etc. In the meantime, Bradley got an itchy finger and couldn’t stand letting the buck go. I said, “hey, it is your tag and if you would enjoy taking that buck you should”. So I quickly set him up on The Claw. The buck was still traversing rapidly through the steep terrain as many of you have witnessed before. At 400 yds (396) the buck was going to crest to the point where a shot was no longer possible. The buck stopped for a split second where Bradley was able to make a great shot on the buck. He was able to follow that buck with the crosshairs on his body for a good 100 yds while the buck weaved in and out of brush. The second the buck stopped he was steady and able to shoot on a moments notice due to The Claw. If you haven’t experienced panning the crosshairs with this set-up you are missing out! Now I will argue that he would not have been able to kill that buck and lost out on a great experience if not for The Claw. If he was set up on a bipod or shooting sticks it would have been very difficult to impossible to execute the shot but in this case it was very easy. That is just a recent example. There is another example where Cody Nicholson harvested a 416” gross bull this year in Arizona with his muzzleloader. He followed his bull through the thick junipers while the bull tried to stay with all his cows. It was a good 10 minutes of waiting that bull out before he could make the shot. When the bull finally stepped out to present a clear shot he was dead locked on the bull. A quick one shot kill followed. What other set up allows you to do this? We are unaware of one. If it were me as a consumer The Claw would be worth that advantage right there but that is only one of many. I think a lot of people, perhaps Amanda included, due to the appearance of the set up in pictures felt that there would be absolutely no movement in the set up. While The Claw is very rock solid it still requires the operator to know how to shoot with it. It is unlike any other on the market. With bipods or shooting sticks mounted on the for-end of the rifle the operator has to support the butt of the rifle for it to work. This means that the set up is only as stable as the rear support which in the traditional way is the operator’s shoulder/back/arm muscles. This is not very stable. What many now do to overcome this weaker position is to place shooting sticks under the butt of the rifle (like Amanda and Jim have referred to). This is a great method and one we used in the past. It does provide a great rock solid shooting platform. However, it is not without its limitations also. Think about this. If you mount your rifle in The Claw on the tripod it absolutely, positively will not even slightly move….Absolute rest! Contrary to what was mentioned earlier the heavier guns do not make the tripod move more but it is the opposite. Lighter objects provide for more movement because when you put your shoulder behind the rifle it is easier to create movement on a light object. This is why bench rest shooters shoot as heavy as a rifle as they can get away with. It’s why Shaquile Oneal can’t shoot free throws also! The only thing that can move the crosshairs when mounted in The Claw is a force to the rifle. So theoretically, if you could shoot the rifle without putting your shoulder into it then your crosshair will not move AT ALL. While we obviously do not recommend shooting without your shoulder behind the rifle you can learn to shoot with very light pressure in the stock. Much like when shooting a bow, your bow hand should be very relaxed, gripping the bow as lightly as possible. No other set up will allow you to do this in this way. When you learn to shoot relaxed like this then the set up is phenomenal. When I spoke with Amanda she had not shot with The Claw yet, only looked through it without me explaining these concepts. Secondly, she was comparing the stability of The Claw to her current set up where she has shooting sticks under the butt of her rifle. She was not comparing apples to apples. If you placed shooting sticks under the butt of a rifle clamped in The Claw it is more stable then what she is currently using. However, a rear support is not needed with The Claw if you practice proper shooting techniques. Now before you argue against this please consider the fact that we have done extensive product testing with very experienced shooters and as you are seeing with pictures…the proof is in the pudding. The hunters using The Claw already are some of the most successful and experienced hunters in the industry. They have nothing to gain by using and supporting The Claw and do not compromise their hunting opportunities under any circumstances. Again, as Amanda stated, if you just can’t get comfortable with the thought of a “light shoulder” behind the butt of the gun you can do as done in the past and place shooting sticks under the butt of the gun to eliminate any remaining “micro” movement. This provides you the same or better feel upon shot as before but you gain all the other benefits of The Claw under all shooting conditions when you don’t have time to place sticks under the butt of the rifle. Referring back to Bradley’s hunt, there was not even close to enough time to set up sticks under the butt of the gun and you can’t pan across a hill side to the same degree with other set ups. Why limit your shot opportunities? The Claw simply is the most versatile shooting aid available and nothing, including other setups mentioned in other posts, will give you all the advantages the Claw does and the stability of The Claw can equal and surpass them all. Some of you will naturally disagree with these points because you will defend your current set up. I am not saying what you are using is inferior and you shouldn’t use it. If you are having great success with your current set up and you haven’t experienced limits in shot opportunities then by all means you should not spend any money on The Claw. We just feel you will be missing out if you don’t ever experience its potential, which leads me to my next point. Cost has been a big concern of many posters. Let me first say that my partner and I started fabricating this product due to a need and opportunity we saw for hunters. We were going to be using The Claw ourselves and those that we had doing product testing for us realized its huge potential. Now there is a lot of costs and work behind making The Claw so naturally we have to treat this like a business. With all businesses they are run not to loose money, but fortunately I have a career that takes up most of my life and provides us with all that we need so we tried not to price the unit in a way to take advantage of others. Having said that, one of the reasons that this product took so long to make it to the market was because we tried endlessly to find a manufacturer that could make the units at a cost that was reasonable and yet still retain the integrity of the product design. We spoke with MANY manufacturers and came up with the lowest cost we could. We do not feel that an integral piece of your shooting arsenal should be compromised due to financial reasons. Also, unfortunately the first wave of product was fabricated before this recent downturn in the economy. Everything, including machinist fees was inflated along with the inflated market, we have since learned. The current price was established based on our high costs along with comparing The Claw to other products on the market and what it had to offer. We felt that considering these factors the current price was reasonable. We sincerely realize that at this price it makes it very difficult for many to afford without much sacrifice. We promise that if there is an opportunity in the future to make and offer The Claw at a lower cost WHILE maintaining its quality we will transfer those savings over to the consumer. In the meantime, all we can say is that we will assure you that if you buy the product that we will stand behind its effectiveness and we feel that it will open many doors that you otherwise wouldn’t have. As a famous commercial says.....hunting success, priceless! To us the difference between success and failure is worth the price of The Claw. If you have any questions about the use or effectiveness of The Claw please contact us. Both Jay and I would love to discuss it with you or even if it’s just about hunting in general give us a call. We can always find time for that, right! Dr. Cade Smith

Hello all, I have enjoyed reading the posts on this topic. As part owner and inventor of The Claw I felt some answers or responses to some previous posts were warranted. First off, shooting equipment is very personalized and varying. Everyone has their favorite caliber or make of gun. Why do some swear by Remington while others swear by Weatherby, Sako, Browning, etc? Even then, some will not shoot stock firearms but rather demand custom. In most cases, their choice is largely based on their own anecdotal experience in the field. Well, shooting supports are the same. Many have had great success with many different types of shooting rests and aids. After all, if the shooting support worked once then why wouldn’t the same support work again? The Claw was born because we, as very demanding hunters, felt there was a need in the field for this type of shooting aid and the wide spectrum of benefits it affords the hunter under unpredictable hunting conditions. I am not going to breakdown every advantage of The Claw because there are too many to discuss each one on this forum. This post is long enough as it is..lol. However, there is a list of these benefits on the website and I highly encourage people to review this list and contemplate how each of those advantages could help them in a hunting situation. I am most certain that each of you have had a situation where you were not able to harvest an animal but would have been able to if you could have eliminated the restricting factor of your current setup. As a quick example, I guided a relative on a coues deer hunt this last weekend. Bradley is 15 yrs old. He was shooting a 300 win mag with a 5 power fixed Leopold scope. This respectable (75”) buck stepped out at 100 yds broadside. I informed him that we could do better being only the second day of their time in the field and he elected to pass the buck. Well the buck started off across the hill side trotting up and down cuts with his flag up, etc. In the meantime, Bradley got an itchy finger and couldn’t stand letting the buck go. I said, “hey, it is your tag and if you would enjoy taking that buck you should”. So I quickly set him up on The Claw. The buck was still traversing rapidly through the steep terrain as many of you have witnessed before. At 400 yds (396) the buck was going to crest to the point where a shot was no longer possible. The buck stopped for a split second where Bradley was able to make a great shot on the buck. He was able to follow that buck with the crosshairs on his body for a good 100 yds while the buck weaved in and out of brush. The second the buck stopped he was steady and able to shoot on a moments notice due to The Claw. If you haven’t experienced panning the crosshairs with this set-up you are missing out! Now I will argue that he would not have been able to kill that buck and lost out on a great experience if not for The Claw. If he was set up on a bipod or shooting sticks it would have been very difficult to impossible to execute the shot but in this case it was very easy. That is just a recent example. There is another example where Cody Nicholson harvested a 416” gross bull this year in Arizona with his muzzleloader. He followed his bull through the thick junipers while the bull tried to stay with all his cows. It was a good 10 minutes of waiting that bull out before he could make the shot. When the bull finally stepped out to present a clear shot he was dead locked on the bull. A quick one shot kill followed. What other set up allows you to do this? We are unaware of one. If it were me as a consumer The Claw would be worth that advantage right there but that is only one of many. I think a lot of people, perhaps Amanda included, due to the appearance of the set up in pictures felt that there would be absolutely no movement in the set up. While The Claw is very rock solid it still requires the operator to know how to shoot with it. It is unlike any other on the market. With bipods or shooting sticks mounted on the for-end of the rifle the operator has to support the butt of the rifle for it to work. This means that the set up is only as stable as the rear support which in the traditional way is the operator’s shoulder/back/arm muscles. This is not very stable. What many now do to overcome this weaker position is to place shooting sticks under the butt of the rifle (like Amanda and Jim have referred to). This is a great method and one we used in the past. It does provide a great rock solid shooting platform. However, it is not without its limitations also. Think about this. If you mount your rifle in The Claw on the tripod it absolutely, positively will not even slightly move….Absolute rest! Contrary to what was mentioned earlier the heavier guns do not make the tripod move more but it is the opposite. Lighter objects provide for more movement because when you put your shoulder behind the rifle it is easier to create movement on a light object. This is why bench rest shooters shoot as heavy as a rifle as they can get away with. It’s why Shaquile Oneal can’t shoot free throws also! The only thing that can move the crosshairs when mounted in The Claw is a force to the rifle. So theoretically, if you could shoot the rifle without putting your shoulder into it then your crosshair will not move AT ALL. While we obviously do not recommend shooting without your shoulder behind the rifle you can learn to shoot with very light pressure in the stock. Much like when shooting a bow, your bow hand should be very relaxed, gripping the bow as lightly as possible. No other set up will allow you to do this in this way. When you learn to shoot relaxed like this then the set up is phenomenal. When I spoke with Amanda she had not shot with The Claw yet, only looked through it without me explaining these concepts. Secondly, she was comparing the stability of The Claw to her current set up where she has shooting sticks under the butt of her rifle. She was not comparing apples to apples. If you placed shooting sticks under the butt of a rifle clamped in The Claw it is more stable then what she is currently using. However, a rear support is not needed with The Claw if you practice proper shooting techniques. Now before you argue against this please consider the fact that we have done extensive product testing with very experienced shooters and as you are seeing with pictures…the proof is in the pudding. The hunters using The Claw already are some of the most successful and experienced hunters in the industry. They have nothing to gain by using and supporting The Claw and do not compromise their hunting opportunities under any circumstances. Again, as Amanda stated, if you just can’t get comfortable with the thought of a “light shoulder” behind the butt of the gun you can do as done in the past and place shooting sticks under the butt of the gun to eliminate any remaining “micro” movement. This provides you the same or better feel upon shot as before but you gain all the other benefits of The Claw under all shooting conditions when you don’t have time to place sticks under the butt of the rifle. Referring back to Bradley’s hunt, there was not even close to enough time to set up sticks under the butt of the gun and you can’t pan across a hill side to the same degree with other set ups. Why limit your shot opportunities? The Claw simply is the most versatile shooting aid available and nothing, including other setups mentioned in other posts, will give you all the advantages the Claw does and the stability of The Claw can equal and surpass them all. Some of you will naturally disagree with these points because you will defend your current set up. I am not saying what you are using is inferior and you shouldn’t use it. If you are having great success with your current set up and you haven’t experienced limits in shot opportunities then by all means you should not spend any money on The Claw. We just feel you will be missing out if you don’t ever experience its potential, which leads me to my next point. Cost has been a big concern of many posters. Let me first say that my partner and I started fabricating this product due to a need and opportunity we saw for hunters. We were going to be using The Claw ourselves and those that we had doing product testing for us realized its huge potential. Now there is a lot of costs and work behind making The Claw so naturally we have to treat this like a business. With all businesses they are run not to loose money, but fortunately I have a career that takes up most of my life and provides us with all that we need so we tried not to price the unit in a way to take advantage of others. Having said that, one of the reasons that this product took so long to make it to the market was because we tried endlessly to find a manufacturer that could make the units at a cost that was reasonable and yet still retain the integrity of the product design. We spoke with MANY manufacturers and came up with the lowest cost we could. We do not feel that an integral piece of your shooting arsenal should be compromised due to financial reasons. Also, unfortunately the first wave of product was fabricated before this recent downturn in the economy. Everything, including machinist fees was inflated along with the inflated market, we have since learned. The current price was established based on our high costs along with comparing The Claw to other products on the market and what it had to offer. We felt that considering these factors the current price was reasonable. We sincerely realize that at this price it makes it very difficult for many to afford without much sacrifice. We promise that if there is an opportunity in the future to make and offer The Claw at a lower cost WHILE maintaining its quality we will transfer those savings over to the consumer. In the meantime, all we can say is that we will assure you that if you buy the product that we will stand behind its effectiveness and we feel that it will open many doors that you otherwise wouldn’t have. As a famous commercial says.....hunting success, priceless! To us the difference between success and failure is worth the price of The Claw. If you have any questions about the use or effectiveness of The Claw please contact us. Both Jay and I would love to discuss it with you or even if it’s just about hunting in general give us a call. We can always find time for that, right! Dr. Cade Smith

Hello all, I have enjoyed reading the posts on this topic. As part owner and inventor of The Claw I felt some answers or responses to some previous posts were warranted. First off, shooting equipment is very personalized and varying. Everyone has their favorite caliber or make of gun. Why do some swear by Remington while others swear by Weatherby, Sako, Browning, etc? Even then, some will not shoot stock firearms but rather demand custom. In most cases, their choice is largely based on their own anecdotal experience in the field. Well, shooting supports are the same. Many have had great success with many different types of shooting rests and aids. After all, if the shooting support worked once then why wouldn’t the same support work again? The Claw was born because we, as very demanding hunters, felt there was a need in the field for this type of shooting aid and the wide spectrum of benefits it affords the hunter under unpredictable hunting conditions. I am not going to breakdown every advantage of The Claw because there are too many to discuss each one on this forum. This post is long enough as it is..lol. However, there is a list of these benefits on the website and I highly encourage people to review this list and contemplate how each of those advantages could help them in a hunting situation. I am most certain that each of you have had a situation where you were not able to harvest an animal but would have been able to if you could have eliminated the restricting factor of your current setup. As a quick example, I guided a relative on a coues deer hunt this last weekend. Bradley is 15 yrs old. He was shooting a 300 win mag with a 5 power fixed Leopold scope. This respectable (75”) buck stepped out at 100 yds broadside. I informed him that we could do better being only the second day of their time in the field and he elected to pass the buck. Well the buck started off across the hill side trotting up and down cuts with his flag up, etc. In the meantime, Bradley got an itchy finger and couldn’t stand letting the buck go. I said, “hey, it is your tag and if you would enjoy taking that buck you should”. So I quickly set him up on The Claw. The buck was still traversing rapidly through the steep terrain as many of you have witnessed before. At 400 yds (396) the buck was going to crest to the point where a shot was no longer possible. The buck stopped for a split second where Bradley was able to make a great shot on the buck. He was able to follow that buck with the crosshairs on his body for a good 100 yds while the buck weaved in and out of brush. The second the buck stopped he was steady and able to shoot on a moments notice due to The Claw. If you haven’t experienced panning the crosshairs with this set-up you are missing out! Now I will argue that he would not have been able to kill that buck and lost out on a great experience if not for The Claw. If he was set up on a bipod or shooting sticks it would have been very difficult to impossible to execute the shot but in this case it was very easy. That is just a recent example. There is another example where Cody Nicholson harvested a 416” gross bull this year in Arizona with his muzzleloader. He followed his bull through the thick junipers while the bull tried to stay with all his cows. It was a good 10 minutes of waiting that bull out before he could make the shot. When the bull finally stepped out to present a clear shot he was dead locked on the bull. A quick one shot kill followed. What other set up allows you to do this? We are unaware of one. If it were me as a consumer The Claw would be worth that advantage right there but that is only one of many. I think a lot of people, perhaps Amanda included, due to the appearance of the set up in pictures felt that there would be absolutely no movement in the set up. While The Claw is very rock solid it still requires the operator to know how to shoot with it. It is unlike any other on the market. With bipods or shooting sticks mounted on the for-end of the rifle the operator has to support the butt of the rifle for it to work. This means that the set up is only as stable as the rear support which in the traditional way is the operator’s shoulder/back/arm muscles. This is not very stable. What many now do to overcome this weaker position is to place shooting sticks under the butt of the rifle (like Amanda and Jim have referred to). This is a great method and one we used in the past. It does provide a great rock solid shooting platform. However, it is not without its limitations also. Think about this. If you mount your rifle in The Claw on the tripod it absolutely, positively will not even slightly move….Absolute rest! Contrary to what was mentioned earlier the heavier guns do not make the tripod move more but it is the opposite. Lighter objects provide for more movement because when you put your shoulder behind the rifle it is easier to create movement on a light object. This is why bench rest shooters shoot as heavy as a rifle as they can get away with. It’s why Shaquile Oneal can’t shoot free throws also! The only thing that can move the crosshairs when mounted in The Claw is a force to the rifle. So theoretically, if you could shoot the rifle without putting your shoulder into it then your crosshair will not move AT ALL. While we obviously do not recommend shooting without your shoulder behind the rifle you can learn to shoot with very light pressure in the stock. Much like when shooting a bow, your bow hand should be very relaxed, gripping the bow as lightly as possible. No other set up will allow you to do this in this way. When you learn to shoot relaxed like this then the set up is phenomenal. When I spoke with Amanda she had not shot with The Claw yet, only looked through it without me explaining these concepts. Secondly, she was comparing the stability of The Claw to her current set up where she has shooting sticks under the butt of her rifle. She was not comparing apples to apples. If you placed shooting sticks under the butt of a rifle clamped in The Claw it is more stable then what she is currently using. However, a rear support is not needed with The Claw if you practice proper shooting techniques. Now before you argue against this please consider the fact that we have done extensive product testing with very experienced shooters and as you are seeing with pictures…the proof is in the pudding. The hunters using The Claw already are some of the most successful and experienced hunters in the industry. They have nothing to gain by using and supporting The Claw and do not compromise their hunting opportunities under any circumstances. Again, as Amanda stated, if you just can’t get comfortable with the thought of a “light shoulder” behind the butt of the gun you can do as done in the past and place shooting sticks under the butt of the gun to eliminate any remaining “micro” movement. This provides you the same or better feel upon shot as before but you gain all the other benefits of The Claw under all shooting conditions when you don’t have time to place sticks under the butt of the rifle. Referring back to Bradley’s hunt, there was not even close to enough time to set up sticks under the butt of the gun and you can’t pan across a hill side to the same degree with other set ups. Why limit your shot opportunities? The Claw simply is the most versatile shooting aid available and nothing, including other setups mentioned in other posts, will give you all the advantages the Claw does and the stability of The Claw can equal and surpass them all. Some of you will naturally disagree with these points because you will defend your current set up. I am not saying what you are using is inferior and you shouldn’t use it. If you are having great success with your current set up and you haven’t experienced limits in shot opportunities then by all means you should not spend any money on The Claw. We just feel you will be missing out if you don’t ever experience its potential, which leads me to my next point. Cost has been a big concern of many posters. Let me first say that my partner and I started fabricating this product due to a need and opportunity we saw for hunters. We were going to be using The Claw ourselves and those that we had doing product testing for us realized its huge potential. Now there is a lot of costs and work behind making The Claw so naturally we have to treat this like a business. With all businesses they are run not to loose money, but fortunately I have a career that takes up most of my life and provides us with all that we need so we tried not to price the unit in a way to take advantage of others. Having said that, one of the reasons that this product took so long to make it to the market was because we tried endlessly to find a manufacturer that could make the units at a cost that was reasonable and yet still retain the integrity of the product design. We spoke with MANY manufacturers and came up with the lowest cost we could. We do not feel that an integral piece of your shooting arsenal should be compromised due to financial reasons. Also, unfortunately the first wave of product was fabricated before this recent downturn in the economy. Everything, including machinist fees was inflated along with the inflated market, we have since learned. The current price was established based on our high costs along with comparing The Claw to other products on the market and what it had to offer. We felt that considering these factors the current price was reasonable. We sincerely realize that at this price it makes it very difficult for many to afford without much sacrifice. We promise that if there is an opportunity in the future to make and offer The Claw at a lower cost WHILE maintaining its quality we will transfer those savings over to the consumer. In the meantime, all we can say is that we will assure you that if you buy the product that we will stand behind its effectiveness and we feel that it will open many doors that you otherwise wouldn’t have. As a famous commercial says.....hunting success, priceless! To us the difference between success and failure is worth the price of The Claw. If you have any questions about the use or effectiveness of The Claw please contact us. Both Jay and I would love to discuss it with you or even if it’s just about hunting in general give us a call. We can always find time for that, right! Dr. Cade Smith

Hey Jeff, how do you like that .257 Weatherby? I love the ballistics of that caliber but have never been a real fan of Weatherby's. What has been your experience? What kind of MOA does it shoot? I've got two boys that will be of hunting age soon and I thought this would be a good caliber for them AND ME (hehe) to use.