The more experience I’ve earned hunting big game, the smaller my gear pile gets. Most of the things that make it into the truck and pack are specifically selected to do one of two things: allow me to glass all day with great confidence, or to move quickly and comfortably. I have never been intrigued by shooting with my rifle attached to a tripod because the options for a tripod head seemed to either be an overbuilt ball head that didn’t excite me for glassing, or stacking various panner/ball/pan head attachments with a complicated, heavy, and expensive contraption being the result. I ran across the Wiser Precision BT-20 Ridge Warden Ball Tilt-Head at the Western Hunt Expo, and it intrigued me enough to order one.
Wiser Precision Ridge Warden Tripod Head
In addition to buying direct from Wiser Precision, Rokslide Sponsor S&S Archery carries Wiser Precision products, and Rokslide Sponsor Unknown Munitions carries the Ridge Warden. See it here on the Wiser Precision website.
The Wiser Precision Ridge Warden sets itself apart from anything I have seen by operating like a traditional pan head with smooth X & Y-axis movement, while seamlessly transitioning to the full-orbit movement of a tensioned ball head. One can glass up an animal and easily swap the optic for the rifle, without swapping tripod heads, changing adapters, or any other extra steps. Sounds great? Sure does. Sounds game-changing? Yeah, if it actually works GREAT for both tasks. Let’s see how some summer scouting, shooting, and September hunting turned out with the Ridge Warden Ball Tilt Pan Head.
Pan Head and Ball Head
The Ridge Warden is an entirely made-in-the-USA tripod head that serves both as a traditional ball head and a traditional pan head. At first glance, the Ridge Warden looks like most ball heads, but with a handle; however, the duality is accomplished with an ingenious internal design.
The “large” 7075 aluminum ball has two opposing indents on the X (horizontal) axis. Within the 6061 aluminum base of the Ridge Warden sits a spring-loaded plunger for each detent that provides a soft-lock when the ball head is aligned with the Y (vertical axis). When the detents are engaged, which happens automatically, the Ridge Warden functions with X-Y pan and tilt movement. Unlocking from pan head mode simply takes a little bit of firm tipping pressure on the Z axis to achieve full continuous orbit. When viewed from behind the optic/rifle, this action would look like a plane rolling or tipping its wings.
Key Features and Specs
- $299 retail as of October ‘25
- My Ridge Warden weighed 3.8 ounces complete, and 3.3 ounces without the included carbon fiber handle and knurled handle bolt
- Acra-Swiss clamp is adjustable with a finger and thumb-sized “square” knob
- Panning tension is via a 1/16” hex head hidden set screw–intended as set & forget
- Tilt and orbital tension is via a 1“ x 1/4” finger lever on the side
- 3/8-16 threads should mount to most any tripod
- Machined from billet 6061aluminum, 7075 aluminum, and stainless steel
- ~1” from the Arca-Swiss flat to the rotational point of the ball
- 100% made in the USA
- Overall height from threaded base to top of Arca-Swiss clamp is ~2 ⅛”
- The round base where it attaches to the tripod is my only complaint; I wish there were wrench flats, and you can see in my pictures where my tool jaws dinged up the base
Does it do a GREAT job glassing?
Behind glass, I found the Ridge Warden to leave nothing to be desired. My frame of reference is the LP pan head from Tricer, of which I have multiples and use with optics up to 90mm objectives. The Ridge Warden pans without sticking, stops without backlash or leak, and the tension on mine was just right as it arrived.
Tilting was equally impressive, and the tension lever on the side was easy to fine-tune to my preferences and optics needs. Most importantly, I could get the tension adjusted to allow my ATC and 14x NLs to grid smoothly through the full range of tilt WITHOUT having to lock down the tension for each new frame. Just a little pressure on the handle, I like to go down to up, left to right, and I could pick apart a new section.
In the past, when I have moved too far with other heads or had to reset my vision due to sputtering movement, I feel like it takes me a few minutes for my mind to weave the different fields of view together. Lastly, for those who enjoy digiscoping video, the Ridge Warden is more than smooth enough to deliver good action shots and stable enough to center up any animal the user focuses on without having to account for settling.
The real test is on the lightweight Aziak Backcountry Tripod, where the Ridge Warden allowed everything described above WITHOUT lifting the Aziak’s feet. In my eyes, that solidifies the smoothness and control that the Ridge Warden offers and answers if it is great for glassing. Those two, combined with the Wiser Precision BA-7 Sparrow Bino Adapter, are going to make rifle season glassing days too easy.
Does it do a GREAT job as a shooting platform?
This was a little bit new to me because attaching a rifle on top of a tripod always seemed to need an excess of tripod head attachments/adapters. I added Wiser Precision’s Arca-Swiss rifle plate to my order and was off and running.
What surprised me most about having my rifle secured in the Ridge Warden was the decrease in muzzle rise. This was very apparent on my large Manfrotto 055 tripod, but also had the same effect prone with Aziak’s legs fully spread. I liked it better than a bipod, and could very easily throw the splayed-out Aziak over a pack to build out a solid shooting position.
The ~1” distance from the pivot point to the clamping surfaces means that the rifle doesn’t make things top-heavy, nor does the point of aim shift when tilting like it would with a larger rotational radius.
Somewhat unrelated to backcountry hunting, my 7-year-old son thinks it is the coolest thing, and I think it brings a level of safety to mount his rimfire on a tripod and shoot standing. From a shooting standpoint, it was a great experience that I will utilize in the future, with one caveat: take some unloaded dry runs with the Ridge Warden to understand how the auto-locking detents feel, so they don’t surprise you with a loaded rifle.
Will it stay with me?
Overall, the Ridge Warden will have a place on every hunt I go on in the near future. Its lightweight gets the green light even on archery elk hunts where glassing opportunities might never arise, and it’s stable enough to sit behind for the whole day. Those points in and of themselves make the Ridge Warden competitive, but the ability the Ridge Warden offers as a shooting platform with literally nothing else added is what sets it apart. With so many hunters adding Arca-Swiss rails to their rifles, Wiser Precision’s Ridge Warden should get a lot of attention.
Comment or ask Kyle questions here.
Wiser is also doing a giveaway so click here to get entered!
