Hunting in his blood

One thing has driven Claus all his life: the need to make things better. And when buck fever kept getting in the way, that need set off a search — one that would, in time, become Viper-Flex.

Hunting wasn't a hobby Claus picked up. It was already there when he arrived. His father, his uncle, two cousins, his grandfather before them all — all hunters. As soon as he could walk, Claus walked behind his father with the dog on a leash and the hunt in his eyes. There was never any question what he would become. And the day he could lift his father's Diana 35 air rifle, it became his most prized possession.

Fourth generation

A craft inherited

Hunting wasn't the only thing Claus inherited. He's a fourth-generation blacksmith and machinist — born into a workshop where repairs, problem-solving and inventive construction were just part of daily life. The seed was planted early: imagine making a living from something you'd invent yourself. He didn't know what yet. Only that the idea wouldn't leave him.

The career

From blacksmith to engineer

Claus trained as a blacksmith and went to work at a heavy truck workshop. The trade was interesting, but the heavy lifting wrecked his back. The decision to go back to school suddenly became easy. He chose mechanical engineering — and it was the right call.

Before the studies began, he spent time in the asphalt industry, helping build and develop a small asphalt paver. The dream of becoming a designer only grew stronger.

The engineering years

After graduating, he moved into the gravel-pit industry — crushers, screens, conveyor belts, the kind of equipment his hands already knew. Then a few years at a drawing office in a company that built special machinery. But desk life alone didn't sit well with him. He wanted to be his own man, and as a freelance designer and mechanic he took on whatever came: structural steel, gravel-pit gear, plumbing, carpentry.

When the financial crisis hit in 2007-08, he had to change course again. After a year of odd jobs he returned to the special machinery company — this time as site manager, mostly installing in Germany. When those projects wrapped up, a posting for a crane installer turned into eight years as a sales and project engineer.

The passion

A lifetime behind the rifle

The passion from boyhood never left him. He took to shooting early. Clay pigeon first — and as a junior shooter, he reached the top with two Danish championships.

Then came rifle shooting. Suddenly Claus found himself in the federation final among the top ten — with a simple BRNO hunting rifle in .222 Rem and a cheap Japanese scope, 9x maximum magnification. Almost the wrong kit for the job. He took seventh place anyway.

During his studies, instead of investing in better equipment, Claus turned to Nordic combination shooting — shotgun and rifle together, where the playing field was more level. The placings climbed: 19th, then 7th, then 4th. Then, finally, Scandinavian champion across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Buck fever

And yet one thing kept following him: buck fever. Training didn't fix it. The adrenaline would creep in on the range and in the field, the rifle would shake, and the risk of a wounded animal or a missed shot was real. In 1987, that was what drove Claus to build his first primitive shooting stick. It worked — but it wasn't the whole answer.

The breakthrough

The idea that became Viper-Flex

In 2008, Claus took a homemade four-legged shooting stick on a hunt in Sweden — and came home with a Swedish gold-medal buck. The seed was sown. He looked at what was on the market. None of the four-legged sticks were good enough. The thought came quickly: this can be done better.

By that point Claus had decades behind him as hunter, marksman, and a trained instructor in both rifle and shotgun. He started drawing on the computer. The turning point came when another hunter asked if his daughter could try shooting a rifle. The father's gun was a heavy 30.06, so Claus offered his own 22-250 instead. That started a long conversation about shooting, reloading and hunting — and a friendship with René.

Meeting René

René owned a machine workshop. The two of them took it on as a hobby project — building the first prototypes of what would become Viper-Flex. The first earned a nickname fast: The Black Death. Because it was that good, that stable. It wasn't yet telescopic. The refinements came over many quiet evenings in the workshop.

Three years of development later, the first real Viper-Flex sticks left production in 2014.

From hobby to business

Making a living from it

The first year was a success. Turnover hit 125,000 DKK. The profit was 100 DKK. The direction was clear: the market wanted the product.

Production grew. Bigger premises were needed. Around the same time came the chance to pitch on Løvens Hule — the Danish edition of Dragon's Den.

In 2017, Viper-Flex moved into its own premises, where the company sits today. For René, that meant more space for new machines in his workshop, but it also pulled his focus back to his own business. After a few years he sold his share. Claus stayed on, running the company in what little spare time he had — with the steady help of his partner.

The development continues

The development never stopped. In 2018 came the Styx range. The year after, Claus quit his job at the crane company to give Viper-Flex his full attention.

Three new models have followed — in 2022, 2023 and 2025. And maybe that's what defines Claus best: he never quite stops thinking, improving, building. From the first day with a four-legged stick in the Swedish woods to today, the goal has been the same — to make hunting better, more stable, more reliable. Who's to say it stops here?