The most important thing that I have found is that you must be there in order to shoot a deer so hunt often. Hunting in the middle of the day can be very productive and it also reduces the amount of time, noise and scent that you create going in and out twice. The more you are in the woods the more you will learn and the better your odds are going to be. Also, you need to practice like you play. If you hunt from a climber with a face mask on then you need practice from a climber with a face mask on. Try to hunt the wind as much as possible. The better your entry and exit routes are the more you can hunt a stand and the more likely that stand is to be a consistent producer. The harder you work the luckier you will get
Here's another. A climber is noisy. In small plots where deer are no more than a thousand yards away it's better to have several permanent stands that you can slip into unseen and unheard
Nodog,
I think your idea is good but you can get by with a climber on deer that are much much closer than that. I have climbed a tree and had deer stand up shortly after climbing the tree on a few different occaisions that were bedded no farther than 70 - 80 yards. On several other occaisions I have had deer walk up while I was climbing or just as I finished climbing or shot deer within a minute of finishing my climb. I think you are giving their hearing way too much respect. I prefer to hunt a lock-on if I know deer are close but if I think I have 150 yards of seperation then I will hunt a climber in a heartbeat.