RE: Determining Height
Here's how I do it.
I'm 6' tall, so I stand up next to the tree, and ballpark mark my height. Then, I back up 10 yards or so, andhold my hand out in front of my face (arm extended), usingmy fingers to make agap that's"six feet" tall (put your thumb where your feet were, and your index finger where the top of your head was). Then, I just kinda keep "stacking" my gap, and measure how many 6' increments there are - between the ground and where I want to be. 4 "stacks" is 24 feet for me.
Easy to do, hard to explain. Gets you in the ballpark really easy.
Sometimes you get in some good, tallpole timber, and you might THINK you're 18' up, but then you realize that your 25' rope is too short, and your bow is already dangling below, and you're STILL not in the canopy. LOL
I have a 25' rope, so I like to be between 18-24' - I do the finger trick, and map out where I want to hang - usually there's a knot or branch or something to use as a visual reference. Just hang the stand on, and climb to that point.
I also mark my pull rope, so I can get an accurate measurement once I'm up there.