RE: Sun in your face while in stand
I concern myself more with the wind than I do the sun, but I too am cautious about shadows. Also had an experience this summer that opened my eyes to something I hadn't thought about either. We were shooting targets from a tree stand down in the woods around sunset, and I went to take a picture of one of the guys shooting from a tree with the sun behind him. His vanes glowed, his glasses reflected prisms of light everywhere, even stuff thought of as non-reflective shimmered in the late sun. His every movement was "spotlighted". Late afternoon sun is a photographers dream for great pictures, but it's something to keep in mind when hunting.