khuengo

Guys,
This Friday is the begining of my first ML deer hunting season. I just bought a Non-typical Ameristep climbing treestand and wonder how highi should climb up assuming that the tree is tall enough for me to climb ashigh as I want to and I have no problem with height. Iclimbed 30 ft today but notquite sure it was high enough. Pleasegive meyour advice. Thanks a lot.
By the way, it took my a good 30 minutes to set up and climb up. Is that too slow?
khuengo

cayugad

I normally go up 10 feet is all. A lot of it depends on the lay of the land. If your hunting the side of a hill or in a river bottom.. 30 feet should be plenty. Just be sure and wear a harness up there, and take your time. There are not extra points for climbing fast and falling...

khuengo

10 ft? that is all? I thought you guys go up to 40 or 50 ft, lol. The area I hunt is very flat and the tree I pick is straight up and pretty tall and stable, diameter is about 15-18 inches.

cayugad

no way.. that's where the squirrels play. I only what to get above their line of site. Although have a scent suit if you stay low.

khuengo

the area that I hunt has a lot of straight pine tree and apperently the deer could see me easily if he looks up. That is why I though I should climb up as high as possible (with the safety concerns). And by climbing high, I hope I could eliminate the human odors.

cayugad

I hunt off a platform. And on the top of the platform I have a blind with a carbon liner. I sit up there all snug and watch the deer walk right by. In fact I just bought another blind that was on sale at Wal Mart .. one of those carbon lined Outhouse blinds for $39.95. The name of the blind indicates to a small degree, the kind of luck I had so far this deer season.

khuengo

wow, what a nice little spot you hide. Is that the deer trail on the left side of the stand? If yes, you must have a very good scent elimination technique to sit that close to the trail.

cayugad

This is all on my own property. I have stands all over the place. And that's a skid trail for taking out wood (saw boards and firewood). Also for riding ATV. I have had the deer walk right down that road under the ladder and never look up. Then in front of the stand I over look a small clearing I made in a cedar marsh stand. The grass grows nice and tall with the trees out of there, and the deer walk the side of the hill right in front of the stand. It is a nice set up.

little-d

my shooting house is about12 foot and when the wind blows from behind me which is most of the time i won't see many deer i wish it was about 30 feet and closed in. when i get in my climbing stand i get as high as i can ,about 30 foot and i don't think the deer can catch my scent unless they walk right by my stand,but the main reason for climbing so high is to be able to see about 200 yards around me in the timber.One thing you need to think about is your smell ,if you wearstrongdeodorant or take a bath with some strong smelling soap or smoke or move around alot the deer will almost bust you. I like to fill a trash bag with sasafras leaves and put my hunting cloths in there for a couple days and that helps alot when bow hunting because i only get about 15 feet or so.

Highpower

Years ago when I started using a climber, I was never too sure how high to go or how high I really was. I solved that problem by cutting a piece of good rope just over 25 feet and tieing carabiners to both ends. You need to use good 'biners' that will take some weight. Now, I clip one end to my stand and the other to my pack and rifle and climb away. When I hit the end of the rope, I'm at 25 feet up and as high as I feel I need to go. Then I simply pull up my gear and I'm ready.