How do you clear shooting lanes if your 30' up?

I hunt 10 to 15 feet. In western SD 20 mph winds are the norm, anything below 15 mph we call calm. I always put my stands on the biggest tree possible to minimize rocking all over the place. IMHO, when the wind is up around 20, scent is not that big a deal, it is blowing all over the place so I don't think it benefits you to get higher. The deer are less likely to notice movement in the wind also as everything in the woods is shaking all over the place. I'm not a big fan of heights so 15 is as far as i'll go and I don't have trouble with scent or with movement.

Depends on what way the wind is blowing..if its blowing in the right direction...then i might go out and i'll sit in the woods down in a gully type spot where the wind wont bother me hardly at all.

Around 25' for me. No problem with the angle. A deer has almost the same amount of area to hit from above as broadside. You can still get a double lung and the angle provides for a good blood trail from the exit hole. It also helps alot with the scent issue. Who ever said you should be "scent free anyway" is gullible if you think you can be totally scent free. There is no such thing.

For years I hunted from 12' to 15' and would get BUSTED fairly often. Now I'm trying 18' to 22' and am really liking it. I've been out about 12 times and haven't Busted yet! I'm also seeing more deer than I ever have before. (probably triple) I've had over 20 shot opportunities.

I really like going higher!

Good Luck!

PRACTICE....PRACTICE....PRACTICE......SUCCESS!

Sorry to say this, but if you hunters are getting busted at 15 ft and up, you are doing someting wrong?? I only neeed to stay from 5-10 ft and never been busted by a deer yet. I dont understand how some people are so restless and can't seem to stay still in their trees, not even form 30 minutes (hate it when someone else like this is hunting a few hundreds yards from me).

The way I see it, anyone that's not patient enough should not be bowhunting period....

Just like in SD, here in Iowa 15 to 20 MPH is the norm and I don't have many trees big enough for a stand. So I do 90% of my hunting from the ground. I do have 1 permanant stand built in a tree, about 20 feet up. But it's uphill in front of my stand so much though that a deer at 40 yards is almost eye level. I won't go in the stand if it's real windy like yesterday. That costs me a shot at a real nice 8 point but I would rather have him scent me at 60 yards then fall out of a tree. Guess I'm a chicken.