I took last week off to hunt. Temp's here in Central Indiana have been a little warm and most of the movement I've been seeing is before 10am. Have seen a few in the last hour of light.

On Oct 2nd, 2nd day of our season. I had 3 does pass by my stand in the worst place (behind me) around 9am. I had a beach ball sized lane to shoot thru at 30 yds. They were feeding on acorns on the main trail and were passing back and forth. There was a young doe, another that was a little bigger, and one that was obviously older. I wanted the older one. She finally passed thru my lane. I let out a little bleat to get her to stop, she did, had my 30yds pin on her shoulder, released a good shot..............and it was deflected by a tiny branch that I didn't see. Went right over her back.[:@] ARGH!!!!!

On Oct 5th, I was in another stand near a beanfield. It was about 6:60pm.....maybe 30 minutes of shooting light left. I could see ALOT of deer crossing a creek going into the beanfield about 80yds from me. While I was watching them, I heard a stick break. I looked behind my stand and at 15yds saw a good 6pt also watching the deer cross the creek. The way the ladder stand is, there is a branch that kept me from turning to shoot. I had to let him continue down the patch to a clearing to be able to shoot.

By the time he got to a clearing, he was at 42yds (a distance I practice frequently and am comfortable with). Release my arrow and it went over his back by about 6 inches.

As I'm sitting there puzzled, going over what happened and wondering if I had some how bumped my sights at some point to knock them off I came to realize that I didn't account for the change in elevation. The ladder stand I was in is 15ft. By the time the buck got to a clearing to shoot, he was down a fairly steep hill. I'm going to guess I was at least 40ft higher than him.

I assume at such a steep angle my arrow trajectory was a little flatter causing the high miss.

The good news is, I took my 16yr old cousin on Sunday and he got his first deer with a bow. A doe out of the same stand I missed the doe out of. His kill was at 14yds. I was very proud of him!

Outside of sighting in from an elevated position (treestand, etc). Does anyone have any steps they take to insure you're sighted in from treestand height?

I always aim a bit low...!

bend at the waist!!!!! and PRACTICE FROM A STAND!! i did both and was right on the money..

Besides practice from stand height, I've was told to shoot a little lower then you think you have to. I finally did that and wack a dead deer. Never looked back since after over 20 years of bow hunting.

Remember to shoot the distance from the base of your tree to the target, not from where you are to the target. If you shot figuring 42 yards from where you were, and you were 15 feet in stand the actual distance from the base of your tree will be shorter than 42 yards (not much, but maybe enough to sail an arrow over the back...especially if you misjudge yardage by a couple yards)

A buddy of mine sets his pins at 15, 25, & 35....but uses them at 20, 30, & 40. His theory is that since he sighted in at 15, at 20 yards it will be slightly low......which should compensate for elevation.

Does that hold water?

Sloppy...aim for the hair you want your arrow to hit and hit it. Practice from elevation...guessing is not what you want to be doing when you have drawn back on an animal.

I guess we will have to start calling you NOT SO LETHAL DIAMOND.

I guess I earned that one! [8D]