RHanbaum

Height of your stand is personal but alot depends on available cover and wind direction. I have taken deer with my bow from the ground to twenty five feet up. If I have alot of cover I often don't climb as high. Late in the year when most of the foilage is gone and the woods are skinny, I'll climb to between 18 and 25 feet. You gotta play the wind, the higher you go the more your shot angle increases on your close range shots. Remember, if you can see the deer's eye, they can detect you. Sometimes deer will spook and we are not the cause, often we are, play the wind and use your cover. Have a great season. WEAR A SAFETY HARNESS!!!!!

bigpapa

The spot I'm at right now is a pasture edge.

RHanbaum

Maybe you should back up into the woodline a few yards as they will often watch from a distance before entereing a field or pasture. Play the wind and cover. Background cover around your stand at any given height is much needed, especially at elevations below 18 or twenty feet. And no, twenty yards on the ground is not twenty yards when elevated, but with todays bows, twenty and thirty yard shots are common, and sighting in is pretty simple. I sight in on the ground and have had no problems. I do limit myself while hunting to thirtyfive yards in the woods. I can't see those little twigs anymore!! The new rangefinders compensate for this, but as a bow hunter I personally do not see the need. There are however different shooting techniques that you must do in order to properly execute your shot when elevated, such as bending at the waist and NOT just lowering your bow arm to get your sight picture. Even with SPEED bows, you will never beat a whitetails sense of HEARING, however you can beat their reaction time, especially on shots 25yds or less. hope this helps.

GoGoGadgetGuardian

personally im no less than 20 and no more than 30 feet in the air. the only thing you need to know about the yardage distance is the a^2 +b^2=c^2.
x__________u in the tree
| \
| \c
a \
| \
|___b___

a= 25 ft
b= 60ft (20 yards)
c= ?lets figure it out.

25x25=625
+
60x60=3600
----------------
= 4225 (take square root of this #) = 65 feet=21.67 yards

so a 20 yard shot is 21.67 yard shot 25 ft in the tree. in other words, dont aim any different.

GoGoGadgetGuardian

i was winded by a doe saturday. I was 20ft up and she was 19 yards out, according to my nikon 440. she stopped, stomped,and wheezed.ran into the thick cover, she came back out 20 seconds later and did the same exact thing. i couldnt get a shot. by this time, she was starring right at me. as soon as she ran back into the woods again, i drawed back. she came out again about 30 sec later starring up at me. she turned her head for a quick sec and thats all she took. she ran 10 yards before she expired. in other words, they can still smell you. i even took a no scent shower, sprayed my scentblocker suit down well, sprayed my boots and everything.

bigpapa

Thanks Go Go I hadn't thought about doing the math. I wen't ahead and looked at 30 yards out and such at a height of 25ft it only increases your distanceby about 1 yard. Sounds prety simple. Now about the bend at your waist thing? So you need to do that and not just lower your bow arm? What's the difference?