BowHuntingFool

For me its the tree and the cover it provides to tell me how high I need to go! I have a tree that has perfect cover at 10ft which is perfect for that hilly terrain. I rarely go over 22ft, my hoist rope is 20ft and I have a couple of trees that my bow will be just touching the ground after I attach it! Like others said any higher and your target angle/size is not good! So I would say from 10 - 22 feet!

MountainHunter

Depends on cover, branches, shooting lanes, terrain (I hunt forested mountains), deer trails, etc., but anywhere from 12 to 18 feet. Enough to get out of their scent and eye-level zones.

DEATH FROM ABOVE

Some good responses, think of your surrounding terrain and the type of back drop you'll have, you don't want to be silloetted, think about how your scent will disperse, think aboutwhat height you will becomfortable hunting from and from what height you can execute a good double lung hit. If I could get away with 10 feet I'd do it as the closer to the ground you are, the better the shot angles become, BUT you have to deal with too much, like your movement to draw, your scent, even small noises. Up higher these issues tend to be more forgiving. Good rule of thumb is to hunt as low as you can get away with, with out detection. Don't hunt so darn high that you need a red airplane light on your head, the shot angles can be a recipe for disaster........ DFA

ebieszk

20 to 25 feet

68charger_guy

for rifle season I like to get 25 to 30, this year for bow hunting ive been getting about 15. In my area, it seems like it would be harder to shoot through the brush above 15 feet with a bow.

davidmil

I've found that probably half the people in the woods really don't know. They tell you 20 feet but are probably no more than 14 or 15. I have a 20 foot haul line on my climber. I usually stop when my bow is fully off the ground which probably puts the platform at 20. I often stop a lot sooner because of canopy, cover and terrain. If I can get hooked on a good double or triple tree I consider it great cover but like to get as high as I feel comfortableto open up the shooting lanes between the trees. Usually 22-24 feet does it. Last night I was only about 15 feet, maybe less, because of cover and the set up. I climbed a pine on the edge of some hardwoods. There were a ton of little beech trees still covered with leaves around the tree. I climbed until I could lasso and pull a couple trees in and tie off to my stand so I was jut and extension of the top of the beeches. No way will an animal see you like that.

For hang ons I have some 16 foot and 20 foot sticks. I usually hang the stand with the platform a foot or two down from the top of the stick. Tat way I can throw an extra rachet strap around the stand and the sticks securing it all well. I generally throw in a couple screw in steps above it all to help me getting in and out and to hang my pack, binos or whatever on.

sgtbowhunter

I try to put my fixed postition stands around 15-20 ft and my climber a little higher since I am alot less conceiled.

bowdoc1

Depend on the terrain. I have a freind that always gets about 30 or higher in a tree, but I can't say he is wrong because he takes a 140 to 170 inch class bucks every year, year after year and he has be doing it for over 30 years. I have sat in his stands before and don't like the angle on the shots and I got a nose bleed You can find me 10 to 30 feet depending on the terrain and location I'm hunting. I do hunt from a ground blind and some times it works and most of the time it sucks. Big old smart bucks seems to alway spots the blind were in Iowa and NE any way and living up to there name blind you are blind to whats going on around you. They do have there place, but 95% of the time the tree stand is your best bet to take a big old smart buck and use your own jugment on how high to put it. If the buck is eye level with you and dosn't haft to raies he head to look up at you , you are not high enough and he will see you move to shoot

Hoytteen

My Moto: Hunt em High and Watch em DIE!

around 30ft for me. i ussualy take 30-40 yard shots so its not as bad of an angle

I'm only in a 1 1/2 foot diameter tree too!

BigJ71

I like to keep it between 16-20ft. I hunt mostly wooded areas and a lot of my shots are 30yards and under. Anything over 20ft and my shot angles are too steep for my liking.