Treestand shooting
 

I understand bend at the waste but am confused about rangeing. Some say to range from the base of the stand, others use the range finder from the platform. Which is best.

if you have an angle range finder, use it from the stand...if you dont, use the base of the tree..the best way is to get up there and shoot from it and see what werks best with your gear.

A range finder that compensates angle will always be more accurate than ranging from the base of the tree. That being said most bows these days are fairly flat shooting, so it isnt as much of a problem modern day.

It's how far the deer is from the base of the tree...You could range a tree close to the deer at the same level as you...You won't be more than a couple of yards off when ranging from the tree down to the deer...This isn't enough to affect your shot...

I finnally got one I could afford this year. No arc feature, because as I was Looking at them they all had an error reading distance of +/- 1 yard (3 feet or 36 inches ) that to me takes care of the arc feature. doing some triq at 12-15 feet up is about my height I go far.
this is my opinion yours may differ.

CVG Ohio

I've seen a fluctuation of about 10 yds +/- when ranging from a free. Especially on steep inclines in the mountainous areas, deepending on the bow that could be the difference of pins on the sight. Just my .02 cents

Agreed, extreme and I mean extreme angles due to shooting down into a ravine and so on will make such a difference, but if you're hunting fairly flat country, the most you're going to be off is a yard or two max at 20-40 yards. No need to worry about the angle in those circumstances.

i disagree...inches are a mile when it comes to bow hunting..imo of course.
my chuck adams has a +/- 1inch at 800 yards, certainly nothin like that at 30 though.
it does -90* to +90* with a +/- 1* accuracy, which is 1 inch at 100 yards..so 30 yards is .3 of an inch.
so get a good range finder with arc tech in it, worth every penny. an inch makes the difference between a good shot and a bad shot, whether the deer runs 20 yards or 500yards.

Pythagorean theorem,

Sorry about the writing, haha, was on paint with a laptop with no mouse...quite hard, but you get the idea.

There's no substitute for actual practice shooting from your stand.

that is one ugly tree lol

Theorem Error
 

The problem to the theorem you just put up is that you are using feet for your stand height and yards for the distance to the "deer". So, you would need to do 15 as the stand height, 60 as distance from the base (to get 20 yards). So, if the deer was at 20 yards from the base, the rangefinder from the stand would show 20 yards....because it would be 225 + 3600 = 3825. The square root of 3825 = 61.8 feet. No difference to the range finder. The further out you go in yards from the tree, the closer together the two distances are going to get. For example, if the animal is at 50 yards (150 feet), the numbers look like this: 225 + 22,500 = 22,725 = 150.75 feet. Still 50 yards to the range finder.

Don't waste your money on the arc "technology" unless you are going out west to hunt in very, very steep terrain. From a treestand, it is not gaining you anything.

Exactly - use the time you would spend shopping for , reading the instructions on, practicing with the rangefinder, etc. to go out and practice from tree stand height. You'll end up spooking fewer deer and have more $$ left in your pocket!

That's my idea of how to figure it.

Thanks ILArcher3 that is my reason. Good math explination.

CVG Ohio

Thanks for all the info.Sorry it took so long to get back to you all, I have been out of town.

I learned a trick from a buddy who puts booners on the wall every year..think of where your arrow would "exit" the deer (on the opposite side) from the angle your at...you will need to aim high enough to hit that spot for the arrow to exit where you need it to from that angle....works every time...try it..you will see where im coming from..made a believer out of me and ive yet to miss a kill zone...

With this example you have to have common distance [ feet or yards]
so that would be 25 feet verses 20 feet at base. I doubt you would be 15 yards up a tree or 45 feet

right on, i never have climbed in a tree to be 15 feet up, 5 yards.... it would almost be on the ground if there is a hillside...lbut what would the difference be if you were 30 feet in the tree, ...and if the deer is say right under you 5 feet away from the tree, on the downhill side of the tree with a 40 degree incline?

in that example you are 10 yards up and the deer is less than 2 yards from the tree.
would you have a different pin between 2 and 5 yards, i think not.the range finder would say 30.4 feet or 10.1 yards hardly worth adjusting for

This is a good post, push it to the top. Range finders are coming down in price, I got the newer chuck adams busnell the other day for 160. Ranged stuff out to 535 yards, and as close at 7 yards. Its 4x good for archery. But in low light or under tree canopy I can hardly read the #'s.. They have too much going on at the bottom and its blurry. I returned it. Choices are limited, the nikon archers choice only gos 100 yrds, I wanted to be able to range for rifle a little... I might go with the prostaff 550. I aimed the chuck adams into the deepest ditch near my house ... 30deg angle, around 50 yrds, said to shoot only a yard or two less or more.. cant remember. I wish there was somthing in the 150 - 200 dollar range that would do both within reason and still be a good price/ quality. (both nikon and bushnell = made in china)

Mission17, I see what you are saying and it makes a lot of sense to me

At ~15' up a tree shooting at 20 yards, my arrow tends to hit the target ~2" high. You guys are talking about the trig required to determine the distance, but gravity also has some affect. The steeper the angle your shooting, the less impact gravity has on your arrow. When shooting parallel to the ground, your arrow travels in an arc on its way to the target. Most people are confused when they hit a branch that wasn't in their sight path...its because of the arrows arc path.

Gravity only affects your arrows path during its horizontal travel. Most bows are sighted in from the ground. If your shooting straight down at the ground from your stand, gravity cannot affect the arrows flight. Therfore it will not arc...it will fly straight until impact. The distance you should aim (since gravity is involved) is the horizontal distance to your target (or from the base of your tree). Please go to the following link which better explains this. http://www.kingsmountainarchers.org/...gle-shots.html

HardwoodHunter, you're pretty high up in that tree. If you were thinking 15' that would be 5 yds. and the H distance would only be 20.6 yds. At 40 yds., the H distance would be 40.3 yds.

And though Mr. Adams is pretty good, I think that should be +/- 1 yd. at 800 yds., not +/- 1 inch, halfbakedi420, but your earlier post was spot on. There is no substitute for practicing from the stand.

it is 1 degree..not an inch.