Krypt Keeper

Harness and wear it. Its like an air bag in your car. No one gets into their car and expects to have an accident. Same with a treestand, no one expects to fall either.

pull up rope, keep your hands free to climb

bend at your waist (practice by drawing as if your on flat ground, then bending at your waist until you get use to it) also practice some shots from an elevated posistion.

nchawkeye

Other than wearing a harness the best advice I can give you is to get your buddy or girlfriend to go with you, put on your hunting clothes, even face mask and actually climb a tree and shoot your broadheads at a target...

Have them pull the arrows out, put in your quiver and using a rope pull back up to you and try again...I use Thunderheads and either use old heads or blades already shot into a deer...You only need 2-3 practice arrows by this time of year...

This way you have worked on your form and know that all your equipment is properly tuned...

Now, I'll confess....
One evening years ago, even before the internet I missed a doe 3 times!!! I shot over her all 3 times...

The next day, I went back to that tree with a buddy, climbed to the same height and drilled the target all three times...I then put my facemask on and shot over it...My facemask was keeping me from finding my anchor...I quit using a facemask or use a half mask and pull it down when it's time to shoot...

I've heard similiar stories of guys shooting off a 2nd story, form great until they are in the tree then they want to keep their back tight to the tree so they don't bend at the waist...A good harness will fix this...

PAThwacker

Harness, and 20ft up, anything lower, and its instant bust time. Wait until they are within 20 yards and clear shooting lanes. Ive been up there and had oblivous dog walkers, doe, and bucks bed down beneath me.

V8Ranger

Do NOT get in your stand without a harness... Like everyone is saying practice shooting from your stand... Practice standing up and sitting down. You will be surprised how much harder it will be to pull your bow back sitting down.. Sometimes you just don't get a chance to stand up...

Bible_Man

Wear your harness, and do this. If your stand creaks when you lean on one side, or the other, reposition. You can find this out 30 seconds after reaching your hunting height, and fix it, or you can find out when a critter comes in. I assure you...you want to find out earlier.

Also, range some trees, or other landmarks around so you know how far away a deer may be without having to range the deer. "Oh...he's standing next to that tree that is 27 yards away...he must be 27 yards away."

furgitter

Thats a fact Bible Man, being up a tree can surely wreck your depth perception. I go pretty high in sparce coverage, around here deer look in the trees for hunters. If my cover is thicker, I can stay down around 15 feet.

timmyzimmy

Deer look up! So you still must move smartly.

Have a screw in hanger for your bow and gear.

When your not hunting. Mark off yardages down shooting lanes so you have points of reference from the tree.

Arkansasmountainman

you probably should set the stand up, and practice out of it to be sure

sanders3469

Wear your harness w/a lifeline, get a good range finder with arc, i get about 24 ft off the ground and the arc tells me everything i need like if the deer is at 25 yrds it will tell me to aim for like 20 yrds it hasnt failed me yet

MountainHunter

In addition to all of the good advice you've already gotten, make sure you practice with gloves. When I first started hunting, my shots started going high and left when the weather got cold, and I couldn't understand why. Then I thought about it and practiced with my winter gloves on. Then I realized the extra padding on my release hand was shifting my anchor point.