Buy a tree stand just for practice. That is what I did after screwing up a few times from a stand.

Now I shoot most of my practice arrows from a stand, practicing various shots. (between trees, long shots, straight down shots, quartering away, etc.)

And bend at the waste...this is critical.

^ This. Make sure you pay attention to the bending at the waist part. Keep your upper body in that "T" position, don't drop your bow arm. If you do, you'll shoot high.

from my experience pee is pee. deer, racoon, human etc. i've had multiple deer go to the bottom of my stand and sniff my piss. never had a deer spook from my pee. maybe some won't come in cause it but i've been pretty successful so i'm not changing anything lol.

Good advice here so far. Bend at the waist. I also found it helpful to bring the bow from the ground up. Aim for a spot that will give you a perfect exit hole if the arrow continues through the deer in a straight line. I have found that if I simply aim at the deer like I do on the ground by picking a double lung spot, I tend to hit high when I am shooting from a treestand. Especially if the deer starts to "string jump". Aim for an exit hole into the off "arm pit" area. This should give you bioler room hit if perfect. Lung and liver if back a bit, heart if low, lung if high and both shoulders with arteries if forward.

Also remember that anything quartering to you brings the shoulder blade / scapula into play as you are now in a tree stand and squared up to this bone. Do not try and shoot through this bone or around it. I have seen and experienced to many failures when this bone comes into play.

Good luck, stay safe and post some pictures and stories.

All good advice thus far...I aim for just behind the elbow...not the shoulder blade...quartering away is better than quartering towards. Broadside being ideal. Get a broadhead that works in quartering shots. some mechanicals if legal in your state have problems opening in quartering shots.

Thanks for all the tips and helpful information. And, I never get in my stand without my safety harness. Every year I hear about someone that has got seriously injured or killed because they weren't wearing their safety harness. Be safe everyone!

I always sight in from a stand, it's where the arrows coming from and hitting the x from up there is the goal. My arrows hit high from a stand for some reason, so on the ground from the same distance I'm hitting about an little low. I don't mind hitting low, lot of vitals down there. but hitting high can miss the lungs.

If you know what kind of shots you'll have to make practice them, in fact try shooting super close, normal distance and far, you'll be surprised

Aim for the exit hole on the animal.

People say to bend at the waist, that's the goal, but I don't bend so well so I say hit what your aiming at and I do shooting the way I do, don't fight a shot, make it as natural as possible so when the time comes to make it, you probably will because that's how you'll be. Really helps when the lights fading and the peeps blurry, you'll not only see a little but you'll feel the shot, let'r go.

I center my sight ring (bright orange) right inside my peep when I'm looking through it and then with those 2 lined up center the pin on the spot. When the lights fading the pins good but the outline of the peep blurry. Keeping the shot as natural as possible keeps me line up right even though I don't have visual confirmation, put the pin on the spot and release.

I'm with DeepSouthDeerJunky....if you don't have a range finder get one. I do the same as DeepSouth; I range trees at eye level near where I think deer will travel. It is interesting to range the ground and then at eye level. You will be surprised sometimes what a difference there is especially if you are shooting down into a ravine. I missed plenty until I got a range finder.....:bash:

Most of those people don't check the situation out before climbing into it either. JFYI Your never supposed to need the harness, guys that do find they needed one were careless to begin with, they fell and now are giving advice. I'd rather get advice from someone who didn't shoot themselves in the foot.

Just because a stand comes with straps doesn't mean that's all a person should use to hold it and themselves up there. Many people will hang a stand, step on it, feel it wiggle and wonder if it will hold and then use the thing just like that, that's just stupid! Put more straps on it and I've never seen one out of the box that didn't need more.

There are also way to many people in trees that don't belong there and they know it but some harness company tells them all they need is a harness when their brain is telling them this is a bad idea. It is a bad idea for people who never climb anything until the first day of hunting and they do it stressed and in the dark.

People are not supposed to fall, but some who have think it's a merit badge. "I Fell, so listen to me..." I think not. "You" fell because you were careless and now to make up for being careless, your not fixing what caused the fall, your wearing a harness preparing to fall again. LOL :)

You've gotten a lot of good advice, MD DH. One thing I would add, that someone else alluded to indirectly, is to practice setting up your tree stand ahead of time. Get familiar with setting it up in the tree, climbing into it, sitting in it, and, if possible shooting out of it. Then, at least once, try setting it up in the dark, from scratch. Carry it a few dozen yards into the woods after dark or before first light, and then set it up. It'll be different enough the first time you do, it'll take longer. And allow for this extra time when you time setting out for your hunt. You'll be less likely to end up rattling around, getting your stand set up at first light, as the deer are filtering past you.