JackButt

Is there a difference in the yardage from the ground and the yardage from your stand??? The reason I ask is earlier in the season I missed a deer (shot low) at any rate this was due to misjudgement on yardage. I bought a small laser range finder and that has just added to my confusion. There is about a 6-8 yard difference when I am in my stand as opposed to the same target standing from the base of the tree that my stand is in. Typically I take my stand up to about 30' or so. This morning I had a decent buck infront of me, he was broadside and the rangefinder said 30 yards. I use a crossbow and sighted in the bow with this particular range finder. I shot, heard the arrow hit the deer and he sprinted directly forward. I was hunting in fairly close proximity to a friend and stayed in the tree for about 4 hours so I wouldn' t mess him up, I was confident the deer was dead on his feet. We both get down and find my arrow with minimal blood on the vanes and some what appeared to be meat on the shaft along with some white hair. Nevertheless we trailed the blood trail (bright red) for about 150 yards and it just stopped so I am thinking maybe for whatever reason I may have hit just one lung (any suggestions). Is 30 yards is 30 yards is 30 yards???? What factors do you have to take into effect from your tree???? Also are treestand yards (from treestand to target on the ground) different from standing on the ground and shooting??

Sorry for the long post just frustrated, I cannot stand not being able to find hit deer!!!!

Thanks
Jason Collins

TFOX

The answer to your question is to shoot the shot as if you were on the ground(as far as yardage goes).When using a rangefinder from a tree,try to find a tree beside the animal,if possible,and range it at eye level instead of the animal.This will get you much closer to the actuall yardage that the animal should be shot for.Optilogic sell a rangefinder that will automatically adjust for this if this isn' t something you will be able to do.



Another problem is how high you are.This creates an extreme angle and makes it harder to catch both lungs due to the angle.You may have actually shot over the first lung and only caught the second.That much height allows very little room for error.

JeramyK

Jason, I sure hope you' re able to recover that buck. He' s out there somewhere.

As for your yardage question I know there was alot of discussion on this before. If I remember correctly the distance is measured from the base of the tree and not from the stand.

CLOUD 9, MN

30 yards is not 30 yards! I use the range finder and checkout trees at " my level" and not directly at the ground. I hunt fairly high (17' to 22' ) and that makes a bigger differance. If you only hunt 10' off the ground it doesn' t make much differance but some.

The real answer is as always: practice from your stand height and you' ll know how to handle it. I do know guys who range to ground objects from their stand, but thats how they practice and have their bows sighted in.

Good Luck!

jerseyhunter

Tfox hit it You don' t range on the diagnal you range parellel. So what you ranged as 30 yds was 28.28 yds if you were 30 ft up.

04tundra

If you are shooting uphill or downhill, you have to subtract yardage. I' m not sure how much, so practice at the same elevation when hunting.

lobi

Previous responses are all right. The farther your shot the more the arrow will drop. Gravity is the culprit here and it does not care how high you are. The horizontal distance (base of tree to deer) effects how much the arrow will drop. 30 feet is way high. Is there a reason you have to be that high? Your chances at a double lung shot are tiny from that height. Camo and scent controll should allow you to be close to deer without being in the clouds. I know the view from up there is nice but the shots are bad. Put out a few yardage markers on the ground at maybe 10,20,30 yards or whatever you are comfortable shooting at. That way you won' t have to do any math in the tree and just concentrate on the shot.

Mossy_Oak_Bounty_Hunter

i have shot from the ground, 10 ft, 20 foot and 30 foot in one session of practice and found no difference in my accuracy. I dont think it makes a difference.

TheBuckeyeOutdoorsman

I believe it could be said here that bending at the waist should eliminate a lot of the problems faced with the yardage not being the same. Anyway, I do think 30 feet might be a little too high? I don' t usually go higher than about 18 to 22 feet up in a tree. In the early season 15 or 16 feet should be sufficient with abundant foliage.

TBO

Capt Ray

Rememer your geometry. When you measure the distance from up in your tree the distance has just became the hypotenuse of a triangle, therefore making the distance longer then if measured from the ground. A2xB2=C2. The actual distance that you need to aim from is the ditance to the object as measured from the ground. And don' t forget to take into account for gravity. For my set up I aim 1" low for every 5ft up in the tree. 30 ft is about as high as you want to go hunting with a bow. The closer the shot the greater the angle. With proper scent control and wind direction, 20 ft will do in most cases. LOL.