Can you get an accurate reading (=or_ 2 yards) from a rangefinder while up in your stand? Or must you do your ranging from base of the tree??

The trick is to pick a tree close to your target and take the the range from that. Make sure you pick a spot on the tree that is about the same height as you are.

Scroll down a few pages (page 3 at time of this post) and look for the post
titled " Yardage question??? " More detail to simular question.

Your range finder from up in the tree to a deer on the ground will read a longer distance than the linear distance to the deer because of the angle. (Draw a right triangle, the hypotenuse is longer than the other two sides.)

By looking at a tree close to the deer at the same level as yourself you will be getting an accurate distance.

Hypotenuse?!? Pathagerus would be very proud!!!!

I respectfully dissagree with Lobi. It is true that the distance from you in your treestand to a deer on the ground (Slant Range) is further than the distance from the base of the tree you' re in to the deer on the ground (ground range).

The part about ranging in a tree near your deer at your level is the part I dissagree with. To shoot accurately you must know the total distance your arrow will travel which in this case is Slant Range, the line of sight directly from you in the treestand to the deer on the ground. You would then compensate for how depressed your shooting angle is when aiming to get an accurate shot (aim a little low for fixed sights).

Hi Cargo, It' s ok for us to agree to dissagree. If we all liked chocolate there would be no vanilla. If we all shot Matthews, PSE would go out of business. As long as we have confidence and consistancy in our methods to make good clean shots it doesn' t matter if we get there by different roads.

To, as you say, " shoot a little low" leaves room for error on every shot. How low is a little low? Is the deer 10 yds out or 15? what if he is 25? do you still shoot low? With enough practice, consistancy will come using any method.

The only reason that we have more than one sight pin is because longer shots have to be raised up a little to be accurate. Gravity is the force pulling the arrow down. Gravity does not know or care if your treestand is 10 feet up or 30. Remember the experiment that was done with the cannonballs off the top of a high building? One was shot straight out and the other was dropped straight down. They hit the ground at the same time. Gravity starts pulling down on both objects at the same time and with equal force. What I' m saying here is from a high stand and a close shot, the deer is not far away but a rangefinder will think it is. The arrow will not have to travel far linearly and will have very little drop. If your shot was straight down there would be zero flight distance for the arrow to be falling so your shot would be exactly where the arrow is pointed. Even your 10 yd pin would shoot a little high on a straight down shot. (wow, that is a lot of b.s. huh?)

The best thing, especially for a beginning shooter, is to practice shooting from your stand. Put up a stand in your yard in the off season, the neighbors will think you are nuts but who cares. Put targets at measured distances, say 10,15, and 20 yds. Be able to hit all these targets consistantly. I do this in the fall just before the season starts with paper plates. Set a bunch of them up around my stand, not just in the shooting lanes because deer seem to forget the rules. You will also learn this way what 10 or 15 yds looks like and not rely on the rangefinder. If you have to use the rangefinder for every shot it will cost you a deer. Sometimes there just is not the time.

practice! don' t take the fun out of it, enjoy nature and take a kid hunting.

here' s my 2 cents. I simply use my rangefinder from a 20ft platform which is my normal hunting height to my block target. I sight one pin in at 25yards and my second at 40 yards which I have yet to use. Now for the shot. if the deer is within 30 yards hold dead center and you will hit the kill. at 10 yards I am about 1.5 inches high and at 30 yards I am about 2 inches low. the key for me is sighting in with my rangefinder from the height I normally hunt at to my 25 yard mark. when I range trees while hunting, i normally range the bases or about deers height on the tree. This method has proven invaluable to me. hope this helps.

BUT CARGO::::: you forgot that an arrow shot on a downward angle isn' t effected by gravity the same as one shot parallel to the ground. Depending on distance, we' re only talking a few feet at most difference. The further away, the less the angle and the closer the ratio and I' m running out of gas. BUT ANYWAY... if you range straight out at your level to a tree and then shoot THAT distance you won' t have to worry about aiming low or high or anything. Just shoot the distance you measured. I always aim at the lower portion of an animal(unless he' s danger close) and expect to hit there if he doesn' t drop at the shot. If you measure to the bottom of the tree and you' re 25 feet up, your range is wrong. IF you shoot it like that.... you' ll hit high. If the deer is inside 25 yards and I measure 22 or 23 I don' t worry about it, 20 yard pin and he' s dead. If he' s 25 + but not 30, I shoot like it' s 25 center of mass. If it' s real close to 30 I shoot a short 30..... etc etc etc etc.