Thinking about buying a climbing tree stand for both gun and bow hunting. just wondering what would be the advantage of facing the tree as opposed to facing away from the tree. when would i use this feature? bow or gun hunting?
thanks for the input

I hunt facing the tree during bow season mostly. The tree helps hide you but can also hinder your shot if your not careful.

Positioning your stand is usually dictated by an available tree and the route of the deer past or around your stand. Positioning yourself in your stand is dictated by being able to easily and readily make a shot in the direction the deer are most apt to appear, but able to shoot in other directions if the deer do not follow the rules….which they generally do not.

I have never fixed my position facing the tree, but that is me. I prefer the ability to flatten against the tree and be able to swing left or right without having to pull my bow away from the face of the tree. I do not understand how facing the tree provides any advantage. In fact, it seems there would be disadvantages.

I see no advantage to facing the tree........it puts you away from the tree so you can be seen more easily in my opinion.

I have a climber that when you sit - you are facing away from the tree. I typically place my stand so that the tree is between me and where the deer will approach from.

About 1/3 of my stand are purposely set-up to face the tree. They are i areas with less natuaral cover or for some reason I feel the deer could bust me easier. Using the tree as cover on an approaching deer can be very effective.

Good Luck!

thnx for the input guys. i will put this info together with otherstuff i have to help me determine the kind of stand i will get. there is a really nice 10 pt that'd probably score 130 on some land that is available to me and i only got out there two days during gun season and didn't see him. hopefully bowhunting will increase my odds. thanks again

Early season and when I can get good cover I'll sit with my back to the tree. In later season when cover is tough I'll sometimes face the tree for added cover. ALSO... facing the tree is great when you're looking into the sun. As the sun shifts in the late afternoons(especially in late season) it can be a bear to deal with. Facing the tree allows you to sit in the shadow in certain locations. As the sun shifts all I have to do is inch my stand around the tree a smidge at a time to stay in the shade and keep the sun off my eyes.

My Buckshot treestand allows me to sit facing either way; and, like Davidmil and others, I use the tree to MY advantage.

Both bucks I killed this year were while facing the tree. You can do so much more moving with a big tree hiding you-makes the draw much easier. If the deer are going back and forth, it is a little bit of a pain to get your bow from side to side of the tree, but worth it. I like to place my stand so that the deer I expect to come from my left. However, that rarely works that way, and they always seem to be behind my tree. Not a problem if you take it slow.