Shooting from a tree
 

I'm asking this question because I'm getting lots of different answers. I live in the city and can't practice shooting from a tree so here's my question.
Your in your stand about 14' up. You are on level ground. Your deer is 20 yds out. Do you aim a little high or a little low.
Thanks for your time.
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

14 feet up & 20 yards out you can just aim where you want the arrow to probably. It might be an inch or 2 high but its much worse closer in.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Assuming you are sighted in at 20 yards, right? If you bend at the waist while aiming at the deer you should be able to hold dead on at 20 yards. If you don't bend at the waist, but just aim down with your bow arm you'll almost certainly hit high.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Thanks guys,
I will seriously keep that in mind.
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

right triangle
C-shot
A-how tall stand is
B-how far away deer is
C=a xa + b x b squared
so14ft x 14ft =196ft +20 yardsx 20 yards(3600ft)
3796squared=61.61ft which is 20and a half yardsyards
:eek:

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

you don't have to compensate that much for that distance. the only thing to be aware of is the animal's alert status. I had a doe that I had been watching for about an hour and she just would NOT come in. I had passed a decent six early in the am, and he was fooling with her. she finally settled down after a few bleats, and came in behind two yearlings. I knew she was on edge from watching her even though she did not exhibit it. the range was right about 18 yds. I put my pin on her belly and released. she was soo uptight, that I hit her dead center. she went about 70 yds. compensation is very important. missed a doe slightly downwind of me about two weeks later because I didn't compensate for her knowing something wasn't quite right.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

I think you're thinking of the age old Pythagorum Theorum (A2+B2=C2) Let's take this example.....

Level Ground ---- 20 yards = 20 yards.

20ft. up in air aiming down at 20 yards (60 ft.)

20x20=400
60x60=3600
(a)400 + (b)3600 = (c)4000

Square root of 4000 = 63.24555
Translate/divide out into yards (3' to a yard): 63.24555 / 3 = 21.08

Long story short: 20 yard pin on level ground = 20 yards. 20 yard pin @ 20' = 21.08 yards. Therefore, with the age old Pythagorum Theorum, you'll hit just a hair high at 20 feet up @ 20 yards.

Thus concludes our mathmatical lesson..... ;)

Butch A.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Just keep your bow arm and body at a 90 degree angle, bend at the waist to keep your angle, hold where you want to hit(relaxed deer) and drill that sucker!!!

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

I agree with btomlin bend at the waist. Never drop your arm, your upper body should always be the same for good form, if you start dropping your arm you will screw something up.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

quite impressive butch

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Ahh...The Pythagorean Theorem. Thats one of the few math formulas Im really good at. I loved that one.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Don't thank me.... Thank my daughter Jessica - the college math wiz (she helped me, then teased me afterwards "Dad, you're such a dork!" ;))

Butch A.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Thanks for that advice. I need all the help I can get. There is a picture of me with my bow on the Religion part of this forum posted The Real Chuck.
;)
C ya ,
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

butch! you're suppose to say thank you! it's funny how you forget all that stuff.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Tell me about it!!! It's hard to believe Mrs. Finnigan's horrible geometry class was back in 1977! [&:]

Butch A.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Just to add a bit to the discussion...last year I was in a similar scenario. A doe walks up to my stand about 6 yards away (heavy undergrowth) and I am approximately 20 feet up the tree...where do I am? High? Low? Right on?

After I see some suggestions I will tell you what happened. ;)

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

I'd have to say aim below where you want to hit, with no gravity creating trajectory the arrow should just come right up thru your line of sight & keep going.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

I would let her get a little farther away. I shot a 3 point this past year with my rifle, this deer was nasty, someone made a horrible shot on this deer with a bow. The arrow entered about half way back up by the spine and exited half way down about 1/4 from the back (or about centered in the guts) area. This tells me that the person shooting should not have been in the woods with a bow. It was a quartering toward shot, with a steep angle and they hit him high and too far back. I would never try a shot like this guy did. Idid this poor, skinny, infected deer a favor.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

The arrow went lower than where I was aiming. It was a clean miss.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Just always remeber to bend at the waist and aim for the exit hole.In other words, the steeper the shot The higher you need to aim because the lower the exit hole will be.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

PA Hunter..,
You left us hanging in the stand with ya.;)How did you shoot? High ,low or dead center on the target? And when you missed ..did you miss low or high. This imformation would be very helpful with the post question.
Thanks,
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

it doesn't matter if you are 100 feet up a tree. if a deer has a horizontal distance of 20 yards, you use your 20 pin. if the deer is 1 yard away from the bottom of your tree, you use whatever pin equates with you hitting a bulls-eye from 1 yard away - which for me would be my 70 yard pin.

the pythagorean theorem is of absloutely no significance - unless you're 30 ft up a tree and you use your range finder to see how far a trail is. say the deer trail is 60 ft from your position in the tree. that ='s the hypotenuse of the triangle. you would then use that (c squared) and your known height up the tree (b squared) to determine your horizontal distance from the trail (a squared). you would then compute (a squared) = ( c squared) - (b squared). then you would take the square root of (a squared) and use that distance for your pin. this gets into physics, but the only important thing is the horizontal distance from your objective. neither vertical nor diagonal distance has anything to do with it unless you use them to help you determine horizontal distance.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Hey,
Some of us only have a 5th grade math equivalence like me.;)Is there any way you could bring that down to a 4th grade level.
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

you got it chuck. if you're on level ground standing next to the tree you're going to climb, and a deer walks and sits down 20 yards away from you, you'd use your 20 pin to take it. now, if you climbed 100 feet up that tree and that deer just sat there the whole time, to take that deer you would use your 20 yard pin. so, when in the tree stand, and you're wondering what pin to use if the deer walks out here or there, how far is that deer from the base of your tree - that's what pin to use. a good way is to figure out how far trees are from you at your height in the tree. if you are 20 ft up a tree, get the distance to other trees at 20 ft up. figure out which tree is 20 yards from you horizontally. if a deer walks by that tree you use your 20 pin. the only thing that is important is the horizontal distance. the vertical distance is meaningless.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Thanks Gibblet,
Actually I'm a third grade school teacher ..;)I wasn't kidding about the math. My wife had do ,I mean help me with my math work in college. That's why I teach third. Thanks for your patience.
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Chuck,

Actually, I posted my response on the previous page. I aimed directly at the top of the shoulder with my 20 yard pin and my shot went beneath the deer's body. I do not remember the specifics but must guess that I was not bending at the waist. I have no other explanation as the shot felt good upon release.

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Sorry I miss read your reply. So you did everything these fellows said and still missed. I notice that my broadheads seem to shoot lower than my field points and they both weigh 100 grains. Because of that I wish I had a place to practice shooting from a tree. So if you would of aimed at the top of the deer's back you might of hit the deer. I'm very uncomfortable with heights, and about 13 feet is high enough for me. I do remember shooting off the top of my house with field points and hit right on the target with no adjustments. Our roof is only about 10 foot on the edge. Very interesting . Thanks for replying again.
Chuck

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

At 20 yards the arrow will strike approx. 1.5" high, this coupled with a deer lowering itself during the shot can sometime make a difference. You surely do not want to over compensate and aim at the bottom of the deer but aiming at the lower lung area is a good idea. If you look at a lot of treestand shot deer you will notice that due to the factors listed above most are hit higher than the archer intended.
Good luck
BD

RE: Shooting from a tree
 

Quite true. It is also true that you should hit higher when shooting from a treestand, than when shooting from level ground. When at a steep angle, you have to make sure the arrow takes out both lungs. It won't make much difference when the deer is out at least 20 yards and you're not high in the tree, but when the deer is in close or you are real high, the angle could cause the arrow to miss the far lung if you hit low on the chest.