I am curious as to what height everyone hunts deer from. I generally put my Lone Wolf Alpha hang on at about 17-20 feet. I am paranoid about not being high enough. What do you all think?
Well, I will probably get alot of crap for this, but I am very afraid of heights, so I dont go very high. I hunt only out of ladder stands, 3 of them I made, and the other 3 I baught. My tallest one is 12' to the seat, all of the other ones are about 9'. I have found that if I use a shooting rail to surround me, and then hang some burlap from that, it dont bother me as much. So this year my goal is to make all of my stands around 12', and pu the rail arouond all of them.(right now I only have 3 of them with the rail) I know that my chances are higher at getting busted then the guys that go 20', but the way I look at it, is that it wouldnt do me any good to go higher then I feel comfortable, if something came a long, I wouldnt be able to shoot and hang on at the same time.
I have a 2 climbers and i go up around 18 - 20 feet. I also have 2 - 2 man ladder stands and they are up about 18 feet. as long as your comfortable at your height and you blend into the back ground with your camo. Good Luck!!!!!!!!
I have a good friend who is terrified of heights and only hunts from 10' ladder stands. He does not use a rail or any cover. I think that hurts his chances, but you can only do what you are comfortable with. Fortunately for me I am not afraid of heights I have just never seen a need to go higher than about 20'. I just wanted to see what others thought, and what works for them. I have to applaud you for getting out there in a tree anyway. Good Luck.
early on in the season i will hunt 10-15 feet because of the folage makes it so hard to see any distance,, and as the forage drops i will move higher and higher, when the rut get's here i will be at 22-25 feet @ the stand base sometimes higher if the terrain dictates 30 is about my limit for comfort level.
I use a climber, so basically as high as the climber will let me go up... generally 20 feet id say though. im afraid of heights a little as well but once i get accustomed to the height its easier for me. when i first get in the stand in the tree and turn around to face the woods i cling to the stand from the fear though haha:p
I've said this before and I'll say it again...for ME...I feel more comfortable in a climber...but I also use lock ons sometimes. I also cling to the tree at first while using a lock on but for some reason in a climber I feel more free to move around the stand. I usually guage my height with the 25 ft rope I use to pull up my bow so I would have to say i'm usually 18-20 ft high.
Usually 18-20 ft seems about right. Last year I hunted out of a stand we put up for rifle close to 30' with a bow. That was a little high. It wasn't mainly a scouting trip but brought my bow anyways.
I have taken roughly 30 whitetails, and not 1 of those were higher then 10'. Granted a little more then half of those were with a gun,but it can be done with a bow also, it is just a little harder to do.
I think it really matters more on where you are hunting and what the deer are like. Here in Michigan where the deer are spooky I hunt about 17-20 feet up but while hunting in Illinois where you can do a jig in the tree Steve and I because we are filming find it makes better film the lower you are and are average is 10-15 and we have had no problems being busted. Yeh predator camo!!!
There is no such thing thing as a specific height. You need to use common sense based upon your health, terrain, type of cover etc...However, if you think you have to be 20' in a tree to harvest a deer you are crazy. Beware of any advice stating the higher the better. The vital zone on an animal becomes harder to hit because of the angle the higher you are. I'm always between 12-16 feet no higher. This covers all the areas I hunt and it offers a great angle.
i go up as high as the cover allows also, normally from 15' to 20', but gonna try to get higher when the leaves drop this year
My stands are the ladder type and are 15' to the seat. They are usually placed on a ridge or just below the ridge over-looking flats. This allows me to actually be a little higher given the elevation the stand is placed above the flats. I have one really good oak flat that I do this on every year where the trails are right thru the oaks on the flat. My other property the stand over looks a small over-grown field that generally has alot of traffic during the rut.
LIke whats been said already go as high as you are comfortable, and you have cover. since i have climbers it's usually 16 - 25 ft. depends on foliage.
