Looking for advice for my first time out in a tree stand

[chinkley]

This is my first post so I hope this is an appropriate topic and in the right place. I am heading out for the first time this fall hunting with a 43# wooden recurve. I just started shooting this spring and am shooting groupings of 10 inches or so on level ground at about 10-12 yards. My brother-in-law is setting up a tree stand for me. My problem is I won't have time to practice shooting from the tree stand before actually hunting. The closest I have been able to come is 5 ft up in my kids fort. I am still able to keep the same accuracy as on level ground and I am shooting about 15 yards. Any advice for how I should adjust for shooting from 15 feet up?

[bowmaster12]

no adjustment needed just bend at the waist dont drop the bow arm, i would suggest practicing from tree stand hieght before hunting from one until then i would stay on the ground. good luck

[magnus]

I shoot off of the garage roof to practice elevated shooting. Like bowmaster said bend at the waist not the shoulders. Made that mistake too. Shot high.

Magnus

[mscampbell75]

Originally posted by bowmaster12:
no adjustment needed just bend at the waist dont drop the bow arm
 

X2

It will shorten your draw legnth at the same anchor, changing the arrow flight that you are use to.


Good Luck!!

[maineac]

I set an extension ladder against a tree in my yard.  Climb up, turn around and shoot.  I shoot there or four arrows at small objects in the yard.  Come down and shoot from wherever they are to a deer target.

[YORNOC]

Better to bend at the waist as these guys are saying, but if you can't you have to practice aiming low. Deer will often come right under a stand and you have to practice those shots or you will miss by shooting too high. With no practice, its tough to pick a small spot to hit and then aim lower. In the back yard, try putting one of those bright orange stickers the size of a quarter right in the middle of that ten inch circle you are hitting. Shooting at such a small spot will help condition you to shoot at an extremely small spot on the animal and your groups will get very tight. For your last few shots at the target always take the sticker off and try to hit the imaginary dot just like if you were shooting a real deer.
 If you see a deer you want to take, as soon as you decide it will be yours, STOP looking at the deer and pick a small spot you want to hit on the body. Even if it's 75 yards away. Then as it gets closer just zone it on that one spot the whole time until it gets into your range, then shoot the imaginary orange dot !  I have not missed an animal since I started doing this, but I probably just jinxed myself by saying that.
I practice from my roof.

[YORNOC]

It helps to conquer buck fever also!

[Bud B.]

If you have a chance to shoot a field point from the stand do so. But off the path of your shooting lane. That way you at least have something to base the next shot upon. It has helped me before.

[Bjorn]

Get used to the harness and use it!

[lpcjon2]

Originally posted by YORNOC:
It helps to conquer buck fever also!

Is that even possible,thats the best part..Harness is the best advice,then the bending.If you can do the roof thing thats even better.Try and take a squirrel from the roof or when you get in your stand.Have an arrow with a blunt or judo point with you when you get in the stand and pick a leaf at your desired range and really focus on the shot and let it rip.this will help you figure out how it feels shooting from the tree.And pull the bow back in different positions in the stand(left,right,center) this lets you know what may be in your way when at full draw.    

[tim roberts]

Bend at the waist, pick a spot, don't drag your feet across the stand, pick them up and set them down quietly, most of all have fun!!!!!

[johnnyk71]

best thing i can tell you, and the longer i hunt, the truer it gets: pay attention to the wind. forget the gimmicks, the suits and the sprays. only hunt a stand where the wind is right. you will do more to ruin a spot by hunting it with the wrong wind than anything else you can do.

the old-timers are right. most people on this board know it anyway, but "forget the wind and just hunt" is a load of malarkey!