Treestand height

[huronhunter]

12 to 15 for me also . Lower if I have good cover.

[NoCams]

Just my humble opinion..... if I was not going higher than 8-12 feet why even hunt from a tree ? I used to get 25 ft in wheelie days but now days most stands are 17-20 tops. Any lower and you will get busted for sure by our deer that walk around looking up in the trees.

[Vesty]

I've always been successful from 10-12ft. so I really have no reason to go higher. Great shot angles and good back cover. I take shots of 15yds. or less. I'm just patient.

[DTD]

10'-12' for me as well. I always try to make sure I have a good background and have had not had any issues being spotted.

[koops4]

I am usually between 10 to 14 feet to platform.  Where I hunt there is a lot of lower brush and small trees that provide good cover.  Higher than that and you seem to be in the open unless you get up around 30 feet up.  I have never liked the nose bleed seats.

[buckeye_hunter]

In the early season, the smaller trees throughout the woods provide lots of cover at the 7-9 foot level. A little trimming and it is like hiding in a good ground blind. Up to mid October 10 feet on the edges of transition zones seems to be excellent cover. I've had a lot of deer come right in and never even look my way.

If needed, I cut a few branches, haul them up with me and rubber band them to my climber.

[BUCKY]

There's a lot of multi trunk trees where I hunt. I can get my climber into some but only at that 10-12ft. height. I was also hesitant to be that low but in those trees I might try it.

[Stumpkiller]

13 to 15 ft for me.  I don't like the shot angles any higher.

[Orion]

Yep.  Me, too. 12-14 feet, maybe 15 at the most. Still a decent shot angle. I seldom get busted.  I try to pick out double or multiple trunk trees.  Camo around you is more important than how how high you go.  At 20 feet or higher, the kill area gets quite small such that a center body hold is pretty much shooting at the spine.

[PUDDLE JUMPER]

Have yet to hunt from a tree since taking up traditional. But always try to hunt as low as possible regardless of weapon.

Just have to be selective as to where I set up. I have found that keeping my face and hands covered is critical.

I plan to use stands in a more limited way in the future. I like to place stands in thick cover in areas most hunters would pass on because of the lack of good trees. Often 5 to 10 ft.

[dhermon85]

12-15ft. Got a spot I want to try about 8ft.

[Lil' Bow Pete]

10 - 12 is what I like. You gotta be steathy and move at the right time. You have to have cover,but your scent is above the deer and the shot angles are good.

[southernwoody]

10-15' for me.

[nkartscher]

I always smile when I hear people talk about this.When I was a kid there was a older fella who had permission to hunt the ground on the other side of the road from our land.This guy killed big bucks every year,without fail.Sometimes we would hear about them and occassionaly you would see a beast hangin in his yard.Any time we would see him getting in his vehicle he always had a stick bow.Never a gun.No wheels.Well being young and curious one day we walked that whole wood lot after the season and were surprised to find about a half dozen stands.all between six and eight feet high.they were very small,just enough to stand on but very robust.The one thing I did notice was these stands were placed strategically where real thick cover met open oaks.BUT no cover around his stands lol all I could think is that maybe he never sat down?fold up seat?I guess what im getting at is I don't think you have to hunt high.I know the obvious advantages but I guess the moral of this story is you can get it done without being in the nosebleeds lol I don't know about anyone else but the older I get the closer to the ground I like to be.

[Bowwild]

I've spent a lot of time, especially when I was newer to bowhunting, hunting from 20-25' in tree stands. I'm happy to report I never suffered any negative experiences from those stands. The shot angle was tougher but 100% doable. I did feel a bit more secure from the deer's prying senses.

However, in those days I hunted mature forests and there wasn't a lot of cover other than other vertical tree boles.

These days I hunt lower, to improve the shot angle. I prefer cover-heavy eastern red cedars. I feel completely hidden as long as I'm 12-15 feet high.  If cedars aren't available I look for multiple stem hardwoods or cover at my back.

I have no doubt that some situations would work great much lower. However, most of the time getting just 6-8 feet off the ground (in my areas) would just get me out of ground cover to where the deer could see me better.

[MnFn]

Yeah, 12 feet or so.

[Easykeeper]

I usually have the platform around 12-14 feet.  Higher than that and I don't like the shot angle, which is made even worse by the restricted range of me with a recurve.

[ChuckC]

For me, it changes according to needs.  I like to be as low as I can go.  I have one tree stand where the platform is about 3 feet off the ground.  It allows me to see (and shoot) over the marsh grass and the tree trunk and bits of branches afford me great cover while doing so.

I tend to try so stay within the cover, and since I hunt a marsh area, my platform is typically 10 feet or less, however I have had a couple that needed to be higher, maybe as much as 22 feet.  For me, that is rare.  

I don't use height to counter my scent, I hunt the wind 100%.

Actually, I have been hunting from the ground in my RS ghillie more and more and having a surprising amount of success (success being deer within very easy range).  I have let a lot of deer walk by the past few years.

ChuckC

[JamesKerr]

12-15 feet for me as well.

[VictoryHunter]

12- 15 feet here