Bows and trees

[ncboman]

:rolleyes:

While I try to be adaptable, I usually prefer hunting from up a tree to other methods.

In that, I have no problem going to 30ft or higher as the situation warrants with my compound. With my recurve, that's another matter. If I get much over 16ft, I start worrying about m m missin. :eek:

A lot of times with my recurve I just hunt on the ground because I feel better about taking the shot ... if I get lucky and get a shot. :p

Am I alone?

ncboman

[Hink]

If I went to 30 I'd never be able to turn loose of the tree. I'm perfectly happy at 14 and after a little while I'll turn loose of the tree. My traveling star ladder and api telescopic seem to do the trick.

Ground kills kinda happen :) and usually aren't rehearsed thing for me anyway. I used to hunt a blind made of natural materials on this one ridge during the rut as you always seemed to get picked out if you were in a stand. The deer came onto that flat from so many trails and haul roads that the blind seemed to work best.

Its been 27 years since I went after them with a recurve and that was before I had any fear of heights and could climb trees with my legs and nail a board in between them for a stand. My limit then was about 12 to 14 and they never seemed to look up. Those days are long gone.

[LampLighter]

I have stated some of this before so bear with me ( pun intended :D)

This past season I made two poor shots that resulted in the coyotes having a feast. One of the boo boo's was at that height. I hit too far forward and too high. The arrow at that height hits higher than where you aim. This summer I am incorporating that shot into practice session with 3d deer.

I also learned never to take a straight down shot, under the stand.

My Gorilla Greyback is my favorite way to hunt, although I did take a nice buck 2 years ago on the ground at 10 yards.

[dave-t.]

I rarely go over 18', but I seek out good cover in the tree, and don't like to cut many limbs or shooting lanes if I can avoid it, but sometimes you can't avoid it. I have a stand maybe 11-12' in a Mulberry tree on my place that I had to cut a lot of branches out of, but it is still good for cover.

I also like to be on the backside of a tree if possible. I'll set up with the deer approaching from behind and when they pass are walking away from the dirrection that the stand is facing. That lets you either draw from behind the tree and get a b-side shot, or wait until they are by you and quartering away to draw and shoot. Since I'm a righty, I like the deer or main trail to be on the left side of the stand.

Also, take into account shade. I don't ever want to sit in full sunlight if I can avoid it.

For me bowhunting is much more about stealth and set up than it is actual bow shooting.

[LampLighter]

Well, because I am on the move so much, I primarily use my Gorilla Climber. With such, obviously limbs are non existant, unless you climb Up To some leafy branches and "spin into" them. I have been using something I bought way back. These lag screw things into which one places leafy branches cut from somewhere else. I can make cover anywhere I want it. I usually pull up some freshly cut "cover" on a string.

I do have a set of aluminum Rapid Rails, but have yet to use them. I will one day. Now I also have one set of stick ladder left, and it "stays in one place for years." I have a bracket into which my Ol Man fixed pos. slides into at 0430 hours ;) . But honestly, It has all been getting old lately. I might just pop me some sausage from the porch and forget all that. :D Not really. I vowed not to shoot yard deer.

[longpine]

I don't like to be much over 10-12 feet. If I have the wind right and all. It seems just a bit shorter distance to fall. Have some success with natural ground blinds and using the cornfields. Jim

[Bill Gunn]

Usually 15', I have one stand at 18 that I'm going to remove this summer.
I feel it's to high.

[Twanger]

I let the leaves and terrain be my guide.

If on a hill and the leaves are dense, you can get away with a very low, or no stand.

In the middle of winter in an open forest of tulip poplar trunks 30 feet seems low! :eek:

[Smokey]

When I started bow hunting I don't remember all of the portable tree stands being available. And in PA I hunted the sides of the mountains where in most cases you could position yourself so you were shooting down hill. That being the case they would get pretty close to you before they saw you. So I grew up never considering tree stands and hunting off the ground.

I realize there is a great advantage to be above these deer but I still stick to ground hunting and watch the wind currents.

[GF.]

Funny thing last Fall...

I used the climber to get up about as far as I thought I really needed to be, and then used my haul line to bring up the gear. I was thinking the haul line was 50', so it didn't bother me that some was still lying on the ground. Then one time on the wat down, I noticed that I had just enough line to let everything down nice & easy while maintaining control of both ends, which was cool with me, because I was able to lower the pack, then let one end go so it could slip through the haul loop, and then I lowered the rifle as step 2.

Then I figured out that the haul line was really only 20', so instead of being 25 feet up all day, I had only been up 10 :o

So later on when I rigged the hang-on at the thop of my 20' sticks, I really knew I was at 18-19 feet, and that felt plenty high enough to me :D

Anyway, I guess my own sense of 'high enough' probably puts me pretty reliably between 12 and 15 feet using the climber, and that's OK by me, because the trees here seem to taper quickly enough that that's as high as I can go without adjusting the chains, and I don't much care for the prospect of removing the only pin that's holding me up in the air. Top half of the unit, OK, maybe not so bad, but the lower?

Besides, I kinda have the feeling that going any higher might just complicate my shooting, so I think I'll get a few successful shots under my belf before I push things any higher than the 20' sticks will go......

[GF.]

BTW...

I'd rather hunt from the ground than any other way, but the woods here are usually a bit to crunchy to do that and have much hope of reliably getting inside of bow range. I outmaneuvered that one buck some years back and got him at about 20 paces with the .54, but usually from the ground, I'm getting shots at ranges that just aren't that good an idea with a bow....

Even my sexy new one.... :rolleyes:

[DaveHawk]

my early years I would stalk deer and carry a set of tree spikes. I could be in a limb in a short amount of time when I saw deer heading my way. Now a day I hunt 18'-28' just depends on the tree, some ceders fix stands are 15' but when I'm hunting big woods I scout as I hunt and climb where I feel it's a good spot. get as high as I can and watch , look for a better location when the deer come through and maybe make a move.

[TJF]

:rolleyes:

While I try to be adaptable, I usually prefer hunting from up a tree to other methods.

In that, I have no problem going to 30ft or higher as the situation warrants with my compound. With my recurve, that's another matter. If I get much over 16ft, I start worrying about m m missin. :eek:

A lot of times with my recurve I just hunt on the ground because I feel better about taking the shot ... if I get lucky and get a shot. :p

Am I alone?

ncboman

ncboman hunting from the ground. I never thought I would ever read that. Did hell freeze over?? A lost bet ?? :confused: :)

Now for my little dirty secret... I bought a climber last winter and plan on tree hunting this fall/winter if conditions are right. ;) :D And they say you can't teach an old dog a new trick. I guess we will show them !! LOL

Tim