Skip to main content

Guest Blog: It's all about placement

Deer season is approaching and it's almost time for Dad and I get our tree seats up.  Blake Anderson at Huntertreestands.com offers this advice for the best places and types of tree stands to use to ensure you land that buck!

Thanks Blake!


The Sky Condo that Dad and I built.
Optimized Tree-Stand Placement

There are a lot of elements during hunting that are often out of your control, which can ultimately lead to an unsuccessful hunt. However if you optimize those components that are within your control, then you can quickly turn a disappointment into a great victory. Tree stand placement is one of those key rudimentary elements that will decide whether or not you end up empty handed, and there is more to it than just finding a great location.

Proper height placement will help you solve several different problems that most hunters face when hunting deer and other intelligent animals. Deer have a keen nose and will easily evade even the most experienced hunter if the proper steps aren’t taken to give you the advantage.

The goal when selecting how high up to place your tree-stand is to go as high as possible while still remaining safe. A good starting height is around 20 feet, but I’ve heard of hunters working their way up to 25 to 35 feet into a tree. The reason why great emphasis is placed on tree stand height is because it helps you solve two key elements that are in your control. The higher up you go, the less concentrated your scent will be when it arrives at the deer’s nose. Obviously if you are trying to stalk a deer at ground level, then your smell is at its strongest levels. So it only makes sense that the higher up you are, the less likely you will frighten off a deer due to your scent. The other advantage is that not only will you be able to see further, but there will be a less likely chance that the deer will spot you.

No matter how high up in the tree you go, you should still always keep the direction and strength of the wind in the back of your mind. It can be as equally and even more important than a tree stands height placement and mean the difference between seeing multiple deer that day or none at all. Choose your stand location so that the animal will arrive upwind or in the crosswind of your stand. 
 Also be sure to approach the location by walking up to it with the wind blowing towards you.

The best tree to choose will be the one that is easiest to climb and doesn’t require a ton of preparation and movement before you are fully situated. Look for a tree that is as straight as possible and doesn’t have a lot of branches that will break and fall on your way up. It makes no sense to choose a great spot and then thoughtlessly scare every deer in the area away. Keep these few basic principles in mind when looking for a great tree stand location and you’re sure to optimize your chances of having a successful hunt.

Blake Anderson
Huntertreestands.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Where are the women?

This week, my interview with Steve at The Maine Outdoorsman went live. Steve said yesterday 200 people hit his site viewing over 500 pages. That is a lot of people reading about little ole me and hunting. Why? When I think of women who are in the general public's eye and hunt, I can think of 2 - Country singer Miranda Lambert and Sarah Palin. Why only two? Why is the female hunter such a fascinating thing? (I should probably note that I do not have cable so any and all female hunters on the hunting stations are lost to me. I'll keep it to the general public because that's what I am familiar with.) People/media were fascinated by the fact that they could get footage of Palin and her gun, shooting (and gutting) animals but I feel like the nostalgia would be lost if they had the same footage of McCain. Lambert and her hubby Blake Shelton tweet photos of their kills, and comment on what/where they are hunting. I only know this because I follow both. That's it....

Do Outdoor Women need to toughen up?

I hope you get shot out in the forest and wolves gnaw on your dying corpse…..WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE I’d like to rip off your f*$%ing head and pour gunpowder down your f*$%ing throat and light it on fire Only c*%t’s shoot animals and take pleasure in it. I hope you die a horrible painful death As I began to look at how female hunters were being bullied, I had to ask myself if it was because we were easy targets as women or if we needed to just toughen up a little. Once I started asking my fellow female hunters about their experiences, the things that they sent to me as examples of what they deal with daily made me sick to my stomach.  I’d like to meet you outside someday with a gun in my hand, I would shoot you several times and laugh over your f*$%ing body as you die like you do to those poor animals that can’t defend themselves.  MURDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Generally threats are basic name calling. They include sexist remarks, racist remar...

So much to celebrate - let's give away stuff!

As you know from my last post, this month I am celebrating the one year anniversary of this blog, 10 years of hunting with my Dad and a milestone birthday. In honor of all three, I want to give away some great Maine stuff to all of you! Rules: 1. Leave a comment 2. On Oct 28 (my big bday), Dad will pick a number and the corresponding post will win. What will you win? A big basket of great Maine and outdoor things! Such as: fly fishing flies, blueberry something, Maine maple syrup, apple butter (to be made by me on Tuesday), something related to deer hunting and a couple of great books signed by local authors. (Pictures will be posted when I am back at a computer). So thank you for your support and for helping my celebrate such a great month!!