how high ?

[DEER]

How high should hang my tree stand, and do i put it cover so am not being pick out the deer ? 

[IsitInTREES]

I think it all depends on your comfort level and your fitness level.
I hand stands with a friend and we most always double team the tree.
We go up together and hang the stand according to each situation.
We don't always agree but usually have some sweet set-ups.
 
If we hunt in hardwoods, we try to pick a tree with some background cover and try to hand our stand where it branched out or "Y's" to hide our outline.  If we can find a good double or triple trunk tree we are excited. Nothing below 20 feet.
In pines we try to hide in the thickest part.  Heigth doesn't matter as much.
 
 
To say the least, find the spot in the tree where your outline is hidden wheather it's 15 feet or 35 feet.
It's all about being hidden but being able to shoot.
 
I've sat in set-ups that were well hidden with no shooting lanes.....no fun.
 
I hope it helps.

[bmstaaf]

That was well said, personally I use to go 20 plus feet, but with good tree cover I tend to sit at about 18 ft. Honestly hang it with someone and wear a safety harness no matter how high your going. Thanks to this forum I wear one all the time, hearing the horror stories convinced me. (which was wierd before I joined I never wore one, now its glued to me)

[vipermann7]

Hanging stands in the fall can be a piece of cake because there are leaves all over the place, and it's easy to hide a stand. All of a sudden it's November and you realize you're sticking out like a sore thumb. I've found that about 18 to 20 feet is a good height. Too much lower, and they seem to spot you a lot easier. At 20 feet or so, they seem to notice you much less, even if you don't have good cover. I don't hunt much higher, it doesn't seem to have a benefit, as far as my experience goes, anyway.

I don't do anything to brush my tree stands in. I just try to position them so as I expect the deer to approach, I'm either in line with the tree, or behind it. But deer never come where you expect them to, so no matter what you do, deer will always approach from the side. The biggest mistake I made when I first started hanging stands was putting them too close to the trail. I like to be about 20 to 25 yards from the trail, and set up so I have a shot as the deer is walking away from me, hopefully with a quartering angle. If you're much closer than 20 yards, they pick you up a lot easier. But if you sit real still, you can have deer right under the stand and still get a shot, so you just gotta do what you can with what you got. I've had deer walk between the tree and the ladder to my ladder stand and still managed to get a shot. However, it's a lot easier on the nerves if you have some space to work.

[bludyarrows]

I use a API climber and don't usally go up much more then 20- 25'. I hunt in kinda thick cover and much higher then that it gets tough making good shooting lanes unless you clear a wide path.I think scent control is also important...Always play the wind if possible.If the cover is to sparse and I can't hide myself......I go up the back side of the tree....so when Im hunting I face the tree and move out to the side to take a shot.This works very well in a area with thin cover or not alot of good climbing trees. You simply hind behind the tree your hunting in...Give it a try.

[krawiech]

a point to remember is the higher you go the smaller the killing zone due to the angle i used to go up 20 to 25 feet with a gun or bow but am unable to use a tree stand anymore so im ground blind hunting not the same but i practiced from heights that were the same as my stands an easy way to figure out how high you are is tie a haul line to the bottom of your treestand with a knot every foot on the haul line with your hunting implement laying flat on the ground after your set and secure with your safety harness in place count the knots as you bring up your weapon this will tell you your exact height used this method for over 20 years hank k