treestand shot angle

[dan scott]

I am trying to figure out the difference in angle when i shot from my practice
stand at 13ft and my hunting height of 20 -23ft. ? what is my arrow going to do.
shot high or low say at 30 yds.and how many inches difference is there if any.

[Highlander Archery]

They make laser rangefinders now with angle compensation technology. Leupold makes a great one.
There are too many other factors involved to guess what your arrow is going to do.

[dtrain56]

My sugestion would be to practice from your normal stand height, in the moment of truth you might forget to pull out your rangefinder to see how far he is
 
also lots of determining factors to tell you exactly where the arrow will go for example..aluminum or carbon arrow...grain wieght of the broad head, poundage of bow being shot...etc...etc...etc,
 
to ansewer your question though usually you will shot high out of a tree stand, so aim lower than normal unless you know how far the deer is from the BASE of the tree then just shoot 
 
the range finders are reat but i think very unpracticle for real life hunting situations, yeh you can use them to see how far objects are before you settle in but you should do that when you set up before the season
 
in my experience deer never stand where you need them to so practice is my best advice...this should have been done all summer long so  that if you get a chance to shoot you give yourself the highest possible percentage of success
 
i use my climber and a friend..we take turns shooting while one soots the other retrives arrows and you just hoist them up  and shoot some more!!!!

[stormshooter4]

I use a  Cobra pendulum sight. Seems to work for me. Unless they are straight down. I have climbed on the roof of our 1 story house, set the adjustments for 20 yards and am on out to 30 or more. Took a 10 point out of a  treestand in Nov at 29 yards, 17-18 ft up the tree. Using a Hoyt and carbon arrows.

[Woods Walker]

The trajectory issue aside (and other have answered it anyway), the other thing you need to beware of when you are 20+ feet in the air with a bow, is the fact that as your height above the deer increases, the potential target area on the deer DECREASES.
 
This can become a real factor when you are attempting shots from that height that are closer than 12 yards or so. The potential kill area on a broadside deer at ground level may decrease by as much as 50% when you are almost right above the same deer. I have see way too many deer wounded and not recovered by people taking what the thought were "gimme" shots on deer that were inside 10 yards from high angle shots.
 
When I treestand hunt with a bow, I don't like to get above 15' or so for that very reason.
 
I'm not saying that you shouldn't take them, that's up to you and what you feel you are comfortable with. Just just be aware that a close in shot from high above is not necessarily a high percentage shot. LOTS can go wrong if you are off by even a little bit.

[fireflyparamedic]

I posted pretty much the same question a little while back and got some good advice. First, people preach too practice like your in a real hunting situation at different yardages. Also they stated that with our new faster bows at say 15' - 20' up the angle is not going to make much of a difference due to the speed our bows put out. I tagged out early this year on opening day of rifle season (wish I got my deer with my bow, but there is next season to get excited for)and have been practicing with my bow from the stand and trying the same motions over and over and my groups are getting tighter. Still have a problem estimating the yardage without a rangefinder but have pre-measured distances and look at them from up in the stand and seem to be getting better. I too have the pendulum sight and seems to be working out good. Hope the advice works.
firefly
 

[Jdbllung]

I try and practice from an elevated position as often as I can and I use several targets for different distances.  Seems to help me in judging yardage better when on stand for real.

[fasteddie]

Just remember that the distance you should be concerned with is the horizontal distance to the deer / target . Not the hypotenuse . Plus , when you shoot from the stand , remember to bend at the waist so that you don't drop your bow arm !

[wack]

I use the Predator IV pendulum and when I started using it it was the only pendulum sight that had an adjustment for arrow speed. Might still be?  When it is set up properly, it's dead on no matter if I'm 30 feet up or on the ground or anywhere in between and even strait down. The only yardage I need to know is my max yardage, 40 yards. No compensating, no guessing, no expensive rangefinder, no yardage markers, no extra pins to be confused by, put the pin on the target and shoot. I've used it for 8 years, have killed many deer and other critters with it from a lot of different elevations and it's never let me down. About the only thing I haven't changed in 8 years, it's now on my 5th bow.
 No matter what you use, practice the same way that you intend to hunt. A few practice arrows from the tree stands will eliminate the doubts you have and hopefully give you more confidence. We used to always take our bows out before season and shoot a few targets while fixing up the stands, trimming lanes ect. Great way to get the guys together preseason and have some fun while getting some work done too. Using a 3D deer target on these outings also added to the fun and we actually learned a lot about hitting the angles to the vitals. IMHO using a 3D deer target should be required before any archer is allowed to deer hunt. Good idea for every species that anyone wants to bow hunt. Learning to shoot is not enough and useless if you do not know where to aim. Unlike a rifle or slug gun, you're arrow path to the vitals has to avoid large bones, so your windows to vitals are much smaller. From a tree top, your angle may not allow a path through more than 1 organ. If you miss the heart and get just 1 lung, you chances of recovering that deer are slim to none. Ideally you want to be up high enough not to be seen but low enough to get a shot angle that can effectively take out both lungs and the heart in one line. If you need to climb up to 25-30 feet to see deer, maybe you should try sitting still or changing your scent control routine, or maybe just stick to fire arms. I understand the urge to climb way up there, the view is awesome,  you're on top of the world, we climb mountains because we can.....what ever. If you're out to see deer, stay up there. If you want to kill a deer, your odds and shot angles are better closer to earth. 

[howhill1]

not much left to add. the resounded statement though which ill reinterate is too practice, as much as possible, from positions you expect too encounter in hunting situations.