Bowhunting Whitetails

Bowhunting whitetails from  a tree stand 17 to 20 feet provides a great shooting angle to a buck's vitals at 20 yards. Hunter shown wearing Mathews Lost Camo.

Specifics: Bowhunting in High Places

How high should you bowhunt? It depends largely on the amount of cover in and around a tree. Some bowhunters like to cover to the front and sides of a tree stand, but background cover is the most important. You always want to set up where limbs, leaves, forks, vines, etc. behind your tree stand help to break your silhouette. On the other hand, other bowhunters prefer to hook a fixed-position tree stand 17 to 20 feet up a tree. It’s a comfortable height, and a good position for shooting. When a deer is broadside at 15 to 25 yards out and 17 to 20 feet below, you’ve got a great shooting angle. You can see plenty of lungs.

Don’t just stick a tree stand on a tree, but angle it to maximize your opportunities. Some hunters always face a tree stand dead into the wind, or at the very least quartering into the wind. That way you’ll see the most deer out front or off to the sides, and be ready to set up a shot at a trophy buck.

Treestand Tips for Advanced Bowhunters

• At a new tree stand site, be quiet. Don’t throw or bang steel or aluminum tree stands and steps around. If you’re hanging with a buddy, don’t talk or laugh too loudly. Set up and sneak out of an area without alerting deer that might be bedded or walking nearby.
• It’s always best to hang a tree stand perfectly level. When a tree is not truly straight, set the foot platform so that it tips slightly up. When you sit, this raises your knees slightly and makes you comfortable. When you stand to draw and shoot, you’ll be firmer and safer than if the platform were to tip slightly down.
• Sometimes, especially when cover is sparse in the treetops, it can pay to set an evening tree stand on a tree so that it faces a crop field or food plot. Deer will come from the woods and thickets to the rear, and the tree between you and them will provide good cover. If you shoot right-handed, set up where deer will pass within 30 yards to your left (vice versa for southpaws). You can draw and shoot with ease and little movement as a buck quarters past. Since you’ll be facing downwind in this setup, shoot a deer quickly before he walks too far past and smells you.
  

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  Never hang a tree stand without wearing a climbing belt. The Treehopper 3-in-1 Belt allows hands free installation of hang-on tree stands and steps. Hunter shown wearing Mathews Lost Camo.
  Say two deer trails run down a ridge or through a bottom. Which one will a buck take? Well, make him walk the one that runs closest to your tree stand. Drag a bunch of branches or a big deadfall into one trail to block it. When a trophy buck comes along he’ll skirt the obstacle and veer over to the trail you’re covering.
• After hanging a tree stand, look around on the ground and remove any big logs or brushy tops that might block a trophy buck from walking within 30 yards. If the cover is real tight, pull out your hand clipper and cut a small path 20 yards or so on the upwind side of your stand. When you come back to hunt in a few days you should see some fresh tracks in the new, clear trail.
• In areas where many trees have lots of low limbs, use hang-on tree stands with stacking sticks or drilled-in bolts. But if you’ve got a lot of straight, limbless trees in your area, try a climber. You can pack one into a spot, run it 18 feet up a tree and hunt a buck in minutes. If the wind changes or you simply don’t like that setup, you can shinny down and move quickly and easily. A climber is versatile and gives you an element of surprise that you can use to kill a big whitetail on occasion.
  
• You’ll need a clipper and a folding saw to cut out spots for tree stands. A pole extension is a hassle to carry, but it makes your job a lot easier.
• It makes absolutely no sense to hang a tree stand in a spot where you can’t shoot. You don’t have to cut pulpwood, but trim at least three good shooting lanes to the upwind sides and front of your tree stand. Drag limbs and brushy tops away so deer won’t smell your scent on them, or so they won’t block a buck’s approach. After cutting, it’s best to sneak out of a spot and rest it for a day or two before hunting.
• Try to hang a morning tree stand facing somewhere west, and an evening stand pointing toward the east. With the sun at your back, you’ll have great visibility of the woods out front and below. You’ll have the most shooting light at dawn and dusk. You’ll be shaded nicely, lessening the odds that deer will look up and see you.
• Mark your tree stands not with gaudy flagging tape, but with “bright-eye” tacks or wraps. Flash a quick light on your markers as you sneak in or out at dawn or after dark, and you won’t stumble around looking for your stand and spooking deer.
• Never run a climbing stand up a tree, or attempt to set steps and a fixed stand, without wearing a climbing belt. Once 20 feet up and hunting, switch over to a full-body harness.

Bowhunting From the Ground

If there are no good trees in a spot with big-buck sign, try a ground attack. Hunter shown wearing Mathews Lost Camo.

Often there is no large, straight tree within bow range of a field edge, thicket or narrow funnel where you’ve spotted a monster buck several times. Or you might find what looks to be a good tree for a tree stand, only to find that the wind, cover, visibility or shooting lanes are poor there. Well, don’t sweat it. Go for a ground attack. More and more hunters are doing it these days, and they’re killing some mighty fine trophy bucks. Actually, a lot of times you’re better off on the ground than trying to squeak by in a marginal tree setup.

Most people worry about their scent when bowhunting at ground zero. Well, stop your fretting. On the ground your scent doesn’t travel as far, swirl as much or disperse and pool as widely as it does from a tree stand, so fewer whitetails might actually smell you. Of course you still need to setup downwind of where you expect a buck to show up.

The key to any ground setup is thick background cover. You can get away with little or no brush in front, but you’d better cover your back, completely and with no air holes. A thick backdrop of sticks, brush, cedars or the like hides your silhouette and covers your moves as you draw your bow. That is the tough part.

Shooting a buck at 20 to 30 yards is the tricky part. Pull your bow and shoot either when the deeris looking directly away from you or back over his shoulder at another deer, or when his eyes are obscured by a tree or brush. It’s pretty much the same as when shooting out of a tree. Only now a buck is right there at your level and larger than life. It’s a pretty cool deal.