How To Set Up Your Tree Stand

(1) Height Matters The surrounding terrain and vegetation should factor into how high you position your tree stand. Hang your stand 20 to 25 feet high or more if the leaves are already down or the skyline is bare, if you're positioned on a sidehill, or if deer will approach it from the front. But ... You'll want to hang it 12 to 18 feet high if you're in thick cover with plenty of background foliage to break up your silhouette, or in a tree with lots of branches, or on a knoll. (2) A View to a Kill Create three shooting lanes: two to the front of your stand and a larger one behind you, which makes it a little easier to turn around and shoot. Prune for complete arrow clearance, cutting saplings at ground level and using an extension pole to cut high branches. (3) The Dead Zone Choose a tree that puts the hottest deer sign (as well as any deer scent you use) between 15 and 25 yards away from your stand. This is the dead zone. For most hunters, anything beyond it is a little far for easy, clean kills; anything closer creates a very steep shooting angle. Find and Prepare a Place to Hunt How to: scout out a trophy, read a buck rub, hang a tree stand, plant a food plot and more pre-season tips you need to read before you hit the tree stand. Lesson Plan: How to Scout for a Trophy Buck Follow these three assignments from trophy whitetail guide Rick Krueter before the season starts, and you chances of putting pins to your local monster this fall will get a whole lot better. Click here for the story How to Read Pre-Rut Buck Rubs Pre-season buck rubs are hard to find, but when they give you a much more accurate picture of a buck's habits than the far more common rubs created later in the season. These tips will help you find and read them. Click here for the story How to Hang the Perfect Tree Stand Bowhunters have very little wiggle room when it comes to tree-stand location. a stand that's even slightly in the wrong spot--a little too high or low, or a tad too close to or far from the hottest sign--can cost you your deer. Here's how to create the perfect setup. Click here for the story Tree Stand Hanging Safety Tips Every fall, a few hunters who were not careful are found where they fell. Their troubles are over. Job One here is not to join these people. Here's how to hang a stand safely. Click here for the story How to Build a Last-Minute Food Plot Never got around to putting in food plots this spring? Don't sweat it. Sow the right seeds in the right places right now, and your last-minute plots will sprout in days and start attracting deer in time for bow season. Click here for the story How to Build Buck-Holding Cover on Your Property Create holding cover on your property and bucks drawn to your food plots will stick around al

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