Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Treestands: Preferred hunting height & why?

I try to get up around 20’ with my saddle but I hear about guys going higher or lower based upon terrain etc.

What’s your take?

I don't have a set height. Never really measured.

Edge of a field, I tend to go higher. I just go till I can't anymore those I'd guess most all my stands end up in that 15-20 feet range.

I use mostly hang-on's with screw in steps and go up 8 pegs which works out to around 18' at the platform. This usually works out well for me but I'll go up or down a peg or two depending on obstacles or sidehills.

Over a lifetime of hunting from tree stands, it has varied by the surrounding tree canopy and brush height. The last few years it has been around 20' because that was high enough to see over the surrounding brush with enough angle to shoot into. I want to be below the heavier surrounding tree canopy, but above the ground level scent stream. 40-50' wasn't out of the question if the brush line was much taller. The "Penthouse" seat was stupid high in a big white pine overlooking a popple regeneration area, but deer were more important to me back in my foolhardy youth. The wife wants my butt about 2' off the ground on a camp stool, so I don't tell her much about my hunting locations. I've gotten better shot presentations on un-alarmed deer from a tree stand than I do hunting from the ground.

That’s roughly what I do with my sticks & platform also

I hear ya on the wifely concern. My wife asked one day what saddle hunting was & she wanted to see how it worked. I’m
Not even sure I made my final stick placement and she said she’d seen enough. Lol.

I used to average around 20', but my "hang-on" days are over. Now if I'm not on the ground, I'm either in a ladder stand or a box blind if the weather's crap. 2 bad shoulders and 2 bad knees have lowered my altitude!

15 feet because I start to get nervous at 20 and forget 25

20' to 22' range where possible. It's where I'm comfortable and has worked well for me for a lot of years. Plus, to go any higher, I'd need to buy more climbing sticks!

12 foot to the bottom. But I traditional bow hunt. Any higher and the shot angle seems a little steep for me. Lone wolf with 3 sticks and an aider gets you there easy.seems at this hight my eyes are 18 feet or so when I stand to shoot.

The only time I'll be suspended in a tree is if I had a platform malfunction/failure and my harness saved me.

Average height for me generally 18' - generally hang-ons are 20'-ish but a lot of 16' ladder stands and some a little lower yet when getting any higher isn't an advantage.

I usually setup on a ridge and hunt looking down into a bottom. Usually its a edge where old and new clear cut meet up with mature pines.
I’m rifle hunting. I only go up high enough to be able to shoot over the bush and have a clear shot down into the bottom without getting over the trees behind me. If .i get up over the stuff behind me they can make me out. The place i am hunting next week I will only be up about 12 feet. About every other time I hunt I hunt this climber I have deer walk right beside me within 15 yards. Very seldom do they spook. And that depends on the wind.

my current stand is 14 feet high. Plenty enough height for me and for where I hunt. Line of sight to the swamp edge is just over 65 yards. We have taken three bucks so far this year from that stand.

Thanks all - this is exactly what I was hoping to hear about. As different as we all hunt we sorta hunt the same.
I can relate. When I first started saddle hunting I had to practice in the yard for a few months ahead of season to get comfortable. Even now there are times that I wish I had a stand

No preferred height. But, I'll only go as high as I think I need to. Most successfull treestand we had growing up was only about 10' to the platform. The Cedartree Blind was in a pine tree with lots of limbs. Enough that we used the limbs as steps! One was well hidden and the height really gave all the visibility you were going to get. Dad killed 7 bucks in 7 years running with a bow on the day before gun season out of that stand.

Pretty much my situation as well.

Really depends on the surrounding terrain. Some places extra height helps, some it decreases line of sight or clear shots. In most cases, I prefer higher if possible...but I'm hunting with a rifle, not bow. According to the pullup rope I use, most often, my waist is ~25' off the ground....which is where I run out of rope.

I'd have to measure my chair, but probably 18" or so.

We have ladder stands that are only 1 ladder up. My son's is 17' to the platform I think. Quite a few of our areas are easier to see on the ground.

Where I shot my buck this year sitting on the ground on a hillside that has a lot of deer sign in the area. Plenty of times I hunt through the woods and find a place to sit for some time. Sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 4-5 hours. Hell, sometimes all day. All day sites are usually in a blind for me these days though.

I used to go up and down elevator shafts, or pipe shafts, in a Bosun's Chair installing electrical conduit runs. Typically, heights don't bother me much at all. But then, never did that, or use a treestand, without a very good fall restraint harness.

Lock on and ladders usually 18-20' if trees and topography permit. Climbers 20-22'