Stand choice and location advice, is 12ft tall enough?

[jshouse]

I need to get aggressive and set up a new stand.

I have a 12ft ladder and a climber, I feel WAY more comfortable shooting a bow from the ladder, but feel like it isn't tall enough. I thought about finding a good tree and placing the ladder on the back of it, almost like in the 5 o'clock position in relation to my feed pile. I can use the tree as cover while using my knee on the seat and the tree as an anchor on my left shoulder while I shoot. Anyone else do this? There are no good evergreens out there so I'm like a sitting duck up there.

Or just go with the climber and get up high?

Also, how do you guys hunt the wind right in the middle of a block of timber? Deer will come from every direction, do I just hunt whatever wind is best for where I think my target will come from?

I usually hunt from a blind on an edge with a barrier of some sort behind me but it's not working at this place anymore and I need to get out in the woods.

[RattlesnakeDan]

I set up at 12' last year but I have a swirling wind issue there. So I built a ladder for an old hang on stand and bolted it up so now I am about 20' high and it is a huge difference in getting busted. Not perfect, but much more scent is carried up and away, much less frustration this year.

[CEO]

I would go with the climber for two reasons. First, I don't mind setting up lower if you have good tree cover, but if you feel like you're sticking out I would not chance it. Second, the wind in thick timber tends to bounce off the trees and swirl. Like RattlesnakeDan said, the higher up you are the more your scent will get dispersed.

[rjtkdplus]

I’d use the climber and hunt downwind of where I’m most likely to get a shot.

[HighwayHunter]

Get high in a climber. I’ve sat 10’ off the ground in good cover and didn’t bust deer but I had a steady wind. Most of my hunting is in big blocks of timber, and you gotta get fairly high. I didn’t like it at first but it doesn’t bother me too much now. Take some time setting up your platform so that when you reach desired height it’s sitting level. Nothing worse than being 25’ in a tree with your foot platform at a 10 degree down slope.


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