Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Stand height

gundog870

gundog870

Premium Platinum Member
Lets be honest about the average height of our stands... I have come to the conclusion that I hang stands way too low in most cases. I put up a an average height stand last night, and it measures in at 14' to the platform... I'm ok with that because of the setting/backdrop etc. However, I would say that the majority of my stands are around 15-18 ft as I can usually reach them with 3 stretched out sticks.

How high do you typically hang your stands?
 
Most of my stands are about 15', had one stand that was 22'. The trees had no cover until that height and the deer were coming down a big hill so I wanted to get up high to get out of their line of sight on the hill.
 
Most of mine are 16' ladder stands mainly because I take my dad with me a lot out hunting and he wouldn't do very well on the climbing sticks- ladder is just safer for him. My Summit Climber I would go around 18' up until the tree was too skinny to continue-
 
Im going to say that 95 percent of our stands are 18-24' to the platform. I base that off the length of the climbing sticks that i make.
We have a few odd sets that are very low but have great cover and we have a few skyscraper stands that fit certain situations. I believe cover is far more important than height. Keeping the deer upwind being numero uno
 
I would say most of our stands are in the 18-22' range. Although, with the steep hills, there are a couple that I would venture to say if you fell of the front of the platform, you might fall a lot further by the time you hit bottom.
 
Most of mine are right around 18'. Checked the straps on one of the higher ones over the weekend (probably around 22-25') and I could sense the height variance. I am just a little more careful and uneasy at that height as I get older.

I have been going to more ladders lately and they are harder to find at anything above 16'. I put one in on Sat that was advertised at 17-1/2' but it's more like 15' to the platform.
 
I let the cover dictate the height. I do prefer to be around 18-20' range though. My tallest is 23' but on a slope and shooting on the uphill side. My lowest ever was about 12' amongst the branches of a burr oak. That set probably gave me the best cover out of anything I've ever sat in.
 
i generally go as high as i feel comfortable,, usually around 15 but also depend on my back cover, if its good i dont go any higher. My honey hole stand here in wis i can prob jump out of it and do fine,, its in a nice clump of oak that i hide good in....
 
I hardly ever go above 16 foot to the platform. I'm not a huge fan of heights so I just try to find areas where I can hide semi-well.
 
If I am in thick stuff I may go as low as 8 ft but never much over 15 ft not many trees will let me go over if I could due to large branches, splits or tree gets crooked. I kill lots of deer at those heights. I think people over estimate how high they go just like lots of deer they see are 170 in
 
Since I'll be hunting mostly where my dad hunts, I can say with confidence, that almost all the stands are 16 foot, besides the few lock on's I have around, which are around 20 foot. All the 16 foot stands are ladder stands, and my lock ons have 20 foot ladder sticks.
 
Ishi said:
If I am in thick stuff I may go as low as 8 ft but never much over 15 ft not many trees will let me go over if I could due to large branches, splits or tree gets crooked. I kill lots of deer at those heights. I think people over estimate how high they go just like lots of deer they see are 170 in
Click to expand...

Not too hard to estimate when using 4' ladder sections...
 
I need to clarify my quote wasn't about ladder stands if the box says 16 ft or what ever then ya that is what it is. We also can add down here :D
 
Usually I am 4 sticks high so I would say 18-20 feet. Last year though was the first year I never hunted higher than 3 sticks and it worked out fine. The stand I hung this year is only 3 sticks high but a big tree and a good backdrop. I am finding it tough to go high on public ground where you really can't trim anything.
 
I have a tendency to sit high, 25' or a bit higher, due to the area and trees I use mostly but also because early in my career I couldn't sit still and was picked off a lot. Problem with those heights is the narrow window for good shot placement.
 
I'm very opinionated on this topic but could care less what others choose to do or are comfortable with - to each their own. I am always 25-35' unless a condition exists where I have to or can be lower. Shot angle is the objection I hear when I tell people how high I hunt & I have ZERO issue with it, none. I personally feel the height gives me far more opportunity to get more deer closer & them not seeing anything. Maybe some wind advantages, slightly. Of course, no matter the height, I always look for the "right type of tree" if I can, split trunks, lots of back cover, etc. If I'm at all "naked" at any height, I load the areas all around (way above to below) with cedar branches.
 
Our stands are from between about 16 to about 21/22 to the base of the platforms on all the stands we use ladder sticks on, as someone said it's easy to know how high you are in those set up's. Occaisonally we will use a 16 or 20 foot set of sticks and then a screw in or two to get up to that perfect cover or spot on the tree which is why some are a bit off that 16 or 20 foot mark.

We have a few that are put in with just screw-ins so a bit harder to guess on those but just going by feel they don't feel any higher than our others spots so I's assume they are in that window.

One stand we have is at the top of a 20ft set of sticks but the stand is right at the top of a side hill just off a food plot. Look one way your are 18/20ft up, look the other way and you feel like you're 30+ feet in the air. Pretty cool
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom