Hunting from a tree stand

[outdoors_al]

How much does hunting from an elevated position, ie a tree stand or tower blind, affect the shot? The big thing for range finders now is this ARC feature. If you are in a stand 10'-15' off the ground, the deer comes in at 20 yrds, should you aim for 20 yrds or should you factor in the height you are at and aim at say 25 yrds?

Thanks for the help!

Al

[SPITFIRE]

welcome , hunting from a tree stand 10-15 feet high you don't need arc. at bow/xbow ranges of 10-40 yards max the inclination angle doesn't enter into the picture. Gun hunting where angles are steep and yardarge is long then you have to take inclination into accuount.

[suzyandal]

I have a 20' ladder' stand that I hunt from. Last week I was thinking the same thing as you, so I took my 3d deer target and placed it 15 and then 23yds away from my stand . I am shooting an exomax with fixed bolt cutter broadheads, The shots were exactly where I aimed and the downward angle did not effect the accuracy of the shot at all. At 15 yds the difference between aim point/hitting point would also be non existent.

[one shot scott]

Always keep in mind the arrow travel. picture where the arrow would enter and exit. the closer to the tree the deer is, the higher the entrance

[B-Logger]

This question pops up all over the place, especially at bow ranges. Lots of explanations on where to aim, blah, blah, blah. I have never aimed any different for yardages no matter what the height. If the deer is at 20 yards, I am for 20 yards. If at 30, I am at 30, etc.

If I were shooting a rifle out in the mountains and shooting a few hundred yards, then I would be concerned about how it would affect. With a bow; no change.

[outdoors_al]

Thanks for all the advice guys I really appreciate it!

[ponyboy1995]

I am new to crossbows and have been wondering the same thing so thanks for the info. It is greatly appreciated!

[DuckHunt]

I've seen this asked so many times, I figured I would do the math and graph it myself. I made graphs for line of sight shots of 10, 20, 30 & 40 yards. On one side is your height above the target (in feet). On level ground, that would be your treestand height. Along the bottom is the line of sight distance to the target.




At 20 feet up a deer that is 20 yards away will have a straight line distance of 21.1 yards.
At 30 feet up a deer that is 30 yards away will have a straight line distance of 31.6 yards.
At 40 feet up a deer that is 40 yards away will have a straight line distance of 42.2 yards.

In my opinion, if the deer is 20 or more yards away then you don't need to worry about it. If you don't hunt above 25 feet, then don't worry about it. It really only becomes an issue at close range when you are way above the target. For those that hunt on relatively level ground, its a non-issue.

I have one stand that is 27 feet high and on the side of a hill to boot. Deer downhill from me in the ravine can be 20 feet or more below my tree. In cases like this there can be a 50 foot vertical difference between me and my target. That could mean a 4 to 9 yard difference between the line of sight and the real horizontal distance. But this is an extreme case, most will never have this issue.

Practice close shots from your hunting height. That is where the problem really exists if you hunt high.

DuckHunt

[Perforator]

I would think the trajectory of the arrow would be affected by the down angle, not so much drop per distance. Might just compensate for the extra distance the height adds.
I found a spot to set up my target range that's downhill, not quite as much height as my stand but the best I can do and I sight the bow in there trying to duplicate the field shooting conditions as best I can.

[Kegbelly]

Always heard to aim for the point you want your shot to hit on the opposite side of the deer, that way the shot passes thru the center of the deer and also thru the vitals.

[Lake shooter]

Gravity, horizontal distance and the speed of the projectile to the target are all besides wind that affects arrows/bolts when it comes to hitting the target at anything besides level shots. Basically it's a time verses gravity thingy. As others have said and I agree, the speed of most of the Excalibur Crossbows at normal hunting ranges and normal stand heights makes this academic, but to play the devils advocate: IF you were really high above a target which was close to straight below you, there is virtually zero horizontal distance and almost zero gravitational drop on the arrow/bolt, so the time in the air thingy only matters for windage. This could happen if faced with shooting at something close to straight below a high cliff, not an uncommon thing out west. if you were 40 yards (vertical distance) high of something set up this way (say only 10 yards away horizontally) and used your 40 yard chevron you would miss way high, the target is still only 10 yards away!

Just saying.......

[Kegbelly]

I found this pic on the net...


This is a quickie-found a picture on the web and I just drew the lines on, but you get the idea...

[pinshooter]

15' up on a 20yd shot you will be about 1" high. I aim low to mid lung as you have the angle to contend with.

[nchunterkw]

Gravity affects the arrow along the horizontal distance only, so what you need to be concerned with is the angle of the shot relative to the ground. The graphs above are spot on. At "normal" tree stand heights in level areas the LOS distance and horizontal distance are very close to the same so you don't need to worry. But if the angle is getting towards 30 or 40 degrees, due to hilly terrain, etc then there can be enough difference to shift POI a few inches, maybe, at longer shot distances. For example, a 40yard shot at an elk out west at a 45 degree downward angle.....LOS = 40yards, horizontal distance = (0.707*40) = 28.28 yards. There ARC comes into play. Same shot in the flat Midwest, 40 yards from a 20' treestand....the downward angle = 9.59 degrees and the horizontal distance = 39.44 yards. ARC does not come into play. Only the angle matters. Uphill and downhill are the same.