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Why do you climb?

Oh yeah I forgot to add that I have heard Sasquatches don't climb well. So I am actually safer in a tree if bigfeets are in fact aggressive.
 
denots said:
Cause it makes me feel like a freaking Ninja
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Nothing like rappelling down at the end of the hunt. I can't remember who said it here first but these words go through my mind every time . . . "I'm Batman!" :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy:

I'll never forget the response I got from a guy who had walked in and set up near me one day. I decided to relocate and he didn't see the bow as I lowered it down. His first sight of me was me rappelling from the canopy. All I could hear was "What the #U*&". It was all I could not to laugh out loud.:)
 
I only climb when truly necessary, which is only about 50% of the time the past several years. I bought a Packrabbit rig for turkey and deer for run and gun and with the Marc Anthony ghille, my options are endless from the ground. I prefer killing bucks at eye level, it's just more fun. But if the tree is needed, I climb.
 
I started deer hunting in 1982 i never hunted from a tree until 2004, when I moved to Tn. In Ca you had a million acres to wander around in. Climbing a tree never crossed my mind. It’s so mountainous you felt elevated from the ground. When we moved here a buddy let me borrow a climber and I was hooked. I rarely hunt from the ground unless I purposely set out to. If I carry a saddle I will end up in a tree.


See you in a tree, Ricky
 
gameflogger said:
Oh yeah I forgot to add that I have heard Sasquatches don't climb well. So I am actually safer in a tree if bigfeets are in fact aggressive.
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I’ve heard just the opposite. Bunch of encounters when they’re apparently up in a tree.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Cause I am no good at ground hunting. I'll do it when I think it is the right play call, but I don't feel a sense of virtue that killing deer from the ground is somehow a higher level of nirvana as seems to exist in some folks sentiments.

I think the primary advantage is the vantage. To be able to see deer before they see you. A lot more shooting lanes also. Ground game often leaves just a few quick lanes to get a shot. In addition I enjoy just observing deer and there is a lot more opportunity to do so with a vantage point. Get above the brush. If I am not in the thick stuff I am not in the game. Seeing the open areas guys hunt like THP in Iowa, ground hunting makes a lot more sense there.

Also, I am both impatient and a little lazy by nature. By putting in all that effort to get in a tree, it forces me to stay there. When I hunt on the ground I tend to put the run in run and gun.
 
Honestly I usually don't. I always bring my saddle/climbing gear but I only climb a tree if I'm convinced that it's the best place for me to be to kill (or sometimes observe) what I'm after. 2 of the 4 deer I killed this year were from the ground with a bow. The other 2 were from less than 10 ft off the ground. I have more fun and learn a lot more hunting from the ground.
 
I climb because in my area ambush is the best tactic. Spot and stalk is not exactly easy in the wood lots of upper Midwest. Gaining height gives me sight line advantage as well as some, perhaps just in my mind, level of concealment when drawing.

Or maybe because my dad hunts out of trees and that’s what I learned.
 
So to recap:

Sight advantage - getting above brush allows you to see further and shoot further.

Stealth advantage - deer don't look up? Or at least getting above their line-of-sight helps you get away with small movements and drawing a bow. You're also more likely to have a non-target animal pass your location without spooking if you're elevated.

Scent control - keeps the area immediately around your stand from getting saturated with scent?

Safety when gun hunting - shooting down is safer than shooting through the woods.

Better archery angles - low exit wounds mean better blood trails. On the flip side, too high and a double lung gets tougher.

Easier to stick to a spot - it's easier to stay in a stand if you have to pack all your junk and set it up again.

Because it's fun - agreed

Because...well, because! - fair enough.

I don't climb, or I only climb if I feel I cant hunt on the ground - interesting...

Did I miss anything?
 
My experience hunting the most pressured area in the US is deer are really good at picking you out of trees (if you move) at like 20-40ish yards. Beyond 40 or 50 yards distance starts to help. As they move inside 20 yards, even without hunting high at all, my experience is that you start to get above their peripheral vision a little more.

I also think a lot of hunters try not to set up close enough on deer thinking 20-30 yards is somehow optimal and these guys get busted a lot drawing and playing with cameras and whatnot when deer are "in the cone". I try to set up so I expect shots within 15 yards.

My very unscientific, not to scale whatsoever, illustration of this effect:

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One does not benefit from this on the ground generally speaking.
 
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elk yinzer said:
My experience hunting the most pressured area in the US is deer are really good at picking you out of trees (if you move) at like 20-40ish yards. Beyond 40 or 50 yards distance starts to help. As they move inside 20 yards, even without hunting high at all, my experience is that you start to get above their peripheral vision a little more.

I also think a lot of hunters try not to set up close enough on deer thinking 20-30 yards is somehow optimal and these guys get busted a lot drawing and playing with cameras and whatnot when deer are "in the cone". I try to set up so I expect shots within 15 yards.

My very unscientific, not to scale whatsoever, illustration of this effect:

View attachment 25386
One does not benefit from this on the ground generally speaking.
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I like this. I like this a lot. I like this so much that I'll let it slide that you said you hunted the most pressured area in the US. Everybody knows Michigan is the most pressured. Eberhart says so. ;)
 
Too many dead, crinkly, noisy leaves on the ground year round to be quiet while changing direction, turning around, etc. Plus raised visibility over ground clutter, slightly out of line-of-site for where deer are usually looking (though they look up here, as often as not), etc. But this coming year I'm switching to a lighter saddle and one-stick climbing to cut down on weight carried in, and adding a ghillie top for ground opportunities.
 
I can see more and just like my saddles name Kestrel which is a predator from above.
 
I'm required to be elevated where I hunt. With that said, I'd still hunt from tree even if it wasn't required.
 
When I first started bowhunting I didn't have the money to buy a "Baker" climbing tree stand and my Dad said they looked dangerous so I started bowhunting, actually still hunting on the ground. We were lucky in that in September, a motocross run would go through several of the farms including my grandmothers and just after one weekend, it provided a churned up trail through the woods ( and through prime wild grape-vine tangled bedding areas) that you could silently still hunt on when the wind was right. I would get in head to toe camo with my Browning Nomad Compound Bow bought through the mail from Gander Mountain and using an old pair of opera binocs my great aunt gave to me, I would hunt on those trails with the wind in my face. I could smell the deer when I got within 30 yards of them. I would usually spook them but I would just loop back from the way I came and if I saw them run to the left, I would loop back about 50-75 yards at a run while they were running and loop to my right, if they ran to the right, I would run back and loop to my left. The deer like to loop and get downwind when they're not sure what you are and that afforded a few shot opportunities at the same deer within a half hour to 45 minutes. I shot a doe or two doing that and it was a blast. Then, I remember well doing that on that same trail during the rut, snowflakes lightly drifting down and the bucks I would see. Sometimes right on the trail they would stop and I would be so nervous and try to draw back and they would spook. Totally exhilarating but not as effective as I wanted it to be. But hey, I was 14. The only thing is it would bugger up that area and so we started to rely on and read about the necessity for tree stands but nowadays, with ghillie suits and ground blinds and everything, you don't need to hunt from a tree. I do like being in a saddle or a tree stand just because I do believe it provides an advantage to draw on unsuspecting deer. I also like to have a commanding view of my surroundings which adds to by enjoyment. However, there is something to be said for hunting from the ground when the conditions are right.
 
Bwhana said:
I only climb when truly necessary, which is only about 50% of the time the past several years. I bought a Packrabbit rig for turkey and deer for run and gun and with the Marc Anthony ghille, my options are endless from the ground. I prefer killing bucks at eye level, it's just more fun. But if the tree is needed, I climb.
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Oh gosh I hate this site!!! What is the "Packrabbit?"
 
woodsdog2 said:
Oh gosh I hate this site!!! What is the "Packrabbit?"
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