by John Krutz

Created on: November 13, 2008   Last Updated: November 18, 2008

Many white tail deer hunters prefer hunting from a deer stand and with good reason. A deer stand offers a great perspective and good shooting angles for landing a trophy buck. However, there are some things all hunters should take into consideration when setting up their tree stand. Proper placement of a deer stand increases one's chances of harvesting a trophy. Follow these five rules to maximize your opportunity when hunting from a deer stand.

The most important factor in where to set up your deer stand is scouting the area. Spend time before the season starts scouting different areas to place your deer stand. There are two main areas to concentrate your efforts when choosing a location. First look at areas where deer are often feeding. Areas that are frequented by deer for feeding will produce more opportunities for trophy bucks. Second are game trails, the areas that deer will use to move between bedding and feeding areas. Only select game trails that give good shooting lanes and set up your stand 10-20 yards away from the trail. If you set your stand to close to the trail deer may catch wind of you and you will not have good shooting angles.

Next you should take into account your dominant weather patterns, wind specifically. Most hunters know if a deer catches scent of you, your chances drop considerably that you will harvest the deer. Even with all the scent masking available today, staying upwind of deer is the best way to ensure he will not smell you. Choose a location where you are most likely to stay upwind of the animal.

The next step in choosing the ideal location for your deer stand is distance. Your scouting of locations will give you a good idea of where the deer should be so try to set up your deer stand around 15-25 yards away. This way you are close enough to get an accurate shot, but not to close where you may only have a bad angle. The angle of course also depends on how high you set your stand.

Deciding how high to set your deer stand is the last step in the placement of the tree stand. The height of the stand greatly depends on the amount of cover around you and sight lines. If you are on the edge of a clearing or there is little cover (branches and leaves) you will need to set your deer stand a little higher, this means around 20-25 feet off the ground. This would be a good suggestion if you were near a feeding area that's in the open. If you will be more concealed by leaves and branches you place the stand lower, around 12-20 feet off

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