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Can You Top This?

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Can You Top This?

Postby Swede » 04 05, 2017 •  [Post 1]

I have measured down from shoulder level and found I was up 33 feet, or 31 feet from the seat.
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby stringunner » 04 06, 2017 •  [Post 2]

I cut my pull up ropes to always be between 30-35 ft long. That helps me figure about how high I am up in the tree. Last year on two stands those ropes just touched the ground and were out of length having to be tied to the base of the stand. Figuring those ropes about the lengths stated above, I think that puts me about as high as you Swede, sitting between 30-35 feet up.

The first year I could barely stand to be more than 20-25. But as I grew more comfortable in the stand and improved upon my safety measures, I have found that I actually enjoy going higher, which gives several advantages. The only time i absolutely hate being that high up is on windy days when that tree is swaying in the wind. I have gotten down several times in a day or over the course of several days because this makes me really nervous.

Two years ago I was in a tree situated between two seeps. On a windy day my tree was swaying pretty good. I looked down and could visably see the ground moving because of the root system of the tree I was sitting in. I got down and found a different tree the next year.
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Swede » 04 06, 2017 •  [Post 3]

Sometimes height is near essential. Bowls and low meadows are notorious for being scent sinks. The only good option is to go high so your scent is dispersed and comes to the ground far from your stand.
Sometimes 30-35 feet up is a little unnerving. I have been up there in a lightning storm, wind, and rain. It is all good, but some conditions, like warm and sunny, are better than others.
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Wahpeton » 04 07, 2017 •  [Post 4]

Good afternoon.
When I'm in my climber I regularly look down with my rangefinder and am at 11 or 12 yards to the base of the tree. 36 feet up! A fairly stout aspen in a group is necessary to be stable at that height.
Take care.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Swede » 04 07, 2017 •  [Post 5]

Welcome to the forum Wahpeton. It is good to have you in the W.T. camp. Have you been successful on deer or elk from your tree stand?
You bring up an interesting point, and you could be up 36 full feet. I have had two Bushnell rangefinders and still have a Vortex rangefinder. One Bushnell and the Vortex came with angle compensation, but neither was accurate straight down. I started to question it when every stand was shown to be up 11 yards. I measured using my drop line and also triangulation. The height to the stands ranged from 27-33 feet. Going up 36 feet up in an Aspen sounds iffy to me. That is a little more complicated with a climber.
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Roosiebull » 04 07, 2017 •  [Post 6]

this is probably a little further than my comfortable cutoff height....
https://youtu.be/f1BgzIZRfT8
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Wahpeton » 04 08, 2017 •  [Post 7]

Good morning.
It has to be a pretty stout aspen to get up that high and you end up starting with your climber pretty severely angled up so that when you get to your desired height you are back to level for the platform you are standing on and the seat as well. I have an API Bowhunter model that works out pretty well. I don't reside in elk country so the lion's share of my hunting days are chasing whitetail with a 10 day trip to northern Colorado in September. I've been fortunate enough to get out west the last three years. I have yet to connect on an elk, but last year my hunting buddy connected on a decent bull. We don't really know any other way to hunt than treestands, so we just started out that way when we started going after elk. We end up hanging about 6 stands and setting up a couple ground blinds the first 2-3 days we are in camp and I regularly lug the climber out with me when there is a stout enough stand of aspen with a decent spot in proximity. I try to always be facing away from "the spot" so that I can use the tree as a screen to hide my profile and I try to avoid a set up in a lone tree, if there is a cluster, that's much better.
My rangefinder won't read anything less than 10 yards and my pull rope has verified the 36 feet. I've taken numerous whitetail from both climbers and fixed stands in North Dakota and Minnesota, now I just need to have it come together with an elk! Hopefully this fall.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Lefty » 04 08, 2017 •  [Post 8]

I did But I never did measure the height. I use to spend a lot of time on ladders, staging and scaffolding so heights didn't bother me.
I welded a steel stand with a rail and fabric skirting. Designed to get me above the "buck brush" and everything else It was made for rifle deer hunting. It was 500 feet up in elevation then 1500 foot down to the tree. I put wheels and a handle on the stand and made a 12 foot ladder to the first branches. Huge old fir tree Once to the branches it was mostly ( safe and) easy climbing.
I had a piece of 50 foot para cord tied to the rail and only 7-8 feet were on the ground. I had to clean up a lot of branches 4_10" in diameter to wiggle the stand up the tree and gun and lunch.
Whe I left Utah a neighbor "bought" the stand and my bucket of emergency supplies, tube tent and military sleeping bag, food, canned water etc We stood on his front deck And I put the spotting scope on the tree 3 miles away and well over 3000 feet up
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Re: Can You Top This?

Postby Swede » 04 08, 2017 •  [Post 9]

Wahpeton wrote: I just need to have it come together with an elk! Hopefully this fall.


I hope it comes together for you too.

Hunting elk from a tree stand is very productive if you are set up right in the right place.
I prefer to face or to be quartering away from the place I expect to shoot an elk. They have come in from all around. I usually have about a 270 degree radius where I can shoot. It varies some due to the different tree diameters or other obstructions. I like to be up in the branches or among trees, so there is a camouflage effect. I can't always get that perfect, but I will make my own camo if necessary.
You will get it figured out. There are a lot of tips available on this forum. Like most folks here, I will answer any relevant question as best I know how. I don't like to promote my book as it seems to be a tacky way to do things, but I believe it could help you. I think I have shared everything in the book here on W.T. at one time or another, but the book has a lot of information put together in a handy binder, that is based on many years of personal tree stand elk hunting experiences. It is about the price of one arrow with a broadhead.
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