Show Notes:

Getting into a tree may be the single biggest thing you can do to improve your chances of success hunting whitetails, but how high do you need to go? On this episode I talk about the factors of how altitude effects deer hunting and what the optimal height is. 

Take Aways

• A deer’s world is on the ground: their food, cover, bedding, friends, lovers, predators and just about everything else exists between 0-5 feet off the ground.
• The trees are home to birds, squirrels, and leaves. Things that are of little interest to whitetails. 
• Deer can and do look up. But they rarely have a reason to unless they hear something or catch a glimpse of movement.
• Altitude even helps the scent equation because it gets our smell off the ground so it is less pronounced. 
• Terrain does effect how high you should climb but only to a minimal degree.
• The higher you go the more negative effects begin to stack up, such as:
  • Poorer shot angles with harder to hit vital areas.
  • Further from the deer, which impacts archery most.
  • More branches and obstacles can get in between you and your target.
  • The higher you climb, the more time and energy is spent climbing.
  • Piecing together high climbing systems increases the risk of an accident.