pinesap

I do have a rangefinder, But last year was the first time I had trouble shooting up a tree. The deer were close - 8 to 12 yrds. when I practice, I shoot 1 pin point blank to 20yrds. but I missed 3 deer last yr and most deer I shoot are around 12 - 18 yrds but I am usually not that high up. doughboysigep said what someone else told me , that I should measure from the base of the tree to the target. Well I will be doing more practicing and I have practiced before in tree stands but not any closer that 15 yrds out. till last year I never seemed to have a problem shooting from a tree stand.

doughboysigep

for the most part there isn't going to be a big difference between the two distances (unless u get into situations like my exaggerated example)
like someone said, the most important thing to pay attention to is the entrance/exit of the arrow - that is really what is effected the most by elevation

side note - from what i've read no matter if shooting uphill or downhill, the tendency is to shoot high

Extreme Shot

I recommend what everyone else is saying above, however, if you're curious....what you are trying to figure out is the distance of the hypotenuse (longest side) of a right triangle. The equation I learned in school was "A squared plus B squared equaled C squared". I did a search on the internet and found the pictures below:



So in your example, A=12yrds, B=18ft=6yrds, and C is the unknown. C=sqrt(12^2*6^2)= 13.4 yrds

I doubt you're going to have a calculator with you in the tree. Just remember that its going to be a little longer than your ground distance A!

Have fun,
DkM

RIStrutStopper

The amount of drop due to gravity is the same whether you are at 8 feet or 18 feet. Your arrow will drop at the rate of 9.8 meters per second squared (neglecting air resistance). You need to know where your arrow will hit at 12 yards from the ground, it should be the same point of impact as up in the tree. As others have said, take into account where the arrow needs to pass through and where you want it to exit when picking a spot to aim for.

Bulzeye

OK, here's the deal....

Since gravity only acts on the arrow for the horizontal component of it's travel, you will shoot high if you use your rangefinder from your treestand and fail to compensate. The easiest way is to range a few landmarks FROM THE GROUND before you climb, then you will be dead on. Nothing to it. However, for many of us, it's pretty dark when we climb up, so...

You can use the formula above, from Extreme Shot, to calculate the difference for a few different ranges. The differences will only be a few yards. In fact, the further out you shoot from your stand, the less you will need to compensate because your actual flight path is much more horizontal than if you were shooting at a deer stand only a few yards from you.

For example, if your rangefinder reads 13.4 yards to the deer from you elevated stand, then you'll know you have to aim as if the deer were only 12 yards from you. In fact he IS only 12 yards from you (horizontally).

This same theory can be applied when shooting uphill, like when hunting in the mountains. It works exactly the same way.
ANY steep angled shot will hit high if you aim using the straight line from you to the animal as your range. You can only use the horizontal component. That's the only one gravity uses, and it will always be slightly less than what your rangfinder will tell you from you stand.

RULE OF THUMB:
If the angle is steep, hold a bit low. How much will depend on how flat you arrows shoot.

Rack-attack

Yes agreed 100% - The amount of gravity drop is not the same

Its here that I don't agree - With modern fast bows the diff is so small it is often unpercievable.

IMO it is form that creates most High-Low misses from elevations

Techy

Actually gravity only acts on the vertical component.

I just got out of physics class, just couldn't resist[8D]

Bees

Most of the misses are because of not bending at the waist. Go to anchor completely horizontal like you do on the ground, then bend at the waist to lower everything on to the target. Bending at the waist keeps the anchor triangle intact. When that triangle is not intact, no telling where the arrow is going..

Good advice Aussie, Aim for the exit. low exit hole blood will flow...

EOTN

You guys are ruining bowhunting for me by sounding like a bunch of school marms> so knock it off, right. Hey, get in a stand and shoot some arrows. If you're missing that many deer, maybe you shouldn't be shooting at them, live ones for now anyway. Hey, sorry if this sounds harsh, but I made sure I could hit things from a hunting position long before I ever took my first shot at game. And doesn't it just make sense to start at the beginning?; shoot at five yards consistently before you graduate to ten, etc. Again, sorry if this seems like I'm picking on you, but you owe it to your prey to do everything you can to take a clean shot, and it sounds a bit like you're taking pot shots(albeit at 8 yards). And for the record, I was taught to aim a bit low, but maybe that was before super fast, utra quiet bows when deer had more time to react to the sound of the release of the string.

pinesap

EOTN
I did say that I have practiced from trees before and I have shot deer before from tree stands. the problem that I stated is that I missed 3 deer last year and I don't now why.I don't know how old you are or anything else about you, but I will tell you this -you will miss deer from time to time and when you do you will start to 2nd guess everything you do. I'm 40yrs old I can still count the number of times I have missed deer on my hands, less than 10 times. so much for your pot shot theory! I'm just tring to figure out what I'm doing different or wrong now. Don't criticize me for asking questions or my hunting ability. EOTN, how many deer have you missed???