bow hunting from a tree stand

[PmDavis300]

how important is camo when hunting from a treestand?

[lungdeflator]

to me its pretty important. I have never bow hunted without camo on. I guess it really comes down to what is behind you when a deer looks up at you. If you are sillohetted(SP) on the edge of a field, camo or not a deer has a good chance of seeing you. If you are sitting in a spruce or balsam, a green shirt and pants might be all you need.

you dont need to spend alot of money on the clothes though. I know guys that wear camo wranglers on stand and just spray them down with a SK and have been very successful.

[PmDavis300]

well wally world has this 3d real leaf camo suit on there HSOforum for $80 thati thought might be good. any opinions on this camo?

[Bear55]

Hi PmDavis

Camo is very important when bowhunting, those deer are in close and you need something to break up your outline. I prefer the open pattern camo's like Predator (Fall Gray & Brown) and ASAT. The Realtree AP has also taken steps in the right direction. Remeber don't buy camo that looks good to your eyes, get the stuff that will break up your shape.

I'm a little hesitant to get anything with a leafy patter, its just extra material that can get caught on a bow string and cause a bad shot.

[Bear55]

Also to save $$$ I buy non-insulated pants and long sleeve T's in my favorite camo patterns. Make sure to get them a few sizes too large, then they still work great for early season and you have lots of room to dress warm when it cools off.

[charliepete]

I don't think camo is all that important when you are up a tree. I think it's more important that you don't silouette yourself and that your garment is dead quiet when you move. Don't get me wrong, I've got all sorts of camo, but I've also shot pleny of deer with my bow wearing head to toe solid blaze orange.

[B. Amish]

#1 don't silhouette yourself

#2 don't move around a lot

#3 dress for the weather, so you're comfortable

#4 camo

[vister]

i use mossy oak break-up. like mentioned, i just buy the cheap stuff. guess what, it works just as well as everything else. break-up is darker, and i sit in darker locations. deer are farsighted. when they are under you, they can't look up and focus in on you like we can. if a deer is within bow range, then your scent has not been wiffed yet. scent control is 200% more of a must than what brand or color camo you wear. if you are visible in the sky-line by a deer, then you need to match your camo to the tree you are in. the only reason a deer would pick you out of a tree, was because you were wearing a big leafy, dark green suit in a lone pople tree. camo means blending in with your surroundings. match it accordingly

[PmDavis300]

so i have some military type camo, but its to green to match in the fall. but deer are colorblind right? so will it still work since it breaks up my outline?

[Bear55]

so i have some military type camo, but its to green to match in the fall. but deer are colorblind right? so will it still work since it breaks up my outline?

It should work just fine. My only worry is that some older camo styles turn into large dark blobs at a distance, some deer are pretty good at picking you off, they just seem to know something isn't right. Just make sure you have good cover around and behind you in any tree you choose. This becomes even more important once the leaves drop.

[Gus]

having good back cover is better than any camo pattern. If you are hanging off the side of a straight tree out in the open.. you are as good as busted. Nestle your stand into a tree with some pines right in your back or on each side and you golden. Get up in the oak leaves..pine trees, etc. Use nature to conceal you.

Gun hunting you don't need to be quite so picky, because you don't need to put yourself right on top of the deer trails.

[harvey lee]

If I'm 25' or higher in a tree and have good background, I don't worry about any camo and just wear darker clothes.

Now, if its later in the season with the leaves all on the ground and I'm in a lower stand, then by all means yes, wear some camo to break up your outline in the tree.

Seems these deer are getting smarter every year. I have to laugh when I see deer walking through thew woods looking up in the trees. I don't believe they are searching for squirrels.

Get as high as you are comfortable with

Keep the wind in your favor

Move as little as possible

You will still get busted once in awhile but it happens.

Also, be very careful when hunting a stand location to make sure the wind is in your favor. Once that mature buck winds you, that buck will more than likely not frequent that trail by you again.

[Archerysniper]

Bear 55 is right on about the predator camo I have never had a deer pick me off in that pattern as far as the other brands if you step back to 15 yards they all look like a big blob and dont break up your outline anymore that is were being silhouetted against the sky like eveyone else has said comes into play pick your stand hight to go with the background if it is really brushy 8 feet up and bare above that set your stand at 8 feet then. My only problem is they have not made scentlock in predator pattern that I have found yet.

[archerystud]

I do not think camo is that important. With that being said I only go hunting in my camo. I personally feel you can be outlined in any camo pattern. Use the trees to break up your outline.

I know deer don't travel where you always want them but take a look from the deer's perspective and look up at your stand. If you have a couple of good branches breaking up your outline then the deer will have much harder time spotting you.

[Deitz Dittrich]

The higher you are in a tree the less imortant it is to have a quality camo.. I still think its a darn good idea.. I also think the harder an area is hunted the more important it is to have a quality camo.

[Dan189]

well wally world has this 3d real leaf camo suit on there HSOforum for $80 thati thought might be good. any opinions on this camo?

does anyone want to admit to using this?

Im just curious as to the performance compared to the expensive stuff?

I'd be more worried about noise and moisture wicking then anything else.

[Fishinguy40]

Here's my $.02:

I believe the 2 most important things are sound and movement. I do believe deer have very limited color sight and lack depth perception so they key on movement. More than once, I've had deer under my stand during gun season. Just so you know I pee from my tree stand and also smoke. Hey, I figure I'm there to enjoy myself. If I gotta pee I pee. If I want a smoke I smoke. I've never had an issue with the smell of my smoke or urine keeping deer away. If anything, deer are very curious. Several years ago I had an 8 pointer run in and stop 20 yards in front of my stand giving me a perfect broadside shot. I swear he smelled my urine and smoke and stopped to figure out what that smell was. I've also had multiple deer under my stand feeding as I watched. If you're still, they'll never know you are there. If you move or if they get a quick sniff of you, they'll look up at you. I've had this happen a couple times. I stood perfectly still...kind of in a stare down with the deer. They eventually put their head back down and began feeding again.

I think the only advantage to scent control is if a deer has had a bad experience with human scent....i.e. smelled a human and that human scared the deer by shooting at it or somehow made it feeled threatened. I honestly believe most deer in the woods have no idea what human scent is until they have a bad experience. I also believe if you could stand still like a statue or mime, deer would walk right up to you wondering what the heck you are.

[DoubleLunger]

I believe being scentless is more important that your camo pattern or even having camo on in general as long as your 20' up or more.

[deerminator]

Ditto on everything else going before camo. The biggest thing to me is good cover. Walk the trails before season and picture how hard it will be to see yourself. You can be 9 feet of the ground in heavy cover wearing a clown suit and have a hands down advantage versus being 20 feet up with no cover and the fanciest camo out there. I have a lot of predator fall grey pieces. I actually have them because I like them more than anything and they do blend well with my woods.

[Bear55]

Here's my $.02:

I believe the 2 most important things are sound and movement. I do believe deer have very limited color sight and lack depth perception so they key on movement. More than once, I've had deer under my stand during gun season. Just so you know I pee from my tree stand and also smoke. Hey, I figure I'm there to enjoy myself. If I gotta pee I pee. If I want a smoke I smoke. I've never had an issue with the smell of my smoke or urine keeping deer away. If anything, deer are very curious. Several years ago I had an 8 pointer run in and stop 20 yards in front of my stand giving me a perfect broadside shot. I swear he smelled my urine and smoke and stopped to figure out what that smell was. I've also had multiple deer under my stand feeding as I watched. If you're still, they'll never know you are there. If you move or if they get a quick sniff of you, they'll look up at you. I've had this happen a couple times. I stood perfectly still...kind of in a stare down with the deer. They eventually put their head back down and began feeding again.

I think the only advantage to scent control is if a deer has had a bad experience with human scent....i.e. smelled a human and that human scared the deer by shooting at it or somehow made it feeled threatened. I honestly believe most deer in the woods have no idea what human scent is until they have a bad experience. I also believe if you could stand still like a statue or mime, deer would walk right up to you wondering what the heck you are.

I don't doubt smokers see deer, a lot of what you see depends on the wind and a little luck just like most other hunters. However, for every story I hear of guys seeing deer while smoking I hear two about guys who shower, were in full scent killer, play the wind and still get busted. I actually believe guys who practice scent control actually get busted more often, the reason being that the guys who smell and smoke probably don't see half the deer because they are scented long before the deer ever get close to them.

One of the guys I hunt with smokes, he also hunts out of one of our best stands. He was suprised to see the deer sightings go down day after day until he finally didn't see anything two days in a row. The thing is he smokes all day long, dispersing scent in every direction. Now if he isn't chasing deer out of the area every day they are certainly coming through at night and picking up the scent. At the same time I am being as scent free as possible and hunting fresh stands and see deer the entire time. After he left for the week, I gave that stand 3-4 days rest and went back, sure enough the deer moved back in.

Now if the wind is right you can kill a lot of deer while smoking, however I believe you are cutting your chances in half. A deers number one defence is their nose, more often then not they will bust you and chances are you never even knew they were there.

[Code-Man]

I think your Silhoet(Sp?) is most important. I was in a tree stand last fall during winter and in a camo suit and I got spotted big time. Buck looked up at me and jumped away. I didn't move. So I think if you can have stuff behind you it will greatly help.