Deer Stand Placement Strategy and Setup Tips Complete With Diagrams

Stand placement will play a major role in your deer hunting success or failure. In today's post, you are going to learn how to develop a strategy for finding the most productive locations for setting up a tree stand.

Below you will find our best tree stand set up tips complete with diagrams that will pay dividends this deer season.

Many hunters use what I call the "roll the dice" theory when it comes to picking a spot for their tree stand. They find a good deer trail, look around for a good tree to climb and set up a  and wait.

While this may work once in a while, a rock solid tree stand placement strategy will increase your chances of success dramatically when hunting whitetails.

There are many things that you should consider before ever setting up a tree stand.

Top Tips for Deer Stand Placement

Here are the things that you should consider every time you are setting up a tree stand for hunting deer.

1. Wind

Deer move in the wind, so wind direction is the most important thing when considering where to put your stand. If the wind is blowing from your tree stand to the deer, then you might as well go home because you are wasting your time.

Always set up your tree stand on the upwind side of the trail and also downwind from where the deer will be coming from.

This is the most important tip for success whether you are an experienced rifle hunter or a beginner bow hunter.

2. How Will You Get To The Tree Stand?

This tree stand set up tip is often overlooked by most hunters, but the more experienced and successful deer hunters use this strategy religiously.

You should map your route to the tree stand ahead of time and make sure that you can access the stand without spooking deer. This means having a quiet easy access where you will not bump deer and also where your scent will not be blowing towards where the deer are.

Proper scouting before the season will allow you to find the right locations that can be easily accessed without alerting the deer in the area to your presence.

In the best case scenario, you will not even be crossing the trail that you expect the deer to use. This is sometimes a tough one to accomplish, but at the very least avoid walking on the trail and avoid touching any brush or branches near the trail. Proper scent control will play a key role in not being detected by mature whitetails.

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3. How High Should a Tree Stand Be?

A tree stand should be between 15 and 25 feet high. Any lower than 15 feet and you begin to lase the advantages of hunting from a tree stand like staying above a deer's line of sight. Any higher than 25 feet and you start to have major problems with your shot angle. The higher that you go, the smaller of a target you have at the deer's vital area.

As you can see in the image below, with a very steep angle the effective kill zone is very small and the chances of a bad hit are very high. This shot should be avoided.

4. Best Types Of Trees For Deer Stands?

The best type of tree for a deer stand is going to depend on the type of tree stand that you choose to use, so let's take a look at the different types of tree stands and the best tree for each type.

The one thing that you want with all of the tree stands is some camouflage. The worst thing that you want to do is hang on the side of a tree in the wide open. You also do not want to be silhouetted against the sky. 

On the flip side, you have to have some shooting lanes. You can't put an arrow in a buck if there are leaves and branches between you and the deer.

5. When To Hang A Tree Stand

You should hang your treestand at least 4 - 6 weeks before the deer season to give the deer a chance to acclimate to the treestand. Properly camouflaging the the stand will help with this. This is also the time to cut shooting lanes from the stand to where you expect the deer to travel.

It has been our experience that your best chance at a successful hunt, especially on a mature buck will be the first time you hunt any deer stand, so plan to get there early and stay late.

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6. Where To Set Up A Tree Stand

Now let's get into the nitty gritty of stand placement. Let's take a look at how to choose where to setup a treestand.

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These are the best locations for a deer stand with a high success rate

Travel Corridors Between Bedding And Feeding Areas

The most popular place to set up a tree stand is between a food source and bedding areas, that is where deer sleep or rest and where they eat. There will be lots of deer sign and very distinct trails that they use to go from one area to the other.

It is important to know what food sources the deer are using. It could be oak trees, food plots or ag fields.

Oak trees are a favorite when the acorns begin to drop, especially the white acorns. These are like candy to the deer and a big white oak tree that is dropping acorns will have every deer in the county visiting.

White oaks normally drop acorns every other year. This is a great time to make note of the ones that do not drop because they will be very productive the following year.

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For bow hunting look for heavily used trails between the food source and the bedding areas, and then find the right tree 20 - 30 yards away from the trail and upwind of the trail.

If you are more interested in harvesting a mature whitetail, then look for the less used trails that run parallel to the main trail and stay in or near thick cover. These are the trails that are used by the mature bucks.

When you are planning where to put your tree stand, stand on the deer trail and look for the right tree. Look for trees that have some cover so that you won't stick out like a sore thumb. 

A good strategy is to use trail cameras to determine when the deer activity is occurring and set up a tree stand in the high traffic areas where the deer come out during the day. This may be in close proximity to the food source or bedding areas depending on time of year and hunting pressure.

Pinch Points

My favorite deer stands are in a pinch point. A pinch point is a natural funnel or bottleneck that moves deer through a certain area.

There are many different terrain features that create bottlenecks. It could be a narrow strip of woods connecting two large wooded parcels, or a small wooded area between open fields. Saddles are natural bottlenecks that funnel deer through the saddle.

I spent a lot of time watching a saddle on the hunting trip that I recount in this Ohio deer hunting report.

You can find many natural funnels by using a topographic map and studying the lines to find terrain funnels.

One of the best pinch points that I ever came across was on a Ohio deer hunting lease that I had a number of years ago. It was a waterfall that was about 20 feet high and the deer had no choice but to cross over the top of the waterfall because they couldn't get across downstream due to the steep banks.

Here is a trail cam pic of a mature buck on top of that waterfall.

Another great stand location in a natural funnel that I have come across is on top of a cliff or very steep drop.

The deer will tend to travel across the top of the steep drop and this is a great place to intercept them.

I had just such a funnel on a piece of land that I hunted years ago in Connecticut. Every year during the pre rut I would make a mock scrape on top of that drop off and the big bucks loved to use that scrape.

It was a sure fire way to put mature whitetails where I had a shot opportunities during the pre rut and rut.

Here is a trail cam of a mature buck using that mock scrape. You can see the drop off about 20 yards behind the buck. You can also the scrape dripper above the buck.

Make sure you follow the tree stand set up tips above when planning your stand placement in funnels. Getting the wind direction right and getting to your tree stand while staying undetected are crucial for better hunting success.

Field Edges

Field edges and food plots can be a great place for ambush points during certain times of the year.

The edges of fields can be a very productive early season stand location for evening hunts, when bucks are still in bachelor groups and entering the field in the same place and at the same time every day.

I like to set up in the staging area just inside the tree line when the wind is right.

This early season tactic does not last long. Once the pre rut starts and the bucks start to shed their velvet, the bachelor groups begin to disperse and their behavior becomes much less predictable. Hunters scratch their heads this time of year as the bucks seemingly disappear. 

One of my favorite bow hunting tree stand set ups is on a field edge during the rut while using a deer decoy in the field. 

It is a deadly setup because the bucks can see the decoy from a long way off and can't help but come check it out. Add in some rattling and a grunt call and you can be in the middle of some incredible action.

I like to be on the downwind side of the decoy so that the buck will be in between the decoy and me as he is scent checking the decoy.

While the edges of fields can be a great place to hunt during the rut, it can also be deadly during the late season, when it is cold and the majority of the food is in the field you are sitting on.

This time of year you can have the whole deer herd visiting certain fields that contain high quality food and they will be coming during the daylight hours.

One of our top picks for a late season stand location.

Use a Deer Attractant

You can use a top rated deer attractant to draw deer in and get them to stop and feed right in front of your stand.

The best deer attractants will lure deer in and keep them coming back.

You will be able to get a lot of intel on the local deer herd by putting a trail camera on the salt block or attractant that you are using. It is a great way to take inventory of the bucks that you have in the area.

Watering Holes

Deer tend to get most of their water from the plants that they eat, but they still need to drink, especially in hot climates and during the early season.

If you hunt deer in a warmer climate with a shortage of water, you may even consider creating a watering hole for your deer. It may be the first place they go when they leave the security of the bedding area.

It could be your best early season stand location on your property, providing shot opportunities that you wouldn't have had.

Here is a great video with tips for building a water hole and stand placement over a water hole.

So now that you have learned where to set up a tree stand, let's take a look at some specific examples in our diagrams.

Deer Stand Placement Diagrams

To help you better understand where to set up your tree stand or ground blind, we will now show you some of the best examples in our diagrams.

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These diagrams apply to tree stands, box blinds and ground blinds.

Travel Corridors

Pinch Points

Field Edges

Final Thoughts

Planning where to set up a deer stand should start long before the hunting season begins. A well executed plan will perform better than luck in any situation.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Always hunt the wind.
• Have a good access route to your stand.
• Hang your treestand between 15 and 25 feet high.
• Try to use natural cover as camouflage.
• Hang your tree stand well before the deer season opens.
• Use the diagrams above to help you find tree stand locations.
• Use the best tree stand harness you can afford whenever your feet are off the ground.
• Set up ground blinds well before the season. "Brush them in" and use a comfortable hunting chair to help you stay in the blind longer.

Follow the strategy outlined above and you will be well on your way to a successful deer season.