Recommendations?

[Elkhunttoo]

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im standing close to the water. The stand is close to the middle of the picture.

Any recommendations that you can see with this set up?

[Swede]

I like the looks of your stand area. The trees are all leaning at your tree stand location. I like it that your stand allows you to lean back. Leaning forward will wear you out. I cannot see any trails, but I would want my stand to be higher in the tree. If the elk is coming toward you, you will be easily seen, and in the morning and evening your scent will go to the ground. I am not there so I can see everything, but I would choose the tree to the left with the sun shining on it. You could go up to the tree canopy level, approximately 10 feet higher, so you have the limbs in the background to blend in with. Also, your scent will be less of a problem. With over 30 years of tree stand hunting, I am still looking for the perfect stand location. Your spot does not look to be what I have looked so long for, but it appears to a good place to ambush a critter.

[Elkhunttoo]

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[Elkhunttoo]

Here are a couple more angles of this location….i probably should have started with several angles….some details….the base of this stand is about 13 feet is all….i add some background camo on the tree to try and help break us up a bit…..i will see if anyone else is going to chime in before i tell my reasonings on this stand

[Elkhunttoo]

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Here are two angles from sitting in the stand….the stand is 18-25 yards from the water….


The tree with the sun on it you pointed out Swede is about 13 yards farther away from the water putting it 31-38 yards from the main water

[Swede]

The ground must move a lot there as the trees all lean in different directions. Ground blinds work well if the wind is in your favor. I just prefer a little more height as I believe it improves my odds. I get my scent farther off the ground so that when it comes down to the ground with the early morning and evening diurnal winds, it is farther away. Also, I am harder to spot when I have the tree canopy surrounding me. No doubt you could ambush an elk while sitting next to that rotten log. It is a matter of improving your odds of success.

BTW: I like having these discussions as I believe we can all benefit from them.

[Elkhunttoo]

Swede, we have talked before about never having the "perfect stand location". To me and im guessing you that means a whole lot more than what tree our stand is in.

Going over this location first off the approach: I have to cross a creek right at the road. This is a positive and negative. Pros, less hunters because not as many cross the creek. Con, each morning and night i have to wear water boots and then change shoes on the other side. As far as the climb goes it is fairly steep but i love the approach. Because of the lay of the land and how the canyon is made i have found a path in that i can get to my stand with elk bedded 150-200 yards above the water and they will not smell me. They hear me because im not good enough to do the hike with no sound but i put a lot of time and effort into figuring out the approach to this stand and i love it. Overall grade for the approach is an A

Stand placement: I love the distance from the water. (18-25 yards). I also love being below the water for the shot angle. I know some people prefer to be above to stay out of sight better. I prefer being below just because i do. I really wish there was more to break me up in this location but it is what it is. I give this tree a B-

Height of stand: My ladder is 16 feet and on the upside of the tree. My head is a little above the ladder when i sit down. If i was to drop a rope from the base of my stand to the ground i would say it is around 13-14 feet. This is definitely on the lower side of a stand but here are my reasons. My wife likes to sit this stand as she is the one that found the wallow when we were chasing a bull a few years ago. She is not a huge fan of heights and much higher tends to make her dizzy at times. Im not a huge fan of heights either to be honest. While sitting in this stand i play with my wind tester hour after hour. When the thermals are going down my scent drops right into the willows. These willows drop down for about 150 yards and there is really no trials through them. I have had a few mule deer in them while my scent was dropping towards them and none of them smelled me. When the thermals are going up my little tester the powder just keeps going up. I have never worried about scent in this stand. I have had mule deer on multiple occasions come in during mid day and bed above the water with my wind going straight to them. Never once have i been smelled. I love this stand location for scent. For scent i give this stand an A+ For height i say a C the reason is higher is usually better but im just not to worried about the height the way the thermals work in this draw.

Comfort: This stand gets the sun early and the shade in the afternoon so i rate it and A

Distance from the road: It can be a pretty good climb in the morning so i will rate it a B

Overall location: There are trails that come into this area for travel but the main draw to this spot is water. The bedding area above this water seems to be very active. I wish it was more of a travel location and i really do love this spot, but if im being completly honest this is probably a B location

Overall grade is a B+ 88% in my opinion. This is the main stand i sat last year and i plan on perching here again nest season

[Swede]

I like your reasoning and the way you assess your location. Your stand height makes perfect sense. Considering you are not being seen or scented, going higher is unnecessary. What I mean by no "perfect tree" is that they never suit me entirely. They lean, they are cold in the morning or hot in the afternoon. If the tree was over somewhere else, I would be in a better spot. If the elk come from one direction I can be spotted too easily. Ect. Ect. It is always something. Even pitch can be a real nuisance sometimes. That said, I have had a lot of good trees to hang my stand in.
As you made clear there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a tree stand setup. I hardly ever considering what it takes to cross a stream to get in and out of mine. I remember only one stand where I had to ford a small river to get to it.