Tree stand height for elk

[paddlehead]

For those of you with experience, how high is a good height for a tree stand for elk? I'm new to the tree stand method, and would like to give it a try. I'm sure the higher the better, but from a safety perspective, if you fall or the stand breaks, the shorter the distance to the ground the better....

The area I want to put them on is flat little bench, so no consideration for topography is needed.

Thanks!

 

[Poser]

Never hunted Elk from a treestand, but lots of experience with Whitetails. One of the most significant considerations is how high the canopy is. For bowhunting, I generally consider 20 feet to be the minimum to sufficiently get away with movement, but I prefer to hunt 25-30 feet and have hunted as high as 40 feet in certain situations. Granted, pressured Whitetails are well adapted to "threats from above" and can often be observed scanning the treelines. -elk probably not so much.

Personally, if I can't hunt at least 20 feet up, I just as soon hunt on the ground, but plenty of guys do hunt from 12-15 feet, just doesn't seem like high enough to be an elevated advantage and in some cases even be a disadvantage, for whitetails anyway.

A safety harness is highly suggested. The Hunting industry harnesses are overpriced and over designed. A Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness, a length of static rope and some cord for a prussic knot is more than sufficient.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I'd probably try and get 20 feet up also. You say it's a flat bench. Is it a hole or on a ridge top? Which way are the elk coming from. If it's a ridgetop you could probably get away with lower. If it's a hole, you'll likely need to go higher.

 

[TJ]

I one point the majority of my elk hunting was from a tree stand over water/wallow. The nearest safe tree was at 45 yards away. I placed this stand at about 20 feet up within the canopy. I don't think I ever had an elk spot me if I moved carefully. Deer on the other hand seemed to pick up movement pretty fast.

I think lower would be ok IF you had something to break up your outline. But, ALWAYS use a safety harness. If you can use a rope with the prussic knot, as previously mentioned, you will be attached from the ground to the stand and back down again.

 

[Johnboy]

I've found that you can get away with a lower stand height when hunting elk than you can when hunting whitetail. A few times, I've had herds of 15+ elk all around me and never had one even glance my way at 15' up.

 

[Scoot]

For elk I wouldn't bother going more than 12 or 15 feet up, as long as you're not silhouetted or left out in the wide open. If you've got a fair number of trees to work with I'd try get tucked into a spot that allowed some cover and other trees to hide you and not go very high. As long as you are careful about when you draw your bow, you'll be fine.

I have a friend who insists that the only height consideration for a treestand for elk is that it is high enough for a big bull's rack to fit under if he walks immediately underneath you. He often has his stands below 10' and I can't think of a time when he got busted by an elk.

IMO 20' for elk is not necessary at all.

 

[paddlehead]

I plan to put the stand over a heavily used wallow I recently found. Ill be sitting right on the edge where the terrace drops steeply off. Most of the elk should come from the right or left of the hole, not from down hill or uphill..... so long as they follow the game trails..... Im excited to give it a try. Not much for heavily vegetated trees to put the stand in that is less than 40 yards. There are some bare pines about 25 yards fro the wallow I would like to put my wife in so she is within an effective range..

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[cnelk]

I had 6 tree stands set for elk last year. The average height was maybe 12ft.
Lots of beetle killed trees so its difficult to find a good safe tree, but I do use big dead ones, just I dont go very high
Over a course of 5 days I called in 8 different elk from tree stands

Good luck

 

[Beendare]

I would agree with the comment above that you can be lower for elk as they are less likely to spot you....but thermals and ind currents still can dictate height. Some of those side hill pockets with wallows have some tricky wind currents and getting your ind up and over is as important as ever with elk.