What Upgrade is more important??

[Fridaythe13th]

It sound like your whitetail hunting. Definitely a tree stand and dont forget the safety harness. If its elk, range finder. Watch craigslist you can pick up a couple very reasonable..

 

[Planopurist]

It sound like your whitetail hunting. Definitely a tree stand and dont forget the safety harness. If its elk, range finder. Watch craigslist you can pick up a couple very reasonable..

Very good point to make that distinction.


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[drose]

- Rangefinder

What game are you going after? I'm assuming whitetail since you're talking blinds and treestands. If that's the case, you can get really good at judging distances. Also most shots are taken within 30 or 40 yards so you have more room for error at such short distances. The chance of even being able to pull up your rangefinder and get a accurate range before shooting is pretty slim with deer hunting. Obviously, if you're hunting big game or something where you'll be shooting 50 plus yards a rangefinder is essential.

- Sight

Why upgrade now if it's doing it's job. This also depends how far you want to shoot but I remember starting out I would shoot out to 50 with a 3 pin just by being familiar with my holdovers. (I was a kid and had to much time to shoot)

- Release

A hand held release doesn't get you much return on investment unless you're dealing with target panic.

- Rest

Nothing wrong with a whisker biscuit as long as you can get your bow tuned right and it's shooting straight

- Tree stand

If you're honestly looking for the most bang for your buck to upgrade exclusively with the plan to increase your hunting chances, get a tree stand. Being able to get above your game and seeing them come from a long ways off pays off dividends. Also getting above the brush and having shooting lanes increases your chance of success.

It looks like you got a pretty good start, it's just a matter of putting everything together and closing the deal. Keep practicing and adding gear. I killed many a deer with my 50lb Parker bow with a whisker biscuit, 3 pin sight, wrist release, and no rangefinder. All of my deer were taken from stands, I never did have any luck shooting stuff out of blinds (including turkeys).

This is a perfect write up! Thank you! I am going for whitetails. On the ground here in Arkansas I had about a 20-30 yard range of view. I am leaning towards a tree stand - the view point is huge to me. You're train of thought on the other equipment is very close to how I was looking at it. I know there are those out there with the same equipment putting meat in the freezer. Thank you!

 

[drose]

The statement "walk of the distance to my blind" leads me to believe you already have a blind.

Id go with the treestand first.
You can step of the distances. You can even mark the yardages with something.

But more important. Having multiple stands / blinds will enable you to hunt different wind directions. This will increase your odds greatly.

The blind I have is a camo netting with tree stakes, mid season I realized you can almost see right through it, so I started brushing it into the surroundings. Had a few within 15 yards without spooking them, but I couldnt move at all, or I had obstructions in the way

 

[TravisIN]

1. Treestand
2. Sight
3. Rest
4. Rangefinder
5. Release

Treestand is going to help you out most hunting. Like everyone said, wear a damn harness. Of the others the sight is probably the most likely to fail. Since you said you only had three pins left it sounds like it already is. Nothing wrong at all with cheap sights. But they are a very important part of being accurate and to kill a deer you are gonna have to be accurate. As far as the rest, I’d bet more deer have been shot with a whisker biscuit than any other modern rest. They are pretty fail proof since there aren’t any moving parts. You can also be very accurate with them. But for your list personally I’d do that before I bought a rangefinder. On the rangefinder, you can pick those up pretty cheap. There are obviously different ranges of quality and features but the most basic one will do the job. Basic nowadays was likely top of the line only ten years ago. I’m a big believer in handheld releases but in your scenario I’d hold off. You obviously want to up your archery game but you can do that with the release you have. Just my thoughts. Good luck and enjoy it all

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[drose]

This is about what I would have typed. Only thing different is instead of shooting 4 days a week I would probably shoot 3 and try to dedicate time every week to scouting right now. Should be able to to find evidence of where deer were late season. I think largly it's easier to learn to shoot then it is to learn to hunt. So I would focus energy on trying to learn your quarry. If you want to fill your freezer.

Scouting should be another thread and as far as I’m concerned it’s the MOST important, your 100% right though you can have all the fancy gear shoot dimes at 50 but if you haven’t figured out where they are and what they are doing then all that stuff is useless. I mean some guys get lucky during the rut and catch a cruiser but to consistently put animals on the ground one needs to scout their asses off. Once I find a good area I pick a tree mark it on my gps and don’t come back till I hunt it which is usually 4-5 months away. Spring scouting is critical.

Yall are absolutely correct, last year was my first year hunting Arkansas and I was able to establish a few really good honey holes, this year I am starting earlier getting my boots on the ground and scouting the areas - using cameras as well. I don't come from a hunting family, so Im learning via the internet, but any good resources for tactics/animal behavior?

 

[tumble]

Tree Stand and time with the bow. I went a lot of years with out spending solid time up front to tune my bow correctly. Learning to bare shaft tune leads to understanding good broad head flight which leads to confidence in the woods. Setting up and practicing from the tree stand can help with the confidence and alleviate the need for a range finder in a lot of situations and reduces the sensitivity of all the variables.

 

[*zap*]

Rangefinder is of extreme importance, without owning one your way behind the 8 ball. You cannot even practice judging yardage if you do not have a way to verify the correct yardage.

 

[Billy Goat]

Rangefinder is of extreme importance, without owning one your way behind the 8 ball. You cannot even practice judging yardage if you do not have a way to verify the correct yardage.

I agree but how good do you need to know yardage if shooting in the brush? Elk or any kind of open country yes a rangefinder is probably most important.

 

[*zap*]

I do not shoot thru brush with an arrow so I will stick with rangefinder being very important. Especially for a new bow hunter knowing range in different situations is paramount. If you know the range and place the pin properly you have the best chance of an ethical hit. If your guessing and do not even have a way to know if your guess is close other than a tape measure your lost. Now that is just my opinion so ymmv.

 

[Billy Goat]

Typically nobody shoots through brush. That's why a Max yardage is typically 25 maybe 30 yards hunting whitetail in the east from a treestand. This of course isn't all scenarios but is pretty common. I agree that a rangefinder is an important accessory especially to learn to judge yardage. But lots of the east your looking at shots that are all single pin range.

 

[Planopurist]

I agree that a rangefinder is an important accessory especially to learn to judge yardage. But lots of the east your looking at shots that are all single pin range.

I’ve only shot 1 deer with a pin other than top pin. That was a 2nd pin shot at 30 yards.


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[Marine4life]

Honestly I don’t know how you effectively whitetail hunt in the woods without a tree stand. I use my ground blind but there are so many limitations to them that likely restrict where you are able to set up. If you don’t have sizeable trees then maybe you don’t need one. For $100 you can get a set of ladder sticks and a cheap hang on. Second I would say range finder but I have got so used to having one I don’t think I could do without that either.


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[*zap*]

Hunting from the ground without a blind is lots of fun.... I sometimes use just the hand climber seat with feet on the ground.

 

[USMC22]

I like my whisker biscuit. Did the drop away, still came back.

 

[DanZ]

If your primary focus is to improve your hunting, Get a Summit climber on Craigslist and save up for a range finder next. No question in my mind about that move.

If you want to improve shooting, and if you have a crappy wrist release, you will see the biggest improvement by upgrading your release. If your wrist release is a good one (smooth and very little if any travel), you will not necessarily realize significant improvements by changing to a hand held. Best value in a really good hunting release is the Spot hogg wise guy IMHO.

 

[MTHunter20]

I'm a whitetail treestand hunter and I'd say go rangefinder first and then teestand. Definitely try to do both if you can. Unless all your shots are less than 20 yards, that rangefinder will make a huge difference. I've tried to guess ranges a lot of times and it's a lot harder than you would think, especially up in a tree. Your guess only has to be off a little to miss by a good bit.

The tree stand will help a ton too. Gives you more shot lanes and easier to stay undetected.

 

[kcm2]

Reliable equipment is paramount. Assuming that, rangefinder and sight. I can now shoot with my double pin spot hogg to 90 yards dead accurate. Priority one is reliability. Once every part is foolproof, extend the range with better stuff.

 

[Felix40]

I cant imagine trying to hunt without any rangefinder at all. Stepping off every shooting lane is super impractical and adds a ton of extra scent and noise to setting up. Last thing I want to do is be walking all over my shooting lanes trying to figure out yardages. Add to that the issues with just trying to practice without one. You can definitely kill whitetails from the ground. Being able to hit what you are shooting at is kind of the foundation of the whole deal.

 

[baz77]

treestand
rangefinder
rest
sight
release

in the that order if getting up off the ground will increase your success more than any of those other things