From what I now understand, shooting from a tree-stand is somewhat different than flat shooting on the ground. I just returned from my brother's place in Northern Ontario, where, the two bears I shot at from a tree-stand on subsequent days, were missed by my high flying arrows.....Good straight flight lines, but over the back!! The following day I over-exaggerated my bend at the waist for a practice shot and I hit a log dead centre at a further distance while I was in the the stand. hhhmmmmmm. After I had that figured out, no bears returned and I came home empty handed albeit more knowledgeable  

Hard way to find out. "From on high aim low."
Live and learn.

Tim

yep, I aim fo the top of the heart to shoot the middle of the lungs and find that I hit the heart more than half the time.

so when your in a stand,shoot a little lower than you wanna hit to compensate for being higher up?

Some shoot high when shooting at animals because they raise their head at time of shot. Instinct is to watch the arrow hit the critter. I am one of those guys who do this too often. Some skeet/trap shooters do the same thing.

Aim lower for no drop while shooting down. There's more of an arc in flat shooting. Same holds true for firearms.

Better clean miss then a wounded critter. Don't sweet it man.

Be glad you figured this out , there's always next time . If you don't learn and ask questions then the results will stay the same .Best of luck in the future .

I always aim a little low for the heart. Low makes up for string jump. That way it's either heart hit or lung hit. Years ago I shot over many a deer until in figured it out.

When I first got into trad hunting I missed 5 deer in the first month.  I was hunting with a Black Widow LAG longbow 64" and 58# @ 28" (I draw about 26 1/2").  On the last day of archery season that year, I had a spike come in at 10 yds. (I was about 14' up in an oak).  Instead of looking at the body, I concentrated between the knee and the chest and let her fly.  To my surprise, I hit the deer in the spine.  Since then, I try and focus very low with the anticipation of the deer ducking into the arrow.

Also, if you do not bend at the waist, your shot angle changes and therefore the shot will hit higher than on flat ground.

In any case, sorry that you did not get your bear.  Best of luck in the future.

There is some misconception out there regarding shooting from heights.  You would need to be super high and relatively long shot for the arrow to be really effected.  Close shots out of moderately high treestands (20' or less) would not be effected greatly.  

The usual issue is the fact that our form changes when shooting out of a stand.  Our anchor point in relation to bow arm, angle, etc changes and usually is lower in terms of form thus you shoot high.  The key is to bend at the waist and keep everything from your waist up the exact same as if you were shooting from teh ground.  

I say all that to follow up with I usually aim for the heart because how often can we truly get perfect form from a treestand         My rule of thumb is always to aim as low as the lowest possible killing shot.  Then, if you are 4 inches high you still double lung them.

Since you have it figured out all I can say is welcome to the not so exclusive club of missed shots.

Isn't it comforting to know that it won't be the last time you miss! We've all missed and will continue to miss in the future. The nice thing is that with experience, the misses should get fewer and fewer. One way I deal with misses is that I've just increased my odds of hitting the next time. Gotta take something positive out of it. According to "odds" your up for some solid hits next! Best of luck....Ryan

Practice makes a miss digestible when you shoot from a tree stand. It takes a lot more of your attention to stand on a 20"square 15-20 feet above the ground and lean over and shoot than one may think.But it is fun.It gives you something to work on in the off season.And I hope you had a great time anyway.

I missed a doe this morning at less than 15 yds!!  :mad:      Broadside to boot!!

I didn't have my head down over the arrow.....head held high = arrow goes high. I think sometimes when we are sitting for a couple hours in a tree-stand, maybe wearing bulkier clothes than we're used to while practicing, when we do get that shot opportunity, we ( I know I do) sometimes forget all the little things that should come naturally but now we're purposely thinking about each one, we miss 1 or 2 and MISS!!  Just my opinion after this morning.........

I never aim low there is no need to when your form is right, It's better to have the proper form and hit right then to compensate bad form with a low aim. Not only should you bend at the waist but your bow should have  more cant, as Howard Hill said you need to lay it down.

Ahhhhhh, I don't want to talk about it.  

QuoteOriginally posted by Stone Knife:
I never aim low there is no need to when your form is right,

I always aim low. But its not for form issues. the deer around here almost always drop at the sound of the shot. Aim just below the heart and hit them in the lungs.

It ain't no form issue. When shooting down gravity is pulling ya arrow down quicker, so you need to shoot lower as if ya shootin at a closer target, flatter trajectory..

i ALWAYS miss high, when I miss. Don't really know what it is