Right Spot vs. Right Tree: Why Location Always Wins

Every bowhunter has been there.

You find the perfect tree—straight, sturdy, great height, easy to climb. You can already picture the stand, the shot angle, the comfort. There’s just one problem: the deer don’t actually want to be there.

Over decades of hunting public land, small parcels, and everything in between, Eddie Claypool learned a lesson the hard way: the right tree doesn’t matter if it’s in the wrong spot.

In fact, prioritizing the tree over the location is one of the fastest ways to waste good opportunities.

The Most Common Stand-Placement Mistake

Many hunters start stand selection by looking up instead of looking around.

They find a tree that looks easy to hang a stand in, has good height potential, and feels comfortable and secure—then try to make the deer fit that tree.

The problem is that deer movement doesn’t adjust to convenience. Deer travel where terrain, cover, and security tell them to go—not where it’s easiest for a hunter to sit.

When a stand is placed for comfort first, it often ends up just far enough off the line of travel to miss opportunities or force risky shots.

Why the Right Spot Is Often Uncomfortable

The best locations rarely look ideal from a stand-hanging perspective.

Travel corridors often run through places that are tight, awkward, thorny, leaning, or surrounded by poor trees. Edges, funnels, and terrain crossings don’t care about straight trunks or perfect spacing.

They exist where movement is naturally steered—even if the trees nearby are twisted, forked, or barely usable.

Experienced hunters learn to accept discomfort because they understand what the spot offers. The tree becomes a secondary problem to solve.

When the Spot Is Right, You Make the Tree Work

Once a location is clearly right—meaning deer consistently move through it during daylight—the question changes from “Is there a good tree?” to “How do I hunt this?”

That might mean using a marginal tree, setting up lower than planned, sitting in cover instead of height, preparing the spot in the offseason, or in some cases, hunting from the ground.

The willingness to adapt is often what separates a productive setup from one that never quite works.

Forcing Bad Trees Burns Good Spots

One of the most expensive mistakes a hunter can make is forcing a stand into a bad tree just because the location looks promising.

Poor setups often lead to excessive movement, skyline silhouettes, limited shot windows, and being picked off before drawing.

Worse yet, repeated failed sits don’t just cost opportunities—they educate deer. A good travel corridor can go cold quickly once deer associate it with danger.

Sometimes the smartest decision is to back out, rethink the setup, and return later with a better plan.

Knowing When Not to Hunt a Spot

One of the hardest lessons to learn is restraint.

If everything in your head is telling you a setup won’t work—poor cover, bad background, awkward shots—it’s usually for a reason. Experience builds an internal warning system, and ignoring it often leads to blown hunts.

Not every good spot is immediately huntable. Some need offseason prep. Some require different access. Some are better left alone until conditions are perfect.

Walking away can preserve opportunity far better than forcing a hunt.

Good Setups Are Rarely Perfect

There is no such thing as a flawless stand location.

Every setup involves tradeoffs: wind versus access, height versus cover, comfort versus concealment, and shot opportunity versus visibility.

If you can get five or six major factors working in your favor, you’re doing well. Waiting for all of them to line up perfectly often means never hunting at all.

Location Is What Deer Remember

Deer don’t remember the tree you sat in. They remember where danger came from.

They remember where movement stopped, where silhouettes appeared, and where pressure felt wrong. That memory attaches to the location, not the equipment.

When you prioritize the right spot and hunt it intelligently, you reduce the chances of leaving that kind of lasting impression.

Why Location Always Wins

Great trees are common. Great locations are not.

Hunters who consistently kill mature deer don’t wait for perfect setups. They learn to recognize movement first, then solve the problem of how to hunt it.

When you commit to the spot—and not the tree—you stop hunting where it’s easy and start hunting where it matters.