First off lets be honest here people... Do any of you still get a case of BUCK FEVER no matter how slight? You know, the increased pulse, the shortness of breath, all of it, maybe even the shakes? Nothing to be ashamed of, as long as you control it. Actually it is fun to watch.

Also what is the worst case of buck fever you ever had, or witnessed? Lets hear them stories. Some of them are pretty funny I bet. And I do not mean to make fun or belittle anyone with this question.

I personally get the quick breathing when I see deer approaching. It don't matter if they have horns or not. But through the years, I have learned to control it, and mentally and physically calm myself down. When I was younger, I was terrible for getting BUCK FEVER. I used to even shake a little. Although it never cost me a deer. I've said before I would much rather have a deer suddenly come walking past me, so I have no time to think about it, and just do the shot. Or to come into a stand and stand around long enough that I can just relax and make the shot when I want.

Maybe that's why I am so picky about shot placement. And why I went to muzzleloaders. Also when I was young, I used to hunt with (and still own the little beauty) a Remington 742 Woodsmaster Carbine with a 4x Bushnell (now a Tasco 3-9x40) in 30-06. I'd hate to guess how many deer I shot with that rifle. With a 180 grain Remington Corelock, I do not think a person could have missed. But I always found that I took two shots. Normally I hit both, but I would fire twice. Why? No idea. Maybe it was the dreaded BUCK FEVER...

My best friend has the worst case of the dreaded BUCK FEVER that I have ever saw. Now this fellow has been hunting deer for twenty years. But he is a lot of fun to watch when a deer comes in. And he freely admits he has the dreaded BUCK FEVER... He will see a deer and his entire body starts to shake like a scared dog. And this is a large man so watching him shake is a joy in itself. Then he starts his constant adjustment of the rifle in his shoulder, like he can not get comfortable. And all the time he is shaking and trying to get a sight picture. Is it bad.. well the last deer he shot with is muzzleloader with open sights, he dropped it flat. The deer was 20 yards away, a nice eight pointer, and he spined it. He was aiming for the heart mind you, but he spined it. The one before he did a beautiful neck shot on. Again, was aiming for the heart. We will not even get into the broadside shots he's missed. Still he loves to deer hunt and now uses a muzzleloader all the time. A T/C Hawkins .54 caliber shooting a 300 grain REAL conical.

When he gets his deer the joy that man has from his accomplishment is something. I have sat with him in a stand one afternoon after I had filled up. I watched him shoot at a doe. I tried to talk him down, but the tunnel vision he gets is amazing. He suffers from the dreaded BUCK FEVER...

Good story, yeah I still get it but like you am old enough to control it somewhat. I have a habit of talkingdeer into my scope (c'mon baby another step, you keep a comin') I nowget theshakes afterwards.I have to sit before I gut... I stood beside a fellow I was taking on a hunt and watched him unload a lever action gun at a deer and never fire a shot. I was so amazed I could not even get a shot and then started laughing so hard could'nt shoot at it period! He looked at me and said he had missed!! He still gets goofy when a deer goes by...........
Had a first year hunter with me who raised his arms in position but forgot the gun, second deer of the day he was squeezing w/ the safety on!!
Night before brings guys to their knees as well, throwing up, no sleep going into the woods w/out bullets , forgetting lunches.......... That is what makes hunting and camp life so much fun. If you don't get thrilled and all wrapped up at the site of your quarry anymore , QUIT! because the fun has gone out of it!! Good thread here Cayugad, should be funny!

Yes, I still get the quickening pulse whenever I see a shootable deer approaching. But hunting for almost 45 years, I've learned to control it the same as you guys. That is until after the shot. Then I start to shake a bit. Especially for close in shots with the ML or worse with the bow. But I think that is all part of the hunt. I think if I ever stopped 'loosing it' I would call it quits.

Don't even want to talk about it!

Yeah, I get a little excited some times, but usually I'm able to control it pretty well - EXCEPT LAST YEAR WITH "GRANNY NANNY".

Our club harvest rules are that you can shoot two does and up to three bucks. No bucks under five points and only onefive or sixpointer - the rest must be sevenpoints or better. We also have a "bad luck rule"- anyone who hasn't taken a buck by the last ten days of the season can take a third doe for the meat.

Nowlast season I didn't see a shooter buck. Saw a couple of year-and-a-half old six pointers but decided to let them grow. So, the last week-end of the season I decided to take a third doe.

I have a box stand over a food plot that has a timed feeder on it throwing two pounds of corn every morning and afternoon.Well,during ourthree-month long season I would sit in that box at least one morning or evening every week-end. Every time I did the samegroupwould come to the feeder - three adult does, two yearling does, and one button buck. The young ones belonged to two of the adult does. The other adult didn't have any yearlings running with her. She was one of the biggest does I've ever seen in our neck of the woods - probably 130to 135 pounds in an area where a three year old doe will usually run 115 - 120 lbs. Early on I had gotten to calling her Granny Nanny.

Anyway, the last week-end of the season, having not shot a buck I told the gang in camp that I was going to shoot Granny Nanny. Headed to the box stand at oh-dark-hundredwith my dead reliable Browning B-78 25-06 mounted with a 3x8 Leupold.I handload 100 grain Barnes Triple Shocks for this gun and can shoot a nickleat100 yards with it four times out of five. The plan was to shoot Granny just below the ear, call one of my buds with a four-wheeler to haul her back to camp, and be finished with the butchering by lunch time.

So I'm sitting in a real comfortable swivel desk chair in that boxstand when the corn feeder goes off at 0700. Sure enough, a few minutes later the first doe comes in with the button buck. Two minutes later the second doe with two yearling does come in and start munching corn. Now I know Granny Nanny will be no more than a minute behind those three. I ease the gun out of the window and wait. Yep, there she is.

Now guys, I must have seen that deer fifteen or twenty times before, and watched her feed with that group for hours and hours. But for some reason I started to get the shakes. It's funny now, but it sure wasn't funny then. I tried to get a sight picture and just could not do it. The harder I tried the worse it got. By now I had shifted my butt up to the front edge of the chair and was creeping up on the scope like I've never done before. Just when I thought I had the cross hairs where I wanted them and started the trigger squeeze my unbalanced weight on the front edge of the seat caused the chair to swivel and the muzzle to rise about six inches. As I completed the trigger squeeze my brain was shouting OH NO! STOP! STOP! - but, of course, my finger - having a mind of its own - did not stop.

Old Granny looked back at me as though I has passed gas in church, and trotted off with the rest of the gang.By the time I stopped shakingmy cell phone is ringing and one of the guys back at camp wants to know if I want him to bring the four-wheeler. I say "Naw - I just took a shot at a running coyote, and missed." NO WAY am I ever going to tell the guys that I missed Granny Nanny at 75 yards from a solid rest in a box stand.

This is getting good!!!


I still get the shakes AFTER THE DEER IS DOWN. And normally just sit or stand there watching it for five minutes or more before my knees calm down. I agree, if I ever loose that feeling, I am staying home.

Semisane.. that was too funny!! Thanks for being honest..

When I was younger I used to get the shakes so bad I couldn't hold steady enough to shoot a deer. To make matters worse, my family hunted public land in PA and most deer were moving at Mach 1, all I could do was put lead in the air and hope. I was afraid if I didn'tgetthe deer there would be no second chance because the guy over the hill would. It was very frustrating to say the least and I lost interest in deer hunting. I still hunted deer, but enjoyed duck and pheasant hunting much more.

Now I'm 27, been hunting for 15 years and have access to private property with verylittle pressure. I used to think my buck fever was more of a fear of missing, I was wrong.I still get buck fever, worse now than ever before.However, I've learned to control my breathing and rarely ever take an offhand shot anymore or a shot that I'm unsure of. In the last two seasons, nine shots have accounted for seven deer. One was shot twice (I didn't know at the time, but I didn't need the second shot) and one was missed, but hit on the second shot.

Last night while glassing a field on a farm I hunt, I couldn't hold the binos steady. I realized my breathing was so heavy I was nearly panting watching a 1.5 year old four point feed on a hillside. Archery is the worst though, I have to sit and wait while watching deer come close. I may have to calm down 2-3 times waiting for a deer to come into range.

Buck fever, addrenalin, call it what you will, my brother and I were tracking a doe he hit when we jumped it and several others out of a thicket. In some of the slickest shooting I've seen he dropped the injured one and two others with a remmy 760 in 30-06. Thing is, he only remembers shooting the first shot. I was tagged out and didn't have a gun with me, so he knows it was him, but can't remember.

The first year I hunted deer (I was 13 years oldI think), I was shooting a semi automatic 12 gauge shotgun (a High Standard Supermatic Deluxe that I still own). We were in a shotgun only part of the state. I was loaded with slugs of course since buckshot is illegal. I heard my Dad shoot his shotgun once, on top of the hill. He had set me on a stump to freeze to death and watch a small opening in the hardwoods. It was freezing cold out, and sitting in the snow on that stump was not my favorite thing to do.

Well down the hill comes this six pointer. It stops about 35 yards out from me. I know I shot, but the Old Man said it sounded like a machine gun down there. I emptied that semi auto of all five shots. I never even felt the recoil and could not have told you how many times I shot. The deer tipped over dead. There was one hit through the front of the brisket (that could not have been mine as I was shooting broadside shots) and his front legs were both shot off (wonder who did that). I must have shot low, and it was because that shotgun was real heavy, I was kind of small,and loaded with lots of bullets.

After my Dad walked down the hill, he congratulated me on my first deer, I gutted it, and he then told me to drag it out. I was never cold after that. I dragged that deer up a hill, down a steep hill (which was easy) and then across a 300 acre picked corn field. When I got to the truck, I was about dead tired, but so proud of my first deer.

My very first deer season to be able to shot my own gun a Ivers Johnson 410 with slugs.
Very first day of the season sitting at the junction of two logging roads in the family wood lot two does come running thru the brush cross the first road then the second road. Just seconds a 8 point buck comes running thru the brush crosses the first road and half of the second road and stops about 40 yards away. I jeark that old 410 up and let one rip. That buck just shook his head and stood there. I break the action and insert another slug and let that one rip. The buck just stood there while I shot in his direction 5 times total, then he just walked off. I went and told my dad I had shot a buck and he said ya I heard you shooting the woods up time to go up for lunch. After lunch with more shells and my brother we went back there and found blood. we tracked him for about 150 yards and found him a nice 8 point and one shot in the neck and another one in the brisket.
Dad said latter He figured I was just shooting to burn powder.

Then the last time. I was 57 years old then. Setting in my favorite blind over looking the bay. It is just minutes till the end of legal hunting time so I am gathering all my gear up for the treck to camp. I'm about ready to step out the door when a doe with a big buck in chase flies by not 10 yars out. They get to the cedar island out at the 90 yard mark and the does stops as does the buck.
I got my 300 winny mag laying on the window sill aimed right at the heart lung area and squeeze off the shot. Bot deer dissapper. Mind you that deer blind is seven feet from the floor in the air. To this day I do not know how I got out of that blind. I can relive the whole thing in my mind and remember every bit of it except getting on the ground.
I go out where they were standing and find blood going one way in the 18 inches of snow and tracks with out blood going another way. I tracked that buck for 200 yards when he got up from where he was laying. I shot him this time right at the base of his skull and neck. I walk up to him and saw that both front legs were shot nearly off. When we buchered him the base of the skull showed one shot and the only other damage was the front legs. Unbeliveable I been hunting for over 40 years and do sme thing like that. Forget the years hunting think of all the years I have lived in deer country and they are as common as dogs in the neighbour hood shoot even more common.
I shoot them nearly every day with the camera out the living room window.

Great story Cayugad! You can play those kind of memories like a movie in your head every time you see that old Supermatic Delux. That's one reason it's so hard to give up and old gun.

I have a real ugly 40 caliber 32" barrel full stockcaplockthat was my first build. The only critter other than rabbits I ever shot with it was many, many years ago -a 90 lb. hog that was running full bore through a palmetto swamp making a tremendous racketafter having been shot at by someone else. I was sitting in a tree stand and could only glimpse it every now and then through the palmetto fans. So, all of a sudden there's a big cloud of smoke in front of me and that pig is kicking on the ground about 30 yards out. I'm thinking "what the heck happened?" That little 40 caliber ball went in the top of the neck about four inches behind the head and I don't remember shooting. I sure would like to be able to replay that running shot in my head,but it never registered on my brain.

Dang!Wish we could allsit around a fire with some cold ones.

Great story Alleyyooper! I'm always amazed at what damage a deer can sustain and still make tracks.

As for not remembering leaving the stand, I have a buddywho was a ground standbowhunter. The very first time he hunted from a tree stand he shot a little fork horn that almost dropped in it's tracks. The guy was so excited he forgot he was seven feet in the air and took that first step toward the downed deer. Survived with nothing more than a few scratches.