At what point in the process does your heart beat the fastest??

hey look a deer:

you've sat countless hours in a tree and all of the sudden you see a deer. Do you say "neat a pretty deer" or "holy crap there's one!!!!!!!!!!"

whoa it's a shooter:

after seeing the deer you realize it's a nice shooter buck. Do you start to flip out at this point??

oh my God he's coming this way:

He's no longer 100 yards away. He's turned and heading right down the happy trail. Do you start to hyperventilate now?

if i can only get into position:

Now the fun part. He's within range and you're posturing for position. Any false move at this point and the games over. It's a 150 class buck below you and you need to pick the right time to get into position while he's 40 yards away and closing. Do you feel like you need to puke yet?

bow is drawn and pin on the boiler room:

The process is almost over with or is it? You have successfully drawn on this monster and have the pin where you want it. All you need to do is give yourself the green light and hit the release. Do your legs feel like jelly now??

** Actually for me and a lot of people I know, the most exhilerating moment is just after the shot and the recovery. How about leading up to the shot?

F: After the shot, that's when it all kick's in for me.

Same Here

I've only seen one deer that I knew I was going to shoot, this year (My first yr deer hunting),....and I didn't get a shot off on him. I can tell you from MY perspective, though.......the adrenaline started pumping as soon as I made the decision (60 yds out). From then on it was sort of.....down to business at hand. I DID feel emotionally drained when he left my set, though......whew!!!!!!!!! I needed to sit down....lol

Of course.....THAT's when the big, mature 8 came and snuck in on me.

I have felt the MOST adrenaline .....when I had 6 deer under me....and was watching nature unfold (half-rack was snorting and chasing does.....3 different bucks using a scrape within 9 yds of my stand.....etc...). I just wanted to go undetected. I didn't want to spoil the utter majestic sights I was bearing witness to. I felt like an outsider. I really did. I just didn't want to get in their way.

It helped that they were non-shooters, too

Can you tell I'm hooked????????

Jeff

I practice shooting all year long. The thing you can't practice is setting up, and drawing back at the right time. That is where my heart beats the most, and the point where I'm most worried.

You should have added an all the above one.I get excited at all of them and that is why I love this sport so much.

After the shot for me as well. Everything else just sort of happens for me. But afterwards I'm a bit of mess. Weak knees and shaky, takes a few minutes before I can climb out of the stand.

I'm not a real excitable kind of a guy to begin with though.

Paul

I would say that pretty well applies for me as well.

Double DITTO here. I seem to be really calm and level headed as I watch a deer out there, and even pretty calm as I prepare to shoot.
....but once that arrow flies, my legs start shaking, fingers turn to wet noodles, and my head goes beserk!

Same here , but before that it's. Where the %@# did that come from