mudhead1

saw my first doe while hunting opening day 2 years ago obviously i was shaking like crazy never got to draw my bowbefore she saw me and ran away. about an hour later a little fork buck came along i was came to full draw and felt as calm as could be. this last season i saw two other does that i didnt draw on. i dont know if i would have been able to cause i was shaking so bad. so any advice you could give me on controling my nerves would be helpful

jmbuckhunter

Watch lots of hunting videos and pretend you are in your stand. Put in a lot of time on stand and walk thru parks that have deer, observe them and just spend time around deer.

But if I ever don't feel a little nerves when a deer comes into range, I will stop hunting. That is part of the rush!!

Roskoe

There is a little technique taught to law enforcement and military personnal called Quad Breathing. In a nutshell:

1. Inhale slowly - make it last four seconds - count "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand . . ."

2. Hold that breath in for 4 full seconds

3. Spend a full 4 seconds fully an slowly exhaling that breath

4. Pause with your lungs empty of air for 4 seconds before inhaling.

A few cycles of quad breathing will really calm your nerves.

TROPHYHUNTER25

roskoe id right that should help

wis_bow_huntr

Heres what I used todo. Early season, when the deer are out feeding in the fields, I setup on the edge and let the deer do what ever they want to do. The more time you spend around young bucks and does, the more comfortable you become when prime time hits. Sometimes this could take a year or so. Especially when the deer start comming right under the stand. If you do everythign right youll lose the jitters a bit, but they will never go away. Its called deer fever and its a wonderful feeling. I have been bow hunting for about 11 years and when I started bow hunting, seeing a deer 100 yards away made me shake. Now I have deer that come in smell my ladder and even bed 10 yards from me. I think deer can sense nervous hunters. The best thing to do as well is not to make eye contact and never never look at the horns before shooting. Just go out and enjoy yourself and forget about the big buck phenomenon that most are caught up in and enjoy the outdoor experience. Thats what its all about anyway, right? Whether youre nervous or not.

huntingson

Like Roskoe said, control your breathing. Then go through the steps in your head that you will have to do to make the shot. I started doing this years ago and it really helped. Focus on the pin, relax, squeeze the trigger, etc. If I actually say that to myself I can calm down and make a good shot.

GMMAT

Being STILL a novice at this.....but having a few bowkills under my belt....I can only say what's been MY experience. I know that being in the presence of the animals more and more......has helped me. You NEVER KNOW how you're going to react in a given situation....until you put yourself in THAT situation.

With deer.....it's gotten easier, every time. With turkeys....I was a wreck the first time. Rob can attest to me being DEAD CALM when we had that big gobbler in tight, Saturday. I was honestly fully at ease with the situation. I hope that gets better and better, too.

I got "shook" ONE moment, Saturday (about 30 seconds).....and that's when I started thinking ahead to holding the bird in my hands and what it would be like to have taken my first turkey with the bow.I quickly got back in the present.....and was fine, again.

"I" don't think there's a "cure" for this.....nor do I want one! I just want to learn to control it.....and being "in the arena" multiple times is the only way I know to do that.

Good luck.

Dbldroptine

I have found that just waiting and calming down works for me, if the animal will allow this that is. I have had buckssurprise meand I am so shaky I would not even come close to hitting them if I shot right away. So I wait and after a few secondsmy nerves began to settle and I can usually make the shot. I had a 160 class buck step out and it took me about five minutes to gather myself and shoot. If I wouldnt have done that I probably would have shot over him by about ten feet.

hambone44

Never forget its just a littel brown mammal trying to get somnething to eat..it aint Godzilla

HuntingBry

GMMAT and Roskoe have it right. Control your breathing and try to get around animals as much as possible. If you have a park near you where there are a lot of deer. See how close you can get, just work on being around them. See how they react to you. After a while you will still be excited, but more able to function. The excitement is what keeps us all going so you don't want to lose that. It's making the shot while being excited that keeps us coming back for more.