How do you controll buck fever??
 

What kinds of things do you guys do to help controll buck fever?....

I could use some suggestions.....lol

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

Once you consider it a shooter, stop looking at the damned horns, take a deep breath, focus on the spot you plan to shoot at and most importantly, stop thinking about how good it' s gonna taste![8D]

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I agree with 5 min Willie. If you see a buck coming, make a quick estimation of shooter or not and then never again look at the antlers. The one exception would be if you are hunting in a management area where you are forced to.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

Hunt where you won' t see any bucks. :D

I agree with willie, don' t look at the antlers anymore and concentrate on your shooting form, where you want to hit, remember that you made the shot a hundreds times (hopefully) before at the local range or somewhere. Pretty much think about anything but those darn horns. Think about how long it' ll take the Cubs to win a World Series, that will take the wind out of anyone' s sails.;)

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

What is Buck fever?
If it is acting like the guys on TV then stop watching TV.

There has only been once in my 42 yrs of bow hunting that I actually had the shakes.
That was when I had a water Buffalo at 10 yrds with nothing between him and me except a Gum tree and a briar bush and I knew if he busted me it was over for good.

Back in Australia we did not have these hunting shows or videos telling us how to act when an animal came in.

IMO there was no such thing as Buck Fever until hunting shows and videos started trying to get more excitement into their hunts and now that every one watches them they have planted that little seed in your head as how you MUST act when a buck comes in.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

My dad tought me that when I see a deer, to start taking deep breaths and get ready to shoot. If I am going to shoot, I will be able to hold my breath for a steady shot. And I will be concentrating on breathing, and not fliipin because I see a deer. This has always worked for me, and I have yet to get buck fever, before taking a shot. After the deer is gone, cause I didn' t have a shot, is when I usually get buck fever. Go figure.

One thing I am having problems with while shooting the gun is closing my eyes before the shot. Flinching I guess. Hasn' t cost me yet, but I have to fix this. Don' t do this...

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I focus on a spot and say to myself " stay calm, stay calm."

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

i used to get it when i first started out but after a while seeing alot of deer it goes away but ive never seen a real slammer yet, we will see if it returns! now walking up on a bear the other day, thats a whole different game!

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

stay calm, stay calm...yeah, that' s it...meanwhile you heart is beating like it' s gonna burst! Well, now we have point restrictions, so we are forced to count the points which is kinda a distraction - until you realize he has enough points to be a shooter![:o]

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

Ausie-guy, you are either doing something wrong or something very right not to have any shakes.

I get the shakes over every single deer I see from big buck to small fawn and I don' t watch hunting shows. I get " buck fever" because I am in awe of the animal and because there is something ingrained in our human nature to hunt that stimulates our " fight or flee" mechanisms.

The trick, BowhuntingMachine, is not to let it get the better of you and still use ethics to make good judgments. You can learn to do this by spending more time in the woods and watching more deer up close.

I hope that I will never lose my instinctive human reactions to confronting wild game, or what others call " buck fever." To do so would take every ounce of enjoyment out of it - leaving only killing.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

i dream that my arrow will fly thru the lungs and then i get ready to shoot and i take a few deep breaths.


go deep hunt hard.;)

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I really don' t have that problem anymore. When I did I found that by just closing my eyes and taking a couple breaths worked wonders. I don' t have it now because I do a lot of things mentioned above. As soon as I see a deer I start planning the shot scenerio or scenerios really. I start talking to myself, which way is he going, where will he pass, I can shoot here..there and there. I' ll plan where to draw etc etc. I don' t care if the deer is 100 yards away, I start getting ready. I get on my feet if I' m not already. I rest the bottom limb in my bow holster in case I have to freeze for long periods. I look for other deer I might rather shoot or ones that could bust me. As the deer approaches I shift as needed to be in a ready to shoot stance. I make sure my feet are apart and I' m well balanced so I don' t get a shakey leg or something. I stick my butt back against the tree for support or my hip if I' m sideways. I' m going to have to bend a little for the shot anyway. This preloads me. I' m watching the deers actions...is he nervous, in a hurry, looking back etc. I pick a spot the closer he gets. I look away occasionally for other deer. etc etc etc. When I draw it' s " When, do it smoothly, what' s the range, see through the peep, see the spot, I give a last second pause and ask myself " Is this the sight picture I want" .. the shot happens by itself pretty much. See the spot where the arrow hit, follow the deer marking his departure. Then I get nervous.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I' m in the same boat as David on this one. To ge the job done you need to focus and plan your shot. Certainly there are time when things happen fast. You need to be able to think and react quickly or you might miss the shot of a lifetime.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I was taught, aim small miss small. Concentrate on the body itself. Stare down the place you want your arrow to go or concentrate on the small shooting lane you may have. This has worked for me, pick the spot on that big buck next time he walks by to a quarter size on his chest. And I bet your shot will be true.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

HAZCON7

Could have been that I was born and raised on a farm and started hunting with a bow when I was 5.
My first job out of school was a professional kangaroo shooter for 10 years followed by 18 months on the Water Buffalo eradication program in the top end of Australia.
Not to mention the hundreds of feral pigs,goats,foxes and rabbits as well as quite a few fallow deer and red stags I have killed all with bow and arrow over the years.

Maybe I have killed too many animals or I have ice water running through my vains;):D

But untill I moved here nearly 3 years ago I had never heard the saying buck fever or fur fever and that was on a tv show;)

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

Sounds like some folks are confusing " the adrenaline rush" for buck fever!

Around here " buck fever" is the term we use for the folks who lose all control of bodily functions and common sense at the sight of a buck. Those folks usually go their entire lives without filling their buck tags which depresses them to the point where you' ll find them on a bar stool talking about the big ones that got away.:D

" The adrenaline rush" is easily tamed if you think of it as using it to your advantage! How many times have you been sitting in your stand freezing your arse off when out walks a deer and suddenly the teeth chattering , finger numbing cold is non existant? If you tend to get the knee shakes , just use Davids advice and brace yourself against the tree. While your watching your deer decide when and where you will draw your bow and focus that adrenaline into strength for a nice smooth draw. Then use it to concentrate on a spot and a nice smooth release.

Then after you see your arrow crack through the ribs you can let the adrenaline flow however it wants which usually consists of uncontrollable shakes and crazy crap like high fiving the lord or kissing your bow and crying like a school girl!;)

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I' ve been waiting for this topic to come up. Maybe I' ve been just a bit nervous to hear the reactions at my own experience so I' ve never posted it.

As I posted last week I killed my first big game animal with a bow, a caribou. I had missed one the day before, but being nervous or shaky didn' t play into it. I just misjudged the distance and missed clean. The one I killed plays out in slow motion every day since I shot him. I was never nervous, I executed the shot just like I have thousands of time before at my own range and in competition. I picked my spot and muscle memory took over, I don' t even remember talking to myself. It was all about being a predator.....taking in acount the wind, the sun at my back, the reactions of the rest of the herd and my target animal. Not once did I shake. I didn' t even get excited. I felt good about my hit, but my reaction was one of calm. I waited a bit before I began to track the animal and I don' t even remember my heart racing at all. In fact, my biggest concern was the instinctive predator stuff....the wind, the sun, the tracks, the blood. When I found the animal I then got excited....excited about the end of a great hunt, the comradery of my hunting partner, the pride you get from being a hunter and bringing home the bacon (so to speak). Stone cold...that' s all I remember about my feelings as I took the shot.

I' m with Ausie-Guy. I grew up harvesting game, albeit with a rifle. I' ve spent a lifetime in the woods. I raised my own pigs, cows and chickens and butchered them myself. Killing was not new to me. Doing it with a bow was a thrill, but it was still just another killing tool. The real thrill to me was the hunt itself....the spotting of the game, the tracking, the outsmarting of the herd, the ambush, getting close enough to smell the animals and here them crunch through the snow.....something you treestand guys really have to try :D The shot...stone cold.

I' m an adrenaline junky, though. I' m a volunteer firefighter, a volunteer EMT and and avid extreme mountain snowmobiler. Maybe I just get pumped so often that the act of taking an animal doesn' t trigger the adrenaline like my other activities. However, I found extreme joy in bowhunting that I do not in my other activities. The act of being a predator awakens things in people way beyond adrenaline.

RE: How do you controll buck fever??
 

I have only suffered buck fever once and that was on the biggest deer I ever killed, the problem was all I could see was a massive rack moving through the mountain laurels, lucky for me I recognized the symptoms right away and talked myself down.

David gives some excellent advice, force your self to breath deeply and slowly, mentally force your self to take every step of the shot one step at a time, do not touch your release until everything is right, you are at full draw, you are shooting at a SPOT on the deer and not the whole thing, you are anchored properly and then slowly put your finger on the release finger, double check the sight picture and squeeze that release.