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

I could use some suggestions.....lol

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]

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.

Hunt where you won' t see any bucks.

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.

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.

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...

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

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!

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![]

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.