I know almost everyone has a great story about either getting buck fever or being with someone that did. I'll start with my favorite.

A friend was elk hunting it was his first time to hunt elk with a bow. Well his older brother was about 75 yards behing him calling. Two monster bulls came running in and stopped about 15 yards from the younger brother. The older brother was watching in the binos as his little brother drew, then all the sudden the bulls took off and his brother dropped his head. What happened was the yonger brother was so nervous that he hit his trigger on the release at half draw, his hand came back and whacked him in the nose. He got a bloody nose instead of a big bull.

lol,,,,
ok a few years back i was hunting in a river bottom with my bow about 30 yards from my best freind , one on oneside of the river on on the other, well i was shooting 84lbs and my friend was shooting 80 somthing to ,well my buddie was sleeping and i saw a doe coming down the other side of the river so i gave him a whistle, he awoke and got ready after 5 minutes she moved off down out of shooting distance , then we heard a big crash a monster 6 point ran right under his stand and stoped, i watched him try to draw his bow back a total of 4 times while the buck walked by him and out of sight ,, he was shaking so bad he could not draw his bow back , and being an army ranger who could not pull his 80lb bow back ,,,is funny as heck, so needless to say he had the fever

Really haven't had any. I've gotten a slight case of the Heebie Jeebies on a few occasions.... but closing the eyes, taking a couple deep breaths makes it all go away. Now I did have one occasion when I had deer feeding all around. I was sitting on the ground in a blowdown straddling the tree trunk. I finally decided to shoot this doe at about 8 yards. I had been sitting motionless for quite a long time in fridgid conditions. I was shooting close to 80 pounds, the deer was directly to the front right. I couldn't take the classic stance posture and simply could not pull the bow. I made 3 or 4 attempts and nocked to arrows off the string before the deer had had enough. I was overbowed and had not been shooting much late into January. I have since lowered my poundage about 12 pounds and hunt smarter.[&:]

My first year bow hunting I was sitting in a ground blind I had built under a big cedar tree. A really nice 10 pt came strolling by in the pasture I was by and stopped right infront of a small evergreen and started eating, which placed only his head behind the tree. My blind didn't alow me a shot in this direction so I slipped out into the open pasture to take a shot. I remember thinking "This is perfect! this bow hunting thing isn't that hard"
Yup, that's when I started shaking, right before I Drew my bow and at about 1/2 draw my arrow shook off my rest and bounced across the shelf. Well the Buck looked up to see what all the racket was and didn't seem too pleased to discover that I was standing about 10yards away. Darn I'm good.

Back in 1999, I had been rattling my arse off on an unseasonably warm November morning in my treestand in a draw along the edge of an alfalfa field. It was the last day of a 4-day hunt and with the warm weather we had seen little and at this point I figured I was done and was going home empty handed. My back was against the field and I was facing the woods thinking if anything would come it would come from the wood lot behind me. Well wouldn't you know it, all of the sudden I heard the thundering of hooves and the actual rapid panting of what sounded like a wild beast from hell. As I turned my head I saw the biggest deer of my life only 15 yards away. He was an absolutely huge, massive, hawg of a buck that pushed 200 PY and had to weigh over 300lbs on the hoof. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth like a German Sheperd on a hot summer day, and he was eager to fight as he strutted slowly past my stand. I was caught in a bad way with the antlers in my hand, a grunt call in my mouth, my bow hanging on a limb, and my back to the deer. I moved as slowly fastly as I could and by the time I had hung the antlers, grabbed my bow, and turned around, the buck had wandered to about 60 yards away. Well, just then a 9-point buck walked in and stopped at 22 yards offering a perfect quartering away shot. I concluded that my chance at daddy rabbit was gone so I decided to go for the smaller buck who was not a bad deer for me at that time and scored about 123 PY. When I went to put my release on the string I was shaking so bad that I couldn't get it attached. The frustration made my "fever" worse and then my entire body began to quake and I swear, the whole tree had to be shuttering. I started to get light-headed and thought I was going to pass out. However, I was finally able to calm myself, took some deep breaths and put the arrow in the boiler room on the smaller buck and he died within eyesight just about 75 yards away. After I shot him I was still shaking and that monster buck stood there confused and was looking back at me in the stand. He finally had enough and bounded away. I had never ever had the fever like that before or since.

Back when i was just learing to bowhunt I thought i had every thing under control. I mean i could hit just about any thing i shot at up to 25 yrds which was pretty good for me back then. UNTIL opening day of deer season came[&:] I was sitting there when this doe came up on me to my right. I was up in a tree about 20 feet . When i look over and saw her she was about 15 yrds from me when i started to get up and take a shot. she looked up at me and and i started shaking so bad that i thought i was going fall she turned and ran off and 15 min later another doe came up and started milling around about 20 yrds away. I drew my bow back and while i was trying to aim i started shaking again[:@] this doe looked at me and just keeped looking at me. I was a cmplet mess I was shooting fingers. When i released the arrow i herd a loud slap? the deer just keeped looking at me? I looked up in this pine tree which was in front of me and there was my arrow at least five feet higher than i was? Well to let you know i did not kill my first deer until the nexted season.

I think you all have heard my infamous story before.... [:-]

I was hunting a public WMA here in Virginia and was using a natural ground blind (fallen oak tree). The wind was in my favor, and I ensured I had everything scent free, and also hung fresh earth scent wafers around too. I was overlooking a big field and saw a doe walking towards me from far away. I sat there watching her and, somehow, I must have spooked her, because she froze in place at first, staring at something in the fallen tree, and then she bolted.

Then about 30-45 minutes later, I see a buck carefully walking the same track in the field. He is sniffing the ground, takes 2-3 steps, sniffs the ground again, etc... My heart starts pounding immediately. I start sweating. The buck is coming closer. He's still out of range for a bow, but I just sit tight and I don't even move. I make out his antlers and see he is an 8 pointer and as soon as I did that, I got nervous. My heart was thumping all the way into my throat and into my head. I mean, I was doing everything possible to not pi$$ myself! I waited for the buck to sniff the ground one last time, and when he did that, I drew my bow and held it. He was probably 50 yards away, straight on, dead ahead to me. I couldn't take a shot anyway, and waited for him to come closer and quarter away. Anyway, my arms and shoulders were screaming from holding the bow at full draw, and I was sweating so bad and trembling all at the same time. The buck instantly "knew" something was up. He stopped in his tracks, and glared into the fallen oak tree at me. It was almost like a stare-down contest. I felt him stare me down and look into my eyes, look into my soul. I freaked out and moved, or almost soiled myself, and the next thing I knew, the 8 pointer snorted, and was gone in a flash. All I remember is seeing a streak of brown and a flapping white tail doing Mach 4 to get away. ....BUSTED! [:-]

This was my first opportunity to draw a bow on a nice buck, and I could not believe the rush that I felt. I want to experience that same rush again and again and again. Eventually I will get my deer and keep learning more and more each time I am out. This is more addicting than any type of drug known to man! [8D]

Butch A.

I was elk hunting in CO with a buddy of mine and the first afternoon of the hunt we found ourselves in the middle of a herd of about 15 cows. We had practiced our tails off before the trip and were completely prepared to kill anything within range. One of the cows was standing broadside at about 40 yards, head down, feeding away and completely oblivous to our presence. He decided to take the shot. He drew back and quickly released. The arrow flew completely behind the cow, missing its mark by at least 8 feet. I was shocked. I remember thinking "you have got to be kidding me!". He said he had no excuse other than that he just freaked out. I'll say he did! EIGHT FEET! It wasn't a miss-trigger either! So much for preparation.

I'm not one to get the shakes until after the shot. However, one time I had a forker come out onto a bean field I was watching a few years back. The bugger never even came into range but I started shaking uncontrollably. I was quite young, but I had arrowed deer before. I don't know what my deal was, but if he had offered a shot there's no way I could have made a good one. I felt ridiculous, but I laughed about it. What would deer hunting be without getting excited?

The first time I actually saw a deer while I was hunting in a tree -

It was a 140 class deer, I heard him jogging over a hilltop and before I knew it he was headed right for my tree! I was only up 12feet so I thought he could see me - I completely froze up.
I could have sworn (at the time) that he could hear my heart beating. My mouth was wide open and my heart was beating so hard that it was making a wierd croaking sound in my throat - I was so frozen up that I couldn't even close my mouth. I just stared at that monster buck while he walked right below me and proceeded to graze for what seemed like an eternity. Then he strolled away.

That was my first close encounter with a buck of any size - I've been HOOKED ever since!!!

I use to get buck fever when a doe would even think about coming close!![8D] Now, its only the first doe of the season that gives me the heebe-jeebies, then im cool and start telling myself "you are the main predator of these woods!!, You can kill anything you want to!!" Kinda weird but thats how i sike myself up.