What do you do to control your Buck Fever?

[ApexerER]

I have had an issue with Buck Fever since I started hunting almost 30 years ago now. I thought I was getting better at controlling it but I totally blew it yesterday. This isn't a feeling I ever want to go away, its the reason I hunt. I am worried about wounding an animal because I can't control my emotions. I feel like if everything is slow and developing I have gotten to the point where I can control myself and make a great shot. When it happens fast, I proved I can still blow it.  Yesterday at a little after 3 I had a buck come in from behind me on my left. I didn't see him till he was at my 9 oclock. I saw him and it seemed like in a span of about 20 seconds I said to myself holy crap, that's the wide white horned 8, got my crossbow on the shooting rail, found him in the scope, figured he went behind a scrub bush that I know is 30 yds, figured he was 35 yds, found him in the right reticle (between 30 and 40) looked out of the scope and gave him a mahhhh….and he stopped dead. After that my memory is all blurry. I dont' remember finding him again in the scope, I am sure I peaked at the shot or maybe I wasn't even looking through the scope when I shot, maybe I squeezed the trigger when I stopped him. I know I watched my bolt fly right under him. I am still so mad at myself, I kept my composure about half way and threw it all out the window at the most critical part. This might have been my biggest deer ever, I do have a really nice 9 pt that is my avatar but this was a really nice deer. For sure my largest archery deer and if you guys have read posts, I don't see deer like that every day. I am so glad I didn't wound him. That would have been way way worse but if I can't get this under control with archery gear, I feel like that could happen. I could have easily shot him in the @ss....

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Once I decide I am shootign I don't look at the antlers anymore.  Pick the spot to shoot at and keep telling myself to hold the sights on the spot. 

[Bionic]

Just did the same, but never shot, thick here with saplings. First deer ever scoping with a crossbow.  He came right at me, and quartered towards me, he never stopped, was zig zagging, and I just couldnt aim good enough to be confident.  He came into my 10 yard zone,  and was just a lot to figure out to be honest.   Just got this crossbow Friday after dark, never held one, or shot one till Friday.  

[BizCT]

Just did the same, but never shot, thick here with saplings. First deer ever scoping with a crossbow.  He came right at me, and quartered towards me, he never stopped, was zig zagging, and I just couldnt aim good enough to be confident.  He came into my 10 yard zone,  and was just a lot to figure out to be honest.   Just got this crossbow Friday after dark, never held one, or shot one till Friday.  

Did you make a sound to stop him?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chrisw]

I don't think there is a cure! The faster it happens the less time I have to get shook up, I think like anything, the more often you see good bucks the less likely you are to go into shock. If you get multiple encounters per year at "good" bucks I think that helps but I'm lucky to see one good buck a year so I have a lot more riding on the shot which makes it worse. I like to think the more deer I shoot the better at it I get but it's probably marginal honestly...

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[ApexerER]

1 minute ago, chrisw said:

I don't think there is a cure! The faster it happens the less time I have to get shook up, I think like anything, the more often you see good bucks the less likely you are to go into shock. If you get multiple encounters per year at "good" bucks I think that helps but I'm lucky to see one good buck a year so I have a lot more riding on the shot which makes it worse. I like to think the more deer I shoot the better at it I get but it's probably marginal honestly...

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 

I can count on one hand the number of "good" bucks I have seen while hunting and I have killed two of them. 

[Bionic]

39 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

Did you make a sound to stop him?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

He came into 20 yards, i was getting aimed, then he turned, went from my left to right sort of quarting at me if that makes sense, he looked at me at one point, put head back down, looked back up at me,  all as he traveled through, was afraid he would bolt off if i went "bah"....it all happened so fast too. I was trying to figure out how low to aim for 10 yards too, since its zeroed at 20, and no 10 yrd crosshair.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Bionic

[chrisw]

I can count on one hand the number of "good" bucks I have seen while hunting and I have killed two of them. 

Same here, so at this rate I'll never control it haha.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[DoubleR]

I have asked myself the same question over and over again.  I started hunting at a meat hunter and every time I saw antlers I got the same way.  I have been fortunate enough to take a few respectable deer in 6G over the years but most happened so quick that there was no time to get excited.  The ones that came around and meandered for a while were always the ones I missed because I felt like i was going to shake out of the tree. 

Last year I purchased a 16 acre lot in 7f and I have seen more bucks than ever before. I have started getting used to seeing antlers so I thought I was cured. Then last sunday I missed a wide rack 10 point that I never saw before....at 25 yards. 

The feeling may never go away but it sure reminds me that I am alive!

[BizCT]

He came into 20 yards, i was getting aimed, then he turned, went from my left to right sort of quarting at me if that makes sense, he looked at me at one point, put head back down, looked back up at me,  all as he traveled through, was afraid he would bolt off if i went "bah"....it all happened so fast too. I was trying to figure out how low to aim for 10 yards too, since its zeroed at 20, and no 10 yrd crosshair.

Aim Just a tad low.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nytracker]

Be prepared don't rush. The more you control  the situation the less it affects you. Know your yardage ahead of time . Call the shot at what opening. Breath .. breath..Pick a spot then a spot within  that spot.  steady shot picture  squeese only as the sights come on target stop squeezing  but don't relax on trigger if picture wanders off . Let it happen. If it isnt right don't rush. If you concentrate on the mechanics you don't think about buck fever... mine usually happens after the shot.

If I didn't get buck fever I would quit hunting.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Nytracker

[Dinsdale]

I've shot a fair number of game animals and every once in a while it happens, but its rare.

But thinking back on it I notice the more I practice from actual field positions prepping for a hunt, the less it happens. I dont do much bench shooting with rifle now; and with a bow, never set distances, always square to a target. I'm fortunate to have some terrain change and can practice on my own land and not under confines of a range or club setting. Trying not to overthink the shot, and have become much more comfortable using the confidence built from good practice to make a kill.

Now I try and have a mental picture of ways a shot can develop and go about the task of getting a good shot in, and its headgear is not in equation anymore.

Think the bow has made me a better rifle shot by having to acquire the target in a smoother rhythm and to follow through. Maybe why I just enjoy shooting a bow even though not much of a bow hunter. 

Have taken multiple shots on last three hunts that I would have dicked around with 20 years ago and that in turn leads me overthinking about the actual shot, getting thinking about the rack/horns, and things go sideways. LOL

 

[ApexerER]

23 minutes ago, Dinsdale said:

I've shot a fair number of game animals and every once in a while it happens, but its rare.

But thinking back on it I notice the more I practice from actual field positions prepping for a hunt, the less it happens. I dont do much bench shooting with rifle now; and with a bow, never set distances, always square to a target. I'm fortunate to have some terrain change and can practice on my own land and not under confines of a range or club setting. Trying not to overthink the shot, and have become much more comfortable using the confidence built from good practice to make a kill.

Now I try and have a mental picture of ways a shot can develop and go about the task of getting a good shot in, and its headgear is not in equation anymore.

Think the bow has made me a better rifle shot by having to acquire the target in a smoother rhythm and to follow through. Maybe why I just enjoy shooting a bow even though not much of a bow hunter. 

Have taken multiple shots on last three hunts that I would have dicked around with 20 years ago and that in turn leads me overthinking about the actual shot, getting thinking about the rack/horns, and things go sideways. LOL

 

I feel the opposite.  I feel like if I have time I can get myself under control and walk myself through it. The times it happens fast and I feel like I need to get it done right then I screw up. Yesterday that buck was at 35 yds (actually 37) in my head he was at the max range I was comfortable taking the shot and quartering away from me. He was on a mission ( fast walk). I got him stopped but rushed everything after that anyway.

I don't want the "fever" to go away but when I got it I rush it. Frustrating 

[JRod 8G8H]

i dont know if you can control buck fever.. you try and play it out in your mind which shooting lane the deer will be in, quartering away slightly, 20 yards and in, but it rarely ever happens that way..

couple weeks ago i had a 3.5 year old 9 pointer walk in a straight line to my stand, hit a rub and scrape about 7-8 yds away, and then walk straight back.. never presented a bow shot.... i was shaking the whole time

[BowmanMike]

It is amazing to me how after sitting in a stand for an hour or more my heartrate is probably below 60 bpm,and a nice deer walks into view and it goes to 120 or  150. No physical activity,just seeing a deer that i want to take. 

That is crazy,and i have no clue how to control that. I try just to deal with it,but didn't do so well with it when i hit a doe high in the shoulder earlier this season.

I generally find i do better when i have more time then when things happen fast.

[turkeyfeathers]

3 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

It is amazing to me how after sitting in a stand for an hour or more my heartrate is probably below 60 bpm,and a nice deer walks into view and it goes to 120 or  150. No physical activity,just seeing a deer that i want to take. 

That is crazy,and i have no clue how to control that. I try just to deal with it,

Think naked Roseanne Barr

[BowmanMike]

1 minute ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Think naked Roseanne Barr

I wasn't talking about having any premature you know what problems. But that image would be helpful for that.

[JALA RUT]

Apex, like you, I love that adrenaline rush of when I see a shooter buck that I know I'm going to be shooting...I hope to never lose that feeling and I doubt that I ever will, being that I still get that excited after 35 years of bowhunting.  In fact, when my shooter buck came in Friday, buck fever started kicking in and it took me 3 tries to even get my bow pulled back...Thank God he didn't look over and see me shaking like a bundle of nerves trying to pull back a bow that I've literally pulled back hundreds of times with no problems at all...LOL...and in the end, it all worked out with a harvest that I'm so happy with!  Anyways, what helps me focus on the job at hand and not getting all messed up with Buck Fever is steps that I repeat to myself in my mind over and over....Draw, Aim, Breath, Release, Follow Through.  I do this when I'm just target shooting as well so it's ingrained in me so in the heat of the moment of the real deal with a shooter buck, muscle memory takes over and it seems to help keep me focused on what I should be doing to send an arrow down range rather than being over run by adrenaline.  Seems to work for me (Once I manage to actually get the bow drawn back...LOL).  Good Luck, hope you get another whack at him, he sounds like a beauty!

[turkeyfeathers]

I'm pretty sure I muttered aloud but quietly holy f when goiter buck was in bow range     I'tll be only fitting after all the hours in the stand this year that something else will present itself for a shot (other than dink bucks or fawns) and I'll botch it up somehow. Although hope to prove myself wrong the next 3 days before gun. But the rush of any and every deer during archery is pretty dang heart accelerating for sure.

[BizCT]

Think naked Roseanne Barr

Why would I want a boner before shooting?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dbHunterNY]

3 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

Why would I want a boner before shooting?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

do you over think things with one or just get it done? lol

[dbHunterNY]

make a decision to shoot or not shoot and then focus on the task or process not so much what you're shooting. then after let it sink in and cause you to be a mess. sometimes you can't help it and you do the best you can to block it out. it just happened for a second with the doe i shot yesterday morning and that's something i've taken boat loads of.

[Buckmaster7600]

I’m lucky, never had it in my life, after the shot and I know he’s dead I come unglued.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wolc123]

If you struggle with buck fever, then Culver's idea is probably best.  After you decide the buck is a shooter, immediately move your focus to the individual hair that you want your projectile to strike.  Do not look at the antlers any longer than necessary.   Antlers never did much for me, so I never struggled with that, but I have struggled with "meat-fever" in my younger days.   A good cure for that was lots of squirrel hunting with a .22 rimfire.   After you get comfortable with those tiny kill-zones, larger animals are more like taking candy from a baby.   Even more important, is realizing who controls the fate of all living things (even sparrows), and staying on good terms with Him.   If He wants that buck to suffer some other fate, it don't matter what you do, it will not go your way.     

Edited November 12, 2018 by wolc123

[BizCT]

do you over think things with one or just get it done? lol

Considering I get 5-6 of them per day, I just go about my normal business. Usually just buffalo tuck in public so nobody sees


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk