Buck Fever!

[7mmfan]

We've all been there. I know I've had some pretty spectacular instances of buck fever over the years. While I haven't had a true bout of buck fever in some time, boy the heart still gets to thumping when that animal appears, and I hope it always does. Let's here some of your guy's most humbling experiences!

I'll start off.

Late archery in an Eastern WA unit. Climbing out of a steep draw, hand over fist in the snow. Come around the end of a thicket and there is a big fat cow standing broadside uphill 20 yards from me. This was pre range finder days, but didn't need it, I knew that distance. My release however was frozen shut from climbing in the snow. I beat it on my leg over and over, and dug at it with my other hand. All the while she just stood there looking. I finally managed to knock it loose, clip onto my string pull back and settle in to the 20 yard pin and let fly, right over her back. In my fluster and frustration I didn't account for angle.

Also late archery in that same area, came upon a nice buck terrorizing an innocent bush. This was in fact the first deer that I'd ever come upon archery hunting like this. I was 16 I think. I was inside 20 yards and he was oblivious to me. All I had to do was draw and shoot. But my buck fever stricken brain told me to find cover. I hid behind a young pine tree trying to decide if I could shoot or not until he winded me and ran off. Never even drew my bow.

Hunting in Wyoming when I was 18 I stumbled onto a bachelor group of bucks, 2 very nice bucks and 2 average bucks. I was literally 40 yards from the 2 nicest bucks in the group just standing there looking at me. I was shaking so bad I couldn't have hit a Buick at that distance, so I tried to rest on my pack standing upright. That wasn't happening either so I laid down on my pack. That was too much for them and they started trotting off. I jumped up and fired 4 shots at the big buck as it trotted off, all clean misses. One of the average bucks stood there so I grabbed a shell from my pocket and loaded it, firing at him, and missing. At this point I was frantic. I reached in and grabbed another shell and was trying to load it into my rifle to no avail. Finally after what seemed like forever I looked down and realized I was trying to load my chapstick into my rifle. Oddly, this calmed me down as I laughed at myself out loud. I grabbed a shell, loaded it, and dropped that buck in his tracks.

[Swede]

I know I have been nervous, but I do not remember ever not getting an animal due to being too shaky. A few times, I have found myself needing to sit down after a shot to settle my nerves. Before and at the time of the shot, I did not realize how nervous I was. Weird, I guess.

[Swede]

Being nervous is a problem, so for as long as I remember, after seeing a shooter animal, I concentrate on just what I am doing. I just only pay enough attention to the critter to keep track of it. I focus 99% on just what I need to do. Since I do not control the animal, why fret over it?

[Lefty]

Ive made some horrible mistakes but will only state one case of bull fever. The first bull I called in.

I bugled, and the bullwas only 80-90 yards away,, charged in like a herd of elephants being chased by a T-Rex through the quakies , I

I was unable to keep my release clipped to the D loop

[7mmfan]

Like Swede, I've learned to focus on the job at hand once I've decided I'm killing an animal. I pay little attention to anything other than making the shot happen. After the shot there is usually a pretty good flood of adrenaline, but I've learned to co trol myself. In my teens, man, I was a wreck most of the time.

[7mmfan]

This site must be filled with stone cold killers that have ice water running through their veins!

[Swede]

I know I have told this story before, but it illustrates a point that fits in here. We are all made differently.
Many years ago, I had a bad situation to deal with. I had driven down a slick, wet road. On the way down I stopped in front of a broken off tree that had fallen across the road. It was broken off and the top had gone off over the fill slope, just leaving a large broken off log sticking out into the roadway. I stopped to examine it. Because the road was slick clay, I knew I could not back out. I wondered if I could get around the broken log. As soon as I got out of the truck, I noticed it was sliding sideways, so I jumped back into the cab and started the engine. I barely had enough room to get around the log I wanted to examine and still stay on the road. My intent was to go to the very end of the road and go elk hunting, but after arriving at my destination, I could not stay. I turned around and quickly got the truck in third gear and ran it full throttle back to where the log was waiting. After passing the log, I kept right on going. I was nervous, I guess, but I was fully functional. With the speed and momentum, I made it around the log and never lost control or had an accident. When I got out to the gravel road above, I had to stop. I was experiencing uncontrolled laughter like a deranged maniac, but the problem was all behind me by that time.
I cannot explain why, but that is just me.

[7mmfan]

Swede, you're right, everyone handles stressful situations differently. Like I noted in my stories, as a teen I was an absolute wreck when it came to buck fever. I don't experience those issues anymore. Sometime in my early 20's that came to an end. Also in my early 20's I became a captain of a fishing boat in SE AK and quickly learned that it was up to me to keep my crew and passengers safe. I navigated through some pretty stressful situations in my first couple of years in that position. I learned quickly how to deal with stress.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was guiding fly fishing trips in Washington on the Yakima river. A boat full of drunk guys flipped on a sweeper immediately upriver of me. Below us was a logjam that if they drifted into was certain death. Luckily 2 of the guys made it to shore but the 3rd rode on the bottom of the now capsized boat downriver. We had about a 30 seconds to work with before things got ugly. I was able to get to the boat with my clients onboard, get a line secured to the bow of the boat, get the guy in my boat and back to shore in time to tie his boat off to a tree to keep it from continuing downstream into the logjam. We hit the shoreline about 30 yards upriver of that hissing/sucking logjam and were able to yard his boat to shore. when everything and everyone was secure, I definitely needed to take a walk to decompress.

The clincher there, was that there was another guide boat in the same run with me when this all went down. They literally just sat there and watched. Never tried to or asked to help. Just did nothing. That's the difference in some peoples fight or flight reflex. I guess there should be a 3rd option there for freeze, because that's exactly what he did.

[WapitiTalk1]

Ha, these are epic. I’ve got a few I’ll throw on the fire

[Lefty]

They literally just sat there and watched. Never tried to or asked to help. Just did nothing. That's the difference in some peoples fight or flight reflex. I guess there should be a 3rd option there for freeze, because that's exactly what he did.

I dont want to hijack the thread, but there is a lot of people who do "freeze" maybe lack of training, skills, never been in that kind of situation. My wrestling coach use to repeat a story , "Don't just sit there, do something."

I did get a bad case of the shakes twice when I missed opputunities on big bucks.
And the first archery bull I missed. I played the scenario it a thousand times( well likely more) in my mind, asleep, day dreaming, wide awake.
Stopped to bugle ( in my vision, In reality he was glunking) I used the red pin , when he was actually less than half the distance.