Composure at the shot

[JGH]

I think that I have developed a bit of "bull fever" over the years, embarrassing as it is to say.

Although I've killed a pile of animals (really, honest, I'm not new to this -- the boys didn't learn much about "beef" until they grew up and left the house!) I think this is the "big issue" that I need to work on this year.

Last year, I felt like a cold, icy barn cat chasing a mouse when I was more than 100 yards from a bull, but as I crossed that line, over and over, I began to have rapid heart beat, shaking hands, and erratic breathing.

I'm not sure where this comes from ... but it needs to be addressed.

So ... any tips?

I'm planning on shooting some pronghorns from a blind in August ... and shooting more arrows for practice ... but I'm sure there are others who have beat this demon -- let's hear from you.

[cnelk]

John
You're a doctor.
If I came to you with 'rapid heart beat, shaking hands, and erratic breathing' symptoms, what would you prescribe?

[otcWill]

That's what you call passion for your sport and you certainly don't want to "cure" it . Glad to hear that it gets you so amped! Concentrate on your breathing and go over your draw/form/shot placement in your head while you stalk in. That calms the nerves for me but nothing works like putting a few bulls under your belt.

[bnsafe]

good question john, a few years ago when I went on my first pronghorn hunt I was dialed in more than I had ever been before, by a long margin. I was ready. first goat to the blind I drew an was so shaken I couldn't even find my peep to look thru. had to completely readjust after the draw. this year I thought I had it figured out an was gonna be calm. I don't remember picking a spot an pins like I should have. hunting an animal for the first time isn't the same, but, if you ever lose some of that it may be time to do something else.

[pointysticks]

picture the elk naked.

wait..wrong advice. that is for public speaking.

[ctdad]

John
You're a doctor.
If I came to you with 'rapid heart beat, shaking hands, and erratic breathing' symptoms, what would you prescribe?

An ekg?

[Swede]

After I recognize an elk is something I want to kill, I focus almost totally on what I have to do. I give only the least attention to where the animal is at and what it Is doing. I know it has to be at a good angle, within shooting distance, looking away, etc., but my focus is on getting ready and making the shot. I never shoot at an elk either. I shoot a small spot on the critter. I talk to myself in my mind, including giving myself advise.

[easeup]

have you tried shooting 3d in tourney format with others standing there breathing down your neck?

[Still Hunter]

JGH.............As you know what you're experiencing is all in your mind. You've put too much importance on shooting an elk, and it's making you nervous. It can happen in anything you do in life if you let it.

In the 70's I used to make a living trap shooting. There's a lot of pressure to be perfect, and the crowds watching didn't help. I'd feel the pressure to the point of not being able to breath. Then it dawned on me that there's no such thing as pressure if you refuse to feel it. I started to take the pressure off myself by telling myself it wasn't that important. I wasn't going to lose my life if I didn't win. Everybody loses except for one winner, so i'd have lots of company. I took the pressure off myself by not even thinking of winning anymore, but just thought of hitting the targets like I did in practice. All I focused on was making the shot with no other thoughts of winning, crowds etc. Suddenly, I was shooting as if I was alone, and felt no pressure anymore. I was finally shooting to best of my ability in competition. If I was good enough to beat the competition on a particular day, I would win. The important part was I wasn't beating myself anymore.

That's what you're doing with the elk. You're beating yourself by putting too much pressure on yourself. You can correct this in a couple of ways. You can tell yourself it's just not that important. You won't feel pressure if it's not that important to you. This is difficult to do, so the second way may be better. The second way is to concentrate on the mechanics of the shot itself. Just like you do at the range. Forget that you're shooting an elk. The elk is nothing more than a target. Think of it that way. Put 100% of your attention on just making the shot. Block out everything else. Don't let your mind wander. That's easy to do. Focus....

Jim Clark was a Formula One driver in the 60's. One of the greatest in my mind. He's quoted as saying when he wanted to go faster he would just focus more, and the speed just happened. He thought of the braking points, the line through the turn, throttle control coming off the turn. he thought of the mechanics, and then immediately thought of the next turn. He focused. He didn't think of what it would be like winning, or is a drive catching him, or what is the crowd thinking. Those are negative thought that would have slowed him down.

You do the same thing. Focus on just the shot, and you'll make it. The more you do it. The better you'll be at it.

Good luck.

[Toby]

I have experienced the same thing on occasion, can't explain why it doesn't happen all the time, maybe 20%. Some great advice from others already. I find that when I see an animal I plan on shooting and there is some time between my decision and the actual shot that I get it the worse. Once I tell myself I am going to take the animal, it better not take too long. So, what I do now, in every case when I see an animal that I plan to shoot or not, is that' I study the behavior, I don't think about the shot at all, just study the animal and enjoy the experience. I have shot enough that the shot kind of takes care of itself.

[wapitibowman]

JGH - you are not alone. I have been waiting to overcome this beast for 2 years now, but I haven't had the chance to even draw my bow - so that is frustrating enough. Not that we haven't been close, but the shot never materialized. I like the idea of de-emphasizing the importance of the shot and just focusing on a spot and pretending it is a normal target. My big problem is "peeking" so the follow-through is what I need.

Wapitibowman

[JGH]

Well, lots of good advice here ... unfortunately ... I didn't hear the one thing I was hoping: "We all do that."

Like many of us, I'm a bit like a cat when driving down the highway ... my wife says I'm a fine driver until I see game ... like a cat that sees a mouse, I "lock-on" ... to turkeys, deer, pheasants, pronghorn ... you name it ... anything but the road. My heart has always picked-up about 10 beats-per-second at the sight of game.

Like otcWill says, I certainly don't want to "cure" that. But I do feel like I'm over-reacting in the last couple years. My excuse is that I moved west, and quit shooting multiples of whitetails per season -- which led to a calm, killer attitude.

Anyway ... the problem is purely psychological, of course, and as such the solution is most likely to admit that it is an issue and discuss it. So -- right here in front of the whole world-wide intra-web I'm doing just that.

Feels better already! Thanks, guys.

[JJ Overkill]

my first shot at an elk I was a basket case. I was shacking, I almost hyper ventilated . I dropped my bow on the shot to watch the arrow fly.

ive replayed that shot over and over. the next shot I took, I killed my first elk. when I first saw movement I felt my breathing increase, I told myself right there, calm down. I took deep breaths let them out slowly and went to full draw. ive only been that calm a couple of other times.

I guess the only thing I can tell you is, realize what your body is doing and correct it if needed. slow deep breaths to calm down, lower your heart rate, and get vital O2 to your head and keep it level.

[steviek]

I have fought this very same issue for years. I am going to talk about my experiences and what I’ve done to help myself. I grew up as a rifle hunter, when I was about 16 I started bow hunting. Not so much that I wanted to be a bow hunter but because it gave me extended season another way to be in the woods I love being in the woods. The so called (buck or elk) fever you talk about hooked me as a bow hunter since then. I can’t ever recall have problems with a rifle but put a deer at 20 yards I came apart. I got so bad after the first couple years I wanted to quit bow hunting. I missed many deer (to many to mention on here.) The rush or fever as we put it kept bringing me back to bow hunting I couldn’t stop. So much now that I rarely rifle hunt more like a family get together every year.

One thing that has helped me is try to be prepared for the shot. I know animals very rarely do what we think they are going to do. I found that if I was in a tree stand or on the ground if I took even if it was 5 seconds to replay what if the animal came here or there what would I do? It helped me be more confident in myself even if the animal did nothing I thought about. It makes me feel as I can make the shot. Lets face it a lot of elk fever is the fear of missing or not being successful. We hunt all year put countless hours in, read about our buddies being successful, all this time to have an opportunity unfold in a couple split seconds. You put pressure on yourself whether you want to believe it or not. I find my head works so much better if I focus on one thing. That thing for me is to repeat in my head over and over “put the pin on the animal” I found that if I focus on this I don’t worry about the other distractions or the pressure to succeed with an animal in front of you. This is going to be different for everyone. It might be squeeze the trigger, something in your form, deep breaths or maybe the good looking girl you never asked out in high school. To each his own.

Just my 2 cents if I thought about what if he comes here, or over there, comes in fast, comes in slow, I want to draw here, if I draw here he might see. I want to shot when he comes in this lane or don’t shot if he is there. It helped me be more confident. Then saying my magic Put the pin on the animal when he showed up has helped me more than I can say in this post. At one Time I had it bad very bad.

[Still Hunter]

Pretty much what I said too Steve. Concentrate on the mechanics of the shot, and block everything else out. Replace the negative thoughts with a positive one.

[Willie makit]

Steviek hit the nail pretty squarely, a lot of rolling scenarios to prepare for when it happens and most of the time it's never the way I plan but at least you've worked out some do-nots before crunch time.

It's amazing to me why this is "fever" is never predictable, just day before yesterday I missed arguably the best buck I've have the opportunity at with my bow. After it was over I realized, I never got "too" excited during the whole ordeal, I just rushed myself for time. There is a few inches between 54 yards and 50, the second I let go, I knew what I did, perfect shot, just focused on the big number, aimed for the heart. Instant educated deer with fresh belly hair trim job.
I did, however not realize this deer was nearly as antler endowed as he actually was when he bounced out of my life, perhaps that helped. that's my trick decide, shooter o not, from that point on only focus solely on the perfect vitals shot and where and when to place it.

I've been so shaken up by a doe before that I shouldn't have even shot, other time a nice buck there's not so much as a quiver, it's just one of those things that If it ever quits happening, I'll probably quit hunting.

Although I've not met an elk face to face yet hopefully it won't over load my functionality, but I'm not 100% confident in that! Only time will tell.

[Elkduds]

During practice, visualize arrow entering the bullseye before and during each shot. After a few hundred repetitions, visualize hitting target spot on game, with your arrow disappearing there, while you are target shooting. After several hundred reps of visualizing, your brain will learn to reproduce that calm mind state from practice, even when shooting @ game. Accuracy will improve as well. Visualization is not just a sports psychology tool for elite athletes.

[ORelksniper]

Visualization is not just a sports psychology tool for elite athletes.

What??? Are you sayin we're not elite athletes?

[easeup]

that's how I took it.

[Willie makit]

I resemble that remark.

[Huntrgathr]

Still hunter - nice job of defining the psychology behind "fever". I know that this has been the case for me when I got over-excited. It's hard to " not care" about wether you kill an animal or not. We spend all year obsessing over it, many hard days afield and if you have a few failures under your belt the need for redemption can be a powerful motivation. Personally, I like to be amped up. It's hard to avoid it at really close range. My goal is to be excited just to the point that it might compromise accuracy. I have a harder time in an ambush situation than a stalking situation. When stalking I can focus on strategy, foot placement, staying silent, etc. But when I'm just sitting and watching an animal, praying that it comes within range, the anticipation can get to me.

One thing I've tried to stop doing is placing emphasis on the moment. In the past, when a shot opp materialized I would tell myself "This is IT ! I'm going to get a shot ! This is the moment I've been waiting for..." I think that is where a lot of self-induced pressure comes from for me. Now I try to focus on mantras of proper form and shot execution. Like others have said - talk to yourself in a calm voice about the mechanics of the shot. I say ( in my head) " anchor point, bow hand, trigger finger, sight picture, pin placement... Form, form, form". Even if I'm shaking beforehand, that sequence always seems to calm me down enough to feel confident about sending an arrow.

If I was a stone cold killer I don't think I would enjoy hunting as much...

[ishy]

The easiest way is to think about the pack out. All nerves quiet right down and you might even question taking the shot... okay maybe not.

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

I find that focusing on the next shot window helps. I decide its a shooter, then I exclusively focus on getting the shot away in a good window without spooking the animal. Of course, I shoot a longbow so I spend a lot more time looking for the right shot. That said, I am usually cool and collected when elk are around. Mule deer are a different story altogether. I melt down then. It helps to remember that you only get so many chances on elk in a season, usually one or none if you are like me .

[Wapiti]

Dang it guys and I thought that was normal.

Ok I get very nervous at the 100 yard make. That for me is the breaking point for both hunter and elk.........what I mean here is, this is where the elk either commit and start there way over or they go the other way !! If they go away from you there's no need to be nervous.

BUT...........What if that bull starts coming your way ?? You have about 30 seconds to calm your self down. I breath deep and say to myself " GET ELKAFIED ". This put's me into the predator mode and gets me ready for the shot. At this point I am no longer nervous and shaking as in my mind the elk is mine already. Hard to explain but it's like a switch is turned on and it must be another level of focus.

But when I reach that level my intent is to KILL that elk period !!!! There is no other thought on my mind.