Bow hunting

[lesterl]

I am 65 years old and have taken over 30 deer with a bow from a tree stand. I seem to have lost my nerve when I see a deer I freeze until they are out of range. I wear a full harness plus a rope around my chest cause that is all I used to use. Ever heard of this and how do I get over it?

[thore]

Yeah it's called buck fever, I wouldn't change anything enjoy the moment It is a feeling us bowhunters get and when I stop geting it then I probably won't hunt anymore.

Just slow down and take deep breathes relax aim and squeeze

[WaitForIt]

If you don't get a little unhinged you aren't doing it right.

You need a guy like me to come along with you and talk you down, maybe shoot some video.

[Archerysniper]

Yep what thore said I started to not get this feeling and switched to a recurve got it back but also no meat for the freezer and switched back to compounds. Breath deep aim small miss small pick the hair you want to hit don't look at the deer as a whole deer once you see it comeing in pick your shooting lane and stare at the crease behind the shoulder.

[delmuts]

Oh ya! Age doesn't matter!

I don't freeze, but used to go into full panic mode! My best advice is to start talking yourself through all the steps of taking a shot when practicing/then hunting.

For me it's what's the range, get yourself ready and in position, come to full draw, anchor, put the pin on the target, use my two finger grip,and slowly pull on the release. Sounds like alot, but after doing this a while it's only a couple of seconds. This helped me alot this season.

[DooWap]

I guess I kind of have an issue too, but maybe a positive one. Every time I see a deer, I think I go into autopilot. I can't count the number of times I've shot a deer and don't even remember the sequences leading up to the shot.

[lakevet]

Put a small note on your bow saying "calm down" and "pick a spot". Focus on note to reset your brain then shift back to the deer.

[tracker x-2]

It helps me after i take the first glance to figure if he is a shooter or not to just focus on the foot steps and the exact place you want to put your arrow.

[DonBo]

We all get it. Ain't it great?

What I do is visualize where the deer will come from and how I'm gonna take the shot in the different spots he may show even before I see one. That way when it happens, you've already played out how it will go. Works for me...

[Musky Buck]

I only get it after the shot and rarely do anymore, I spend 12 months a year with the deer for the most part and have for as long as I can remember and it doesn't change me when I'm holding a bow or gun. My first few years of deer hunting I was definitely more excited as a kid when a nice buck would come out. Some said man you have nerves of steel when it came to football,hockey, and baseball maybe that just carried over into hunting being an athlete under tons of pressure for so many years. It just affects each hunter differently.

[Lunker]

DooWap,

I have had that same issue. Both with hunting and back when I played sports. I call it my 'adrenaline blackout', often not remembering the actual moments. Repetition(hunting a lot) and practice seem to have calmed my nerves a bit over the last few years, but I still succumb to buck fever now and then.

[BeezeHound]

If I ever loose that big adrenaline rush, I'm hanging it up. I get most worked up after the shot, especially if I know I put a good hit on or see the deer go down. The first big buck I shot I was still a wreck 15 minutes after I saw it go down, I could hardly get myself down the tree I was shaking so bad.

[delmuts]

Beeze. I still get the shakes after a shot, but some of us fall apart before we can make a shot! That is what we are trying to overcome. I'm with you in that the day i loose that feeling, i'll hang up the bow.

[sodajerk]

If I ever loose that big adrenaline rush, I'm hanging it up. I get most worked up after the shot, especially if I know I put a good hit on or see the deer go down. The first big buck I shot I was still a wreck 15 minutes after I saw it go down, I could hardly get myself down the tree I was shaking so bad.

Best moments of the year for me! I love that feeling. It's lets you know you're alive and that you've succeeded in one of mankind's oldest pursuits. Even after all the years of hunting I've done I still feel my heart start to thump in my throat when a doe that I know I want to shoot is coming my way. When and if I ever get a chance at a true monster buck of a lifetime I'll probably sit there like a moron with my jaw hanging open and shaking like a leaf as he walks past.

The advice a couple of you have posted upthread works for me too. Work out your deer approach scenarios beforehand, picturing what may happen and what you'll do if the deer comes from a given direction. Will I need to stand up and turn around first because the deer is on my offhand side? Will I be able to grunt and stop the deer in the gap between those two maples? If the deer comes down that trail, I'll have to draw the bow when its head is behind that big oak or I'll risk spooking it if I wait longer...that sort of thing.

Then, once you hear that leaf crunch or twig snap and see the deer coming and decide if it's a shooter or not, stop looking at the whole deer and just focus on the spot you want to hit. Think of that spot not as a deer, but as your practice target at home. I actually imagine a red spot on the deer's side just like the red spots on my broadhead practice target. That helps to calm me down and think more about my mechanics and aiming and takes my mind off the fact that I'm almost too excited to breathe.

[sticknstring]

That's what it's all about - weak knees and shaky hands. I hope it never goes away. I sure do love bowhunting.

[schmoe147]

I dont get to nervous or shook up before the shot. It happens so fast and next thing you know the passes through the boiler room. After the shoot I'm a reck, I get down ASAP because I instantly begin to shake uncontrolably, I know its a bad idea to get down right away but if I didnt I would be stuck in the tree. Thats my biggest problem I have. Better it happens after the shot than before the shot though.

[mknolls]

Nothing like it. Just wish I could get that feeling each time I go out. But don't we all.

[gardn184]

I'm still relatively new only being a couple years into it, I can tell you I still get that feeling in my throat jump every time I hear a twig snap loudly for the first hour I'm in the stand. If it ever goes away I'm going to be a depressed hunter. When it comes to the time for the shot I don't get to to worked up, nervous and excited but not frozen, although once I got so shook up after the shot I almost fell out of the tree trying to climb down, now I wait 10-15 minutes before I even attempt to climb down, that way I can pick out where the blood trail should be as well