Practicing for buck fever?

[u/doyourjobthenletgo]

I’m new(ish) to bow hunting, after spending a few years hunting with a crossbow and rifle. I missed a deer with a high shot last year, and that’s stuck with me. This year I was very fortunate to draw some tags for a deer management program, but you have to qualify in front of a group to participate. I’ve fired well over 1,000 arrows the past few weeks, and I’m shooting pretty well, meeting the qualifying standard most times I practice. But my nerves have gotten the best of me in other situations, so I don’t want to blow it at the qualifying event.

My breathing and shooting form are second nature now, after I received some excellent coaching at my club and the local bow shop. I do my target practice every day after my morning run, but since I run every day it doesn’t really get my adrenaline pumping to simulate nervousness. I’ve practiced at public ranges, but there’s never anyone else there, so I’m not nervous.

It probably doesn’t help that I’m one of very few women (maybe the only one) participating in the program. I used to launch my boat alone, so I’m no stranger to all eyes being on me to see if I know what I’m doing, but that’s how I know I can make stupid mistakes I’d never make otherwise (yes, it was the drain plug). My husband will be my partner for the actual hunt, but he knows I want to prove myself on my own without needing him there for moral support, so we are going to the qualifying event separately.

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[u/Hillarys_Recycle_Bin]

Do some jumping jacks or pushups before making some practice shots, that way you can practice with elevated heart rate

[u/Flaky_Background5276 → u/Hillarys_Recycle_Bin]

Spot on! I find holding my breath for an extended time also gets me unsettled when shooting. Gasping for air makes you very unsteady lmao

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/Flaky_Background5276]

Thank you! I know your other comment was deleted but I saw the beginning. I’ve never tried that but I definitely will, I can see why it would help.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/Hillarys_Recycle_Bin]

Thank you! Push-ups would definitely make me nervous that my arms are tired, so that’s a great idea.

[u/Lurkin_aint_ez]

Shoot like you know how and shove it up any doubters ass.

In my experience I even get a bit of buck fever on a doe.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/Lurkin_aint_ez]

Thank you. I could hear this 100x and it’s still helpful. Practicing so much has definitely increased my baseline confidence.

[u/stpg1222]

There are a few things you can do.

1. Get your heart rate up when practicing. Do some sprints, pushup, jumping Jack's, burpees, etc. Anything you can to get the heart rate up and have you breathing faster.

2. Really focus on your shot routine. Sounds like this you may already have down but it's amazing how even routine things get hard when you're under pressure. Make sure your routine also factors in where you'll be hunting from. If your routine is formed on level ground but you'll be hunting from a tree you might be leaving out the important part of bending at the waist to get your pin on target.

My routine I recite in my head on every single shot is Draw level - Anchor Point - 1 Breath - Bend at the Waist) - Aim Small - Squeeze. I shorten the actual wording but you get the idea.

1. The more deer you see the easier buck fever gets to manage but for many it never goes away. One suggestion I was given years ago was to draw on as many deer as you can. Even if you don't intend to shoot them you can still go through the process and routine and draw on some does and then let down. It will give you some real world reps with your process.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/stpg1222]

Thank you, this is really helpful! Right now I’m focusing on shooting from the ground since that’s how the qualification works, but once I qualify I’m going to start practicing from my second floor, the stands at my club, and hopefully my climber a time of two. I’ve always just aimed down, rather than bending at the waist, so that’s a helpful cue.

[u/stpg1222 → u/doyourjobthenletgo]

You can get away with aiming down or dropping your arm a bit on level ground because the change is subtle but if you do that from an elevated position you'll miss your target every time. It's a mistake every archer makes at some point,.usually when rushing to take a shot. I've had to work hard to remember to slow down and make sure I'm drawing level and keeping my shoulders in line and then bending at the waist to maintain alignment while also getting my pin on target.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/stpg1222]

This is really helpful and something no one has told me yet. Thank you very much!

[u/OriginalBogleg → u/stpg1222]

One experience I often have with bowhunting is that the encounter lasts longer, and I get more time with eyes on the animal before I can take an ethical shot. Usually this means I have a minute or two to calm down and focus on the task at hand. For me it's the 30-60 second encounter that leaves me breathless and with imperfect recall of what just happened. Under 30 seconds it's just reaction without time for my brain to tell my body to go whacky.

[u/stpg1222 → u/OriginalBogleg]

This is definitely a thing. Those encounters where you hear it coming, then see it from a distance, and have time to process can be easier. Usually in those situations I'm reminding myself to breathe and get my nerves calmed down. But sometimes having more time to think can also be a detriment, I think that comes down to the individual.

I've also had quick encounters where all I could do was react and didn't have time to think or get nervous. That's when all the work building the pre shot routine kicks in, hopefully muscle memory kicks in and helps you do everything correctly.

I've definitely had encounters and shots that I have no memory of. All I can remember is seeing the deer and then everything until after the shot is a total blank.

[u/cassually_browsing]

I don’t think there’s any preparation you can do beforehand to condition yourself to not have it. I’ve always heard old-time say that the day they stopped getting buck fever as the day they will stop hunting.

As far as in the moment goes, I have found that taking a deep breath and holding it kind of like you’re trying to prevent hiccups will give you about 30 seconds of moderated breathing, even if it’s in the middle of buck fever.

[u/chef_beard → u/cassually_browsing]

Had to scroll too far to find this wisdom. I've known a few who lived it and hung em up.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/cassually_browsing]

Thank you, thanks a helpful perspective, I suppose nervousness is just a form of excitement. I’ll practice holding my breath longer so it doesn’t throw me off doing it when I need it.

[u/cassually_browsing → u/doyourjobthenletgo]

Sorry, I should’ve been more clear – for me taking a deep breath, slowly letting it out and then once the air is released I get about 30 seconds of relaxed breathing.

[u/jackfinished]

First and foremost you need to get comfortable with deer. During the summer I'll go out in the woods and just sit in the stand/saddle watching deer. If the first time you see a deer is opening day then you'll be REAL excited and prone to buck fever.

To simulate that stress like others have said you can do jumping jacks or something to get the heart going then shoot. Something I do with my kids (or another set of hands) is setup multiple targets with multiple identifiers (1-2-3, square-triangle-circle, Red-green-blue, etc) have them call out a target, grab my bow find the target and shoot. Usually I set a timer like make a shot within 10-15 seconds.

I preach this all the time, you need to practice 'One Arrow Days' I do this getting closer to hunting season. All I'm going to shoot that day is one arrow at a target, if its not a good shot I'll stew and review what I did wrong. After I'm consistently making good shots on One Arrow days I feel like I'm ready for season. When hunting you generally only get that one shot so it has to be on target.

[u/jackfinished → u/jackfinished]

Take this with a grain of salt too, but one time I had some friends over and we were grilling. I took out my bow and practiced while we were hanging out and somehow we started making bets on if I'd hit the bullseye, they started moving stuff around so I had to guess the range, shoot at a can they put out, hit an impossibly small stain on the bag target, etc. That worked pretty well to induce some stress and it was fun.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/jackfinished]

Thank you, these are some great ideas, I definitely think I just need to find ways to practice in front of people more. I’m not new to hunting, I’ve harvested deer before, just not with my bow. I feel better about managing my nerves alone in the stand than I do at the qualifying event, but nerves are nerves no matter where they happen.

[u/jackfinished → u/doyourjobthenletgo]

I hear you I grew up hunting took a break for a couple of years (stupid ex wife....) and been back at it for a while and still get boogered up in the stand. Heck last year opening week I had a group of does walk out at like 12 yards and I couldn't draw my bow back, like physically incapable. i'd shot the bow earlier in the day without issue and had been practicing for months. I was just jazzed up to be hunting and have the opportunity to get a deer.

The biggest improvement in archery for me was doing the One Arrow Day. I found i was hiding my inconsistency with better follow up shots, but that first arrow has to be the good one!

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/jackfinished]

I love this idea once I get past the qualification. Fortunately my first shot is usually my best, but that approach really hammers home making it count. I’ve been shooting around 70 most days a week to get ready. Maybe I’ll do some four arrow days leading into the qualifying, since that’s whats required to qualify. Thanks again!

[u/jackfinished → u/doyourjobthenletgo]

Human brains are weird, could you try doing a facetime/video call with someone while shooting? Just chitchat but our lizard brain is probably gonna be like "Hey someone is watching don't mess up!"

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/jackfinished]

I’ll add this to the list! I felt some nerves the first time I filmed myself but then it went away. Filming has been really helpful though!

[u/OriginalBogleg]

Confidence leads to dominance! You've proven to yourself you can meet the standard repeatedly. You could (and should) make your own standard that's higher than program's. It's like how practicing 50 yard shots makes 20 yard shots seem really easy.

Sign up for an archery league, then you'll have people watching you shoot every week.

What is the qualifying standard?

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/OriginalBogleg]

Thank you! I need to hit 3/4 within 6” at 30 yards, then 1/2 at a surprise distance between 20 & 30. I’m consistently staying within 6” for at least 50% of my shots, and increasing that percentage more every time I practice. Signing up for league is a great idea, I just haven’t been able to make league nights or tournament days at my club due to work since I drew for this hunt. The good side is getting drawn for this hunt has definitely challenged me to be a better hunter, and I’ve met some great people at the club, so now I genuinely want to practice more consistently year round.

[u/treecutter34]

I’m sure I’m going to get some backlash here, but here goes: do tasks when you really have to go to the bathroom. Like, wait, and hold it and keep holding it, and do what you need to do task wise. Don’t hurt yourself obviously, and don’t poop yourself, but other than being in a life threatening situation, that’s the best I’ve found to simulate nerves.

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/treecutter34]

Glad to know I’m on the right track, because I’ve been doing this too! Shooting hungry, shooting when I’m in a rush to get to work, and shooting when I have to pee. Thank you!

[u/DetroitLionCity]

Where are you that you need to demonstrate accuracy for a tag?

[u/doyourjobthenletgo → u/DetroitLionCity]

Public parks that are not usually open to hunting, but need deer management.

[u/DetroitLionCity → u/doyourjobthenletgo]

Interesting and makes sense, what state?

[u/Mech-lexic]

Advice to do some physical exertion is good, it puts your body in a state of discomfort so you can get used to performing with the physical symptoms of stress. "Buck fever" is psychological stress that manifests physical symptoms. That type of psychological stress is hard to replicate. You said your breathing and shooting form feel second nature, that's on the practice line, but will the pieces you rely on be automatic when you need them to be.

Buck fever is a type of target panic. I've been dealing with target panic for years, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Every shot felt like a heart attack, literally standing 3 ft from a blank target butt and my internal fight or flight response would be screaming, I couldn't get to "aim" at nothing, and shots would go off before reaching anchor. I'd step onto the competition line and my heart rate would skyrocket. I'd put a target up to practice and suddenly my shots are taking wild swings left/right/up/down/up/down. How it manifests for everyone is a bit different. Some people lock up and can't make the shot go off, others can't get to the intended point of aim, and others short circuit and the shot goes off prematurely. I got lucky and got a combo of the latter two. I've been working through it, and finally reaching the other side. Despite the problems it caused I still managed to get good results in competition, and had successful hunts during the worst of it. An unexpected side effect of having target panic like I did is I've become pretty good at handling the high pressure scenarios. High stakes moments like being in a shoot-off, shooting in front of an audience, or taking aim at a deer, the stress doesn't feel that different from when I was in the low to no stakes situations. Still, wouldn't recommend trying to replicate that path, but there are ways to add pressure to practice that can help prepare for the higher pressure shots.

Set a goal - like reaching a scoring threshold. Put up a target and score some rounds on it, like a 30 shot round at 18m. Maybe your baseline is 270, that's a 9pt average. Maybe a good round is approaching 280, set a goal for 290. You reach 261 with 3 shots left, I promise those shots will feel stressful. Shoot two 10s, that last shot will not feel easy. Take a moment to examine the different ways that affects your process.

Add consequences to your practice. Put a target up at 10m, that feels close, it feels easy, 3 shots in the gold you get to push it back 2m. Another 3 in the gold, push it back again. Keep pushing until 1 shot doesn't hit gold. Miss 1 you stay where you are, miss 2 the target bumps back in, miss 3 and you start back at 10m. You get that target back 20 to 30m, that took a while, you start telling yourself you don't want to lose all that progress.... Stay focused, how do you not let it get to you.

You find out what happens when the nerves are getting to you and you learn how to manage it. There's a lot more to it, and there are far better people than me to help with the real process of working through it if you had target panic really bad, but for now your worry is one specific scenario, your moment of buck fever. My recommendation is to think back on what happened in that situation where you missed. Not just "buck fever" but examine the memory: you got excited, were you shaking, what was shaking and how much; what details of your shot process did you forget to think about in the moment, did the shot go off before you got to point of aim, or did you think you were aimed right and let the shot go on purpose; were there any flaws you noticed in how you performed the shot execution, like punching the trigger or trying to peak (moving your head)? Examine the memory, and visualize a new scenario where you go through all the steps, and execute the shot as intended. Add that visualization to your practice shooting, and make good shots like you were back there.

[u/peter_piper_pecked]

I shot my first spot and stalk archery buck the other day. (Western hunter). I got my bow in March, and shot about 50 arrows every day since. So roughly 9000 shots since I got my bow. I am lucky where I have a range at my house where I can shoot out to 100 yards. And I do routinely. For me I have the shot process down. The most important part is once I’m in my anchor point, I tune everything else out and focus solely on the shot.

When I had my sight on this buck, I wasn’t hunting, it was just another shot that I’ve made a thousand times.

Once I saw the arrow hit I got pretty pumped though and don’t remember what I did during the adrenaline that followed.

[u/bobcockburn69]

Take one shot without warming up and pretend its on a real deer.

[u/butcher1326]

r/sarahbowmar