Buck Fever

[ancient-one]

I was lucky and got a nice ten point not long after I started deer hunting. I never shot another one, basically because my wife and daughter were not enthused about eating Rudolph when there was good beef available. Also, I started seriously bass fishing.

This deer appeared out of the timberline and I didn't have time to think about anything but getting the cross hairs lined up. It was after I shot and was walking over to the deer that there was a lot of shaking going on. Does that happen to most people and does it keep happening on other deer you shoot?

 

[sureshotbob]

Graydon I used to hunt deer and other game a lot many years ago when I had a commercial damage permit for a large farm in Ct.
Yes at times I also had the fever but the more deer I shot it slowly started to stop till it finely started to feel like a chore.
When I first got married my wife and two step sons did not care for eating deer and other game but they learned to love it .
In fact when we started to get low on venison my wife would tell me it was time to go get more.
I have not hunted in over ten years now but hope that sometime I will take it back up as I've hunted in several states and Canada.

 

[arjay]

Shot my first with a rifle and a few more bow hunting over a dozen years or so.Always got the fever after the shot.
My first time out,a friend who knew how to hunt had his dads 30-06,but no car (we were starving students back then)I had a vw bus.we were set.I took a quickie hunters safety course,bought a license and we headed up near Walden Colorado.We slept in the van and hunted for two days.We both got our bucks and headed home with them strapped to the roof.Easy peesy nothin to it lol

 

[MRB1]

For many years I was a hard-core deer hunter. Then, I moved to the country and the lust for deer hunting disappeared. On any given day I had trophy size bucks, almost in my back yard, that were as tame as my cattle. No sport there, and it was a lot more fun watching them raise their fawns. Now, hogs are a different story!.

 

[dmn57]

Not a huge hunter but I get a deer most years. Still get the adrenaline shakes after the shot. I enjoy the rush.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

My first deer was taken with an old .303 using 220 gr bullets. It took me
3 shots, so yeah, I was some what nervous. I bought the .303 for $15.00 in the local army surplus store. There was a wooden barrel full
and I dug around until I found one I liked.
I hunted all seasons bow, black powder, rifle/shotgun and have taken
deer with all above plus .44 Ruger Blackhawk. Now like MRB1, deer
are standing my yard or mule pasture and I just watch them. There
are so many that it is not hunting, so I let them be as
there are plenty of hunters in this area who thin the herd every year.

 

[Salty RI]

I remember a local store selling them in barrels, I paid 8 bucks for one around 1960.

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[llowry61]

I don't really get the shakes anymore. It might be that I have been bow hunting them for years and shot many, several being nice bucks. All mounted and each has a special place for me. I see a lot of deer in the backyard and bucks during the rut chasing does, but I still look forward to spending quiet time in the stand on a crisp November morning. I only shoot large bucks now unless a landowner wants some venison. My real passion is waterfowl hunting which I am just getting to old for now. Nothing like the rush of a flight of mallards finally committing or 50 geese dropping into the corn. That never gets old.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I still hunt deer & turkeys with a passion. Fish and hunt small game too. Plant a big dove field every year. I love and will till the day I die.

 

[CajunBass]

I hunted deer for years, but we used hounds to run them. You want to talk about buck fever? Listen to the dogs jump a half mile or so away, then hear the chase getting closer and closer. The hair on my neck would stand up, I'd shake just a bit. Every sound in the woods would be magnified. You never knew how far ahead of the dogs the deer would be. A deer can easily outrun a deer hound (usually Walkers or Beagles) so most of the time, they're just loping along, but once in while one would come at me and it would sound like a horse at full gallop.

After the shot I'd be calm while I made sure the deer was down and wasn't going to get up. Then the shakes would start.

 

[Salty RI]

I have a son in Va, he runs the deer with 2 small beagles, they dont put much pressure on the deer.i

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[CajunBass]

I have a son in Va, he runs the deer with 2 small beagles, they dont put much pressure on the deer.i

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Yea, smaller dogs and smaller packs are becoming the rule these days. Smaller dogs/packs are less expensive to feed, plus vets fee's, etc. They also don't push the deer as hard which is important on the smaller tract's of land hunted now.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I hunted deer for years, but we used hounds to run them. You want to talk about buck fever? Listen to the dogs jump a half mile or so away, then hear the chase getting closer and closer. The hair on my neck would stand up, I'd shake just a bit. Every sound in the woods would be magnified. You never knew how far ahead of the dogs the deer would be. A deer can easily outrun a deer hound (usually Walkers or Beagles) so most of the time, they're just loping along, but once in while one would come at me and it would sound like a horse at full gallop.

After the shot I'd be calm while I made sure the deer was down and wasn't going to get up. Then the shakes would start.

For about 40 years I hunted deer with hounds. I love it sadly it's a dying sport due lease prices and having enough land to keep the dogs on. It was/is a great era. Still my favorite way to shoot a deer. One 'high ballin it" in front of a pack is a hard target. Most anybody can hit one standing still with a rifle.

 

[paplinker]

I hunted deer for years, but we used hounds to run them. You want to talk about buck fever? Listen to the dogs jump a half mile or so away, then hear the chase getting closer and closer. The hair on my neck would stand up, I'd shake just a bit. Every sound in the woods would be magnified. You never knew how far ahead of the dogs the deer would be. A deer can easily outrun a deer hound (usually Walkers or Beagles) so most of the time, they're just loping along, but once in while one would come at me and it would sound like a horse at full gallop.

After the shot I'd be calm while I made sure the deer was down and wasn't going to get up. Then the shakes would start.

Very interesting how hunting laws differ state to state. Here in Pa it's illegal to hunt deer with dogs and there is even a law saying you may shoot a dog that is chasing deer !

I found that odd as your allowed to use dogs here to kick up birds and rabbits.

As far as buck fever I never got shakes but still when I see that buck I have have been waiting for,my heart still starts pounding from the adrenaline rush. I hope I always get that feeling. Makes me feel alive.

 

[leswad]

After getting cancer, my wife has become hardcore about our meat being organic and grass-fed. If I don’t harvest one, I am in the dog house and reminded of my failure until the season opens up again.

 

[CajunBass]

Very interesting how hunting laws differ state to state. Here in Pa it's illegal to hunt deer with dogs and there is even a law saying you may shoot a dog that is chasing deer !

I found that odd as your allowed to use dogs here to kick up birds and rabbits.

As far as buck fever I never got shakes but still when I see that buck I have have been waiting for,my heart still starts pounding from the adrenaline rush. I hope I always get that feeling. Makes me feel alive.

I think it's pretty much a southern thing. Even here in Virginia it's against the law west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. No idea why, it's been that way since I was a little kid at least (and that was a LONG time ago).

As Mike said, it's a dying sport around here too as the area becomes more urbanized. Dogs and deer don't understand property lines, and the big leases are being broken up by urbanization. I haven't hunted in about twenty years or so. Got bit by the bass fishing bug, but as I get older, I sure miss the comradery. Like most hunting it certainly wasn't killing a deer that made it so much "fun" for lack of a better word. It was the gang. We had about 30-40 regular members, and a few more who might show up opening day, Thanksgiving, big days like that.

I barely remember a deer I killed, but I remember arriving at the club house to the smell of biscuits, bacon and coffee. I remember standing around the skinning shed talking trash after the hunt was over. I remember the "shirttail boards." If you missed a deer, there was someone designated to cut the corner off your shirt. Then that would be stapled to a board, numbered by the season. We had twenty years or more of them nailed up inside the clubhouse. Each one had a tag with the name of the shooter, the date, and the intended target. There was always a "remember that day" conversation going on it seems. I remember one fellow who got so mad at himself for missing (again) he nailed his whole shirt up there.

My ex-wife hunted with us a few times. She always made sure to wear something lacy under her shirt. She said if she ever missed, she wanted everyone to remember who's shirttail it was. Sure enough, she did, and it was still there the last time I stopped by for a visit.

A week or so ago, I drove by and saw from the road the old clubhouse has apparently burned down. I may have to go by there and see if i can find out what happened. See if any of the old gang is still around.

 

[s&wchad]

I’ve hunted the same Michigan deer camp for 42 years and have been fortunate to hunt Colorado, Wyoming and the Nunavik region of Northern Quebec.

In that time I’ve taken 30-some whitetail, 11 antelope, 6 mule deer, 3 elk and a caribou. I wouldn’t say I get buck fever, but the sight of a shooter still gets the old juices flowing! I don’t find myself shaking after the shot. I’m too focused on recovering the animal, field dressing it without cutting myself and getting it back to my truck without having a coronary!

The day I don’t get excited about a successful hunt is the day I’ll hang it up...

 

[RTILSON]

I came later in life to deer hunting. My father didn't hunt. He had his buddies that hunted take me dove hunting when I was 16. After that I started squirrel and rabbit hunting. Used to love hearing the Beagles run! That's the only hunting I did for years. Always wanted to deer hunt but never had the opportunity. Bought a Marlin 30-30 in my 40's but still didn't go. Finally a friend took me and my son to his family farm to deer hunt and I was hooked! I have a friend who lets me hunt his rural land now. I'm 57 years old now and have been deer hunting for 7 years. I've taken 6 deer, none trophies but mature does. I still get the shakes from the adrenaline dump every time once I am sure they are down. If that ever stops I reckon I'll quit deer hunting.

 

[dockmurgw]

I get the shakes moments before pulling the trigger, sometimes to the point I dont shoot. What brings them on? It's that thought in my mind moments before shooting, that the weight of the darn thing will at least double when it hits the ground, and I'm a long way from the truck.

 

[ancient-one]

At the time I was born there were no deer or turkeys in the large part of Oklahoma. Thanks to the efforts of the Wildlife Department we are now loaded with both species. In some areas there are too many deer and they cause some crop damage.
Seeing the species go from none to even too many has been amazing. It is probably the reason that when the legislator's think that they can manage wildlife better then the biologists, it make me fighting mad. We have some in Oklahoma that fall into that category. We just had a good example.