I was sitting in the tree in MD yesterday and heard some noise behind me. My heart started to race about out of my chest as I stood up and turned around to see a squirrel cutting acorns behind me. Later on a mom and a fawn came walking in and I got the shaking knees again and had no intent of shooting either one!
When I was younger everybody always told me that if you ever loose that, you should quit hunting. I don't want to loose it, I just want to calm it down.
I see all of these pictures of these trophy hogs, elk, whitetail, ect. and wonder how you have kept your cool long enough to make the shot.
It got me thinking yesterday, what do you all do? How do you keep it calm, Do you go to your happy place? Where is it?
Thanks
I dont (stay calm) :jumper: Just hope the deer keep pace with your shaking knees when you shoot :archer2:
I repeat to myself, stay cool, you have been here 100 times before, pick a spot, pick a spot pick a spot. It may sound silly but it sure helps me control the excitement!
I try to stay focused on the task at hand, that is picking the right time to draw and make the shot. I also try to remind my self to breathe. I know it may sound crazy, but when you are excited you do not take as deep of a breath as you need to, or at least I do not.
However, it is hard to keep it all together, but that is why we hunt. I will say this, the more you are close to the game you pursue, the easier it will become.
Good luck and stay after them!
Some times I really get the shakes, most often if I can hear the deer for a while before I see it. The longer this goes on the more unglued I get. Once I see the deer I can focus and zone in. If I get the chance to release an arrow the shaking starts as soon as the deer is gone I really focus on slowing my breathing and looking just at the spot I want the arrow to go, not at any other part of the animal.
I can normally stay very concentrated until the shot. After the shot is when it gets me.
When I got the shakes like you I had to start asking myself how am I going to kill it. Front leg swing forward, pick a spot ect it seemed to calm me down until after the shot anyway. O if it has big antlers DONT look at them!!!
Try to channel that adrenaline into picking a spot.
No need to get excited when hunting deer on public land in PA, you usually don't see any!!! :biglaugh:
After practicing all summer and finally finding myself in the woods opening day..I want that rush of adrenaline when opportunity arrives.
I grip the bow a little tighter, fingers tighten up on the string...this is what I've practiced for. However...to ease the rush, I just tell myself "It's just an animal and I'm going to kill it." My focus is on the vitals and hopefully my arrow finds it's mark.
I believe the more animals you take, the more relaxed you become when making the shot.
Here is how it usually works for me:
I am sittng in a stand and a critter (deer, hog, whatever) walks out. I feel my heart start to beat fast and get a bit nervous. I watch the critter for a while as it moves about in front of me. At some point, the critter makes a mistake and gets in a position where I think "It's time".
At that point everything fades away. I am not nervous, and can no longer detect that my heart is racing or that I am breathing faster. I draw my bow and loose an arrow.
At that point, when I see my arrow zip through the critter, is when I go to shaking like crazy. I get the shakes so bad (esp if it is cold out) that I have to hold onto the tree or a minute if I am hunting in a tree stand.
That's how it usually happens for me.
Bisch
I try to repeat my shot sequence over in my head and focus on a spot. But I think it is also important to try to practice these types of scenarios too. I try to do this by shooting after vigorous exercise at least once a week. After a run and some push-ups my body feels close to how it feels when that buck of a lifetime is coming in. Knowing that I can pull off the shot when sweaty, shaky, and out of breath gives me the confidence to make it happen.
I remember looking through the platform of my stand at a doe looking up at me thinking I must look like a leafy Elvis my leg was shaking so bad. That was last year after being in that situation many times over the years.
If everything happens in a hurry I'm fine til after the shot.
I usually try to tell myself "Full draw pick a spot" "full draw pick a spot" til I shoot. That doesn't always work.
Medium bucks and does... no problem for me. Huge bucks, I tend to fall apart!
Best thing to do IMO is to shoot as many live targets as you can. Even small stuff like squirrels can work a person up if it is the intended quarry. Try stalking stuff. It doesn't seem as bad when you think you're the one controlling the situation. The mind is a funny thing. Focus on the task.
Bisch x2. That's how it works for me. There is still some concentration time after the shot, but that is a matter of picking up any detail you can about what just happened. That should come automatic. Then shake......
I do better if things sorta fall into place and it all happens quick enough that I don't have time to get buck fever. If the deer is cautious and comes in slow or something looks wrong I have too much time to look at it and then I might get the shakes. A tactic used by anxiety sufferers is to metally acknowledge that you are getting the shakes. Say to yourself, Hey I'm getting shakey again, OK, go ahead and shake and get it over with. That helps me get control of it. Another trick is to practice tensing and releasing various muscle groups one at a time. This "resets" your system. Next practice breathing from the belly instead of filling your chest. Filling the chest rapidly might make you hyper-ventilate. Belly breathing re-centers your breathing and will calm you. You can't get rid of it but you can live with it and kill deer.
Usually, I stay fairly calm, but, admittedly, sometimes I still get the shakes. When you get to the point of actually drawing the bow a few times, you will eventually find yourself concentrating on distance, picking a spot, etc. and the buck fever tends to give way to planning the shot. This is the old saw about falling back on your training and getting the job done. Still, if all the excitement ever goes out of the shot, I will give up hunting.
I believe there IS something to the theory about the more game you shoot the less nervous you become. When I first started squirrel hunting with a rimfire I got nervous as can be spotting, stalking, and aiming. Since then I've killed a ton of squirrels, and although I still enjoy hunting them, I'm no where near as excited as I was back then.
The problem with bowhunting deer is, I'll never kill all that many, so ....................
but, I don't get out much, but if you do, keep in mind, even if it doesn't get easy, you'll become less nervous. :D
It gets me after the shot, sometimes I have to calm down before I can climb out of stand.
When i quit getting nervous its time to quit.Just try to focus on the spot i'm trying to hit. Aim small miss small.
Two years ago I fell to pices over a large buck a 10yd shot right over the top of him.I was sooo mad I felt sick all day in fact I was sick for 3 days.It was on my mind all the time.I really had to think this through an deal with it.I am as good of shot as any.( average) but my nerves got the best of me on that day.however the next year I was able to hold my self together an take an even larger buck.I knew I had to hold myself together or I would not get this deer either.missing that big old buck was a learning curve.I knew from that day forward I got to hold myself together.missing that big buck taught me a huge lession.now I fall apart after the shot.trad hunting is about 50% mental an about 50 % mental. pick a spot stay calm get the job done!!!
Just deep breaths and focus.
Most animals dont bother me.Bull elk on the other hand give me a real heart pounding.Im alright until i see that arrow hit.I hunt from a treestand for elk,after the shoot i have to sit down in fear of falling out.I just dont get that from deer or other animals.
Experience is the best cure. I almost hyperventilated before, but luckily had time and a tree blocking me to get it back together.
That is all part of it. Just try your best to focus on getting it done!
Oh and you've heard it before, but take your eyes off that rack and start doing the little things - feet and body in position, make sure arrow not behind a branch, strap, just do the other little things you need to get ready - that might help some. :dunno:
I don't get the shakes, but that doesn't mean that I don't get excited. I get kinda tunnel-visioned and just wait for the shot opportunity. I wish that I could take more relaxed breaths, but I take shallow breaths and it is a really difficult to focus and pick a spot. I don't know if I will ever stop having to remind myself to do that.
Coyotes I have no problems with along with other varmits . But when it comes to deer I fall all apart. Most likely have a heart attack if I got close to shoot an elk or somthing. I have trouble hitting deer with a rifle at tweety yards . I do flip out after I get a coyote. Can't hit pigs iether. :banghead:
I've mellowed over the years and just learned to keep it together on deer although once in a while I'll still get wound up. When it comes to elk I do ok with cows and spikes but even raghorns turn me into a mess. If you ever quit getting excited it's time to quit hunting.
I rarely get nervous over anything but I do get the shakes after the shot. Im almost always calm before the shot. I just watch the deer closely and keep focusing on the spot I wanna shoot.
First deer I see always gets my heart pounding. I think that's a good thing.
Just practice and time in the woods. "Cool and detatched" comes with practice and experience. I truly think 3-D targets placed in woods similar to were you hunt helps, as does roving and certainly small game hunting. Your brain has to kick into: "hey, cool, a deer. Now I do that thing I do with the bow".
Oh, I just don't... but that's okay. I like it that way!
This probably sounds silly, but this is how I (attempt) to keep nerves under control. I kill "freezer" deer and just about every one I mentally recite to myself that "I'm going to let this one walk, I'll just enjoy watching it and won't even draw". Then if the shot presents, I'll allow myself a "dress rehearsal" to draw, anchor and pick a spot, all the while telling myself I'm going to let down. When I let down, the arrow's on its way and I usually don't even remember releasing!
For me, it's all about concentration.
Get your breathing in order, talk your way thru it, and remember "nobody" stays completely calm. It wouldn't be any fun !!
Since I've had some serious heart problems for the last 25yrs I've had to make myself get a grip when it comes to staying calm.
In yrs past it didn't matter if it was a little doe or giant buck my heart would beat so loud and fast I was sure it could be heard.
Then about 8yrs ago I had a group of does come up on me and had to draw, hold, letdown..and draw a finally shoot. All while I was as excited as if I was shooting a big buck. When it was over..I killed two does..but I had some very serious chest pains and had to sit down in my treestand and hope I wasn't going to have a heart attack.
Anyway, after that episode I got serious and learned to talk to myself while on stand and regularly remind myself to relax and be calm in all situations. It's worked..now I just kinda go into a situation mode with me being in control of my emotions. It's kinda like one of my favorite quotes..don't remember who from, but instead of mind I use emotions.
"Be the master of your mind, not it's servant."
a little taste of shine :biglaugh:
When I am under pressure I count backwards starting at 100.
I am not the most experience woodsman but get mighty jumpy and heart pounding when I think something is around me. I get all worked up over any deer, I tell myself " that is why I am here" for the big monster which I rarely see and it helps a little
Rob I always thought you had a little Elvis in you LOL
I Always get the heart thumps when even so much as a squirrel comes by. I calm down pretty quick usually by telling myself hit or miss being here at the moment is good enough. Took me years to learn that and until I did I just suffered through it and hoped for the best.
Now by the time I take the shot I'm usually pretty calm just enjoying the moment and focusing on the spot. After the shot I got to sit down and get it back together though cause it comes back in a flash. Especially if that flash is red LOL
I just go into kill mode. If it doesn't pertain to getting the shot off, it doesn't enter my mind.
If you are going to get shook up, there will be plenty of time...after the shot.
slow deep breathing helps a lot. concentrate on your exhale.... it takes practice at first, but you'll get the hang of it..... after awhile the rush comes after the shot.... and permission to shake is granted...
I dont, if I ever get calm when I know I am going to shoot I'll quit hunting and find something else to do.
i cant even control my excitment while squirrel hunting i have no idea how im going to respond to a bruiser buck
Perhaps hunting has lost all it's glory when one learns to control excitement. I aint figured it out yet and when I do I'll probably convert to a target archer. Enjoy the rush as it's one of the few legal ways to get a high!
I don't. Just try to manage it the best I can.
Think of a sizzling medium rare venison steak!!!!
First thing I do is decide whether or not I want to shoot a particular deer. After that I never look at the rack again and go into a full on attack mode. All focus is on bringing the deer into a spot I can get a shot and then concentrating on executing that shot. I don't know how to describe it other than I go into an almost complete "in the zone" trance. The only time I have any nerve problems is on a doe usually early in the season when I skip step one. For me, making the commitment in my head to shoot a particular animal and then going to full concentration to accomplish that goal, eliminates any 'buck fever'. I'm excited yes, but in control. Most of my hunting is from a tree stand.
The ONLY thing that has helped me while bowhunting, is to remind myself that I owe the animal my best shot. I don't get many shots, but that has worked on the last two. I HATE wounding game of any size or kind.
John