This is my second year on the ground.Having a grand time.BUT I had a 4pointer come into range the other morning and couldn,t stop from shaking.You would think it was a 150class buck the way I came unglued.Everything was fine,saw 5 deer that morning in my blind.Then here comes this 4pointer,working his way to the scrape I,m watching,I,m sitting by a large mapletree on a stonewall.The buck makes his move and is broadside at 20yds.Couldn,t control my nerves so I let him walk.This hasn,t happened to me in a longtime.Anybody elese have the jitters when the time is right??

That's why I hunt

That's norepinephrine aka adrenalin baby!!  Its the reason for the season, ha!  You have to learn to internalize it and control your breathing, focus on a mantra in your head, something that calms you down, don't fear failure, you have to be at peace with any outcome and enjoy the moment, success or not.  I'm not joking when I say good practice is to do 50 or 100 jumping jacks, or some push-ups or whatever, and then try shooting accurately when you practice.

Good for you! That means you love it.

 

sure hope I feel that Saturday morning!

Make believe it's one of them stumps we stalked this summer.......you'll be fine  

After 25 years this still happens to me every time!  Close your eyes take a breath and hold it... Let this breath out slow then open your eyes. Plus I have to touch the tree stand seat with one leg whichever is shaking worse... Lol

So funny you bring this up! I have now bow hunted for about 17 years (compound bow) and made the switch to traditional last year. Hunted out of a Treestand last year,  but decided to only ground hunt this year. Had a big doe come inside of 15 yards when I was out a few days ago (ended up with no shot as she was over my right shoulder) and I literally almost shook out of my seat! I swore I was going to spook her just from her hearing my heart pounding! Haven't had that much of a rush bowhunting in a long long time. I was amazed at my reacting like this as I haven't felt this since I very first started hunting. Something was different, just not sure what. I love it!

You mean like a cat getting ready to pounce? OH YA... it's the hunter in you....enjoy  

it usually only happens to me on the really nice ones, like two evenings ago        

I get like that every Time a coyote  comes in. I can't even function when a buck shows up       .

I seem to get more jittery when I am on the ground than when up a tree.

QuoteOriginally posted by Sam McMichael:
I seem to get more jittery when I am on the ground than when up a tree.

Definitely

I am ok till after the shot then it hits hard

I must get em pretty bad. late this September,  after a nice stalk, missed a 3 point whitetail (6 pointer for eastern guys lol) at 7 YARDS!  how does one pull that off?   honestly it looked like I held too high and it dropped some, and between that I threw up an air ball.


gotta love bowhunting

I'm better from the ground.

I have a tripod set up out back and I do practice from it but not nearly as much as on the ground. I've never been as good from a stand, especially, my postage stamp sized hang-on.

If deer ever start coming that way again I might still sit on the tripod but that nasty little hang-on is staying in the garage. I might even cut it up, throw it in the forge and make something useful out of it. LOL