Buck fever

[lyman]

Share your story about your buck fever or some you have seen.
For me it came on the last day of hunting BP and I was coming around the last corner before I could see my house and there in my path was the biggest buck I have ever seen in a place I least exspected it. Probably a state record. I looked at it and thought to myself, what a beautiful buck, wouldn't some one be lucky to bag that big boy. After it ran off I realized I was holding a loaded muzzle loader.
Bob :redface:

 

[MikeChapin]

My most memorable one was when I was guideing a hunt for Blacktail in southern Oregon. I had got the client at the edge of a clearing an hour or so before sundown and was checking the edge area. He was using a Winchester 94 in .30-30. Where we were at he had about a 40 yard shot to other edge. We had been setting for about 20 minutes when some does came out of the trees.

I told him to wait because the buck would be out when he saw the does were all right. Sure enough the buck came out when nothing happened to the does. The first shot the client took was in the general direction of the buck. The rest went into the treetops. He emptied the rifle and the last shot was at about a 45 degree angle. After the first shot there were no more deer to shoot at. I do believe that buck fathered a lot of fauns that year. :grin:

 

[roundball]

A few years ago after the 2003 rut, I was sitting in an area where I deer hunt, but was squirrel hunting with a .45cal Flinter + 40grns Goex 3F + Hornady .440...it was cold, I was bundled up, on the ground leaning against a tree.

Slight movement off to my left is a 6 pointer poking along, stopping, nosing under the leaves for a leftover acorn, mushroom, etc..but never-the-less is moving along.

It becomes apparent that the buck is wandering along on a course that is going to walk right over me...and he was already so close by the time I spotted him I was afraid to raise the rifle until he turned his head or something.

I had the breeze and he continued walking towards me, and when his head passed behind a tree I snapped the rifle up off my lap...he reappeared from behind the tree and stopped looking hard at me a car length away.

I'm down on the ground, this buck is standing tall with his head and rack well high up above me, facing me head on 20 feet away and I started shaking so bad I couldn't stand it...I finally tried to concentrate on a spot but literally could not keep the sights on his chest, jerked the trigger and missed him clean!! :redface:

It was like what's called "target panic" in the bowhunting world...it's almost as if a force would not let me put the sights on him...still in disbelief today as I retell the story right now...but that's part of the 'rush' that keeps me going back!
:winking:

 

[Hoyt]

That's one of the few fevers I don't thing I've got yet. I did catch deer fever when I was a kid about 15yrs. old. Got it in Ft. Stewart, Ga. where there were so many deer back then you could shoot doe or buck and it didn't matter which one stepped out I could see it, aim at it, and miss it. I think the fever affected my eye gun coordination. I would look where I wanted to hit and point the gun somewhere else. Just had to let it run it's course.

 

[Hoyt]

This is a sure-fire symptom of the fever.

 

[spitfire]

Well I guess 3 strikes and your out! :haha: Good video Hoyt. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Talk about a "killing field"...I guess all those houses on stilts are shooting houses...they probably deliver truck loads of bait all up and down that powerline...and they STILL missed...3 times... :shake:

 

[cayugad]

I personally get excited but keep it controlled when a deer comes into the area. I control my breathing which I was taught is half the battle. I also make slow very deliberate movements, and finally shoot. After the deer falls is my problem. I never try and stand up, especially in a tree. Usually I am shaking so hard I can hardly walk. Strange that it happens after the actual shot.

A friend of mine on the other hand is a sight to watch. I've been in the blind with him and even tried to calm him down. He spots a deer, and then it happens. As he pulls up on it, he begins to shake and twitch so bad he just can not shoot. Friends and I have kidded him, all in fun of course about how his back side gets to shaking so bad, he could never walk, but would win any dance contest. I watched him miss a broadside deer at 15 yards one afternoon, and got laughing so hard, I never did a follow up shot.

He has managed to kill a couple deer though. He shot a nice buck a few years back with his Hawkins .54 caliber. A perfect shoulder shot. Trouble was, he spined it. He shot a bonus doe a couple years back. She was walking to him he said, he aimed at her brisket and took her right between the eyes.

On the range I have to admit, he is a dead shot, with his hawkins.

 

[bouldersmith]

It happened to me last year for the first time. My first black powder deer and by far the best buck I have taken. I was sitting in a tree stand and watched several does goe by. I was looking up the trail and spotted a buck, then another and another...about six of them, then I saw HIM. He was huge! All the bucks started working toward me, but he was the last one. Each of the smaller bucks stopped about 40 yards away to brose on a patch of green grass. As he approached I figured I'd take him right there. Except he blew right by that spot and didn't even slow down. The younger bucks were closer now...much closer, like 3-12 yards close. As he got about 15 yards away and quarting on my glasses fogged up, I panicked and I yanked the trigger. I was sooo lucky. My round ball broke his forward shoulder and luckily for me the opossing back foot. He went down like a train hit him. I reloaded in the tree and went to collect him. To my surprise The buck I shot and a young buck were both in the grass. I was shaking so bad I missed when he jumped up. We picked him up in the morning. I'm now offically addicted to black powder. Heres a link to the buck.
[url] http://www.bertramandco.com/about.html[/url]

 

[roundball]

Terrific buck, congratulations...nice symmetrical rack too...interesting how the tines have a very, very slight curve right at the tip...something genetic there probably...beautiful.

PS: a little excitement with that one under your stand is excused !!

:thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Each and every year the first "in range" deer I encounter gets me shaking and heart-pounding.

The worst deer I ever bobbled was when I was using a pump Ithaca Model 37 Deerslayer. A spike walked out of a swamp and stood at 40 yards to check out the hemlock woods I was sitting in. I shot once and there was all sorts of commotion on either side of the deer, but he didn't flinch?!? I pumped the shotgun and must have short-pulled it, as the spent shell never ejected and the fresh one got hung up halfway out the magazine. As the deer stood there watching I disassembled the barrel from the receiver. He left before I got it back together, which took some time as I was shaking pretty good. Turns out my first shot had severed an old, rusty barbed wire fence that I didn't realize was between me and the deer! Not a hair or drop of blood, and I had to go tell the farmer I had killed his fence.

 

[sidelock]

I have never had BUCK FEAVER, but my Dad who hunted all his life would start to shake at the sight of a squirel in range. The last deer he baged was within 50 yds of where I got my first one. When I heard him fire I hurried over as fast as I could. He was sitting on a stump and shaking like a leaf. What did you shoot I asked. I shot at a deer but I don't know if I hit it. Well I found it in the brush about 50 yd away while he remained on the stump. My Dad has been gone now about 10 yrs, but I will always remember our hunts.

 

[MikeChapin]

I thought the buck was rather accomadating - standing around to let the hunter get off three shots. :rotf: