Competition creates the same kind of high-pressure situations you'll encounter in the field, and learning how to deal with them will make you much less susceptible to
buck fever.
The Red Eagles track record was impressive: from April 1977 to March 1988, the sixty-nine American MiG pilots flew 15,264 sorties and exposed nearly 6,000 aircrews to their first case of "
buck fever" in a peaceful environment.
Even though I hadn't been plagued with
buck fever for many years, when I passed up that first spike I just about shook out of my stand from
buck fever!
THE LESSON: "If you're stricken with
buck fever," said Larry, take a deep breath and focus on a specific spot on the animal's vital zone, not the animal as a whole.
A combination of experience and maturity cured that particular form of
buck fever. I convinced myself if there were time for two fast shots, for sure there was time for one accurate shot.
I can provide new first-time hunters with a stable firing platform that hides all of their
buck fever and fidgeting.
"I had
buck fever when I saw the 10-point," Steve notes, "because I knew the buck I wanted had to be nearby.
At that point the buck stood up, and that was when
buck fever kicked into high gear.
(
Buck fever has nothing on beard fever, I quickly learned).
I don't get
buck fever. I don't get rattled, normally, when it comes to shooting, and besides, I had saved my best gun for last.
Most of us suffer from some level of
buck fever, whether we admit it or not, and that meltdown-inducing mental state gets worse each season we don't kill.
Learning to shoot a bow in a way that the shot takes you by surprise is the best medicine I have ever found for
buck fever.