Shooting at game

[Bisch]

I hope you get I figured out. I’m in the “gets the shakes after I see the arrow hit the critter group”. I sometimes get some little shakes when I first see a critter, but at go time, it all seems to go away and I am in a deep state of calm. I know my breathing and heart rates are still elevated at that time, but I can’t feel it.

As soon as I see the arrow hit the critter, especially when it’s real cold out, is when I get the shakes!!!

Bisch

[TooManyHobbies]

I've had all kinds of reactions. From shaking uncontrollably to ho-hum. I think if the animal is on high alert, I shake more before the shot and almost afraid to move. If they are relaxed, I don't feel that anxiety, and can control my excitement. After 34 (12 w/trade) years or so, I'm getting better.

[Tim Finley]

When I was young I would almost completely fall apart ,my heart went nuts I would shake like crazy and worst of all my right foot would come off the stand up onto my toe and shake like crazy, couldnt control it at all . Now sometimes nothing happens and sometimes I turn to oat meal . If I watch the animal for along time I get the old fever bad . Its a wonder I have hit any thing at all in 57 years of bowhunting.

[buckeyebowhunter]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I had about 10 does within 30 yards tonight for at least a hour. I was prepared to take a shot if one gave me an opportunity under 20 yds. I did what a few have said and focused on my breathing and reminding myself to pick a spot, it really calmed myself down. I never did get the opportunity but I believe I would've been ready to drill one had she closed the distance.

[the rifleman]

Back when tags were very easy to fill--- more deer in my area and was using wheels, I'd draw back on deer telling myself, im just practicing and not going to shoot.  Sometimes i would let down, but often I'd make a very calm very precise shot--- just had to be careful to not end the season too soon, but it did calm me down on those " practice" draws.

[Etter]

Joel Turner friends. Precision shot control.

[hybridbow hunter]

Once you see the game coming and take the shooting decision, don t look anymore to the whole animal but just follow and focus to the point where you want your arrow to go and nothing else. And once you draw the string, increase your focus to shoot on a a “detail” of your focus point: a color spot on the fur, a mud spot, some shiny light spot from the sun etc... it works for me to calm down and for accuracy.

[Tom]

Doesn't matter to me if the deer is seen longer or shorter all I wait for is a green light. Once that happens I know what to do. But after I take the shot i do confess to having to sit down as the shakes still happen. As I tell my wife if I lose that I'll take up golf. 55 years after I started I know even with a deer headed to me doesn't guarantee meat in the freezer.

[Kevin Dill]

If you're goal-oriented (and who isn't),  major excitement, anxiety, nervousness and so on...all of them will negatively affect your performance when it counts most. Most of the really dependable bowhunters I've known were/are very cool machines at the moment of truth. However it happens, the ability to go into 'full predator' mode is important. I describe it as absolute total focus on the situation and approaching shot opportunity, while shutting out all emotion. I've often said that in the last 15-30 seconds I completely chill down. I need to be completely calm, and execute a clean, emotionless shot. There will be a time for emotions, but not when I need to kill.

I think one thing that really helps is being comfortable in the presence of big game animals. I suppose that comes from experience and maturity. I don't view a huge buck, bull or bruin as anything other than another animal...albeit one I may decide to kill. I found out a long time ago that some guys get really rattled by giant bucks or the sudden appearance of a nice bear right at their tree. The subsequent shot often goes somewhere other than intended, and disappointment results.

Murphy's Law as explained in math: The probability of an outcome is inversely proportional to its desirability. Think about that one.

[redz]

I've been bowhunting for about 8 years now. I don't get buck fever, I get deer fever, it doesn't matter what comes out. The longer I have to watch the animal the worse it gets. Somehow though I am able to get it under control just while making the shot and then it comes back. I have to wait a while before I can stand up or climb down from the stand. I shot my biggest buck to date this year, but he caught me by surprise. I just had enough time to raise my bow and shoot before he passed through a small opening. I didn't get any shakes then, and in way it hasn't even set in yet and it's been like four months. It's like I can't believe it happened...

[bowmaster12]

Being process oriented instead of result oriented helps a ton in high pressure situations.  I got to this point with the wheels yet to get there with the stick.  If the goal become to do the process right the focus is taken away from the animal.  The shot cant help but be good if you hit your entire process  correctly.  The animal in the moment just becomes another target to catch your arrow.  Ive heard competition shooters say they don't care where they hit. The discipline is in the process. Get the process down and focus on hitting every step of that correctly and the arrow has no choice but to go in the right spot. There is no excitment in concentrating on a process, i found it very calming and everything during and after the whole shot became crystal clear.

[buckeyebowhunter]

Seems to me there are two trains of thought on this matter. And I've sorta concluded this from watching videos and reading articles and threads on this site over the years. Some archers are consciously walking through each step of their shot process while others are simply in auto pilot and only focusing on the spot they want to hit. I guess I'm still trying to figure out which is best for me 

[Friend]

The same medicine may not arrest the same ailment in every individual. Also, the same medicine may not arrest the same ailment every time.

Had a wonderful stag whose rack I immediately spied approaching from the back side of a knoll. I pointed it out to the guide and he immediately started shaking as he gave me the thumbs up. The stag was approaching a tree that was 25 yards out in the hi grass. I had decided to draw as the stag’s nose passed the tree. His nose passed and I drew. I relaxed and only focused on the small spot that I desired to connect with. Held to a count of two , then released.

I only saw the rack at the initial sighting, the nose as he started passed the tree, the mark that I intended to hit, the actual mark of the arrow and then the stag’s body as he immediately stumbled. Never once did I see the stag’s body prior to the arrow reaching its mark.

I prefer a relaxed focus and attempt not to deviate from practice. However, I have found it personally beneficial to pause for a count of two on animals in the field. Most times when I have assessed that the animal is a shooter, I only follow the spot of arrow placement and adjust as the animal moves. Have harvested many critters that I have seen little more than the intended mark.

Definitely not fool proof yet, has permitted much success.

[smag]

After hunnerds of bow harvests and closing in on 100 with selfbow its all about the angle of shot. Sometimes when i see a whitetail passing thru and im hungry for meat I'm just concentrating for the angle of penetration to kill this critter efficiently. The shot is secondary I'm not out thinking can I kill this deer but where am I going to get the angle and finish.
Saw some really good bucks this year and saw them way out. This gets my attention but, getting a good one in selfbow range is not easy trick. I have always said "self, you'll one maybe two chances at a mature deer every season be ready when it happens dont get caught on yer butt in the stand".

I shoot very little during whitetail and elk season but I do shoot a broadhead or two every week and shoot a matched judo out of the stand after a slow day. I passed on a good deer this past season at about 21yds. Was a wild rose bush branch very near kill zone. After, I said "I wonder if i just skrewd the pooch". Pulled out my Judo put it on the lung area where he was standing earlier and shot. I hit the rose branch and cut it in half and arrow went 8" high.

Do i get amped? sure. When I did not anymore I hung the glass bows up.

Shawn~