Anyone freeze - Cant release on game?

[Marshallrobinson]

Buck fever if you will

This has been an on again/off again thing for me over the last ten years or so. I have never had target panic but this sounds as close to target panic as I have heard tell about.

The worst was maybe 8 years ago and the year before last. During these years, I had no idea that it was going to happen, it just happened.

Now my theory is that I have not been small game hunting prior to big game season and therefore I am not getting used to shooting at what unnerves me (at times) until it's the moment of truth.

The reason I think this is because, one of the best seasons I ever had (8 deer)found me totally devoid of any nerves and shooting lights out after the first three were in the bag. This was the only year where I was cool as ice ... toward the end of season.

So, the question is this...

Does anyone hunt small game specifically to build up the mental fiber, prior to big game season?.
I am thinking it is my best bet and maybe the only bet worth perusing this year.

[ChuckC]

Maybe shoot some of those DART or similar games if any are available around you,  Or at least, every single time you come upon a critter, analyze the moment, think a spot, think the draw etc cycle, aim and RELEASE, with a great hit.  Every time.  Get used to the aiming at a spot, then the release and hit.

I have had a different form of TP for years and I know what you are going thru.  Sometimes a fix is not so easy.

CHuckC

[Gordon Jabben]

I hunt small game because I enjoy it, not to help me on big game but I know what you are going through.  I have a problem freezing on targets like if I'm in a shoot off at an archery tournament. I have never had a problem freezing on deer for some reason but I tend to freeze on rabbits and sometimes squirrels if it is a real easy shot.  I guess I'm afraid of missing.  Hope the small game hunting helps.

[Marshallrobinson]

Originally posted by Gordon Jabben:
 I hunt small game because I enjoy it, not to help me on big game but I know what you are going through.  I have a problem freezing on targets like if I'm in a shoot off at an archery tournament. I have never had a problem freezing on deer for some reason but I tend to freeze on rabbits and sometimes squirrels if it is a real easy shot.  I guess I'm afraid of missing.  Hope the small game hunting helps.

This (in bold) I can attest to. I never thought about it till you said it and then, the memories came right to the front. I have experienced this myself. Not on the course but in the field. When it's a chip shot, I have frozen before and plenty enough times to be able to remember it happening.
Hmmmm...

[Thumper Dunker]

I hunt varmints all year long . I getting that where I'm starting to pick a spot on ground squirrels and rabbits. Can talk a coyote from several hundred yards out to ten feet from and take a good shot. If and when I have a shot at a buck I have no clue what to do I fall all apart. I am the worlds worse deer hunter. It must be their big brown eyes.

[Gil Verwey]

When I was younger I experienced buck fever. This what I did and still do.

At the beginning of each season when a deer comes in I do not want to shoot, I practice drawing down on it and then letting back down. It lets me practice moving and proves to me I have plenty of time for a shot.

I also practice from a tree stand at a 3d deer target without a backstop.

[Liquid Courage]

I am almost always get some form of "buck fever" and for me it is the excitement of everything I have worked coming down to one arrow launched at one deer. This may seem crazy to some people but on my yellow jacket target I shoot at red lego blocks. I just imagine a red lego block on the deer. Takes me out of "the hunt" for a brief second and my  shooting method at the target range takes over. I have three kids and I step on toys all the time and I think shooting at a toy is kinda funny to me which is why I started shooting lego blocks.

[ChuckC]

Gil, I had the opposite affliction.  I often couldn't get it all the way back before my brain said "let er go" !   If I drew down on ANYTHING, I had better want to kill it cause many of those times I would let go and not be able to control it.

I finally found the magic way to beat that.
CHuckC

[Marshallrobinson]

Some GREAT insights here!!.
Please ... Keep 'em coming!!!!

[Bjorn]

My mind goes completely blank from starting to draw to moment of impact on the critter. Stop that mental checklist and let your mind and body take over control.

[Marshallrobinson]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
My mind goes completely blank from starting to draw to moment of impact on the critter. Stop that mental checklist and let your mind and body take over control.

I will say this...
Three times in my years, I have had the second shot opportunity and I have always been spot on and the arrow was gone in an instant, when that occurred. You are correct in as much as saying (suggesting) that this frame of mind does work but for me, it does not work till I am excited.
Does that make sense?. When it's all out...I do not have an issue.
However...
I can freeze on a shot that (I know) I only have a second to make.
I can make a follow up (perfectly) on a spine shot but will still freeze (sometimes) on the same point in time....such as when an animal runs through a shooting zone, where I could have made the shot.

[RedShaft]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
Gil, I had the opposite affliction.  I often couldn't get it all the way back before my brain said "let er go" !   If I drew down on ANYTHING, I had better want to kill it cause many of those times I would let go and not be able to control it.

I finally found the magic way to beat that.
CHuckC

Please share because I have the same problem allot of times. I don't freeze but my brain says let er rip before I'm really ready.

[ChuckC]

Sorry Redshaft, I was kinda teasing a bit.  I actually had to abandon shooting right handed, switched to lefty. That is my secret magic.

I have no issues lefty, but I still can't reliably anchor / aim / release right handed.  I have heard of others that have done the same.  Brains are wired strangely.

ChuckC

[Stumpkiller]

Had that problem with wheelies.  Draw and hold, hold, hold.

Have not had that problem wit recurves.  I can't hold them for more than 15 seconds or so, so I draw when the opportunity arrives and release.

[Rob W.]

PM Joel Turner. CLICKERMAN on here. I'm sure he has seen about every form of TP there is in his line of work. He helped me get through a bunch of issues and get back to being in control during pressure situations.

[AkDan]

Spend more time getting on game in the off season or during the season itself.  Not just the one time of year you can take one home.    The more encounters you have the less your nerves will take hold and you'll be focused on doing what's about to come.   You'll be relaxed around game, not antsy and impatient!  It's obviously for some something they should do regularly.   For others cresting the hill may only take one encounter.    

I find the faster things happen the better off I am mentally wise.  Wide open country and stalks that span days gets the better of me!

Before I opened this I immediatly thought small game.    It helps quite a bit!   When the need or drive to kill is over the mental process of shooting animals is no different than shooting anything else!  

We loose ourselves in numbers to a point of a competitive status even within ourselves let alone other circles that the definition if success is skewed!

Dart- techno hunts ( video) about did me in!  They're fun for sure.  A decent tool.

And I don't believe a mechanical tool is a permanent fix to a mental problem!  Though you could use one as a fix, and I do believe they're a good tool to train-retrain yourself,  the faster u get off one the better off you'll be in the long run imho!  

And don't believe for a second I don't shake like a leaf!   It's generally after I shoot these days.   I'm usually so focused on what I'm trying to do that getting nervous doesn't get the chance to chime in till after the fact.

We work year round for one encounter it's no wonder that the one encounter, followed by months of anticipation, many hours of range time, financial out put, and a pile of time reading everything we can, we get wound tight at that moment everything's about to come together.

[Marshallrobinson]

Thanks for the replies. Got some things to think about and work on. 28 days to go. Think I will get out and do some small game this year