I want to avoid an adrenaline rush

[MidwestMatthew]

This year's deer season will be my first time to go hunting, and I'm concerned about "buck fever" or adrenaline rush. Most articles seem to be about how to manage it well enough to take a steady shot, but I'm more interested in avoiding it altogether.

Yes, I've seen the comments from other hunters who say nobody should go hunting who doesn't get excited about it. I don't believe that myself. After accidentally taking too much of some natural supplements a couple years ago, I suffered a series of very scary "episodes" similar to panic attacks or an adrenaline rush. The feeling was not pleasant and I don't want to experience anything like it again.

The only reason I'm going hunting is because my wife and I are foodies, and want to eat our own venison. The motivation is identical to why we have a garden to grow our own vegetables. I'd like to shoot and gut a deer with about the same level of excitement that I get while harvesting our lettuce and carrots.

So, with that understanding, can anyone recommend some tips or techniques, not just to take a steady shot through buck fever, but to completely avoid it through the entire hunting process?

 

[H&Hhunter]

Matthew,

I once read a little snippet from Col Jeff Cooper. He said, and I quote "You are a man not a monkey, now calm down and make the shot." The article written in hunting here recently does a very nice job of explaining how to remain calm when the shot comes. I visualize myself going through the process of the hunt, the stalk, and the shot. In that visualization I make myself concentrate on being calm and and making a perfect shot. Whenever I start to get a bit hyped up I remeber the words of Col. Cooper and it calms me right down.

The other thing that really helped me get over the "fever" was increased trigger time on game. If you can go down to Texas and get some high volume shooting on hogs and coyotes. Nothing helps better than in the field no kidding trigger time.

 

[gspn]

The adrenaline dump generally just comes with the territory the first few times you are about to kill a big animal. Over time it goes away almost entirely. it's a rare thing for me to get any heart rate bump at all while hunting anymore.

If I had to make suggestions I'd say to use "visualization" techniques, focus on the target while you're in the field, breathe, and just try to remain calm.

If you visualize something over and over in your head, it gets much easier to do. You can find lots of articles on the topic...here's just one:


http://www.livestrong.com/article/433148-visualization-techniques-for-athletes/


Also, be VERY familiar with whatever weapon you'll be using. There will be enough anxiousness involved with the killing of your first big game animal...you don't need to compound it by being worried about making the shot.

Good luck, and lets us know how it goes.

 

[Browning]

Breathe, focus...you'll do fine.

Before you go maybe do a few range sessions where you shoot and where you try to inoculate yourself from this, get your heart rate up a bit before shooting. Loud music (I'd suggest ear buds) to distract you, run a short lap, do push-ups and then focus and breathe through it.

Before simulations and mega-codes at my job our Med control doc would often have us get our heart rate up to simulate stress.

Only way you'll deal correctly with it is taking small steps to overcome it (if it's even a problem, might not be).

Good luck.

 

[ku4hx]

My experience is you can't avoid it; you can only mitigate it. I found extreme familiarity with my gun of choice helped me a lot. When your gun becomes an extension of your body, that's just one less thing to worry about.

Practice, practice, practice and take heed of the other advice given in this thread.

There's a grain of truth in being told the hunt should excite you. If you're not excited about hunting, you may be doing it for the wrong reasons. If all you want to do is "get" your own meat, you can do that by raising chickens, goats and cows.

 

[onelastshot]

As others have made mention, there is no replacement for field practice. The more you shoot and the more acclimated you become shooting, especially freehand, the more comfortable you will be when you shoot a deer. Too many people sit at a bench and never practice shooting in the position they will be in when in the field. In summation it builds confidence and confidence is key.

 

[a_canadian]

I've not hunted anything large, just rats and squirrels. 5 rats using a red filtered flashlight and 53 grey squirrels this year, using either a 10fpe or a 20fpe air rifle. About 30 to 40 grey squirrels each of the previous 2 years. I'm finally getting closer to being calm for the shot. I still find the adrenaline jumping up a bit at times, so I put down the rifle and breathe deeply and slowly a few times, close my eyes, and think something along the lines of 'it's just culling an invasive species, not a big deal, about as significant as taking out the garbage' and then get back to making the shot once I've calmed down. Usually don't need that exercise any more but there's still some excitement after a good shot. More like relief though, not adrenaline.

So I'd concur with those who advocate practice hunting on pest species. Make your trajectory chart for whatever load you're using, learn the heck out of your gun, get good with it on paper, then make clean one shot kills on pests, then move on to food hunting when you're confident.

 

[MidwestMatthew]

Thanks for the quick replies!

First, does *everyone* get the jitters either before or after shooting a deer? Surely there are some hunters who are truly nonchalant about it.

I should clarify that I'm not so concerned about getting the shakes before the shot - I will either control it or decide to pass. What bothers me more is being calm for the shot, then getting into a panic attack-like situation afterwards when it's too late to change my mind. I assume the same principles - breathing, calming down, etc. - would still apply. It's just that having never killed a large animal before, I'm not sure how much it will affect me.

Fortunately I'm an excellent shot, and although I know shooting live game has got to be way different than shooting a target, I also know my gun and I know better than to take an uncertain shot. I could be wrong, but I don't expect to suddenly lose confidence in my own marksmanship.

There's a grain of truth in being told the hunt should excite you. If you're not excited about hunting, you may be doing it for the wrong reasons. If all you want to do is "get" your own meat, you can do that by raising chickens, goats and cows.

Unfortunately we can't do that where we live now. I'm just trying to get some cheap meat that will provide new culinary opportunities. The hunt itself is only a necessary means to that end. Fortunately, that means I'm not going to be too excited if a huge rack happens to walk by - he'd probably be a tough old critter anyway. I plan to go for the first decent-sized doe I have a good shot at.

 

[ku4hx]

Well, you may truly be that dead calm hunter. But in my opinion, that's one of those things I'll have to see to believe. Not that it can't happen, but the odds are just not in your favor. In 1994, my daughter made a 100% on her driver's license written test and then impressed the state official with her driving and parking skills on the test course.

The very next day, she and her mom left on a 150 mile trip to grandma's house. Not twenty miles up the road, my daughter cleaned out a ditch and totaled her car. She was unhurt, but just wasn't prepared for driving in the actual world.

A test course or shooting range is one thing. On those you can develop technical skills. But actually performing in the real world is entirely different. When hunting, you can count on being tired, hungry, needing to "go", uncomfortable, cold, wet, hot, eaten by bugs and any number of other "distractions". It's not a sterile environment; quite often it's a royal PITA.

You may find your hunting totally different, but I'd bet not. At any rate, good luck.

 

[a_canadian]

While there may be other reasons besides the two I can think of for being utterly calm before during and after such a shot as you're contemplating, the two I can think of are 1) being a psychopath with no emotional connection to the life you are taking, or 2) having enough kills behind you that it doesn't bother you so much any more. I find shooting a rat to be a world of difference from shooting paper, emotionally. It's taking a life, and no matter what your political/moral association with that action, it has got to have an impact on your emotional state. If you're psychologically incapable of feeling such things then you'll be just fine... and I hope you never turn to human targets A good friend of mine was special forces for many years and took a lot of human lives, all legit shots or knife fights, no unwarranted targets. He still gets a bit hyped up for a squirrel shot. Only a little, but it's there, one more factor to consider in preparing for the shot.

 

[Patocazador]

If it's akin to pulling carrots for you, I suspect that you will experience no 'adrenaline rush'.
However, after 50 years of hunting, I still get excited when I first spot a game animal and I have my "rush" after the shot is made. When it doesn't happen any more, I'll quit hunting.

 

[gspn]

Thanks for the quick replies!

First, does *everyone* get the jitters either before or after shooting a deer? Surely there are some hunters who are truly nonchalant about it.

When I first started hunting I was excited but steady, right up to, and during the shot...but immediately after it was like the dam burst that was holding back my adrenaline and I'd just get super shaky. I've seen that reaction with lots of hunters who I've taught over the years. My son took his first deer when he was 7 and after the shot he was jack-hammering so hard i thought he'd shake the stand right off the tree.

I've been hunting for 20 years now and I love everything about the experience today as much as I did on day 1. But nowadays the killing of game is just so routine that it's simply a matter of waiting for the right shot and executing it as best I can. No adrenaline and no shakes before, during, or after on 95% of my hunts. It's not that it's not fun or exciting...there's just no adrenaline. But I've killed somewhere north of 100 deer...and I don't generally get adrenaline shakes for anything...I've jumped out of planes and not had them...and had guns pointed at me and not had them. Maybe I'm weird (although the skydiving did have me feeling super high the rest of the day after the jump.)

Now...there is still that 5% of the time when it might happen. For instance, I was hunting in IL a few years ago, and I looked up on the field and 5 or 6 doe blasted out of the woods like rockets and hauled across the field. They were running from something...it was the rut...and I was sure it was a big buck. For reasons unknown, the adrenaline hit that i got was so harsh that I could hardly hold my gun steady. I tried breathing, I tried focus, I tried jamming the gun between me and a solid object...but those are all just marginally effective....nothing worked.

Then two weeks ago I shot a big bull elk on the run after a stalk. No adrenaline for either my partner or I. It was a satisfying hunt, and we felt good about what we had accomplished...but no adrenaline.

Everyone is different, and every hunt can be different. The one thing I'm certain of is that exposure to the scenario makes you more comfortable with it, and therefore more able to control yourself when placed in it.

Also complicating things is that sometimes people use the term "adrenaline" incorrectly...it doesn't mean "exciting"...it's an actual physiological/hormonal response to something. A true adrenaline hit makes all of your muscles shake uncontrollably...and there is no decent substitute for training pursposes. Running in place or otherwise raising your hear rate only makes your heart shake and your chest expand faster...adrenaline makes every muscle in your body tremble.

 

[redneck]

Well I think regardless of your motives you will get excited, after all getting a shot is the final step to getting venison on your cutting board just as its the final step to putting trophy antlers on the wall for somebody else.

I don't see how anyone could not get excited, its just a matter of how you handle it. I think starting with small game would help, but its not a must. I have found that I will get excited when I see game approaching, but when its time to focus and make the shot I usually get very calm. Most of the deer I have killed I don't even remember a specific moment when I decided to pull the trigger, you draw your bow or shoulder your gun, make sure its a safe shot(nothing behind it you won't want to shoot etc. ), focus on where you want to hit and it just kind of happens.

 

[matrem]

I'm not so sure most of us could ever avoid "buck fever" altogether.
What's worked the best for me at the moment of truth is accepting that I'm the dominant predator and I have a job to do.
I equate actually shooting living animals vrs watching or even being really close to them as the difference between watching the world series from right behind home plate, or actually being the batter at the plate.

Lettuce, carrots, and targets are just a baseball sitting on a tee.

 

[ASCTLC]

I still get excited as hell after the shot...and I like it!! It's the height of participation in a basic necessity of life for me, to get the food myself for my family.

Having said that, when I first get out hunting, I find a nice pleasant place and I just sit and relax for a bit. I start with slowing the hell down to fight the urge to 'do it all while I can while I've got the little time off from work'.

Then the other thing I do as part of my slowing down, that relates more to your direct question, is I meditate (probably too strong a word for what I really do) and tell myself, to remember when I see an animal to realize "there'll be plenty of time to get worked after the shot". Think about it, after the shot, you have all the time in the world to get as excited as you feel for that experience.

That's what works for me.

Andy

 

[ChefJeff1]

Once I see my deer or elk, I become so focused and when it's time to shoot I get even more focused and incredibly calm. I'm more excited the night before and morning of. I like to listen to Ozzy on the morning drive.

 

[stringnut]

Familiarity with your weapon is the most important thing as you have never taken any game before. No changing guns the day before season until you are completely confident in your ability. There is almost 0 chance that you won't have some sort of reaction. It's okay to flip out after the shot. I probably shot around 35 or 40 deer before I really started to calm down. Shoting serious archery competition was also a great help. Even ,with competition and shooting many deer, the first time I pulled down on a boar with a bow was a sweat popping experiance. Cannot totally eliminate the reaction, but, it can be controlled.

 

[courtgreene]

I agree with a lot of the things said here, but if I understand the op, he's worried about nerves triggering a repeated reaction similar to one he's had before. If I understand correctly, remember that you may not even see one.no need to get worked up about what might not even happen. Then, if you do, trust what you called your expert marksmanship. If the deer runs after the shot DON'T freak out. Deer do that. Not always, but very freaquently. So don't get nervous or excited thinking you've screwed up, just go look for blood where you shot it and in the direction it ran. After that, you've got work to do. It's tedious boring work that, while worth it, isn't something that we usually love doing, so no reason to get excited there. I'm not saying any of this to down hunting because I, like many, love it. I'm simply reminding the op that you can convince yourself to even dread the work involved, not look forward to it, and keep your nerves from firing off uncontrollably. If it DOES seem like you're getting too nervous... Screw it. Put down your gun and go home.

 

[3212]

Practice your shooting on a life size deer target.Concentrate on shot placement.I prefer behind the shoulder to bleed out the lungs.On the hunt,expect to trail the deer for about 50 yards average.Think about this process while your hunting.The shot is just part of the whole experience.

 

[MidwestMatthew]

if I understand the op, he's worried about nerves triggering a repeated reaction similar to one he's had before.

That is correct. Although I'm sure the root cause was an accidental long-term overdose of some supplements, the "episodes" I experienced were very unsettling, and could be triggered by anything from strenuous exercise to simply drinking a glass of water. The symptoms were very similar to a heavy adrenaline rush, but were a bit scary because it could last for hours at a time and I never did really find a way to get it under control. It's been almost a year since it happened last, but I guess I'm still a bit gunshy about it all.

What concerns me most is getting past the "point of no return" (i.e., taking the shot) and *then* getting hit by a reaction once it's too late to turn back. That's the main scenario I want to avoid.

I *think* I'll do fine, but just wanted to see if any veteran hunters had any advice. From what I've heard so far, it sounds like there's really no way to tell for sure how the shot will affect me. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear and see what happens.

For what it's worth, I was out deer-watching from my stand the other evening and felt very calm and analytical as I tried to visualize where I'd shoot at different times, angles, etc. Then again, my gun wasn't loaded...

 

[GAF]

Do a google search on "zen and the art of hunting or shooting"
You will find lots of what you are asking for in you post.

 

[splattergun]

Breathe, Grasshopper

I am not an inexperienced killer of venison, I have taken and hit calm, deliberate shots on bucks at various yardages, from 25 to over 450 yards, yet when I heard my buck breaking through the brush sounding like a horse this year, my heart began pounding, I began shaking, and my first shot missed. My second shot missed my aim point, too, but I hit him... too far back. 15 or 20 minutes later, after I had hiked up and around the knoll to get above him, I was able to calm myself and put the last round through his shoulders and end it.

It had been a long, stressful week of glimpses of big bucks too far out of range, and climbing up steep, rocky mountains and staggering down trying to get in position, only to see the horns disappear over another ridge. I was tired, frustrated, and my confidence was low, so it was the perfect conditions for my body to see a need for a couple quarts of adrenaline when that buck busted through the scrub. I did not have time to get my zen on. It happens. But I did have time to take a breath and relax when he paused up the hill (as muleys tend to do) and I did, but I was still shaking. I should have breathed twice.

It wasn't until I was above him that I was able to breathe, calm down, focus, and do what needed to be done.

My point is, you should learn to calm yourself with breathing. It is part of good shooting technique, anyway. But don't be too hard on yourself if circumstances come together to cause a jolt of adrenaline too strong to easily overcome. It can happen. But most of the time, good shooting technique with a calming breath or 2 will be plenty enough to put you on target.

After the shot, your body will do what human bodies doo. It will react to the excitement. I know of no way to prevent that. But you can use the same breathing technique will serve the same purpose to calm and focus. It might just take more repetitions until you get calm.

 

[Art Eatman]

Funny how it goes. I never had a problem with a running deer. A walking deer was a problem to solve, so I was more focused on when I might get a shot than on the shot itself.

Occasionally on a nice standing-around buck, I'd get a bit of jitters. So, I'd sorta laugh at myself, take a deep breath or two and get back to paying attention to business: Sight picture and trigger pull.

Maybe try to focus on just where you want to have the bullet hit--which then changes the problem from Wow! Bambi! to some particular target-point.

 

[osprey176]

If you get the fever with a rifle,you should try bowhunting! Watching a nice buck feeding your way,getting closer to your range with each step sure gets my heart pumping. I've been hunting for many years now,and with time I find the rush comes mostly after the shot now. But it still comes,and is a big part of what I love about hunting.

 

[mp510]

The adrenaline rush that I, and I presume most other people who hunt, experience when presented with the opportunity to take an animal is very different than the kind of extreme experience that you had with the dietary supplements. It's much more subdued and is something that I believe that you can manage but never eliminate. One of the effects, auditory exclusion for example, is something that I notice even on hunts when I really expect to shoot multiple animals. During the course of one hunt I experienced a problem with my shotgun and finished the hunt with a borrowed gun. Afterwards, we were fixed the gun and I took a couple of shots to confirm function (no ears)- the report of the shots was very different when I was function testing than when I was actually shooting at game. Work on being patient, controlling your breathing, and focusing on your goal. Additional hunting (e.g. small game season in addition to deer) will also normalize the experience and make you less excited as well.