Target panic

[DhD]

I shot right over one that snuck up on me on the ground last week. I was watching a bunch of does to right when all is a sudden seemingly out of no where there was a buck directly to my left. I was shocked I was able to turn without spooking him, and rushed and rainbowed a shot right over his back. One thing I did to get my confidence back was to smack the first mature doe that walked by the next day. I'm still having some issues, but it helped to make a good shot.

[DhD]

I shot right over one that snuck up on me on the ground last week. I was watching a bunch of does to right when all is a sudden seemingly out of no where there was a buck directly to my left. I was shocked I was able to turn without spooking him, and rushed and rainbowed a shot right over his back. One thing I did to get my confidence back was to smack the first mature doe that walked by the next day. I'm still having some issues, but it helped to make a good shot.

[Dewey]

The others are right. This is buck fever. Not target panic.


Don't know how much bow hunting experience you have. Often times newer hunters suffer from it the worst.


I'll echo the others. Don't focus on the deer. Focus on making the shot to kill him. Focus on your fundamentals. Anchor points. Sight alignment. Focus on that pin. Send it.

Get buck fever after you watch the arrow blow through his chest.


I had a good bit of gun kills under my belt when I picked up archery hunting. I'd loose my marbles just seeing a deer. I talked myself out of it pretty quick. Lol.


Now, I see a deer and I decide if I'm shooting it or not. If I am, or I'm not sure, i go right into "kill mode". This years buck I wasn't sure. But wasn't gunna get caught sitting there watching. I decided to draw as if I was going to kill him right before he was about to leave cover. As he stepped out, yep...game over. Hit my anchors. Focused on the pin and broke the shot. Watched him crash and set the bow in the holder and sat down for the shakes to set in. Lol.



Seriously...once you know it's something you wanna shot, focus on killing it.


Another reason I like hunting close quarters tight cover. I don't have time to get myself all worked up.

Great advice. Exactly what I was going to post. Get in the zone and focus on nothing but putting an arrow in the vitals. I call it kill zone tunnel vision.

[mauser06]

Same for me Dewey. Definitely get tunnel vision once I go into kill mode.


The more bow kills I get under my belt, the easier it's getting. Everyone wants to kill the big bucks. I did and do too. But there are certain aspects of hunting with a bow you have to learn. When to stand. When to draw. Shot execution. Follow up and watching the impact and reaction. It's all huge.

I'd say 100% of the time when I'm called to help track, the hunter can't give me anything. Where the arrow hit. Where the deer ran. Where it was when it was hit. Where it was last seen. Usually nothing. Follow through is critical. And will make you a better shooter and hunter. I crest my arrows AND shoot lighted nocks to help in low light.


I'm fortunate here...lots of targets of opportunity. I've killed a few fall turkeys..a coyote..a gray fox...a couple doe. When I first started, squirrels that pestered me were in trouble. Shooting from a stand on hunting conditions is hard to replicate in the backyard.

[Crazinamatese]

Take a few practice shots cuz maybe something could be off on your bow??? Doesn’t hurt to check. I struggle with buck fever too. I just think to myself, “aim for the ribcage”.

[Dan T]

I'd like to post my experiences with both target panic and buck fever. My first mistake in trying to combat these two issues, was that I treated them as separate when I should have been addressing them together. I started the sport of archery at the age of 8. I can remember having target panic from day one with target archery. In my teenage years I started to get over it a bit with relentless practicing on my own, but once another person was around I was back to square one. This morphed into buck fever at the age of 11. In my early years buck fever effected me both physically and mentally; Irrational thinking, short term memory gaps, blurred vision, uncontrollable shaking, in ability to draw, inability to hold on a target smaller than a house, etc...After seven misses with the bow at a young age and realizing they could have easily been wounds; I contemplated giving up the sport. I tried all of the suggestions in the other replies regarding target panic and buck fever. All of my efforts to cure target panic in target archery would fall apart a soon as I had to shoot in front of another person, regardless of who or how many. I will say that as time went on, success, practice, experience and confidence and finally getting a few successful gun hunts under my belt and eventually a few archery kills, things got a little better. If the encounter/opportunity happened fast, I seemed to perform ok. The more time my mind had to process and encounter, the more likely experiencing physical symptoms became. Also, as I became older and set my goals higher, buck fever started to come back full swing. Less deer encounters and not killing (passing up deer) targeting mature bucks, is what I attribute to the up swing. note it never went away in its entirety( buck fever). By this time I had also hunted with several other people. I noticed before, during and after the shot we all shared the same mental and emotional excitement, but we all experienced different physical symptoms. Some had physical symptoms before, some had it during, some had it after, some had it not at all, some at it during all. Being older I also started to make some correlations about the similarities in the way I felt physically and mentally while experiencing target panic or buck fever, I have also felt in other situations in my life, that have also not gone away with practice, success, experience and confidence. At age 40 I felt the same way public speaking as I do holding on target or a deer as I did when I was 18. Even after 20 years as an Arborist I still get anxiety talking with clients about their trees and shrubs, same with job interviews or with figh/ flight encounters, I would feel the same way as I do at full draw. despite Time, success, practice, experience and confidence in hunting, public speaking, business, confrontation, etc...it did not get better.
I finally decided one to bring the situation up to my doctor as I had some public speaking engagements coming up that were very important. He jokingly said, oh "you get buck fever do you"? turns out he's a hunter and saw the deer tattoo on my arm. I said yes, that's a big problem as well, even after 30+ years of hunting success. He informed my its all the same. Target panic, stage fright, buck fever, etc...those terms a specific to their involved tasks. It's all generalized as Performance Anxiety. Buck fevers clinical term is Performance Anxiety. It does not make you any less of a man, it has to do with how your individual body processes increase in heart rate, anxiety and bloodpressure. this is different for all of us, just like some of us may have different dietary needs.
After having this conversation with my Doctor, he prescribed me a bata blocker (propranolol is what I was prescribed) I started taking it as directed once daily in the morning. I felt no different, but when the day and time came to give my speech I still had the anxiety, the excitement, the apprehensions, but my mind and my body stayed calm auto pilot took over and it was a success. Fast forward to that deer season, still taking as prescribed, in my first deer encounter I experienced the same this as the speech. I was excited, anxious, nervous, full of anticipation, in awe all of the emotions I've always felt in all my deer hunting opportunities and encounters, except this time no uncontrollable back spasms, wobbly knees, pounding chest ( my heart rate still goes up believe you me! just dont feel it in my corroded artery and ears now) and target panic. Despite all of my excitement, I was able to hold dead on with confidence like never before. This conversation with my Doctor has been life changing in many ways, two of which were classified as buck fever and target panic.
I know some may knock the pharmaceutical aspect of help as taking away from the true hunting experience, but for me my body had the same reaction with shooting at a target, shooting at an animal, public speaking, relationships, work, etc..to me there was something more there that needed to be addressed, and as a result I inadvertently ended up finding not my cure, but away to control MY buck fever.
Its a solution that i have never heard discussed, but for those of you who have parallel social challenges as my own, you might find this helpful.
truly hope this helps one or more of you fellow beasts, as I know from 30+ years of hunting experience and success, it is a REAL thing, and a life long personal struggle for many. Again the clinical term is PERFORMANCE ANXIETY, it rears its evil head in many forms. Buck fever and Target panic are only two of them. Your not alone!!!

[Kraftd]

I have killed quite a few big bucks with the rifle and never had this issue. So I am not sure is buck fever totally. Is there archery buck fever? Lol

Yea, its 100% different. I get 0/10 excited shooting with a rifle, and 11/10 shooting with a bow.

My best advice is as follows: You have more time than it seems like in the moment. Remember to breathe. Once you get drawn, aim! Dont just put the pin on the deer, aim EXACTLY where where you want to hit. Follow through! <--- I think this one is HUGE. Do not try and peek around the bow the moment you touch the trigger. Keep that bow arm up and watch the arrow through the pin guard. I think this is where a lot of shots go wrong for guys, lack of follow through on live animals. These days, as soon as I see one I want to shoot, I always think "Patience, Aim, Follow through" and I just keep thinking that, and only that until the arrow impacts. Good luck on the next one!

ALL OF THIS!

Also, there is NO SUCH THING as a 30 yard chip shot on a whitetail with a bow. A lot can happen with a whitetail at 30 yards.

Kill some deer with a bow, does, little bucks, whatever. Its really the only way to practice being in the moment. Like some others, after 5-10 or so bow kills I found that I had the experience to just go into autodrive. I've missed and wounded deer since then for sure, but its a good feeling to just get hyper focused and for the shakes to start afterwards. Also, practicing is another good way to get there. If you're newish, shoot every single day if at all possible. You want your bow and your process to be as normal to you as breathing.

Frankly, I think the invention of the words target panic have lead to more over-thinking and more poor shooting than anything. It feels like that really came out in archery conversation about five years ago and all of a sudden everyone was having bouts with it. Not doubting the veracity, but thinking is the enemy, hence practice both shooting and killing deer until it is a reaction not a thought.