Whitetail Hunting Tips

Today’s post was prompted while whitetail hunting on Thanksgiving morning. Another hunter had had a monster buck walked up on him from behind a couple of weeks ealier, all he could do was twist his head around and watch in dismay as one of the biggest whitetail bucks he had seen in nearly 40 years of hunting, just bounded away! I have trail cam photos of this buck over the last couple of years, and he truly is a monster, with tines approaching 12″ tall and a massive rack that looks to nearly 24″ wide…He’s that buck that we all dream about!

This day started like many others but getting set into the stand a bit before dawn, 45 minutes or so later he hears a noise approaching his stand, ready to take a shot he lets a large doe just trot past, there’s another deer following… A rack is spotted, is a nice buck! Suddenly it’s there, stopped standing near a holly tree only 15 yards away. It’s a monster! THe biggest buck he’s ever seen, just standing there. Carfully, he raises the muzzleloader, placing the cross hairs just behind the shoulder and …. Off trots the buck, without ever having a shot fired!

The thought of harvesting a trophy buck motivate thousands of hunters to leave the comforts of home behind and head to the woods every year. You suffer through the heat and biting bugs of late summer and into the freezing rain and cold of winter. For many, it is why we hunt! Now as a magnicifigant trophy whitetail steps into view, only yards away as we sit sighlently in our tree stand or blind, your heart begins to pound, your knees are shaking (good thing that you’re sitting down), the next few seconds could determine our place in history. The fame, happiness, and camaraderie that comes with harvesting such an elusive creature, or another disheartening story of the one that got away?

We have all been there, even attempting to take a doe can cause us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. Not being able to move, being too weak to draw a bow, weak knees, and shaking like a leaf are the most common ailments.

Now you have been struck by the dreaded “Buck Fever” your conscious mind freezes – you sit there like an idiot – a wheezing, trembling, adrenaline-filled idiot with knees of Jell-o and one hell of a heart rate – until the deer calmly walked away. Ask around, everybody has heard of this debilitaiing condition… You will hear stories of the countless hunters how have just pulled the trigger and shot every bullet in their gun without ever thinking of lifting their gun to their shoulder and aiming. Or while hunting with a black powder rifle, reloading the powder and forgetting to seat a bullit.

I have heard many stories over the years of those who fall under the influance of “buck fever” have been known to do such strange things as: shout “bang! bang!,” lever unfired rounds on the ground, and yell for a deer to stop without firing a single shot.  I even remember reading of one hunter who downed his deer and then ran to put the tag on.  He ended up with his deer, but two broken legs as well.  In all the excitement he forgot he was in a treestand more than fifteen feet off of the ground!

And then you hear of the expert marksman, who steadily takes aim at a monster whitetail standing broadside 15 yards away… and he just forgets to pull the trigger!

Just remember, 90% of hunting is the experiance, you get to share stories of success and failure with you hunting buddies. It is great to show photos of you biggest buck ever.