I usually get that feeling when I know I am going to take a shot. Any deer really gets me pumped up when I first catch sight of it, but If I know it's a deer I'm not going to shoot I can calm myself down. When I know I am going to take a shot is when my heart really gets going!!! I went with 120" + because that is a good size buck for my area and If I saw him I would have quite the adrenaline rush. I sure do love that feeling
Was it like a predator marking his territory? Or, was it due to incontinence? Either way, you're still cool!
when I see a big shed lying on the forest floor, heck just about any shed will do! when I find/see a big mature whitetail velvet buck for the first time during summer scouting outings! When the big buck I am after finally shows up near me during daylight hours. When I am sneaking in on a herd bull when I have been hearing him for a long time and then finally see him. When a big old mature black bear appears so silently, like they always do. When I am hunting turkeys and I finally get a shot at the boss gobbler I have been patterning. When I hook into a big 8 foot plus sturgeon and know the next hour or 2 will be a blast for everyone on the boat.
LOL Now you're just being difficult. Anything over 130" will make my heart beat. I SHOULD have more time then ever to hunt this Fall. I hope to skip several beats! Cool poll....and relative to everyone!
I voted 120 Inch but my heart slows down after a while looking at him knowing he won't get an arrow but Instead a pass. 130 Inch and up Is what really get's my blood flowing. My heart skipped a beat or 2 or 3 this last season every time I saw that SOB I was hunting. Other deer get me excited but a buck of the caliber I was hunting this last year will get my heart a pumping and keep It pumping!!
as far as score goes.. those 140 plus 4x4s and 150 plus 5x5s still get me excited.. but for my heart to skip a beat.. its probably gonna take more like the 160 + mark
My interest in hunting has slowly evolved to the point where I get excited just walking in the woods while scouting. Add in a big rub, scrape, shed or unravelling some kind of hidden clue in the deer woods, and I get that much more excited. I am not kidding guys, I love it. But to answer your poll, my heart starts moving when I see a buck around 100 inches. Off topic but kind of on topic thought. This month as been very difficult for me and my family in a lot of different ways. I also haven't even been able to go into the woods to scout for over a month because of the snow. Well the other day I had nowhere to scout so I just walked in the suburban woods behind my house. Within 5 minutes I found some doe beds and then later what I thought was a buck bed. I won't even be hunting those deer and I was excited, really excited. My problems just faded away as I walked those woods. The deer woods are alive, magical, and capture my emotions like none other. I will be a sad man when my time in the woods end, and by that time I will have hopefully passed on my love for it to someone else.
anything im going to shoot at, Heck my Doe last year had me shook before the shot :D Now a 140" gasp, yes sir yes sir, ill skip one :D
I feel the same way right now about the prospect of turkey hunting. I wont lie, im burnt out on deer hunting, but spring gobblers got my blood boiling :D There is nothing like a morning in the turkey woods.
I can relate, my entire life the best medicine for me involving any stress related situation has been the mountains. Nice post Brett. Thanks for sharing.
Honestly? A lot of things! Obviously a shooter buck really gets me going (although, ironically my buck this year, I was calm through the whole thing until after I shot). I'm still at the point that a doe in range (when I'm intending to shoot) gets my heart pumping. I love it.
I love buck fever but it doesn't get me until after the shot, then i sit for a few and collect my self. hope i never lose that. my biggest buck is a gun kill gross over 180 shot him at 50 yards with a 30-06 with 180 grain right thru the heart in the eve hunt, the deer ran about 15 yards and ran smack into a tree about 5 inches across just perfect dead center of his head drop over right then, I got right out of the stand and went to him the deer was stuck on the tree i could not tell at the time where i had hit him. He was too big to turn over and there was no blood on the ground at all,I thru my tag on him and ran..well fast walk anyway.. 1/4 mile up to camp the guys were like where did you hit him....(i dont know!) but i got my tag on his leg and just then it hit me, I knocked him out and tagged him and he got up while i was at the truck and is running thru the woods with a deer tag on his leg. My heart was jumping then lol i was glad he was there when we got to them they woud of never believed how big he was.
I'll be honest... and won't read to deep into this question. I get a thrill when I see ANY deer. But... that first deer (usually a doe) who enters my shooting lanes for the first time a new season begins... and I know I want to take.... ... I'm a wreck! So much in fact... That I've missed the last 3 out of 4 first opportunity does cleanly over the past 4 years. I suck.
Good stuff Mike, I built alot of confidence shooting the 3 does in a row that i did this season. Im carrying it into gobbler season.
I get really excited when I see 100". A first glance at 100" can make it seem like 130", and that makes my heart skip.
