Somewhere in the middle of Oregon.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Buck Fever

Some time in the middle of August the air begins to change just enough that you can smell Autumn in it. Though it's too hot to be hunting, I can feel that it's getting close and my every thought (well...almost) turns to being in the back-country. I begin to visualise sitting next to a quiet spring watching the chipmunks and hoping 'the big one' will walk by. (the big deer....not chipmunk....although i've seen some pretty hefty chipmunks around, lol)

Traditionally, buck fever is what happens when you get so excited about the deer standing in front of you, that you're shaking too bad to make the shot, or something goes wrong...like you forget to load the gun, or your arrow falls off the rest when you pull back your bow....and the deer bounces away while you stand there with your head hung low in shame. It's an adrenalin rush that's so extreme that you lose all site of everything you should be focusing on.

I can say that I've truly had this type of buck fever once, and to this day.....my husband will not let me live it down. I was hunting with a muzzleloader. I had a decent buck at about 50 yards, and shot. I hit him, but he didn't go immediately down, and my husband is in the background telling me to hurry and reload. So...I put a cap on the gun pulled the trigger again. The problem was, for those who are not muzzleloader hunters...I forgot to put the powder and bullet in the gun, so basically....I was shooting a cap gun at the deer. The cap went off and I stood there in sort of a duhhh moment, hurried and reloaded my gun complete with powder and bullet this time, and got one more into him so he didn't go far. In my defense...it was my first hunt with a muzzleloader....I think I prefer a rifle.

Buck fever these days is more of a state of mind for me. When Fall is in the air, hunting is all I can think about. I close my eyes and see big bucks standing on a ridgeline or in the trees. I go to sleep dreaming of bull elk bugling in the distance, and I can't wait to be out for a few days just enjoying the fresh air. With hunting season in full swing already, someone call a doctor....I've got it bad!

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