Thread: 'buck fever'

I never thought I would be guilty of buck fever, and it wasn't until someone told me what I had done was attributed to buck fever, that it even occurred to me.

Whilst my 6.5 Grendel was still a virgin to deer, I had it on an unhopeful hunt. Spotted a Red Hind at 300m, got given the choice, take the shot, or close the gap. Went with close the gap.
Got down to 200m and had lost sight of the Hind, so I dialed for 200m (not wanting to take any chances) we sat and waited for a possible re-appearance. Same thing, chatting away, not too much effort made being overly quite.

Next thing, I spot 4 Fellow at 50m watching us. In a split second the decision was made on which one looked the tastiest, I shifted the rifle, and as the deer picked up on the danger I squeezed the trigger with the crosshairs on a high shoulder shot. I was convinced I had hit it.

To make matters worse, a Red Spiker then walks out to see what the commotion was, I had him dead to rights, but chose not to take the shot, as I had already dropped my meal.

Well it turns out, forgetting to wind back to zero-stop, and aiming high shoulder equals a shot that brushed mm over the deer's back, in other word a miss, no hair, no blood, nothing. Apparently this slight oversight (no pun intended) is considered buck fever.