I think it might start when you check your camera and see this..

As with anything else. Calm yourself down. Take a good breathe in and when you exhale exhale slowly for longer than the inhale. Slows your heart and nerves and lets you calm down and make a good shot.

^^^this

But, if you lay eyes on a buck like that and your heart doesn't start thumping, your breathes don't quicken and you've still got a perfectly steady hand then you've somehow, someway lost one of the biggest and best parts of what deer hunting is all about. if that deer doesn't give you a case of buck fever you need to give it up or start hunting with a pocket knife to bring back the challenge and the fun.

Hell, I got a temporary, minor case of the good ol' doe fever this morning. It was fun before I did what sappertitan said and put some meat in the freezer.

That would do it!!! Good luck

You catch buck fever by over thinking it and working yourself up. Personally I don't want buck fever. I want to be under control and robotic about it.

My son caught buck fever this season by looking at a cull buck for too long. The next day a very nice 10 pointer comes out and all I hear from him is buck buck buck. Five seconds later I hear the gun shot. He didn't even check with me on if he could take the shot or not. So I asked him if he got the fever and he said no, and that he didn't even have time to think about it. I was very proud of his ability to keep his compose while taking down the biggest buck to date to be taken on my dad's property.

Will someone please score that bullwinkle? I have no idea how to score but read every thread about it. That looks like one of the best bucks I've seen on here this year!?

it looks like that deers legs are too short for his body I guess its the camera angle. For me buck fever sets in the moment that I see something and I make up my mind I am gonna shoot

Are you sure it's not that long beard behind the buck? That's a good buck and a good Tom!

Buck Fever is simply a tremendous sense of excitement and nervousness brought on by a lengthy period of heightened anticipation. I once read that seeing a large buck can cause a hunter's heart rate to exceed that of a marathon runner. Of course, the worst part of buck fever is how the nervousness impacts the hunter's ability to make an accurate shot. It's why you so often hear someone say, "He must have gotten buck fever" after a miss.

Common sense would dictate that it's best overcome by following the same approach that a field goal kicker does in preparing for a game winning field goal. In fact, what do you so often see a kicker do in the minutes leading up to making that all important kick? If you watch one practice, you can tell he is training his mind to focus not on winning the game, but ensuring his mind and body will execute the proper mechanics needed to make the ball fly straight and accurate.

Now ask yourself this question. Have you ever seen a kicker that never practiced before a kick, or much less during warm ups?

Just like a kicker who starts repeatedly kicking a ball into a practice net in the moments before making a kick, take a minute or two to make a few dry shots at precise targets after getting into your stand. Like the kicker, you will be training you mind to focus more on making the shot, and less on the distractions. Just make sure your gun is unloaded before you do.

Still, our sport will undoubtedly always have plenty of those "one shot wonders" who do nothing more than fire a shot or two right before the season opener just to "check their zero". But oh, how fun and entertaining they are to watch, cussing and moaning as they throw their gear back in their truck in disgust before peeling out on that early trip back home.

I get buck fever when the safety "clicks". Great looking buck for that area of the county.

great looking buck, I like those gray eyes

I'd really say that I need at least one more photo from a more side angle to accurately guess on score. Assuming he has a G2 on the right side that I can't see in this photo and it is roughly equal to the left G2, which would make him a 6X5 - 11 point, I think he's in the neighborhood of 150. He's got good mass and the beams look pretty good, too, but without that second photo I could be shorting him on both of those measurements. Conservatively I get 145, but if am a little bit more generously I can get him to 153. Honestly, he looks to be 150 inch deer to me, and just looks like a damn stud. He is a very impressive deer and I'd be really pumped to get him.

Good Mature Animal right there

I got the fever on the camel nose deer I took this past Saturday. I had been after her for 2 seasons and when she finally stepped out of the brush with her nose in the air my heart began to race. I guess I was lucky the little buck ran her off and gave me time to calm down and when she came back out I was good to go and made the shot before the little buck had a chance to run her off for good. Good times

IDK, Toms are nice, but could use another couple inches on the beards, if that deer wasn't in the way, we could get better detail on those Toms as well