Three deep breaths. In threw the nose, out threw the mouth. It works for me.

I do this when I am shooting at the bench too (or my bow). I close my eyes, take 3 slow breaths, then move up to my rifle. Real relaxed I fall asleep into that "zone". I wake up at the shot.

Practice it enough and it is second nature in the field. If you are calm enough you can do it with 1 breath.

Savage-In my opinion it's alot of pre-Season scouting or beeing in the hills seeing lots of game and getting used to it without the heart flopping out of the socket the first time you see one.Adrenalin is not a good thing come shooting time.Just an every day type experience and there is know Buck Fever..

Good luck to you and your friend..

Jayco.

Reloader has a good point, in fact, make sure they find the enjoyment of the experience, not just the kill, by letting them observe and hunt without shooting for a while.

This not a newbie phenom, I have seen old hands do some silly things with a buck in front of them, and swear they were perfectly calm throughout the whole thing. I have had to mentally force myself to not take the shot, missed out on a couple of deer/elk, but more likely just saved the ammo. Saved more than one horse/cow by holding the shot, too.

If they value the experience, it may help.

Get them to focus on the aim point, not on the fact that it is a game animal. Range work with a rythm/routine before pulling the trigger can help (breathe twice, focus on the impact point, squeeze the trigger). Not easy, but can work....

Don't necessarily guide them to a trophy their first time out. Less pressure...

Take them a couple of times with the stated intention of scouting, but take the rifle 'just in case', so they get used to the experience...

Make sure they are old/mature enough to really do this...no sense in frustrating and possibly ruining it by trying too much too early.

HAVE FUN! ...even if he/she misses...

I focus on where I need that bullet to go. This normally calms me down as I'm thinking more about shooting a bullet at a living thing than taking an animal. I also have a few things going on in my brain, a checklist to see if I'm aiming right, a sequence of events of what should happen after the shot, and a voice in my head telling me to disobey what my mother taught me and kill a living thing. That's just me, but if you can keep him to focus on placing his shot he may become more concerned about were that bullet has to go than what's on top of the beast's head.

Sevens

I agree with the above. Curbing buck fever is a matter of keeping a cool head. If you will be hunitng in pairs then most kids will follow example very well, so pay close attention to YOUR demeanor and emphasize and overemphasize placing the bullet in the correct spot. Go over it with them before hand and make it the focal point at the crucial moment when trigger happiness does its worst. Be sure to mix in some target practice to build some confidence and feel.



Its like using the squeeze method to stay a flinch, if the focus is on something else then they dont have a chance to get carried away.



I guess another way of putting what Im trying to say is to use reverse psycology, talk about placing the shot "precisley" and do so in a calm manner. Be specific about where to aim.