It was this morning, second day of gun season. Bout 10 minutes till 10:00. A doe walked out. I saw her and shot bout a foot over here. And again 2 times i shot over her untill i held under her and it still hit the same spot, bout a foot behind her!!. Im 16 years old this was the first time i shot at a deer was my rifle off or was this "Buck Fever"???

Check your rifle on the target range. If it is still on then you had "doe fever"

Hang in there and keep after them.

Think it is Plinker that has this tag line,

"Aim small, HIT small".

Exactly where did you aim ON the deer.

No circles or colored rings to aim at on live game, and the lack of picking a very specific spot to aim at can lead to very large misses.

Aftyer a miss, it is important to confirm zero on the range, or while still in the field!

Change from benched gun to offhand can/will lead to change of point of impact.

Best of luck in the rest of your hunting career.

Better to miss, than to wound or lose the animal! Check your rifle out at the range.

I would also try to simulate the shot. If you were shooting offhand, sitting, leaned the rifle over a fence post, whatever, try to recreate the shot. The point of aim may shift from the bench, or you may find you need more practice with that type of shot.
Then again, it may be buck fever. I would love to tell you some of my blunders, but the list operators would make me change my handle to OldIdiot.

Well i was so nervouse i cant remember where exactly i was aiming. But i think it was the general behind the shoulder area. My rifle shot about 2 1/2 inches high at about 25 yrds. so i think i need to sight in both my rifles this weekend. When i say both i mean my new 30-06 too hehehe.

You should be shooting 2 to 3 in. low at 23 yds to be on at 100yds. The bullet path is a parabola. In other words. You look straight at the target but the path of the bullet begins below your line of sight (los) and crosses it about 25 yds out makes a curve and crosses los again about 100 yds out . You probaably had a 400 yd zero on that rifle. Good luck on your next hunt. You will never make a mistake zeroing your rifle before a hunt.

When zeroed at 100 yds you should be dead on at 25 yds because that is where the bullet crosses the line of sight. Which is exactly what cowboy said, But I am confused (and disagree with) his first statement that seems to contradict.

Yes, check your rifle at the range.

There is an old saying: If you have never been "skunked" then you have never been fishin'

I say it goes for hunting too. If you've never had "buck fever" or "(insert you favorite game) fever" than you have never been huntin'.

It can hit at any time and at any age.

I missed 2 broadside shots at 50 yards on my first Javelina 2 years ago.

Trust me, it was not the rifle, it was"Piggy Fever".

The trick is to control that "fever".

The day I never feel the excitement of seeing the game I am hunting is the day I'll stop hunting.

Ha, no chance of that happening though.

Another angle to the "aim small hit small' comment.

"buck/doe/pig/game" fever for me occurs when I shoot at any animal. When I lose the excitement, I guess I'll hang up the rifles. Anyway, my trick is to not aim at "the animal" but at a SPECIFIC part of the animal.

Once you decide to take the animal, pick your target POINT and forget about the rest of the animal...focus on hitting the target.

Then again I had a loose scope mount really screw up a hunt one time too, with results similar to yours. It doesn't hurt to check everything out...

2.5 inchs high at 25 well put you over a foot high at 100. With a scope one should be about 1 to 1.5 inch low at 25. with open sites about dead on.

Thanks for the info guys. Im glad i found this site. i dont know where i'd be without out all this great help. I gotta sight in this weekend for sure. A win m70 30-06 with 180grn accubonds and a savage .270wsm with 130 bt's. And trust me these will get a work out at 100 yrds.

CK,

when I started huntig with a rifle I was struggling to hit the barn from the inside!!!

I missed a fox one night at 80-120yds 4 times.... My mate took the rifle and shot the fox with the last round in the mag to prove the rifle was shooting straight. We then put out a plastic 2l Coke bottle and I put three rounds through the "O"....

"See.... Just think of them as coke bottles with legs...."

It counts for a lot to know when you have the fever and stop yourself from shooting. It still happens to most people bbut they just learn to control it.

Good luck,
FB

Coke bottles with legs?....Do they fizz like the real ones? Besides ima pepsi fan lol. Good way to think of it though thanks.

Good advice above. Aim small, hit small. I always try, at the last lining up of my sights on a deer, to say to myself, "Hit bone". I try to hit some bone to make sure I get my bullet to set up quick and send some bone fragments into the boiler room. It also tears up some running gear to make for a short blood trail if any.
Do you have these rifles scoped? Sometimes a scope makes a fair sized difference. I can place the bullet more accurately quicker with a scope. It sounded like you were using open sights. Good luck to you. Enjoy the learning process. Never stop learning. The youth and inexperience you feel now will wear off all too quick. Someday soon you will be old and a lot wiser. Enjoy the journey. Wiedmanshiel

They are scoped rifles....

quote:

Im 16 years old this was the first time i shot at a deer was my rifle off or was this "Buck Fever"???

Definately check your rifles zero but I'm guessing you have met "the fever" <lol>. I'm willing to bet you pointed the gun in the general direction of the deer and expected the BOOM to drop her. I'm also willing to bet that most everyone here has experienced that at one time or another in our careers. Keep at it and focus on hitting a specific spot. Experience will help. I hope I never totally lose the feeling of excitement when hunting.

Jeff

Yep!

Don't be to hard on yourself! Check your zero from a bench, the shoot a few from different positions. Supported the way you would in the field. It may make a difference.
It does sound to me like your scope is set up for some really long range stuff. At this point in your career I'd recommend setting up the rifle to be pinpoint at 100 yards. And don't be launching them at a great distance. Picking a point to hit on the animal is crucial, then Squeeze! Nate