The Glade 4.0

I thought they smelled bad... on the outside."
-Han

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

I don't know if my answer to that question applies to everyone or not, but from my perspective, it has to do with anticipation mixed with surprise. I have never suffered from buck fever on a drive or walking, but when sitting in a stand for a few hours, you tend to relax, and small signs will keep you constantly on edge with lots of false positives, so when that deer just magically appear in front of you (and they are so quiet, that's exactly what it can be like... you look once, glance the other direction, then look back a second later and there it is out in the open), all that anticipation can make you nervous, getting your heart rate up, and people with less experience start to think if it appeared that quickly, it can just disappear that fast too, so they need to hurry up and get the shot off, sometimes taking bad shots due to distance, angle, or just not taking the time to calm down and aim.

Add in the sense of elation/release/relief if you put in the effort to scout the area, set up, etc and its easy to get a bit worked up.

I don't believe, at least for me, its because of any association with bambi/rudolf or anything so romantic, because I can get that same tinge when a big boar walks out into my hunting area as well, and they are ugly, dangerous beats with no singing kumabata (sp?) in the background.

Squirrels are complete different because frankly, they are stupid easy to get... you can just sit on the ground in just about any hardwood stand with a decent .22 or .17 and get your limit (if you state has one). Plus, you hear them coming from a mile away with all the chatter, foraging, running up and down the bark.

Its a completely personal bias, but I don't consider that hunting. If you aren't going to eat what you shoot, you shouldn't be shooting it (criminals excepted), and killing it just to have a trophy is less than worthless.

Speaking of which, I was looking at this site in regards to buck fever and though this was interesting:

http://www.buckfever.com/



I also notice NJ has wild turkey to hunt, that might be a good start for me I think. I wonder if the meat is good? I shall investigate.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Wild turkey, like most wild game, tends to be a lot leaner, so the meat if cooked like farm bred animals, will dry out and be tougher... you won't be cutting wild turkey breast with a butter knife. People that are used to farm raised animals also tend to think wild game has a stronger flavor that is disagreeable if cooked in the "normal" manner. Personally, the few times I have had wild turkey, I liked it better, especially the legs.

As for a good "starter" game... I don't know about that. Turkey hunting takes a lot more skill/training than most of the other typical game animals I can think of, plus in this state, you cannot shoot hens, only toms. It is very, very unlikely you will just walk into the field with standard hunting gear and have any success.

I can think of other things I would look into first.

Yeah, I thought turkeys are one of the harder things to bag.

Thanks for the feedback on buck fever, and your thoughts on big game hunting. I have similar feelings about that, but I don't feel the same way about "food" hunting, if you will.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

I'll agree that just killing an animal to kill it is bad. Many sport hunters actually have something set up to do with the animal remains if they don't use it themselves. I've tried more than a few odd types of meat from this guy before. And it's not like you can bring back hundreds of pounds of meat from Africa very easily, they donate it to the local peoples or there's something else set up to do with the meat.

Hmm maybe I was just thinking turkeys would be easy since I see them now and then in the local park and they appear pretty oblivious to people at distances of over 20 yards.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Like I said, its a personal bias, and certainly nothing against you Jocificus, but from my perspective, that is a bogus defense. He isn't there to feed the village, he is there to kill some exotic animal to add to his "resume". Donating the meat, while better than letting it rot in the field, is just a byproduct of his intent.


Those are 99% likely to be hens or hens with juvenile males, none of which are legal game (at least in SC, but I believe in NJ as well, since they had to be reintroduced to the state a couple decades ago). Toms are solitary except during mating season, and take a lot of effort to call/find.