buck fever

buck fever

1. Nervous anticipation and excitement felt by a novice or inexperienced hunter when seeing game (not necessarily deer) for the first time. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. Calm down, son, and get that buck fever under control or you won't be able to hit the thing!
2. Any feelings of nervous anticipation and excitement felt before a new experience. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. I had a bit of buck fever before my first varsity football game.
See also: buck, fever
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • ripple of excitement
  • go in with good cards
  • a shiver down (one's) spine
  • shiver
  • on tenterhooks
  • greenhorn
  • chinless wonder
  • beginner's luck
  • throw cold water on
  • throw cold water on (something)
References in periodicals archive
I started acclimating myself to buck fever the day I stepped onto that indoor archery range I mentioned earlier.
But exposing tactical fighter crewmembers to MiGs would reduce or eliminate the "buck fever" that could paralyze them on their first combat encounters.
You get one chance a year to overcome buck fever. You can have one-a-month, or one-a-week, match-pressure sessions to let you learn to deal with buck fever before your buck appears out of the mist.
Meanwhile, we'll help fuel buck fever by hitting some other hunting highlights, including Oregon's first black-tailed deer management plan, auction and raffle tags, and proposed increases in hunting fees.
You have to start somewhere, and "buck fever" can be a problem to begin with.
Even so, upon seeing a deer I'd get buck fever and just about shake out of the tree.
Add in the capacity of a large set of antlers to cause a massive mental meltdown, and it's easy to understand why even seasoned veterans get weak in the knees and succumb to buck fever. So, to be an all-around great hunting shot, you'll need to work on your mental game as well.
As I recall, this time it was, "He was huge, heavy and wide, and he had points everywhere!" I told her she'd see him again, and when she did to just try to be patient and control her buck fever. Of course, Lisa was convinced she'd never see that buck again, and she was really disappointed in herself for missing the shot.
Larry Weishuhn was in the midst of about of buck fever, and he knew it.
This is a mild form of buck fever, usually cured by practicing with the rifle until its operation becomes reflexive.
There was no sign of "buck fever" this time - even though Gunderson was looking down the barrel of his rifle at a trophy rack of antlers that could cause trigger fingers to tremble on even veteran hunters.
I opened the message to find a trail camera picture of a deer that instantly gave me buck fever. Not only was the picture of a huge buck, but it had been taken just that day.
When a big buck starts walking my way and buck fever starts setting in and my heart rate is going through the roof, I use the same techniques to try and calm myself down and breathe so I can take a nice, controlled shot on the animal as I do when my nerves really act up in a competition.
It could be the answer to defeating the very real iceberg of buck fever. But overlooking sound strategies, common sense, and banking on quickie shortcuts could steer you right back into the path of seasonal icebergs.
A highly visible monster mule deer is the most contagious carrier of buck fever in the world, and if you decide that hunting rutting mulies is on your bucket list, you'll contract it sooner or later.