I can honestly say that when i began hunting I would get the MOST SEVERE case of buck/deer fever, when a deer aproached. I don't think anyone(short of someone passing out) could get much worse. it would start in one leg, shaking badly. I would try and shift my weight onto that leg and lock it against the platform. It would help, until the other leg would start. I would close my eyes and try to get myself calm, but the shaking would take over my whole body.
Once the deer was in the right place for a shot, i would draw back and hope I would hit it and then shoot. i never fully aimed and i always missed.
I finally connected on a young doe one afternoon. It seemed like my curse was broken. it wasn't that hard to kill a deer. The very next afternoon I shot another yearling doe(the first ones twin) from the same stand. A week later I took a mature doe from the ground not 200yds from the same place.
I started to realize how I was able to beat "The Fever". Granted, it sure didn't happen overnight. I was still getting it, just not as severly as before. It still rears its ugly head every once in a while, as it did this year with my recurve buck. The first deer encounter of the season usually results in some amount of fever as well. This all has led me to my conclusions.
Mind you, these are in no way scentific, but they are my beliefs...........at least pertaining to how buck fever affects me.
I have related all of these thoughts to Ray and Randy and they feel the same way. A quick backround on Ray should be in order. He lived and hunted in an area farther north than we do now. He was lucky to get a shot every year and was getting a deer every couple of years. he also used a longbow. he now has been hunting with me and shoots between 3 and 8 deer a season. He is still working through buck fever, but it is only in certain situations that it happens to him. Randy used to get it bad too, but had very little of it this year and took 4 deer in the 10 or so days he hunted, while passing on a few deer as well.
Rule #1:
Confidence! Have COMPLETE confidence. In everything. i mean everything. You have to KNOW that you have done everything you can already do when a deer is coming in. Know that your position is right. Know that you are concealed and the deer will not pick you off. Know that the deer is either gonna give you a shot or not, it's out of your hands(this assuming the deer is already in range, where calling is not an option). Know that when you get a shot, you WILL make it. You have your rig tuned and sighted in to perfection. You know you have the perfect broadhead for the situation
The key is to know you are prepared and know things will work out.
well, really.......that is it. only 1 rule. It's that simple......easier said than done, but still fairly simple. I am by no means claiming to be an expert in any subject. I have been lucky enough to have nearly a never ending season, unlimited tags and the time to get out in the woods. Because of all of this i have been fortunate and taken many deer over the years. I have also had friends who have also taken many deer. It seems to come to my 1 rule in all cases of buck fever.
In my case, as I stated, I was "hoping I would hit the deer" or at least hoping I would make a "good" shot. That right there planted the seed for failure. You can't "hope" for it you have to "know" it. Once I got the confidence that let me know that i would pull the shot off perfectly, buck fever for the most part has gone away. Honestly, i usually calm down right before the shot. i get into a "zone' and focus soley on picking my shot. The fever showed up this season with my recurve, simply because i had never killed with one before. The next deer I shot at with it was aa miss but not because of buck fever.....it was just a miss. the first deer of the season usually has me a little jumpy. hey, it's the first real surge of adrenaline since last year and everything, all the preperation and thoughts since last year have built up to this point. It's a lot to think about. i still usually manage to keep myself under control, because I know i am ready. I was telling BT and Spiker on the Hog hunt, as we pulled into the place. i was feeling pins and needles in my hands working up my arms. that is now the feeling i usually get, instead of shaking uncontolably.
Ray:
He gets target panic sometimes and has worked through that. the better he is shooting going into the season the less Buck fever he gets. He still gets buck fever sometimes, especially when he starts to think that a deer will pick him off before the shot. If a deer comes in on alert, he falls to peices and rushes the shot. This past season, we rattled in a nice buck. we, were in fairly open trees and the deer came in looking for the "other deer". The deer got in range and he rushed the shot..missing over his back. Had he waited and settled down, the deer would now be on the wall. He didn't "know" that the deer would not pick him off and he didn't "know" he would make a perfect shot. Now put him in a hemlock tree and a relaxed, feeding deer in front of him and we'll have backstraps on the grill that night
He is slowly starting to have confidence in his shooting and our set ups. I think soon enough and buck fever will be a thing of teh past for him.
Randy: Randy is my oldest hunting buddy. He is a GREAT shot. He'll school me at least half the time on the target range. he always got the fever when a deer came in...he got it bad. This year we flight tuned his bow(first time ever). He was able to hold dead on out to 30yds and be within a 4" circle. He didn't get the fever this year simply because he knew where his arrow was going to hit out to 30yds. He had no question of where to hold. He just held dead on and the deed was done. That was it, that in itself took 95% of the buck fevcer away from him.
BT: I'm going out on a limb here. I hope you don't mind BT. with a recurve, I have not encountered someone who shoots so well, so consistantly. we hunted together this year and both got into this stick of a tree. i was above him filming and he was all of 10' off the ground. The trail was in front of us and the deer would be darn close to eye level. Right away he was skepticle of the set up. He made mention of it and I could see it in is expression as we set up. A deer came in and was headed out way. He was standing and at the ready, facing the trail that would lead the deer 10yds from us, looking awau from us and at least a few feet below us. As the deer hit the 17yd (or so) mark, he was eye level and facing us. He was calm, BT wasn't. He turned and aimed as the deer turned nearly broadside. His shot looked great, but was just a bit low. It turned out to be a non-vital wound(to our best knowledge). (IMO)The thing that happened here was he thought the deer would pick us off for sure. He got the fever(I have the tape of him shaking) and took the shot. I believe had the set up seemed better, he would have remained calm. If he "knew" we had a ton of time and the deer would not pick us off. In this situation it boiled down to being confident in his shooting, but not in our set up. Back to rule #1........IMO of course
Now Let me finish this up. Of course we don't always make a perfect shot. we sometimes get picked off and sometimes we just miss. It happens, it always will. The key is to NEVER think about that. NEVER. Don't think about anything bad that has ever happened in the woods in the past. Now don't think that because I rarely get buck fever, that i don't get excited. After the shot, I usually turn to jelly and have to sit down. sometimes I jump around, do a "fist pump", shake uncontroably. I laugh, i smile and I thank god. This is all AFTER the shot though. That is the key.
The key is to know you are prepared and know things will work out.
He is slowly starting to have confidence in his shooting and our set ups. I think soon enough and buck fever will be a thing of teh past for him.
Believe me i could tell you stories. Really I can't say what it is or when it will strike(and it Will) but I think it boils down to a mental panic. I can't agree more with Skip that confidence is the best antidote, no matter what your shooting. Remember perfect makes practice. 
Don't Forget it. If I may say, it sounds like your "Point of reference" may be the only problem 
