Deer Drives...
 

Has anybody done one? Was it successful? Tell us about it...

RE: Deer Drives...
 

i have done it the past 2 seasons for a weekend each time. we were unsuccessful both seasons but then again no one in the group got anything the rest of the season either in that area.

its great if you know for sure where the deer are AND you have enough people to cover all the exits that the deer might take. with that in mind, you need to be very careful and know where your shooting lanes are. saftey is always first.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

i love deer drives. I always see a lot of deer but its sometimes hard to get a good shot off. I dont like drives with a lot of people...for me 4 total is plenty and most the time a 2 man drive is the best. I took a 14pt in 97 and a 10pt in 2005 off of drives.....but i have passed up a lot more on drives!

RE: Deer Drives...
 

W e have had pretty good success with drives. As with any style of hunting it is very hit and miss. Pick a good piece out wrap it up with however many standers you have then send the driver in on the side that will carry his scent through the block of woods. Slow quiet drives often lead to slowly escaping deer(sneaking out) where as loud disruptive drives often lead to deer busting out of there in a real hurry. Just based on my experiences though.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

i have never been involved with one but i have heard many success stories. Its not my favorite form of hunting but definitly effective. good luck

RE: Deer Drives...
 

We do alot of drives up here during shotgun / muzzleloader season. We are very successful.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

deer drives work great, But you still have to get out and do your homework

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I've done a few but not my favorite way to hunt. Safety first though and I wouldn't even consider doing it unless I was with a good bunch of safe experienced sportsmen.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

we do them after the 6 day firearm season to push the deer up from behind the houses.
we've only shot does and foxes during our drives, but the one year i didnt go to do the drives they shot a 135" 9 point and a 120" 8 point. drives are very hit or miss. it is also necessary to know the land and to trust the people ur driving with.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I took my first deer, and my first muzzleloader deer, both doe, on drives. Drives can be very successful if you know which way the deer prefer to run.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I think deer drives CAN be effective. Last season my friend shot a 145 3/8 class buck off of one...and this year another buddy shot 2 does off of one...BUT I dont care to do them on my property...strictly because you are pushing deer around that might potentially never step foot back on the property.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

me and my crew only do deer drives. from the first day of rifle to the last day of flintlock. opening morning we stand hunt till lunch time. after that its all drives. we dont start every day till about 11. the "leader" is a dairy farmer and works till 10 or 11. then we drive. some of us (me) stand hunt before we drive...depends...

i started when i was 16 with them. so i got 4 seasons with them. we are decintly successful. killed a couple wallhangers that otherwise wouldnt have been killed by stand hunting. the pressure in the areas without us driving is very high..the only way to see deer IS to drive them out...

takes alot of knowledge though. we dont run with 25 guys. we run with 4-10 generally. we like to have a couple drivers and a couple shooters. (drivers still carry guns unless they are tagged out) over the 4 years i hunted with them we killed a pile of deer as a whole. i personally killed 4 does and 1 scub 6pt. passed 100s of does and bucks. sucks having to cou nt points...i know i passed 1 legal buck(buddy killed it) and probably more than that...but thats hunting

its a good time...we have fun..lots of comrodity etc...gotta watch for the A-holes though...pick your group wisely. this year i got prettty upset at my buddy...hes my best friend...3 of us were hunting. 1 driver..me and a buddy sitting. my buddy was on the next ridge 100yds away. a NICE 8pt was running RIGHT at me in flintlock season. i crack back the hammer and sneak the gun up...i was gunna wait till he was on my lap to drop him. i was sitting on the trail he was running. when hes 30yds away my buddy fires. told me he didnt think i was gunna shoot and he knew he wouldnt hit him...but had to shoot at the buck. i was jacked...hes still my best friend....i got pretty mad at that though.

also....your drivers(we call em deer dogs lol) gotta be in shape. to keep deer running the right direction you gotta keep on them. if they climb a hill guess what...you climb the hill. they run in a multiflora rose patch...you gotta get them out...

gotta know your stuff...gotta know the escape routes, where to send drivers, where to post the shooters, where the deer will be, where the deer will go, where the deer will disappear and sneak out to etc...

gotta have permission on ALOT of land. we will cover probably 4-6 properties a day...we got about 15-20 areas to hunt...some are big, some are small...alot comes from the farmer..he farms alot of land and knows alot of people..we generally dont hunt the same area day after day...we usually loose the deer to posted land etc and gotta wait for them to come back...all depends..

gotta have good shooters. nothing will ruin a day worse than a gutshot deer. that will make everyone mad. bad shots happen....but deer coming out of a drive will stop and give you a good shot. no need to waste a day chasing a wounded deer around...noone likes that.

with a good group of guys serious drives are a great way to hunt. weve done it on small wood lots clear to giant spreads of forest...smaller lots are easier...big BIG woods give the deer too many outs...

RE: Deer Drives...
 

driving deer will get meat on the ground.It will also get deer wounded,as most people dont know how to stop a deer before shooting.It also increases the chances of an accident.And its just my opinion that a buck shot on a drive is because he was too smart to kill any other way.Its kind of a slaughter to me.And somehow shooting a buck on a drive is differant than shooting a doe.Thats just me talkin though,so no offense to anyone out there.I dont have trouble stalking or standing so to each his own i guess.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

The reason I brought this up is I just saw a huge buck killed on Dream Season; I dont like the idea of scaring deer off my property though.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

Yea, I have been on deer drives. Yea, they work. I find them annoying and basic slob hunting. I do not call it hunting, but driving. Hunting to me is learning deer sign, and how to read it, doing your homework, and it paying off. Hunting is sneaking in that critters home and him not knowing it. Driving is basically stranding an animal, giving him very little way out. I would love to see it banned, myself. I killed a large 8 point 10 years ago on a drive. And I was never proud of that kill.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

Have never done it! I like tohunt it and out smart it on his own turf!:)I like to think that I am getting better at finding Tracks, Rubs, Scrapes, Bedding areas, Funnels and all the rest of the knowledge that it takes to out smart it. Hey, this is JMO!:)

RE: Deer Drives...
 

After the first couple days here in Pa. our group does alot of drives and we are very successful.I agree with whoever it was that said you need to be familier with the land your driving.We also do some 2 and 3 man drives with alot of success.We shoot alot of does but we also get a few decent bucks off drives.On 1 drive last season a group I know of killed 5 yotes in 1 place.The secret is dont drive to big an area cut your spots into smaller chunks and take alot of ammo.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I have been involved with numerous deer drives over many years. They were all good hunts, and most provided meat to a few lucky individuals. However, when numerous persons get together in a "party-style" hunt, inevitably someone eventually shoots something they do not have a tag for and you are involved. In spite of how you personally might feel about that, it's not a good thing for your future as a hunter.

Drives can also be pretty dangerous as afore-entioned. If you are going to drive deer set some rules:

Don't carry a weapon unless you have a tag... don't shoot a deer unless your tag will "fit" the deer in question, and finally, prepare yourself mentally for what you will do when other members of this party do not adhere to the rules.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

sometimes its a must... i dont care how sneaky u are or how good u are at "fiding deer sign" after 3 or 4 days of guns goin boom from daylight to dark deer "vanish" they know somethings up.. there on high alert they eat at night lay all day... if u wanna see deer u MUST push them...

RE: Deer Drives...
 

You would love to see driving deer banned!! I still can't believe some of thethings I read on this site from fellow hunters. Slob hunting?? Come down here to Southeast VA and hunt some of these swamps and thick woods andsee how much deer movement you see during daylight hours after the first week or two of gunseason. For the first 6 weeks of season(archery and blackpowder) we stand hunt, then for the first couple of weeks of gun season we stand hunt, after things slow down the last few weeks of season we stand hunt in the morning and do drives during the day and then sometimes sit on a stand againjust before dark. My dad, my brother and I have been doing two or three man slow push drives for as long as I can remember, we must be no talent/skill slob hunters. "Hunting is learning deer sign, how to read it, doing your homework,"and all of those things still apply if you want to do a successful drive. Like any of that is real hard to do anyway, like killing a deer in a stand is so difficult and hard to do, yeah right. Next time you kill a deer take a look at the size of its brain, killing them is not that hard unless you make it that way or live where there are low numbers. Quotes like the one abovemay be justopinions butthey arealso direct attacks and aninsult toanyone who may be used to that style hunting or have been brought up in a region where that is a common practice. Is itimpossible to state your opinion, that you don't like driving deer, without adding that itin your mind it is slob hunting and should be banned?

The most important part of that quote is the first three words. Is it so hard to understand that justbecause you don't like it or it isn't hunting to you doesn't mean that others might consider it hunting and actually enjoy it and take offense to your above comments? Don't get me wrong you are certainly entitled to your opinion it just seems like more and more oftenon this site and others that the contents of manyopinionsconsistsof bashing other hunters more than anything else.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

Sorry you got your feelings hurt. Most every hunter I know, feels this way. You dont.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

My feelings hurt?? You stated an opinion and I statedone in opposition, maybe you misread, not surprising that seems to be a common occurence for you if I am remembering correctly. I think it was obvious from my post that I don't feel that way and I doubt every hunter feels that way. But I guess if every hunter "you" know feels that way there area lot more holier-than-thou hunters out there than I realized, or maybe it's justan epidemic in your area. Probably something in the water up there.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I agree NEW... We do our scouting... Take full advantage of the limited hunting pressure during bow season and do fill many tags that way as well.
I'd like to see many of these people come up here and continuallykill deer w/ out driving after the first to days of shotgun season up here. Hunting land is limited and there are tons of hunters...
I certainly wouldn't consider myself a slob... nor the others I hunt with. We are all very successful hunters in our area.
I take offense to that.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

Here some folks do it, but, it is illegal to drive deer in this state. But, I like to try and stalk after them anyways and have been quite successfull of it. No need for me to change.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I had a hard time dealing with the drives on public land last year,and was wishing it were banned.Ya get a couple hundred acres with 4-5 guys in there sitting and thats too crowded for me already.Now all of a sudden theres 30 more hooping and hollaring,throwing beer cans all over the woods,and blasting everything that moves.Those are slobs.And id keep walking if i saw one of them wounded in the field.He got what he asked for.A 2-3 man slow boost doesnt bother me much.Those deer will be back in a few hours.I realy dont even call that a drive.Im sure alot of the huffy responces are triggered by the same thing.Big crews make hunters look bad.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

It is amazing to me that so many hunters on this forum feel that any hunting other than the way they do things isn't really hunting at all. [&:]

I personally have never stand hunted, but I am not running around saying that anyone that stand hunts is too lazy to get out and do some walking. In different parts of the country different techniques work better than others. Some techniques (like stand hunting) don't work at all in some parts of the country.

In eastern Montana where I grew up you are not going to be very successful stand hunting unless you are in a river bottom system on private land. Hunting mule deer where there are 5 deer per square mile and you are covering 10 square miles in a day on public land it works pretty well to set one or two people at the end of a draw and have one poor sucker walk down through the brush and pushing deer down thedraw. About 1/2 the time there aren't even any deer in that draw. About 1/2 the time you do see deer, the only deer you see are does. Maybe 1 out of 20 draws that you work you will see a decent buck. MAYBE.

I have no doubt that I could work a draw by myselfand have a good chance at getting close enough to shoot a deer if I worked it slow enough. But it would take maybe 1/2 a day to work one draw. Using 2 or 3 guys you can work a draw in an hour or so and move on if there are no deer there. Working one by yourself you are going to take 1/2 a day and there may not even be any deer in there and you will always be 2nd guessing yourself whether you did something wrong and they moved out or if there really weren't any in there to begin with.

And it's not like it is a slaughter or anything. There are still plenty of times when the deer just do something wierd and go up the wrong side of the draw or the wind swirls and they catch the scent of the guy waiting or something like that.

Just because someone is doing things different than you are doesn't mean they are a slob and a lazy hunter. [&:]

My two cents. Nathan

RE: Deer Drives...
 

If it is illegal in some states or areas then of course they shouldn't be doing it there. Also on most of the public land I hunt drives are not allowed for safety reasons (not knowing where every hunter is) and I can understand that too but on private property(or public property if allowed)under controlled/safe circumstances, I'm all for it.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

That is a bad situation and definitely not safe. I've never been exposed to something like that but have no doubt it occurs. Those guys are slob hunters regardless of if they are doing drives or not probably.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

This thread is hilarious! If you participate in deer drives, they are great and an excellent way to "hunt", BUT if you don't, the participants are "slob hunters" or should not even be considered hunters at all. I personally put deer drives in the same catagory as baiting (which I am not a fan of but do some myself for hunting hogs and does). Drives and baiting both increase the chance of see a deer due to altering the deer's natural behavior. I think we will all agree that it would be "best" to hunt a scrape or game trail, but for those of us with limited time or several "management" tags, increasing the odds with either drives or baiting is the best options.

I ain't throwing rocks at nobody due to how they want to kill their deer. This sport is supposed to be fun, but some of us get way to serious about the methods of others.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

New, I stated my opinion, you stated yours. There's no reason to try to get personal. You don't like my opinion, I don't like yours. Just the way life is.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I have no problem with drives if you are doing it on private land. My problem is that I was on a large hunting club last year with about 50 memebers. The club included roughly 12,000 acres of land. Not everyone knew (or cared) where everyones else was hunting. There was a group of guys who were friends with the president of the club and thought they owned the entire club. I would be sitting in my climber hunting and then I would see 5 orange vest headed my way hooting and hollaring completely ruining my hunt. I had this happen to me 3 different times. This is the kinda thing that I don't like. I am not getting back on that club again next year.

I have not real problems with a group of guys who are hunting private lands and know that nobody else is still hunting in that area does a drive. I know when I was little, when my dad would get down off of his stand, he would walk through the thickets instead of the trails to get to me to see if he could push anything my way. I have killed 2 deer this way.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I didn't try to get personal originallyand yes you stated your opinion and it was something along the lines of:
So as someone who does do deer drives and is in no way a slob hunter,I might takeyour opinion as well as your lttle jab about getting my "feelings hurt" personallyand my response as it was directed at you , you can take personally if you like. No ill will just speaking from the other side.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

You know in life new your going to find people who thinks all kinds of different things about you. Not everybody is going to think the same as you.

So if a person feels a certain way about a subject, how do you feel they should post?

RE: Deer Drives...
 

We reserve drives strictly for the last day or afternoon of firearms season here in IL. It certainly will spook the area - that's why we do it as a final thing.

And YES it is private land.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

As I stated in my first post in response to your quote:
and:
So I guess my answer to your question would be to state your opinion without the colorful descriptions of drive hunting being slob hunting or calling for it to be banned. That is just me and I know that you have the right to state your opinion however you want butif it does contain things that may be offensive to other hunters don't be shocked when they speak up about it.

Also the condescending attitude is nice:

Thank you far that tip/life lesson.If I were a 10 year oldI mightfind it to beuseful but since I am not it just comes across as smug. Again just my opinion.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

Again New, sorry I hurt your feelings. but you do come across a little on the young side, that gets thier feelings hurt easily. Look back at your posts. You could have said, ok, people don't like it, and don't think much of it, and be sercure that you feel differently. But you didn't and it showed. So, yes, I found it good to remind you, not everyone in life is going to agree with you. hey, its just ones man opinion. Don't read so much into it.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I'm pretty sure that re-reading the postsis not necessary(for me anyways). I took offense to you stating it is slob hunting and that it should be banned. For you to imply that it hurts my feelings(again) or that Iseem "young"is another attempt to belittle me or discredit what I am saying. For an opinion to hurt my feelingsit would have to come from a person who has an opinion that I value. An opinion that I take offense to can come from just about anyone. I could have justsaid "OK some people don't like it" justlike you could have just said "I don't like it". You didn't just say that though, you chose to say it is slob hunting and should be banned and I chose to say what I said in reponse to that. I wasn't reading into anything, I was reading what was there.

Bottom line: You don't like it, think it is slob hunting, and should be
banned and I disagree on all fronts.

RE: Deer Drives...
 

ok you say so:D

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I'm not for it or against it, all I know is that scaring something to do what it nornally wouldn't; that to me just doesnt seem right but i'm not one to say! It gets the job done i guess...

RE: Deer Drives...
 

I've hunted some places in S.W.Va,N.Caro,S.Caro,Ga.Md.and P.a that are so thick you woulde'nt see a deer if it were standing 10feet in front of you.To say deer drives are slob hunting is assanine.Driveing deer with dogs has been a tradition in the south for 200 years or better.
There are to many outside influences trying to divide or do away with the hunting community now that we cant afford all this in fighting.Its okay to not like the way another does things but aslong as its within the rules I dont see the harm.
Geeeeezzzzzzzzzzzz I think some of you fellers need to get laid!!!!!!