rangerstud620

I have never actually done a drive, but the area I hunt has a fair amount of people that do make drives. I don' t like it at all when they come through making all kinds of noise. I feel that does more harm in pushing the deer away from that area into a less pressured area. I do think that small drives of 2-5 people who know what they are doing and are using the still-hunting methods that were previously mentioned can be very effective. However, I still like seeing the deer moving naturally and unpressured. Is it hunting? Sure, if it' s done legally.

TJF

rangerstud620

I wish we had more trees here for stand hunting or stillhunting. The deer are pressured long before the rifle season starts in my area. September is the only month you can pattern deer. Once October 1st hits and the duck/goose hunter swarm the area with 4 wheelers and setting up on any slough where the deer bed, the bigger bucks and older does head for thicker cover and move mostly at night. I do agree that hollering and big groups are not to my liking either but each their own on that. Since over zealous drives do tend to move the deer to other areas, we have gone to the smaller, quieter approach and try to give an area that we push a couple days to a week of rest before hitting it again. Since some of these spots are very good spots that the deer call home, they will filter back into an area that has been pushed and some never leave it but circle around the hunters. As long as the does come back the bucks tend to stay in the area.

Two season' s ago we walked one of our best areas. We pushed out a fairly decent 4pt but the one guy missed it. He was bummed as it would have been the nicest buck he had ever had a chance at. Needless to say he wanted to hit the spot again the next day. I wanted to wait and give the area a couple days at least but the group decided to push it. They kicked the same buck up but this time the buck stayed low, in the cattails and out foxed them. The guy did get a shot but I think buckfever set in and he missed again. We are talking one real bummed hunter now and off course we didn' t help as we teased him about letting the big one go twice and maybe some practicing was in order. The next morning most of us had to work. About 9 this guy pulls in the farm. He had shot a buck and stopped to show us. I am thinking it was just to make sure we knew he could hit a deer as he was all smiles and giving us a bad time about having to work. He left and about an hour later he pulled back into the farm. He was bummed again as it had gotten the best of him and he went back to the area to where he had missed the big buck. The buck was back and was chasing a doe. All that he could do was watch which after missing it twice I think he got his just reward.

This buck had been kicked up and shot at two days in a row. I would say he had been pressured yet he came back. Drives if done right will not chase deer out of an area or at least keep it to a minimum. Over driving an area will of course but then that' s not smart hunting. Since I like other methods of hunting also, I don' t want to see them push out of our area as it would only hurt my chances to fill a tag. I did kill a bigger 5pt a week later in that same spot while hunting solo. I also saw 3 other smaller bucks. Not bad for 40 acres and I only coverd half of it before getting the 5pt. North end is usually good for one or two.

Tim

Proff

I am with rack attack on this one. I guess that I am not a real fan of slinging lead at a deer running full speed. My opinion of deer drives come from my experience with the garbage that I see here in Northeast Ohio during the yearly slug law. First I must state, I am exclusively a bow hunter. I have never hunted deer with anything other than a bow. Never will. I have budies that hunt the week of shotgun law. I have no problem whatsoever with the guys who go out and actually get in the woods and hunt for the deer with guns( be it on stand or still hunting). That is cool with me. But the majority of the guys here are what we call heater hunters. The hunt in large groups, it is nothing to see 25-30 in a group. They drive around until they see deer. Here in our area everything is small woods and open fields. These guys surround the woods the send guys through and run out the deer, then the guys on the outside slaughter them. Throw em in the back of the truck and head to another woods. No trespassing signs mean nothing this week either. If there are deer and a woods, it will be pushed regardless if there are permission slips or not. It is truly sickening. People hate this week. I am talking non hunters as well as law abiding hunters. Many farmers will not let anyone hunt because of trouble they have had with these guys. We have one game warden per county and he is run ragged all week. They hate it too, and believe me that comes straight from there mouths. I have seen deer with 6, 7 -8 slugs in it, from different guys. Belive me, there is nothing that makes a guy madder that spends the whole year before the season scouting, setting stands, shooting the bow etc. Then hunting hard the early season waiting for that buck you have been after. Then gun week rolls around, and that guy that hasn' t been out in the woods since last years gun law goes in and buys his liscense the day before the season, meets up with his 10 buddies, loads up the trucks and 4 wheelers and pushes every woods in sight, including the woods that only you and your hunting buddy have permission for, and end up killing all kind of deer in your area. They never scouted, never put any effort into it. just pulled out the gun a fired away. Then you hear them at work bragging about the big buck that they chased for several sections and finally brought it down after hitting it 3 or 4 times. Thats hunting!! Sorry, but that is the idea that comes to mind for me and my buddies, and many other of the caring and hunting loving sportsmen here in our area.If you want to think that I am exagerating, that is fine. But I challenge you to find any honest law abiding true hunter here in this area that won' t agree with me. That is the way it is here. maybe in other areas and different states driving is different. I am sure that you do get alot of excercise doing it. Maybe it is alot harder where some of you guys do it because of the larger peices of timber. But I know what driving is here, and I never, ever want anything to do with it. I heard one old road warrior in our area ( who a year later was busted in the off season for poaching two deer and busted during gun week for shooting out the window of the truck he was in) put it perfectly when confronted about the way the hunt. He said " Hey we are out here to kill deer, and that is what we do" He hit the nail on the head. They are there to kill deer. I want the hunt, the challenge and the staisfaction of knowing that me and the deer went one on one, and most days he wins. But on that day, I did things right, and a little luck came my way, and my family will benefit from the meat, and I will have a lifetime of memories from that one on one , up close and personal hunt. I will pass on the deer that was pushed and ran and shot at running full speed. I want to take mine up close and undisturbed because I scouted and made the right stand choice, not because other guys jumped him and he happened to be running my way. That is my idea of hunting.

paul w

I cannot agree with drive hunting as every year on opening day when I hunted private property a truck load of guys would come thru the woods barking like dogs, banging trees, making a joke out of the sport if you ask me and if any deer happened to move the lead flies everywhere!!! Where is this safe? How can you say its sportsman... sure its hard work but walking to the grocery store is to! If you were really thinking about the game you were after you' d remember ONE SHOT, ONE KILL!!! Just my opinion

TJF

Proff
I don' t doubt you a bit as we have our evils here too. I don' t like what you described, nor would I defend those slobs and I hope you don' t think all people who drive deer would. No ones says you have to like driving, gun hunting or any other legal method. That choice is yours. When you find the answers to your problems, please let me know as our Game Warden covers over two counties, is run ragged, the few trees we have are close to the road and I am just not brave/foolish enough to sit in a stand when a lot of road hunters care not about posters and will shot at any deer running out of/in the trees not knowing if someone is hunting in the trees. We have slobs that bowhunt out of stands and I would imagine the 2 deer and a moose with an arrow sticking out of all three less then 100 yards from a stand would have made the warden' s day if he caught the SOB especially as there was no moose season at the time. In the last 4 years, 3 moose have been found dead near my area during the waterfoul season. I know a few people who pull bows out the week before season starts. I jumped a few on that and all' s they say is these compounds are just like rifles and they don' t need to practice much to be ready for hunting. Sad isn' t it, or deer hunting ( poaching ) is still going on long after the season has closed here for rifle. People party hunt for deer (illegal) and I bet there are still quite a few wifes out there that have filled tags yet don' t hunt. Drives are abused here too by some. Do we ban these methods of hunting we have problems with or work to clean up the slobs who abuse them?? Bowhunting would be one of the first one' s on the chopping block. You start trying to take their methods away and since there are many more rifle/slug hunters that don' t bowhunt compared to all bowhunters, who' s going to win in that shoving match?? Which style of hunting does any state need the most for controling the deer population. It' s not bowhunting. I love bowhunting so don' t get me wrong and your area is no different then mine with quite a few slobs/proachers that are abusing a method/style of hunting. I know what it is like to find dead deer that were proached, poached and not found, lost and not found, and chased out of an area from slobs/proachers. I would imagine you do too. What method do you want to blame?? Sucks big time but it is not the method of hunting which is evil. Slobs are the problem. I hope you can find a cure to your problem and we can find one here. I don' t mean this as an attack on you nor I' m I defending the slobs in your area as it does sound horrid. I just hope by this that you can see where the blame really needs to be put as there are a few of us who drive deer that do respect hunting, other hunters and have a good sense of ethics. Just like bowhunting, I know my limits with a rifle and am not just slinging lead at running deer. I will teach my son the same ethics. I will not hang my head in shame because others abuse methods I use nor will I give up defending a method for the same reason. I wouldn' t expect you to either.

Tim

Jorgy

Well put TJF

jred

Is it hunting? Yes, it is. But is it ethical?

There is to much margin for error while hunting under the conditions of drive hunting.

Not very many people have the skill to place a leathal shot to a deers vital while it is at full bore and moving in every direction it possible can, this meaning up and down, over and under.

Deer can be taken by way of drives. but it is in my oppionion not a very good way to hunt.

Proff

TJF,
I agree copmpletely with what you said. Today at work I thought alot about my post and I hoped that I didn' t imply that everyone who gun hunts is this way. You are correct, there are low life slobs who bowhunt, shotgun hunt, and muzzleloader hunt around here. The problem isn' t the means, it is the jerks who abuse the privledges that they have to hunt. I do agree that I don' t want hunting in any manner that is legal or ethical to be scrutinized any more than it is. As I said, I have no problem with someone who takes the gun out in the woods and makes it a fair and safe hunt. Same with other bowhunters. I also know guys that claim to be bowhunters who pull the bow out the night before and go afield with the rusty broadheads and no practice etc. That makes me want to puke. But because the gun week here is 7 days long all the garbage is so evident because these idiots are on a big mission to slaughter as many deer as they can. Believe me, I could go on and on about the things I have seen and heard. We have talked to our game wardens several times. we have offered to take vacations and help patrol for no pay if the state would train and deputize us. last year my buddy had a perfect opportunity to videotape a guy jumping out of his truck and shooting right on the road ad a buck running into the woods we are the only ones with permission to hunt, but he grabbed the wrong battery and missed it all. We don' t let him forget that!! Si I hope you understand where I am coming from. I know that every group has it' s bad guys. But it is just so much more obvious here because of the types that are out that week. Hey there are some great hunters that hunt with the shotgun that week. They get out of their vehicles, hunt where they are supposed to and don' t run the deer from section to section until it' s tounge is hanging out. Unfortunately that is usually the case with the deer killed that week. If you saw it it would make you sick. I just wish that there was a way to stop all the poaching and unethical and illegal hunting. It would be great if the woods was full of sportsmen who respect the great lifestyle and heritage that hunting gives us. But there are always gonna be scumbags who don' t play by the rules. So hopefully there was no offense taken by anyone. I was not trying to lump all gun hunters or guys who enjoy driving deer in the category of the idiots that we see here. Just as you weren' t trying to lump all bowhunters in the group of idiots that you talked about. If you are a hunter and out there doing it the right way, and being a true sportsmen, regardless of your weapon of choice, I am standing shoulder to shoulder with you and backing you 100%. But if you are one of the mindless slobs who are there nraeking the law and hunting unethically, well, I won' t even say. No hard feeling with anyone I hope.

SwampTHING

Different strokes for different folks I guess! Whitetail hunting isnt the same everywhere,, try it in northern/central ontario where its nothing but swamp and cedars. The deer population is possibly 1 to the square mile.

Tell my uncle that his camp and the adjoining 2 camps for a total of around 20 guys total are unethical,,, they party hunt(legal), they hire guides, they do drives and they use dogs! by the way there are several Ministers and Deacons along with a couple doctors in this camp.

Ive hunted a couple times with them 75% of the shots are when they are stopped, looking back and forth down a logging road before they cross it.

Personally,, my camp does 2 or 3 drives toward the end of the week. Nothing big,, maybe 30-40 acres each maximum. We push them through very narrow funnels that hold someone with a sluggun. All are done on private property.

Jorgy

Jred, if you ever make it to Wisconsin for deer hunting I would love to take you out and show you a good push in the woods/swamp. It isn' t always like you described with the deer running full bore zig zagging as they go. If they are, it' s a simple matter of not shooting at a deer that you don' t think you can hit. I myself can' t hit a deer at full bore, so I don' t pull the trigger. It' s as easy as that.