Rock, you are right, I didn't mean an ethical act is based on the outcome. What you wrote below pretty much sums it up.


"To ethically drive deer you have to be willing to let them run by if its not right.
It becomes unethical when you start taking unethical shots whether you are driving deer or not".

We have done "slow pushes" for elk as well. The pusher walks with the wind at his back letting his scent drift ahead of him. Champlain Islander killed a nice 6x6 that I pushed to him. Worked out perfectly.

Yep, not reason to get them galloping past the standers when you can have them walk by.

Back in the old days in PA, there used to be a lot of those 10-20 man drives. No a days, we just do the occasional push. Maybe 6 guys total and we are just trying to gently nudge them. Most of the deer are actually shot by the standers as the deer try to sneak out the back door.

Very common in Wisconsin, also. We usually start doing a few drives about Thanksgiving, but the neighboring farmers start opening day of the 9 day gun season.

I grew up with it and see nothing wrong with it. Do I prefer that method? No, but it gets deer moving that you might not see otherwise.

One, many hunters on a deer drive haven't practice the art often, together. It combines hunters of different abilities. All hunters are not the same. That's some of its weak points.
A deer drive doesn't count all deer; some escape through certain imperfections of the hunters. Perhaps the reason for a deer drive in the first place; the basic imperfection of the hunters.

Better hunting, I find, is when the deer is moving and the hunter is stone quiet. That's not synominous with a deer drive.

I think Rockport it the nail on the head with the ethical and unethical discussion.

It's one of those, if you never practice shooting out the 300 yards and then one day see a deer walking at that 300 mark and you decide to take a shot, you are making an unethical decision based on the hopes that it will work out. When you go to the range, practice, practice, and practice and you are comfortable shooting that range and your range time supports this, then you are making an ethical decision supported by your ability and experience.

Years ago here in Vt deer drives were pretty common. Knowing the way game moves in a piece of woods as well as using the wind to your advantage makes a controlled slow drive productive. Many of the deer we used to get were actually killed by the pushers as the deer tried to sneak out the back door. If the drive is done quietly by experienced still hunters standing or walking deer are often the result. When on public land deer are often moved by one party or another. The difference between that and a slow drive is that everyone is aware of the placement of the other hunters on a drive.

I used to do some deer drives with a couple friends. Back before I learned how to hunt.

Really! Then I guess you shouldr impart your superior knowledge to the rest of us ignorant people!