I feel it' s a personnel choice. I hunt on public land and the first morning of gun season sounds like world war three. After that the shooting drops off drasticly. By the third day it sounds like a few squirel hunters out hunting. The deer head for the thick stuff and pushing them out is about the only way to get them moving. You can sit all day and not see anything or get up and make something happen.

Oh boy!! I' ll start by saying Yeah I can' t condem them for it, but it sure does leave a bad taste in my mouth. I don' t think it' s any form of hunting. You don' t need to posses much skill to crash through the woods and jump deer. If your sitters are set up wrong...Oh well go to the next batch of woods and try again. I don' t see the science in it. I think it' s also a good way for someone to get killed. Aside from that I' m not into the whole shooting deer running mock 10. The thing I hate the most about it is this is the primary reason they go nocturnal quick and nestle down in places nobody will find them. Kinda screws the guys that are on stand and have been patterning and scouting them since spring. It' s wonderful when you get to your stand an hour before sunrise because you think you' re onthe perfect trail for the buck to be making his way back to his bedding area. First light comes and you see 20 orange people crashing through the woods next to you slinging deer everywhere. If you know/think where they are bedding down, why not hunt them and try to set a stand where they will be " walking to or from that area" instead of crashing through there to speed up the process of getting that buck. To me it' s goes back to the way society has become. I don' t know about lazy (physically anyway). It is taxing on the body, but it' s certainly not hunting IMO. Seems to me like a lack of desire to put the time in and hunt the deer. Kick em out fire some lead at them running and lets gut em and head back to the lodge for some beers. Nah not for me. I may not harvest as many as these barbarians, but I' ll stick to the real deal. HUNTING!!!!

Yeah right .....a 100 guys blowing whistles is really hunting.

but to each his own

As I think more about this, I place a lot of the blame on the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife of the states for the number of people who turn to driving as their primary form of hunting. In NJ, where I live and hunt, there is a 6 day gun season where bucks or does can be taken. This is often referred to as Buck Week because you are not required to shoot a doe before being able to kill a buck. Many people only hunt these 6 days and therefore they have a lot of pressure to get a deer for the freezer whether doe, spike, button, or monster. I am not sure why you can have a 62 day long permit shotgun season with Earn a Buck in place, but then have a special 5 day unrestricted season for the driving on-slaught.

Sounds like there is a split here between those who prefer driving to stand/still hunting.

comes down to our american infatuation with instant gratification

Drives are one thing that really makes me frustrated. The public land I hunt constantly has people doing drives come gun season. I don' t understand the need for them since our gun season happens right when the rut is going strong. The deer are moving on their own, they don' t need idiots pushing them.

Yes drives can be effective if done correctly, but I have yet to see a drive done correctly. Every drive I' ve seen consists of guys crashing through every piece of brush they can find while yelling back and forth at each other. A month ago, I was bowhunting when 4 guys decided to do a drive using the techniques I just mentioned. The guy that came by me actually had an arrow nocked. I can' t believe he was even imagining getting a shot at a deer considering the amount of noise they were making.

Drives are legal so to each his own, but it' s certainly not a method of hunting I plan to ever do.

The other day I had my son work a thicket for me, he can' t carry a weapon yet and it was midday.

To make things more interesting I was using my bow. You can' t hunt with the gun where I was.

He didn' t crash through the woods and the deer didn' t come flying. Actually the biggest doe I' ve ever seen did come crashing out.

He pushed two other doe and a really nice six point out.They just came walking out. I just couldn' t get a good shot.

You know what? We had alot of fun. He came out to me smiling ear to ear. He say' s" Told you I knew where they would be didn' t I ?

Let me ask you a question.

1. If you were sitting in a stand near a property line or on public ground and a nice deer came to you that was pushed would you shoot it.

Funny thing is, there are many different hunting techniques with many people ready to criticise the other. My uncle from Montana for instance does not consider our MI rifle hunt a real hunt at all seeing as we sit in shacks with heaters going and wait for a deer to walk by. Hey, it' s hunting and not always a guarantee to bag a deer. Driving isn' t a guarantee either. I watched a deer drive on Drury Outdoors the other day. I personaly find these guys to be among the top, most ethical hunters in the biz. So, I don' t think it' s wrong and not just because I saw the Drury bros do it. I really don' t prefer to have a deer pushed to me because I feel cheated out of the hunt. That is just me though. If any of you do it and like it. Go for it. Good hunting to you!

Perfect clean kill shot sure I' m going to. I' m not going to be part of sitting on someones tailgate with pens and paper drawing some kind of half assed ambush plan though. If I happen to be set up on a known trail where they are going to travel to their beds whether it be someone pushing them, hormones, tree falling and spooking them, someone fart, whatever. I' ve done my homework to be set up there whenever they move to that location. I' m not telling someone to go yell and crack stuff as loud as you can to drive them to me.