bigcountry

Private land, no chance of bothering someone elses hunt, I have absolutely no problems with it. Its your business. I mean, I don't consider it sporting, but it doesn't hurt me.

Now public land, first week of the season, thats a bunch of crap and just plain slob hunters. When I used to hunt WV, all the guys from PA would come down and do these drives. I could never understand why? What fun did someone get out of that? What skill was required.

killer243

we normally drive quite a bit during mid day. we'll go out and stand in the morning then push in the afternoon and then sit till dark. the way we drive is to normally have 4-7 standers and 3-8 drivers "jusy depends on how many guys we have" we only push on the private land we own. we'll have all the drivers walk at the same speed in a straite line anywhere from 20 yards to 70 yards apart depeneding on how thick it is. we shoot a good amount of our deer on drives. however we pass up on a lot of deer to. most of the time the deer aren't on the run unless for some reason they held tight and got pushed up at the end of the drive. when the deer are moving faster then a quick walk i will yell or grunt at them which will normally get them to freeze for a second or two

mauser06

i never thought id like doing them till last year.....my buddy invited me out to join his family and some of our friends....man is it a BLAST.....we know the land well.....and they been doing some of the drives for years....so we got it down to a science in some areas....we dont start till 11.....just so we dont ruin everyones morning hunts...and the drive leader is a farmer for a living and got to milk and such during the morning...but we try not to ruin peoples hunts...our drives are BIG....not just a little piece of cover...we get about 15 guys.....and we can get most every deer up and moving....and most of the time we have the man power to keep them going where we want them too....its a blast...to me it sounded unsportsmans like and such at first....just chasing the deer to someone to kill it.....but its harder then that....takes a well trained team of guys.....good shooters.....and alot of scouting and practice to get the drives to work good.....shooting can be TOUGH.....the reason we dont kill more is because shooting is tough...they dont like to run through open areas.....so it makes for a tough shot sometimes...though i killed mine in a pasture....it had nowhere else to go.....the main thing is having enough guys for the set of land...and having the shooters in the right place.....the drivers carry guns too if they want...they get good looks and chances at deer alot of times...its a blast....i love hunting alone...but hunting with a big group of guys its alot of fun too.....we laugh all day.....it does stink when you miss or dont get a shot at the big one that they put by you....because theres so many people there you dont live it down.....we still talk about the guys that missed LAST year....this year WHILE hunting we will still talk about the missers and the ones that got away....its a good way to get out the big smart bucks....they take a little bit more work though....took us a few hunts to get "ole drop tine" to even be seen....we seen him spotting....and early morning driving around looking for the deer...his area he called home was GIANT....he was spoted on 2 sides of the PA turnpike.....and we found out he used a TUNNEL underneath the pike to get back and forth....he came right by someone in late flintlock season...ME!!!! only thing was....he already dropped BOTH sides....i was sad.....the drive leader was trying to get him to me all season....(all late season...cant hunt there with a rifle in regular season so we saved it for late season)...we finally got him to come by me...20 yds i stopped him for the shot....looked for the antlers and saw where they should be....GIANT bodied deer....wish he had them antlers with the droptine...heard he was HUGE.....i never actually saw him with antlers.....cant wait for this year!!! good luck with the drives....its a blast once you get them to work.....pm me if you want to talk and get more info.....we are rather successful......something like 14 bucks and 5 or 6 does were taken by us last year in one township alone.......noone likes to shoot does or we could killed 100 does

ddc758

Mauser06
Your post sounds exactly like one that I would post, The first 2 mornings is quiet sit and let them move on their own, afternoon is all out drive, posters are placed by wind direction, and our drivers shoot as many deer as our poster do.
I've been hunting 28 yrs and only one yr did I try hunting alone NEVER again.

dr_pepper

Well since this is my first year hunting and everytime I have a question or comment I come here and look and find someone has beat me to it...so heres my story. This weekend hunting we ran into some friends who were telling me about this drive the neighbors were doing...and when this guy was walking to his stand he came upon a 6 pointer that had a shaddered leg....i think by the hip or the hip.....the buck was still trying to stand and get away. Well he put him down and had to use his tag....he was very upset saying they left him cuz he wasn't big enough. Now personaly I think someone should shoot the hunter and let him suffer.
JMO
dr_pepper

Trustee

If the deer aren't moving it's a good idea. It can be dangerous though.

NY Bowhunter

Effective way to see lots of pretty running deer yes. Personally I can't stand them. I'm not going to say it's not really hunting blah blah blah. If that's your thing then go for it. But here's my take on it.
To me they make no sense. My biggest problem with them is they effect stand hunters way of hunting. Stand hunters cannot effect drivers way of hunting. I love when I crawl out of bed get to my stand 1 hour before daybreak. Scouted all season and set up pretty good, and 30 minutes after first light a dozen guys go barelling through every batch of woods in the tri county area. Where am I going that day? Hunts over.
To me the idea of it being like quail hunting as someone already refered to it just weirds me out a little bit. Walking through the swail and kick one up and let r rip. Sounds like you should have a lab by your side or something. Not for me thanks.
Also the best way to get shot in the woods. I don't care how much of a gameplan or blueprint you have on your "organized" drives, or how experienced everyone is as a hunter. It's the best way to get lead flying at ya hands down. I'll take my chances in a tree.
And it's the #1 reason for driving the deer (especially big bucks) nocturnal. doesnt' take many times of 12 guys walking through a mature bucks living room to drive him to the thickest crap in the world and not move until well after dark. Bye bye to patterning and scouting you can throw all that all the window.
And lastly (well theres a lot more but enough for now)...... also the best way to see a lot of 3 legged deer. Argue with me all ya want on this one. You get someone flinging bullets at a deer going mock 10 out of the woods you're going to have wounded deer. I'm sure not everyone on stand are professional marksmen let's be honest about it. Soft pushes I dont' have as much of a problem with or 2 man pushes that go slow and try to bump the deer and get him walking. At least you can zero in on the vitals.

I know you will come back full force telling me your war stories of how safe they are and how you can shoot a bottle cap going 50 mph at 100 yards etc........ That's great for those of you that are safe and organized and do it on your private land and don't interupt someones hunt and can take an ethical shot and kill deer. JMO's

deerdogva

oh yeah this can be lots of fun. we used dogs on drive though also it legal here. where not the type of club that just throw the dogs in the woods and everybody hunt in trucks. everybody draws for stands and we do not line fields just because of the fact to give the deer a chance. then we have about 4 dogs drivers that will holler and hip to get the deer moving until the dogs jump. really exciting and my mind give the deer a fighting chance all it has to do is bust the field and its home free. or sneak through us which would be very easy to do because we never hunt closer then 200 yards till the next stander. but good hunting and good luck . just my two cents.