RE: driving deer.....
 

Looks like this subject is just another one of those "If you don't hunt like I hunt you are an unethical hunter" subjects. If it is legal and you and your friends and family enjoy it there is nothing wrong with your style of hunting. Reread your reply to the high fence thread and reconsider.

RE: driving deer.....
 

I used to go along before I could hunt myself. You guessed it. I was covering miles in a day. I don't like to drive deer or any game. I like to try to take them one on one. I am however guilty of trying to find out how most people enter an area and try to figure the escape routes and be there when the deer slip out the back door. I like to try to second guess the big boys. By far not organized driving IMO. To each his own.

RE: driving deer.....
 

I personally dont drive deer . Not in groups anyway. Maybe walk to somebodys stand just to get em movin. I dont really believe in drives I think they are dangerous and maybe a bit unethical. But if ya own the land or have permission to hunt it have at it. As long as you arnt screwing up another hunters day.

RE: driving deer.....
 

We often use drives where the standers take positions in open fields and the drives push the deer or elk out of smaller areas of cover.We use two or three drivers and one or two people are posted.If drives are kept small and organized properly they are very safe.We are very selective about the animals that we choose to take,so we certainly don't try to kill every animal that comes out.How is a drive more unfair than sitting in ambush in a tower blind or treestand?

RE: driving deer.....
 

weve never had an accident or close call or anything of that nature......orange looks a little diffrent then a brown deer.....and we can hear the drivers coming from a good ways away.....kinda hard to mistake 4-10 guys marching in a line for a deer.....we dont whipe out areas either.....its not that easy.....even with the man power we have some days....we still cant get deer to get in range of the shooters every time....its still a hard hunt....frustrating too.....hearing how 10 deer doubled back and snuck out on us......or how there was a big racker buck headed the right direction and simply dissappeard.....deer are smart.....and we dont screw too many hunts...most of the hunts we do screw the hunters should be on the land anyway......the drive leader is my buddys uncle....a big time farmer...thats his living.....he farms tons of peoples land....knows all the land owners....they know how he hunts....and part of their agreement is for him to be allowed to hunt....helps out his crops too....he makes his living from his milk cows...they gota eat the corn and have the hay and everything.....too many deer will ruin a corn field in a hurry.....and leave him without enough corn for the year.....most of the land is posted to everyone except us...because the farmer has permission for us to do what we do....we dont go around to random places or public land and just march through.....and these arent little tracks of land....if they were it would be alot easier then it is.......someone sees a deer every day we hunt.....but its not always the shooters....and most of the time the deer dont make it to the shooters.....its not a deer massacre where we line up yards away from eachother and have shooters on the other end so its impossible for a deer to get away......they get away every single hunt.....part of hunting......and the unethical part....i just dont see it....sure if you were on stand youd probably never see the deer we take....but thats because they are smart....and the land is hard to access because of roads and houses and lack of permission....and alot of time deer just simply dont move here in the daylight much at all because the pressure is on them from bow season until middle of january.....they learn....i sit on stand till 10 or 11am most days we hunt in these spots...in great spots that deer have torn to shreds....but i have yet to see one from sitting there waiting.....they are just too smart to get up and walk down that path in the daylight....but when we drive it magically there are deer......right where i was sitting.....to each his own....im not here to start a fight....just wanted to hear some opinions....keep it clean and dont get all mad and we can keep this going and talk about it......i see your guys's points....but i have my own.....and the way we do it isnt all that bad......happy new year guys.....im getting my gear ready to go DRIVE deer tomarow.....cant wait......its going to be a fun day....nice weather too.....

RE: driving deer.....
 

Good luck tomorrow mauser06. I agree that done right and with respect for other hunters it is a great way to get deer and share the hunt!

RE: driving deer.....
 

For the record, I have gotten a few deer off of drives I wasn't involved in. This was on public land in PA.

These deer all circled around the drivers without them knowing it.

RE: driving deer.....
 

I have done drives before and taken some deer off them...they are good if they are small and organized and no one get sover excited ans swings on a deer towardf someonbe else...i ahd a bad experience this past year..i was posting down an old dirt road when the drivers pushed a group of about 7 deer between me and someone else...the other guy above me got excited and "forgot" i was there when he let 2 shots rip (3 1/2" 00 buckshot) thorugh the woods rite at me...i was laying on the ground behind a tree cuz i could see he was swinging on the deer and had a bad feelin about it...needless to say he missed teh deer and i stood up afterhe shot and dropped a nice 8 pointerout of the group that he jus shot at...buckshot is deffinately scary knowing that 15-18 pellets in each shot are coming your way and if one hits you your dead...especially that they aren't accurate very far away...

RE: driving deer.....
 

Ditto.

RE: driving deer.....
 

in southern Mn. i hate it -a deer jumps up runs across an open field( we have little cover for them when the crops are gone) and people are lined up in the ditches and everyone opens fire on it- one deer made it to the road and they kept shooting and hit a pick-up truck with the guy in it- its more off a slaughter than hunting IMO,

in more woody areas yes i like em- gives the deer a chance to survive by his wits

most of the deer are shot at least 3 times normally 5 with shotgun slugs not much left-thats why i hunt elsewhere