mauser06

i think i posted this before or it was on another board but i lost it and cant find it....but i was wondering what everyones views on driving deer is....i talk to alot of guys and they look down on me and my kills because i drive deer and take deer from drives.....i was wondering what your views were on it..just curious....they say its not hunting and its too easy and all that....i totally dissaggre......before last year i never been on a deer drive....me and dad did little pushes and such..but never a large man powerd drive.....we usually have atleast 8 guys.....rifle season our average is about 15.....some days we were close to 20-25 range.....but it took the drive leader years to get these drives to work....you have to know where to put your standers....where the deer are going.....where to drive through...lay of the land so you dont have people stuck on a cliff or giant creek to cross...theres just so much that you have to know to get a drive to work.......people think you just line up and walk through the woods and have people on the other end to shoot them.....that rarely works.....escape routes must be known...and shut off by a shooter or cut off before the deer get there......i used to think it was easy before i did it.....now its my way of hunting.....i love to hear the drivers hollar THERE THEY GOOOOOOOO....love to hear the guns going off....doesnt matter if its not mine.....we are out there to have a good time...and we do....just dont miss in a drive.....too many guys to ride you about it for years....its a blast....whats everyones views....im not trying to start a fight or argument...just curious....i know alot of guys that look down on us......but then again they just dont like us because we drive right by them....and usually take a good bit of deer every year....last year we took about 20 deer....something like 14 bucks.....this year we took 5 bucks and 2 does so far.....but alot of us couldnt hunt like we did last year becasue of work and such.....then again the guys wouldnt be mad if they sat still and caught the deer we were driving before they got up and left because they knew we were there and coming through......

rybohunter

Oh you will get lots of views on this topic. Maybe a little fighting.
I have taken deer off drives, they are very effective. The smaller the drive the smarter you have to be, when you got a huge group of guys all you pretty much need to do is shoot. Drives can be a fun way to hunt with a group of friends. They can also be used by groups to "wipe out" an area. Since I am growing farther and farther away from gun hunting, my participation in drives has drastically been reduced, and I don't like seeing people start large ones up in my hunting area. If you need to fill a tag, a drive is the easiest way.

Steve F.in MD

I'd say that if your group owns the land, or have exclusive permission to hunt on it, then drive away. If there are others who have permission to hunt, and prefer to hunt from stands, then it seems rude and inconsiderate to put on a big drive. I guess if you invited the hunters already on the property to take positions as posters it might not rankle so much.

Deerslayer_37

we do drives. the three biggest deer(196" typical, 208" non typical, 177" typical) that i heard of family friends shoot this year were shot during drives or before or after one. the 177" typical that our friend shot he got when he almost stepped on it in its bed during the drive. they're an effective way to get a good buck out and kill some does. it really brings out the comaraderie of the hunt.we've shot alot of good bucks off drives. we used them to lower our doe population at our big tract of land in wisconsin. killed 20 does for 3 years straight and now we're growing some nice bucks. almost 95% of them were shot off drives. on public land, i think it should be just smaller drives, 5 man tops. if i was sitting and somebody had a big drive and ruined my hunt, i'd be ticked off. for where we hunt, 15 guys would be perfect, but we usually get by with 10. we had a drive work to perfection this year in iowa: all the escape routes covered and we knew the neighbors and people on public land had pushed the deer into that block of woods. i had 50 deer come past me. got a nice buck and a big doe out of it all. drives done right=filled tags

BowHuntingFool

Not my cup of Tea!

WVCritter

I like to do a 2 or 3 man drive in gun season. Where I hunt more than 3 is just a bit crowded. I've used a 2 man drive in bow season back in my early days of bowhunting but have since figured out that tree stand hunting is far more productive.

TXhighrack

A deer drive is a horrible way to hunt. Its funny how some people will bash high fences and hunting over a trail of corn, yet they think "deer drives" are just fine and dandy. Not only are deer drives dangerous for the hunters, there very un fair for the deer. [:'(]

JerseyJim

I've always enjoyed deer drives. When planned out right they can be a fun and productive way to hunt! When I was in a club we would do big drives with 10 to 15 guys. Now I hunt with my father and one other friend so we do small drives or soft pushes. One or two guys standing and one or two still hunting! When the deer have bedded and the woods get still theres nothing wrong with getting them moving! It is also a great feeling to go into a thicket and to hear my father or buddy shoot. With the teamwork involved you feel a part of that kill even though you didn't do the shooting! Done right I think it's a great way to hunt and to share a part of the hunt together! Just my .02 ....

young_gun

im not all for deer drives, like huge group ones, but im not exactly agenst then either. i think that pushing deer like 2-3 man drives arent too bad but when you have more than that, thats when it gets dangerous. Tx, how are they unfair to the deer? so would you also say that using a gun over a bow and arrow is unfair to deer? im not trying to start something here i am just wondering

cardeer

Depends where it is done. In hundreds of acres done properly and no machine gun shooting OK I quess. But the driving of small 1 to 5 acre plots then shooting ever deer that comes out is stupid deer management`