fastfire

I never drive anything till the last day.
Let others drive the deer to you.
If we still need a few deer we will drive the last part of the last day.
I have shot many deer that the property next door sent over on one of there drives.

S.Texas

You dont acutally drive deer; they go where thay want to. Successful drives are usually done by people who know an area extremely well. Slow quite drives are not bad. Know where to drive and knowing where to put your standers can make for a successful drive.

You actually drive cattle - you stir up deer.

ilbback

I would have to disagree with everyone. I hunt in PA and i own a deer camp in which we have been hunting and driving for 20+ years. Usually we sit the first day then drive the rest of the week.

My experience is that after the first day of rifle season the nice bucks go underground after the first wiff of human scent and gun fire. In my opinion your chances of harvesting a nice buck are better driving after the first day or two. I dont believe that a big ole smart buck will go far out of his home area, he is well acustomed to. Chances are if the area is so thick as you say it is you are probably going to walk by most of the ones you are trying to push anyway or they will move a short distance and run back thru your drive.

If you have 1200 plus acres I dont think you have to worry about pushing deer off the property for the most part especially if it is thick. IF you only had a couple of hundred acres to hunt then I would tell you to stay put.

Definately keep the antler restrictions and harvest antler limits going, whack the heck out of the does!!! I can honestly tell you that PA antler restictions are working. I have seen more nice 2 year old bucks in my area than ever before this year and the prospect for the future are even better.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

vtbuckrulrss

i agree with ilbback. my family regulary drives my uncles 140 acre farm, a little at a time. if a buck gets through the standers, they usually come back fairly soon. we have pressure all around us. if the does have found a home and food they like on yor property, if if you scare them off, they do come back, sometimes as soon as that evening. and where the does go, so do the bucks, and then we all now what happens next.....supper. 1200 acres, don't even worry about it. you will never penetrate that much land in a drive over a weeks time period. set up standers, move slowly and quietly, no silly pots and pans banging or shouting like idiots. the pushers may get a shot off themselves that way, and use the wind. your scent will naturally push them, disturbing them far less than a noise.

S.Texas

LIke I said - your stir up deer, you drive cattle.

We will now note this procedure as a deer stir.