Deer drives, anyone do these?

[nyslowhand]

Anyone do the traditional deer drives?

Any special techniques?

If you think about the traditional deer drive, it can be dangerous if not done safely.

Hunted with a group of guys years ago doing deer drives.

On the 2nd day when we stopped for lunch and some of them had a few beers - that ended my deer drives!!

My father and I used to hunt mornings and around 9-10AM would do a 150 yard semi circle around the other.

Switched places and then go in the opposite direction. Did this on private land only!

The driver would whoop, whistle or made frequent noises so the person on stand always knew where the driver was.

Not the typical drive, but generally would get them up & moving. Actually they were pretty productive for thicker cover areas!

[Doc]

I have been involved with drives in my younger days, but long ago quit doing what most people think of as drives. I do still occasionally do a short push to my brother-in-law as a kind of two man drive. However that looks more like one guy still-hunting toward the other than anything you would really call a drive. I have concerns about the safety aspect of a lot of the more traditional drives. Most often they involve fast moving deer and even running deer which I don't shoot at even in non-drive hunting situations. I realize that if drives are properly organized, and the participants are super safety minded individuals, there is nothing about a drive that should be unsafe. However, that's entirely too many "ifs" to suit me when it comes to the possibility of slugs flying in my direction.....lol. The other thing that has soured me on drives over the years is the feeling that hunting for me is a one man activity, and any deer that I harvest, I want to be the result of my own personal initiative, skills, and abilities. Hunting successes resulting from gang activity really doesn't do a lot for me anymore.

Doc

[sweet old bill]

in years past when I was a member of a hunting club it was alway hard to do as so many times there are new people that do not know the woods and can be a problem.

I now have a bunch of guys from the city next door to me and they love to put on drives with there 4x4. They put guys on the end with either bows or rifles and then drive. this action sure seems to be not the way I like to hunt.

The issue of safety is also a major problem if you have guys that will take anything and brown is down. I see to many hunting accidents due to this type actions.

I may be one guy that feels with the gun season you should be required to have some orange on your person. I use the orange camo and it has not been a problem with the deer.

[Buckstopshere]

SOB: I guess the term "drive" has a whole new meaning now when guys drive their ATV's in a deer drive. ;D Can some hunter's get any lazier?

In the muzzleloader season, I get together with a couple guys and we put on a "push," like Doc said it is more of a guy sitting on stand on one side of a hill and somebody else or maybe two slowly still hunting in a long, slow loop. I don't do drives with a bow or rifle anymore. It's like herding cats and not very productive.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I used to be involved in larger, traditional drives. I wasnt a big fan, so I quit hunting with those groups. Thats all they did, drive this set of woods one day, that set another day, etc etc. Now, a I have a few hunting buddies that will do small 2 or 3 man pushes, but thats as far as we go. Most of my time is spent on stand or still hunting.

[Chevy]

Deer drives should not be legal on public land in my opinion. #1 its not safe because you are pushing through and into other people you don't even know are there plus they don't know a drive is comming their way.  #2 it's not fair to the guy who climbed the mountain only to have his day ruined by a deer drive on opening day. 

[Karpteach]

When I was stationed in VA, did a lot of driving on Fort AP HIll. But the most fun is chasing deer behind hounds (Still legal down south).

[Doc]

Is that legal to use 4x4s to do drives? Don't I remember somewhere reading that it is illegal to take game with the aid of motorized vehicles or am I just wishing I had seen it somewhere .... lol.

Doc

[Doc]

I remember back in the old days, huge organized drives were very common. Apparently hunters have gotten a bit smarter (at least in my area). They don't seem to be as prevalent as they used to be. They used to shoot anything that was alive in the thickets. I do remember getting caught in the middle of one of those things. I just hugged the ground and hoped they would get by real quick. I remember hearing some of the drivers doing some of the shooting. Not a real safe situation.

Doc

[Nomad]

We used to do a ton also. But it was driving a small woods ,creek bottoms or thickets and the watchers were just inside the NEXT woods a half mile away or so.

Many times i'd set up on guys driving a woods one or two farms over,its knowing where they are running TO, NOT shooting as the run from guys....

I know guys who would walk for  a couple hours through woods after woods, with guys on the outsides but no shooters till finally they would get to the last woods where the shooters were ( and all the deer from the other woods were running too ....)

[Doc]

I will say one thing for the drives of the good ol' days. They sure did get the deer up and moving and keep them up. That may account for the fact that there used to be so much more shooting going on back then. The most popular driving days occurred after opening day. That is the time when now the season seems to go absolutely dead these days as far as shooting is concerned.

Doc

[Cabin Fever]

I did it for a couple of years back in PA. Didn't feel safe and it just wasn't my thing... BUT, it does get deer moving!

Now, my son and I put on a couple of 1 man drives throughout the season, to see if we can get something on it's feet.

[fasteddie]

I did some deer drives many many years ago and wouldn't do it again ( except for a 2 man drive with my son ) .

I had hunted with a large group at a friend's property in Groveland . We were walking about 50 yards apart in a huge woods . A buck came running back between myself and the guy to my left . I swung my shotgun up and over to shoot behind us and I saw the guy to my left swinging his gun horizontally as the deer was running by . My heart stopped momentarially as I thought "what if that guy had pulled the trigger when the deer was lined up with me . That was my last Party drive !

[Fantail]

Like most have already said, have done drives in my younger years but gave up on it.

It's like herding cats and not very productive.

 

[growalot]

They use to do deer drives down at camp but thankfully have gotten old enough they can't now...I have to say though...we all carried whistles and you were to walk 10yrds and blow on the whistle...for even though we all wear hunter orange head to toe...dang if you couldn't see the person until they were in range ...the whistles helped keep the deer from doubling back for some reason....they did get a few nice buck that way ....my sister in-law and I got the biggest doe ever taken at camp that way....

[jimbodwb]

My dad and I do something sort of like a drive but just with the 2 of us. We will sit on stand till a certain time and then one of us will radio the other on our two-way and say I am coming to your stand. I am going to walk to here and then there and then to you from this direction and see if I can push anything towards you. We always wear orange and we never shoot in the direction we know the other is coming. This was also only conducted on our hunting lease and we knew where our other relatives were on the property.

[sweet old bill]

I like the idea if you are hunting with another hunter to just set a time and then still hunt from your location to his. If you do pusd a deer it is not like on a full drive were the deer is being pushed hard.

[orion]

If someone I am hunting with is still hunting or just going for a walk I will try and setup where I think deer will move to. Thats pretty much the extent of drives that we do.

[bushnell]

We use to put on some small drives but we don't anymore. Now we do what everyone else seems to be doing. One man will walk through a small patch of woods in hope of kicking something up the the man watching the other end.

There use to be a gang that drove the area we hunt in but I have not seen them in a couple of years. Big deer drives seem to be a thing of the past.

[First-light]

I used to go out with 10 to 15 guys years ago, not anymore. During these drives, "if it's brown it's down" mentality was the way. I know guys who do drives during mid-day and towards the end of the season.

For me 2 man drives thats about it. When I was young it was cool to drive now I don't see much "fair chase' in it.

[RangerClay]

After the opening weekend in the s. tier, all we do are organized deer drives.  There only 4 or 5 of us not a big gang.  3 watchers and 2 drivers. 

After opening weekend the bucks go nocturnal.  We get them up on their feet and out of bed after a long night of chasing does.

[Tikka T3]

We used to put some big drives on in the old days up in Arrietta and Morehouse. The guys I hunt with know just put small still hunts on to the younger hunters. We seem to spend to much time looking for the kids when they wonder off, so the old guys do the still hunts.