Deer Drives

[sampotter]

I am going to fire up some opinions- I hate Deer Drives! Gun season opens up and the orange army appears. Guys start driving deer on opening day, deer run to town and hide behind houses, in culverts, etc. This is a method best used for shooting birds and rabbits, not deer. It sure isn't hunting. Its more like a football play with guns. It ruins hunting for anyone else who isn't doing drives as deer go into survival mode and shut down normal daytime movement. I hunt on one 15acre parcel that is extremely thick. I never hunt upwind of cover- you should see how many deer pile in there! I guess I shouldn't be so quick to condemn deer drives- they send deer straight into my lap!

[burmjohn]

To be honest, the only time I've participated in a drive was late season.  It really isn't for me anyways, and from what I have herd from other hunters it can be quite unsafe depending upon the experience of your hunting group.

[Doewhacker]

Deer drives are a fading memory.. I don't know if its a good memory or bad. They never really worked for us, maybe a few times but not on a regular basis thats for sure. I could care less if some one else does them though.

[sampotter]

Ou here in the Fingerlakes they are the most popular way to hunt in gun season. I have seen more than 10 guys push a 5 acre patch of woods. Its a scary sight. Lots of deer get wounded and lots of shots are fired.

[burmjohn]

Thats a shame if their tossing crappy shots around.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I have participated in drives since I first got into hunting. It has been 4 or 5 years since we have had enough guys to do it well. If done correctly they can be very productive and safe. I have been involved in smal groups---3-4 watchers and 2-3 Drivers and we used it in a setting that was thick as hell. On my uncles land he had 3 sets of pines and 3 large Cedar swamps. It worked great.

I have also been invloved on  large scale drives there was a group I hunted with when I lived in Albany and they hunted North of Sacandaga. there were 25-30 guys in their hunting party. we drove entire mountains on that opening weekend. That is all they do,,,,never sit. We took 12 bucks and 2 bear that weekend. It really looked like the old 50's photos at the hunting camp when you looked at the meat pole.

In both groups every thing revolved around safety. the larger group you had to unchamber your gun unless you were the lead in the line walking. You got dropped off on watch and didn't move until they came and got you. Drivers always in line with an occassional "hoot" to know where everyone was. But they really handled them more like a big still hunting exercize. slow and steady.

Great times and great memories. I can't think of any deer of the top of my head that got wounded and lost. sure some were tracked but whit the approach we used they usually weren't on mach 3 when they came out.

More ofteen than not the big boys tried to slip back through the drivers and we started leaving guys at the start of the drives. they usually got the good bucks.

Botoom line.....let's face it...There are richard noggins in this sport regardless of the hunting style., just don't judge all by actions of a few.

[solon]

i agree with culvercreek - don't judge a book by the cover - i too have done drives sine i was a youngster - i don't do them on opening day, don't disturb neigbors and don't shhot like crazy....Thye have been very effective over the years - these days with less hunting partners we do small drives with 3 or 4 people and they are more like "pushes"...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Solon---where u been?...We do the same now...or should I say I do....now a days it is more like me still hunting circles and pushing the deer to Dad and my Uncle....darn I should have had a boy!!!!

[Doewhacker]

i agree with culvercreek - don't judge a book by the cover - i too have done drives sine i was a youngster - i don't do them on opening day, don't disturb neigbors and don't shhot like crazy....Thye have been very effective over the years - these days with less hunting partners we do small drives with 3 or 4 people and they are more like "pushes"...

Yes those pushes are different from the old style all out drives. I would like to add that we did our drives on the last week end as sort of a last resort move.

[steve863]

I don't see why deer drives should bother anyone.  Me and my uncle do drives where one of us sits while the other does some walking thru the property we hunt.  It has worked out for us a good many times actually.

[fasteddie]

Other than a couple of 2 man drives , I havn't done any drives in over 30 years . We were doing some drives in woods in Groveland years ago . A buck doubled back and was running our way . I swung my shotgun up and over and as I saw the deer go by , I saw the hunter to my left swinging his shotgun horizontally across and my heart stopped . What if he had pulled the trigger when the buck was in line with me ! I never went on a deer drive since then except doing 2 man drives with my son .

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Eddie....I am a frim beleiver in "you gotta KNOW and TRUST the guys you are with". an I think that holds in any situation involving risk. Heck, I won't do any kind of hunting with guys I at least can't get a floavor for their attitudes. quite a few guys I have only gone with once....if you know what I mean

[fasteddie]

My situation was where one of my HS classmates had at least 20 guys for breakfast and then we split into 2 groups (posters & drivers) . WE took turns alternating between the two . Out of 20 I knew about 5 but had never hunted with any of them and never did again .

[Culvercreek hunt club]

That would spook me too

[PREDATE]

I do partake in 3-4 man"pushes" late in the season. While it's not my preferred method of taking a deer it can be productive. To say that,"doing deer drives isn't hunting" would be  like me saying that using a scoped rifle capable of taking a deer at 2-300yds isn't hunting when I can only use a shotgun with a range of 1-120yds max. Sure I could travel to rifle zones , but so could someone wishing to get away from hunting pressure. If it's legal then so be it. I'm not trying to push anyone's buttons, but I'm just saying that all we can do is accept it and if you love hunting as much as I do, that shouldn't be too hard to do! Last year while on stand I watched a nice 10pt. get "pushed" straight to my neighbor who was just still hunting.

[20ftupatree]

I do them late season, as long as every one involved is on the same page of the safety book they're very productive. It's already been said thick cover send two guys (orange vests) in one side and out the other. Identify your target, We've shot a ton of deer with this. I always volunteer to walk because to be honest I've seen more deer "driving" then I have sitting.

[Doc]

I occasionally can get sucked into a drive every so often, but it absolutely is not my favorite style of hunting. I guess I just like to be the only one responsible for whatever I get rather than a whole gang of people. It's just a personal wrinkle.

Doc

[Fletch]

Back when I was young and hunted the Dacks, drive hunting was popular. I remember one I had to be 17 maybe and a guest at my Uncles club, thousands of acres. It was extremely organized with the old timers deciding what drives and directions. I was a rookie and got taken to a stand and that is where I stayed and was given precise directions on where everyone was and so forth. Safety was paramount. I did not see any deer that day but a few guys did.

As the years went on we always did a bunch of drives middle of the day with 4 to 6 guys. And as the years went on we turned the drives more into still hunts with no noise unlike the old day drives with barkers. Deer moved a lot slower and the drivers saw a lot more deer. We do a lot of 2 and 3 guy pushes this way in select areas.

They have been very successful at times and a useful tool in hard hunted public land. And if you think some of the drives we do are easy. That is a hoot. Swamps and mass blowdowns and greembriar thickets 12 feet tall. I have pushed places my feet never got all the way to the ground cause it was so thick!! Or swamps with water up to my pits to get deer off of little humacks. And we are very careful and no one drives with us that has not been with us a good while and deemed more than safe and responsible, and no shots at flying deer, shots are either stopped or walking.

On the other hand I have been scared silly by other peoples drives! I watched one group push a woodlot one day with two standers in the middle and three drivers on each end all driving to the middle!!!

I also hunt public land now every year in shotgun. I have a big group from up north that do a ton of drives. Last year they came by me opening day before 9am! I wish they would not do it early season but it is an ok spot and I have shot deer before they get there and they have pushed me a few over the years. And I also have to rely on public land most of the time after bow season and hey it is all our land.

As someone above said I would not judge another style of hunting. There are idiots in all groups. And I really think shooting a deer past 30 yards is not sporting just shooting. Just kidding but you get my point.

[Fletch]

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[Landowner]

We do deer driver on a regular basis at my camp in Sullivan county. Our land is 3500 acres +. We have a lot of swamps, mountain lural and jack pines. We get 90% of our deer this way. We get in about 5 drives per day. Need I say we come home totally exausted. The work is worth it.

We have a great time.

Landowner

(Stay off my land)

[Doc]

While I am not a huge fan of drives, I do have to admit that back in the days of the huge drives, the deer were kept moving. Now-a-days, it seems that everybody just picks out a favorite tree in the woods and sits there like a lump all day. Meanwhile the deer quickly figure out that if they move they get shot at, so they go into a hunker-down mode, and eventually everyone is just sitting there in the woods without moving an inch ....... hunters and deer. It used to be that they were not allowed to just sit in one spot all day. Some drivers (or still hunters) would come through and get them up on their feet again.

[outdoorstom]

I don't see anything wrong with doing drives, more power to the guys who enjoy them. I've done a few in the past with decent results, but haven't done any in years.

[RangerClay]

When we get to the southern tier we do very organized 5 man drives after the opening day.  3 watchers and 2 drivers.  Safety is a top priority. 

[fasteddie]

In 1966 , I went to Canasaragus (sp) with a fellow worker . We set up about 100 yards apart on State land . Around 7:30 am a pickup came down the dirt road and was dropping guys off about every 50 yards . Then these guys started walking past us banging pans and making a lot of racket . I was soooooo pissed but then it was funny . They looked like the guys from the movie , Deliverance . The movie was made years later but ........ it could have been any one of those locals .

[Doc]

In 1966 , I went to Canasaragus (sp) with a fellow worker . We set up about 100 yards apart on State land . Around 7:30 am a pickup came down the dirt road and was dropping guys off about every 50 yards . Then these guys started walking past us banging pans and making a lot of racket . I was soooooo pissed but then it was funny . They looked like the guys from the movie , Deliverance . The movie was made years later but ........ it could have been any one of those locals .

I have had that happen to me where I accidently found myself in the middle of a big drive. Talk about an uneasy, uncomfortable feeling. None of those guys knew I was in there. All I could do was to hunker down on the backside of a big tree and hope there were no deer anywhere in the vicinity.

On the other hand, I have also been the accidental beneficiary of one drive where the deer squirted out the side and ran right up the hill to me while I watched the whole thing from the hillside. I got a nice doe that way standing at 25 yards.

And no, I didn't offer to share any of the meat with those guys ..... lol

Doc