One Man Drive?

[Northcountryman]

I was just reading some stuff on Google Unser deer hunting tips and came upon this ( what do you think ?):

DRIVE SOLO
Try a one-man drive if you're hunting alone. Purposely walk into an area with the wind at your back. The idea is to stir deer up and get them moving. Once you've passed through, make a circle and do it again. You might see confused deer creeping about, unsure of your location. If this doesn't work, take a position on the flank of the area you walked through and wait an hour or two. You might see deer sneaking back in, believing the danger has passed. This works in dense thickets that deer use for security cover.
 

sounds kinda cool but don’t know effective it would be . I would maybe try this in certain areas , depending upon topography and cover , of course . Currently , with deer sightings significantly reduced due to hunting pressure , this pay be an option to stir up some trouble , but I wouldn’t use it blind ; only when familiar the parcel being hunted IMHO 

 

[Zag]

Interesting, I’d think it could work but in areas with smaller wood lots. If your trying this in large tact of woods I don’t think you will find them circling back as they have tons of other cover to head to. The pocket spots tho could work. 

[Nomad]

Who knows . Where I hunt it’s relatively small farm wood lots, ,thickets ,and brushy creek bottoms , spook them and they run sometimes two or three other woods away .

Now give me two, men ,and some deer will die , I can tell you what tree they’ll run to across the field or road .

[Buckmaster7600]

I do this regularly if there’s tracking snow. Not in woodlots but mountains.

Do a lap along the bottom in the thick stuff then go straight over the top. Then circle back to where I started looking for a fresh track. This works especially well immediately following a fresh snow before they’ve had time to lay down tracks. It’s a lot of walking but if you can get one moving you know it’s a fresh track.


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[suburbanfarmer]

1 hour ago, Nomad said:

Who knows . Where I hunt it’s relatively small farm wood lots, ,thickets ,and brushy creek bottoms , spook them and they run sometimes two or three other woods away .

Now give me two, men ,and some deer will die , I can tell you what tree they’ll run to across the field or road .

You can call me anytime you need a guy to post

[Swamp_bucks]

I guess it could work.  Deer like to circle back most of the time.  So I could see this working. 

[airedale]

The one man drive can be a highly effective tactic for deer hunting and a method I and the group of hunters I hunted with used quite a bit successfully.

There have been many posts here over the past few days from hunters stating they are not seeing any deer from their stands but their trail cameras in the summer and early fall showed plenty of deer. The deer have not left, they are still there holed up and hiding in what they feel is their best concealing cover. With the hunters sitting and the deer sitting until after dark there will not be much action unless someone gets them moving.

A single person sneaking around rooting the deer out of their cover will provide shots to watchers stationed on known escape routes. It is a tactic that really does work for both driver and watchers so long as you have knowledge and experience with the lay of the land you are hunting and using the winds to your advantage.

Al

Edited December 2, 2020 by airedale

[SpacemanSpiff]

Ah the old bump and dump. 

[crappyice]

We have been successful nudging deer out of the thick shit a few times this year. Our largest issue is the fact that the thick crap borders then property boundary so the escape routes have led the game away from the poster this season. We have not seen them “circle back” within the same hunt as the original method suggests however so a one man is challenging in the property we hunt


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[Nomad]

7 hours ago, suburbanfarmer said:

You can call me anytime you need a guy to post

The farm has frowned on walking and driving for a number of years now , that and each little piece is now assigned to one person , my days of going all over have sadly passed .

Although there’s a couple spots on my piece ,we may walk out separate ways , with one guy standing in a certain spot waiting for the other .

Al , I have knowledge of our land I’ve hunted it successfully for 34 years , I’m convinced the deer have moved , off this year ,why ? Simply because my sightings and cameras are down to perhaps a tenth of those other 33 years . 

My camera in my best spot got one pic in ten days of late bow and early gun . 

Ill be back out tomorrow, sooner or later one will pass through .

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Nomad

[G-Man]

Ive killed more deer walking solo, many times bumping them a little and shooting them as they attepmt to escape. Thick cover is best for this as is a short gun.

[GreeneHunter]

I do more One Man Drives as the season progresses , they need to get kicked to get them going !

[Northcountryman]

9 hours ago, Nomad said:

Who knows . Where I hunt it’s relatively small farm wood lots, ,thickets ,and brushy creek bottoms , spook them and they run sometimes two or three other woods away .

Now give me two, men ,and some deer will die , I can tell you what tree they’ll run to across the field or road .

Yes , I agree , if you’re gonna move around when they’re already spooked , you better have help to figure out where they’re runnin to. 

[LET EM GROW]

It works, its best to do so quietly slowly and let your wind bump the deer out. before they see you. Using a 2nd man as a sitter in an area you beleive the deer will head to after being bumped.. That way they arent running 100mph near your sitters 

Idk if id try this solo, You can if your quiet and slow enough i bet, and once done, youd have to make sure your wind is correct to where the deer may have gone. But its really no different than just still hunting with wind in your favor to check on a local bedding area.. IMO 

[Northcountryman]

3 hours ago, airedale said:

The one man drive can be a highly effective tactic for deer hunting and a method I and the group of hunters I hunted with used quite a bit successfully.

There have been many posts here over the past few days from hunters stating they are not seeing any deer from their stands but their trail cameras in the summer and early fall showed plenty of deer. The deer have not left, they are still there holed up and hiding in what they feel is their best concealing cover. With the hunters sitting and the deer sitting until after dark there will not be much action unless someone gets them moving.

A single person sneaking around rooting the deer out of their cover will provide shots to watchers stationed on known escape routes. It is a tactic that really does work for both driver and watchers so long as you have knowledge and experience with the lay of the land you are hunting and using the winds to your advantage.

Al

Yup  , but problem is , getting enough guys together to coordinate a good drive ; hey , maybe we can set one up here !! Lol

[Northcountryman]

4 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

It works, its best to do so quietly slowly and let your wind bump the deer out. before they see you. Using a 2nd man as a sitter in an area you beleive the deer will head to after being bumped.. That way they arent running 100mph near your sitters 

Idk if id try this solo, You can if your quiet and slow enough i bet, and once done, youd have to make sure your wind is correct to where the deer may have gone. But its really no different than just still hunting with wind in your favor to check on a local bedding area.. IMO 

Yeah , this method specifically mentions that you intentionally walk upwind while driving to bump them and then circle back so, hopefully , they’re bumped but not highly stressed and don’t run away. 

[suburbanfarmer]

2 hours ago, Northcountryman said:

Yeah , this method specifically mentions that you intentionally walk upwind while driving to bump them and then circle back so, hopefully , they’re bumped but not highly stressed and don’t run away. 

After opening day , deer turn inside out seeing some one in the woods. 

[Northcountryman]

1 hour ago, suburbanfarmer said:

After opening day , deer turn inside out seeing some one in the woods. 

Yeah, No doubt . until the woods settles down after  the opening weekend to Thanksgiving onslaught , it’s very difficult to be successful; unless , of course , You’re doing a drive or , Have knowledge as to where they’re holdin up during shooting hours . This years experience has   Demonstrated to me , once again, the need for A  solid scouting plan in the offseason!! 

[phade]

2 hours ago, suburbanfarmer said:

After opening day , deer turn inside out seeing some one in the woods. 

Some do, some definitely don't and stay put. Hunters likely walk by as many deer that stay put vs bust.

[phade]

55 minutes ago, Northcountryman said:

Yeah, No doubt . until the woods settles down after  the opening weekend to Thanksgiving onslaught , it’s very difficult to be successful; unless , of course , You’re doing a drive or , Have knowledge as to where they’re holdin up during shooting hours . This years experience has   Demonstrated to me , once again, the need for A  solid scouting plan in the offseason!! 

Post-season scouting is invaluable, but so is in-season scouting. Doing one but not the other is just limiting your knowledge and success IMO.  If you don't know where they are bedding this time of year, you should go find them, even if you blow them out of that spot once. Then you can use that knowledge when the conditions match in this season and future seasons.

I find deer bed in different spots right now than they do when it's late season and/or the snow has piled on. Food sources are more available now then they typically are with material snowpack. There's likely more pressure-based bedding being done. Late season pressure drops and deer bedding becomes more hinged on thermal cover, the food, and the path to/from.

This is also the hardest time of year for hunters who have food (IE plots) but not safe bedding/cover due to property lines. Deer have enough food options to not move as much staying tight to bed in daylight and only making the destination food source after nightfall.

[phade]

I'm not a great still-hunter or tracker. I try but I just haven't made it a priority. I have done my fair share of drives both large and small. Doing as noted using the soft bump with wind and circling back in a large loop looking for fresh tracks as noted by someone earlier is a good tactic that can be done while scouting in-season, too. A handful of times during drives we'd have a trailer person. Drivers and Standers do their thing woodlot to woodlot and the trailer follows behind 15 minutes or so. I was only a trailer a few times since I was often a driver, but I was amazed at how many deer will loop back in only a few short minutes later. They feel safe as the escape worked. I killed a few does that way; never a buck in my younger years but that was more because I shot poor on those instances in my younger years getting all excited. Killed some bucks in recent years that way. In fact killed my 2018 buck that way and my hunting partner killed the other buck that was bedded with mine on another escape route. 

Edited December 2, 2020 by phade

[Northcountryman]

45 minutes ago, phade said:

If you don't know where they are bedding this time of year, you should go find them, even if you blow them out of that spot once. Then you can use that knowledge when the conditions match in this season and future seasons.

That , actually , Makes a lot of sense to me and a fair point , but , when if you blow them out and they change bedding locations ? 

[Northcountryman]

I would be willing to trying some moving around if this lull continues , cuz, after all , it stand hunting isn’t leading to success currently , what do you got to lose? Maybe still hunt one spot and / or 1 man drive and then stand hunt another and switch off to vary it up 

[phade]

5 minutes ago, Northcountryman said:

That , actually , Makes a lot of sense to me and a fair point , but , when if you blow them out and they change bedding locations ? 

That fear is one of the top reasons why hunters who want to target mature bucks don't actually kill them (and deer in general sometimes). This is proven by new or young hunters who go out and kill a giant haphazardly, because they don't know what they don't know. They're not afraid of walking by or into that brushy spot, or sitting on a stump on that way out hedgerow or clump of tree Islands in a grass or ag field. I think many hunters are eventually fooled into being too scared to get close to or into bedding and as a result become too passive to reliably kill good bucks.

If you walk into a bedding area daily, deer will change behaviors. If you walk into their bedding area once and they escape and survive, they only know that their bedding just worked to keep them alive. See the difference?

[The_Real_TCIII]

I try to do gentle drives, always moving slowly, always quietly, and the deer still go out way ahead like they're shot out of a cannon lol.


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