Deer Drives

[Southforkguy]

Killed alot of good bucks on drives thats how our crew has hunted for 75 years. Its tradition in our neck of the woods. Anyone says its easy, hasnt done it in the swamp country

 

[RazzleDazzle]

I'm not ashamed to admit the deer drives work. Seems like it's been around forever and its effective. However, I got away from them because I figured I could be more successful killing mature animals if they didn't know I was there. Smarter not harder idea. Kind of like applying bow hunting strategies to rifle season. In my later years I've found it much more efficient to find something that makes me happy, instead of chase the sounds of bucks busting brush. I will admit that sometimes it's fun to break out the truck gun and get back to the old ways, leap froggin big thickets with a couple buddies.

 

[TauPhi111]

I hunt with a group that drive deer and bears in the mountains of PA. We are very effective. Drives definitely work, but it is not as simple as just having a line of guys pushing through thick cover and hoping deer pop out the other side. There are lots of variables to consider to form an effective drive. Too many to go through here. I would like to make the point that the problems people have with drives being unsafe or unethical is 100% a problem with they type of people doing the drives, not the tactic itself. Someone who is going to be a jackass on a drive and empty their mag at a running deer without considering safety is going to be a jackass regardless. A well orchestrated drive considers safe shooting lanes and does not push the animals so hard that they are running full bore past the post line. It definitely takes a group of unselfish friends to produce effective safe drives. That is likely why it is not as popular in the west as tags are hard to come by, and everyone seems to be in competition to shoot a good buck. Driving is definitely an art as much as anything else and should be appreciated as such. It's just a shame that not many people elevate the tactic any more.

 

[Deerfield]

I hunt with a group that drive deer and bears in the mountains of PA. We are very effective. Drives definitely work, but it is not as simple as just having a line of guys pushing through thick cover and hoping deer pop out the other side. There are lots of variables to consider to form an effective drive. Too many to go through here. I would like to make the point that the problems people have with drives being unsafe or unethical is 100% a problem with they type of people doing the drives, not the tactic itself. Someone who is going to be a jackass on a drive and empty their mag at a running deer without considering safety is going to be a jackass regardless. A well orchestrated drive considers safe shooting lanes and does not push the animals so hard that they are running full bore past the post line. It definitely takes a group of unselfish friends to produce effective safe drives. That is likely why it is not as popular in the west as tags are hard to come by, and everyone seems to be in competition to shoot a good buck. Driving is definitely an art as much as anything else and should be appreciated as such. It's just a shame that not many people elevate the tactic any more.

This is a good way to put it. Driving is pretty common here in south central PA where I am at. There really are two ways that you see it done. There’s the guys that have it well planned and push the woods out slowly and with an actually method; they usually are successful. Then there’s the guys that basically run from one strip of woods to the other moving quick and dumping their mags at running deer regardless of where they are.

We have always had pretty good luck. We hunt a lot of fencerows and often what we will do is hunt the mornings from either end and then mid morning one guy will slowly move up through the woods to the other. Taken a lot of deer that way.

 

[TauPhi111]

This is a good way to put it. Driving is pretty common here in south central PA where I am at. There really are two ways that you see it done. There’s the guys that have it well planned and push the woods out slowly and with an actually method; they usually are successful. Then there’s the guys that basically run from one strip of woods to the other moving quick and dumping their mags at running deer regardless of where they are.

We have always had pretty good luck. We hunt a lot of fencerows and often what we will do is hunt the mornings from either end and then mid morning one guy will slowly move up through the woods to the other. Taken a lot of deer that way.

Where in south central PA are you? My group hunts just south of Penn State.

 

[Deerfield]

Where in south central PA are you? My group hunts just south of Penn State.

Just west of Gettysburg. I went to college at PSU though.

 

[xziang]

Used to do them all the time on big CRP sections. Originally used shottys (slugs) and then the area only allowed MLs during that season. Have shot a lot a deer walking CRP like you would for pheasants.

 

[TauPhi111]

Just west of Gettysburg. I went to college at PSU though.

Same here! My crew is all PSU alums and brothers at Treehouse if you're familiar with them. We Are!

 

[Silveroddo]

It can be effective but the more knowledge you have of the area/land/topography and how deer use it the more effective it is. We have a ten day season during the rut so my preference is to wait until the last half of the season if at all because once we push our areas it can take 3-4 days for things to return to normal, if we don’t blow these areas out we can hunt them all season watching doe groups and hoping to catch a buck on the prowl.
Finding a good group of guys is key as mentioned before. Seems like the guys that really get into it around here aren’t the guys I want to do drives with, no real plan or understanding of an area and a lot of driving around and blundering through the woods. I once showed a buddy a spot to archery hunt where some does were coming through every night, he was to lazy to take advantage of it but I was talking to him at noon on the 2nd day of rifle season and asked what he was up to and he told me “ I’m taking my dad and brother over to that spot you showed me and we’re going to drive it “

 

[Rich M]

I'm not sure what folks said & don't really care. We used to do a lot of them when I was growing up. The hardest part is knowing how the deer will leave the bedding area and where it will go.

Folks can also just go and set up along the escape route and wait for some guy to go "still hunting" thru there and bump a buck right to them. Plenty of folks support sneaking around in timber, they are a source of drivers - same thing.

So - couple buddies, one covers escape route, another covers another escape route. 3rd dude goes sneaking thru the bedding timber hoping for a shot but he's highly likely to move deer out he never sees. Fellow 1 or 2 might get a shot. Great way to spend the middle of the day.

 

[hutty]

never did them for mule deer, do them several times during gun season in Maryland on private land. A well executed deer drive is a work of art. People set up in the right locations and drivers /wind bumpers who know what they are doing. A poorly planned deer drive is cluster in the woods with guns,

We hunt some areas that hold too many deer and we can kill 8-10 deer before moving to the next section (in maryland you are allowed 10 doe in firearms season). Hunted a place on lower eastern shore that was marsh and loblolly pines. 11 of use managed 23 in a half day. Windy and cold as hell, made for a lot of fun field dressing but the farmer was happy and locals loved all the venison.

 

[Dcoryn]

We killed this buck on a drive in the middle of the day in Colorado. Two guys watching an open cut on the mountain and two of us walked slowly around the face. I heard the buck get up out of his bed and about two minutes later he walked out in front of my buddy Josh at 80 yards. Right at 200" with 17" g2's and 11" matching inlines. Call it blind luck but it worked on that day and we killed a great buck we probably would have never seen otherwise. Second season in a zero point unit...

 

[WCB]

We have done them before archery hunting Mule Deer in western ND. One time we had busted a couple deer out of a drainage the day before and they left on a really good trail in a small bottle neck. We saw a couple bucks go in and it was too thick to really hunt them so I slid in upwind a bit and still hunted through. Sure enough they popped out on the trail and one didn't make it out, my dad was waiting.

Depending on the country even two guys can cover stuff pretty well. Have on guy slow push the cover or just on the outside with his scent drifting through and another paralleling on a ridge. Know a bunch of Mulies killed like this outwest.

 

[2rocky]

Grew up doing it in California for blacktail deer. After 3 generations , my dad could point out where the bucks would come out. He would get SOOO mad when guys would not post up where he TOLD them a buck would cross, or leave their stand early!

A lot of the shooting was moving deer. Often at a run. quail hunting experience comes in handy.

As for 2 man drives, we often would work opposite sides of narrow, steep draws. Each guy can see the other side and shoot bucks going out ahead or behind.

I think in Mule deer country it is a good Last Chance option. Once you Drive a canyon, there is too much pressure for a buck to want to stay around...