Just don't do it

[tony]

"Deer drives"
Guy I work with, his brother and other family members were "driving deer"
Brother was shot in the face/head with a 20 gauge slug.
Flew to the local trauma center, lost an eye, no brain injuries, awake, alert, and moving all extremities.

 

[KenLee]

Don't "drive" with idiots.
Drivers shouldn't carry guns.
Standers only shoot AFTER the deer exits the designated drive area and clears the other standers.
No exceptions.

 

[Miflatlander91]

Scary stuff! We used to do alot more drives back in the day luckily no close calls but also kept the drives real small with only a few trusted guys

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[grfox92]

Don't "drive" with idiots.
Drivers shouldn't carry guns.
Standers only shoot AFTER the deer exits the designated drive area and clears the other standers.
No exceptions.

Agreed.

We used to do deer drives with Archery Equipment in very high deer density suburban areas.

It was a love hate thing. I'm more of a purist and want to catch them by surprise out of a stand that I hung that morning in their bedroom.......but having 60-70 deer come out of a thicket and run right through you and your buddies is pretty damn exciting.

I stopped doing them eventually because of, you guessed it. Idiots. Guys taking shots they shouldn't, wounding, not putting effort into finding wounded deer. I let the group know what I thought and never went back.

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[ORJoe]

Unrelated thread is related

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Deer drives and the pumpkin parade are religion in Iowa.

 

[TSAMP]

Deer drives and the pumpkin parade are religion in Iowa.

This will be the only weekend many of these folks will hold a firearm or be in the woods. It's actually somewhat terrifying.

 

[gabenzeke]

Deer drives and the pumpkin parade are religion in Iowa.

Really wish they'd do away with party hunting here.

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[GSPHUNTER]

Not all ideas are good ones.

 

[Molon Labe]

Pretty sweeping generalization based off one event with some obviously poor decision makers involved. You have about the same chance of injury or death driving around during your hunting season than you do in the woods from a bullet/slug.

Like saying don’t drive your vehicle on a highway because a guy I knows second cousin was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver.

Deer drives are perfectly safe if you have a group of safe smart hunters that know and trust each other. None of this my wife’s cousins sons buddy from high school wants to come do a drive…

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Pretty sweeping generalization based off one event with some obviously poor decision makers involved. You have about the same chance of injury or death driving around during your hunting season than you do in the woods from a bullet/slug.

Like saying don’t drive your vehicle on a highway because a guy I knows second cousin was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver.

Deer drives are perfectly safe if you have a group of safe smart hunters that know and trust each other. None of this my wife’s cousins sons buddy from high school wants to come do a drive…

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with some common sense here. Deer drives have been a traditional deer hunting practice for many years, if they were really that dangerous you would’ve heard more about it by now. Don’t overreact to one off events.


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[cnelk]

I grew up doing deer drives in N Minnesota. About the only way to get deer out of the thick woods.

We'd have as many 8-10 drivers and 4-5 posters - never had an accident - not even a close one.

Ive shot many, many deer on drives. Both as a driver and as a poster.
Sometimes when I was a poster, Id take 2 guns - one with open sights and one with a scope.

Id have deer laying all around me when the drive was done - [and yes, party hunting was legal for all you internet police]

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Drives & hunting are not the same.

 

[Maverick1]

@ Milo Hanson.

 

[hunt1up]

I participated in some drives many years ago with too many slob hunters. Hearing the sound of a slug whizzing through the air isn’t something I want to hear again. I’ve sworn off involving myself with such shenanigans. It’s just not worth it.

I’ll still selectively do what I call a “soft push” from time to time. That’s generally 1-2 pushers, going slow, no guns in their hands, and only one shooter. That’s only for a few particular properties where I’ll do that and generally late season.

 

[KHNC]

This the week for Mass Trespassing in Kansas. Dump off a truck load of guys at one end of private property and standers wait at the other end to shoot what comes out. Ridiculous.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

it's easy to tell who has access to primo private white tail properties for mature bucks, and who's hunting the dregs/public trying to get some meat, by how they feel about deer drives.

Shooting someone in the face is a gun handling failure that has nothing to do with drives. There's lots of places I hunt where there are over 60 hunters per square mile. Even if we are all stationary the entire day, there's risk of shooting someone if you don't follow the fundamental tenants of gun safety.

Thick cover and notcturnal deer pretty much dictate baiting, drives, dogs, or some combo thereof to have any chance of success. I think I've killed 1 whitetail ever that was not disturbed in some way by another human (last week!), causing it to move towards me. The only time i felt unsafe was when some a-hole was intentionally shooting the tree beside be because he felt entitled to the spot.

 

[WildBoose]

I didn't grow up doing deer drives....and I'm glad. Every time I hear someone talk about one I cringe. I am sure their are "safety measures" that take place, but overall it sounds extremely dangerous.

 

[Marbles]

Pretty sweeping generalization based off one event with some obviously poor decision makers involved. You have about the same chance of injury or death driving around during your hunting season than you do in the woods from a bullet/slug.

Like saying don’t drive your vehicle on a highway because a guy I knows second cousin was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver.

Deer drives are perfectly safe if you have a group of safe smart hunters that know and trust each other. None of this my wife’s cousins sons buddy from high school wants to come do a drive…

No, the over generalization is you using all hunting. It is more like saying 'don't speed' or 'don't text and drive.' The fact that you have to specify "smart safe hunters" to have drives be safe automatically implies that drives involve more risk than other styles of hunting. How much more, I don't have data to specify. But, the data does say drives account fora noticable portion of accidents. https://freerangeamerican.us/deadly-hunting-accidents/ I'm also guessing far fewer hunting hours are spent in drives, meaning the risk is much higher when compared to other styles of hunting.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

If you look at the number of hunters in the woods just in IA every year during the shotgun seasons, and the number of shooting accidents that have occurred in the last 30 years, the statistics would tell you the overwhelming majority of hunters are safe. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that more guys shoot themselves than are shot by others.

The shotgun seasons in IA (and elsewhere more than likely) are the best population management tool available to fish and game orgs. There will be over 100k deer killed in IA this year, and most will be killed from 12/3-12/18.

I hate the rampant road hunting and trespassing that occur during the shotgun seasons. There are always going to be bad apples out there, and deer season can definitely bring out the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde even amongst friends. However, it is the most efficient management tool available.