Should deer drives be a legal hunting method?

All I will say is we all have seen deer simply becasue someone or something has spooked them. Done on purpose or on accident - it's a tool many folks use. Should it be legal? In my opinion yes. Legal in my state and I have used a 2 man system in the past. I can only prove we have been successful once. We simply have a hunter at one location and I will take a specific route in an effort for the deer to see, hear or smell me in a manner in which they try to slip away toward the hunter. I am not tryig to create a panic in the deer.
 
Let me throw my opinion out on this one, since I was raised doing deer drives. In our area there is a lot of public land and the my Grandpa and their "gang" drove the woods bow and gun hunting for years. Making deer drives for well over 40 years they got very efficient killing TONS of deer. Just like how you pattern deer now they could do the same thing on thousands of acres making drives. It was a blast shooting so many deer and the camaraderie was great, but with the liberal bag limits, other groups of hunters making drives, and overall effectiveness of hunters the deer have basically vanished from many of these areas. I don't participate anymore but have absolutely nothing against it.
 
Gunshot accidents can be lowered, ie. blaze orange, hunting hours, loaded gun in vehicles and yes deer drives. Treestands falls are the Darwin effect imo.
still makes no sense. tree stand falls can also be decreased, ie safety harnesses, life lines, taking stands in after season, routine maintenance etc.
 
I grew up doing deer drives and started avoiding them close to 10 years ago. There may still be a small one or two on my brothers property, but I will not participate. During firearms season I like to do some still hunting and will do that with a 2nd person as well.

Making them illegal would make an even bigger divide between hunters. Already to many issues with bow vs. crossbow vs. gun vs. public land vs. private land vs. qdm and everything else.
 
My thoughts of what is a drive is several posters and several drivers walking straight through a section of land. I do not believe in this or take parts of it and never have or will. I believe it is unethical and not safe. However in the past I have changed stand locations and another hunt the same area knowing at what time I would be moving through the woods and to what area I'm going. Not to go by their stand or try to move something towards them just having them know I'm moving.
 
Let's legislate mandatory safety harnesses while in stand, using a mandatory safe line for climbing into/out of stands, and that all stands must be removed at the end of each season and have new cables/safety chains installed annually. I'm sure we can come up with a lot more for the gooberment to mandate as well :rolleyes:
don't forget mandatory bullet proof vests for hunters, a 10' height limit on stands, no walking to or from stands in the dark, and you must call in your location to the DNR :p
 
don't forget mandatory bullet proof vests for hunters, a 10' height limit on stands, no walking to or from stands in the dark, and you must call in your location to the DNR :p


Can we get APR right away too please?
 
Can we get APR right away too please?
Sure! And I forgot to mention, no more rifles only shotguns. Because slugs are so much "safer" than rifiles in the woods even though studies have proven otherwise.

IMO opinion, if you don't like drives and feel that they are effecting your hunt on public land, then find some different public land to hunt. Many public lands are never driven for various reasons. Find and hunt those.
 
Let's legislate mandatory safety harnesses while in stand, using a mandatory safe line for climbing into/out of stands, and that all stands must be removed at the end of each season and have new cables/safety chains installed annually. I'm sure we can come up with a lot more for the gooberment to mandate as well :rolleyes:
Exactly!!! if it cant be effectively legislated....and it does nothing other than layer more burdens and make enforcement a nightmare...it shouldn't be done!
 
I say No on public land Yes on private. I dont do them now but did some as a kid with my uncles. They were fun.
 
Have done many of one on large forested tracts with 2-5 hunters. Don't do anymore because the need is not there. Not sure who some of you guys hunt with, but my friends did not miss deer. They knew their shots and capabilities. It is easy for some to say I don't want that, so ban it. Bull. Let each choose their own. Hunting large tracts of non ag land can be a challenge. But this was especially true of when deer were not so plentiful. Most of you never hunted the day when seeing a deer track was just something in itself. I bow hunted many a fall when one opportunity of a mature buck over a 3 month season was considered success. If a hunter can't hunt safely in a group, he sure is hell not gonna be any better sitting his ass in the woods. Hunter ed of young and old, and you have your safe hunters. Pretty soon you won't' be able to let a bear shit in the woods because it might affect someone's privileged hunt. Sorry, just a rant.
 
I am 65 years old. I began hunting when I was 12 in PA. We did a lot of drives. They were organized by our elders and were run very efficiently. We did the same drives every year for 20 years and they had done them for 40 years before me. We didn't need hunter's education course because those old men taught all us youngster how to hunt safely, effectively and ethically. Every one of us had to prove we knew how to shoot our weapon or we were not allowed to join the group. each man knew where every other man was at all times. We drove small woodlots and creek bottoms in ag country around Butler, Pa. We knew every inch of those gulleys and ravines. Those of you who have never participated in a drive with good friends and good hunters have no idea what you are missing. It was the greatest hunting experiences of my life. It was the type of hunting that the old writer's used to mesmerize me with stories of. I don't hunt that way much any more. Why? Because everything is different. We are a more ME oriented people now. Co-operation in getting someone else success is mostly a thing of the past. How many of you have ever spent a week in a deer camp with 18 of your best friends and relatives with no heat or electricity or running water or a bathroom? And enjoyed every single second of it. I can't get 4 people together for a week end to hunt any more. We are all grown with kids and grandkids and spread out over the whole country. And most of my kin are not the kind of people I want to hunt with any more.

Should drives be legal? Absolutely. they can be one of the most rewarding times you spend all year even if you don't kill a thing. They are one of the best ways to teach kids fun, ethics and camaraderie. But you have to work at it like anything else good in life.
 
These have been my experiences as well Jack. I really feel that my daughter would not hunt if it weren't for us doing a few "old fashioned" deer drives the second weekend of our rifle season each fall. She hates sitting for more than 3-4 hours without seeing a deer, but will walk all day doing drives and seeing nothing as long as someone in the group has seen a couple. I learned from my grandfathers, father, great uncles, uncles, and too many older cousins to mention. They were hunting this way back in the late 40's and early 50's. At one point in the late 70's before I was even old enough to carry a gun and was just one of the "pushers" we would have days when the whole group got together that we had upwards of 30 people in our group. Literally hundreds of deer down, 5 bucks killed over 160"(that I can actually remember), zero accidents. My dad was one of the best shots I have ever seen on running deer, I have seen him make shots I will not even attempt, and roll them into a pile. The most I have ever seen him shoot was twice before the deer was on the ground, and yes he uses a semi auto, so he could have emptied his gun every time if he so chose. I agree that everything is different and that has lead to drives being less acceptable. I hunt exclusively on public land now, and I agree that a drive ban would make the hunting better, but I would not give up the tradition of deer drives.
 
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Have done many of one on large forested tracts with 2-5 hunters. Don't do anymore because the need is not there. Not sure who some of you guys hunt with, but my friends did not miss deer. They knew their shots and capabilities. It is easy for some to say I don't want that, so ban it. Bull. Let each choose their own. Hunting large tracts of non ag land can be a challenge. But this was especially true of when deer were not so plentiful. Most of you never hunted the day when seeing a deer track was just something in itself. I bow hunted many a fall when one opportunity of a mature buck over a 3 month season was considered success. If a hunter can't hunt safely in a group, he sure is hell not gonna be any better sitting his ass in the woods. Hunter ed of young and old, and you have your safe hunters. Pretty soon you won't' be able to let a bear shit in the woods because it might affect someone's privileged hunt. Sorry, just a rant.
I have hunted almost two bow seasons without seeing a deer while on stand.
 
I have seen deer drives become less common over time and they are not really a factor.

Making illegal is a waste of time. Kind of like banning 200 weatherby magnums for deer hunting. It's not an important factor and is a practice that is hard to define.
 
It stinks when groups start opening day or drive the same ground others are hunting. But it also trains the deer in pretty good too. It seems to create pockets where the deer hide out every year.
 
It stinks when groups start opening day or drive the same ground others are hunting. But it also trains the deer in pretty good too. It seems to create pockets where the deer hide out every year.
I think your spot on with the comment NWWI, but even with all the cons, I would still not support an all out ban on drives as a hunting tool. I find them extremely fun and a great way to enjoy hunting with the WHOLE family(and 4 guys in treestands on opposite corners of 320 acres doesn't really count as I see it). I think if it came down to it in WI and there was talk of ever banning them, I would fight to at least keep them legal from Thanksgiving Day till the end of the season. Again, I don't know how you would define "deer drive" in legalese so it could be recognized and enforced without leaving it up to a judgement call by the CO.
 
I don't like deer drives. I've participated in a few many years back. Couple points: One reason to own an autoloader I suppose, but usually some poor shots are taken....like shooting at the south end of a northbound deer. Seems more about firepower than marksmanship. It's one of the most dangerous types of hunting you can do.....IMO. Hit or miss proposition....which moves the deer off your land.

I do like still hunts.....and low-pressure stalks with one or two guys whom may bump or push a deer to one-another. I think it would be hard to make laws on driving deer. You don't see many drives in my area these days.
 
The only issue I have with drives is that a lot of the people I know who still do it have no respect for private property. This includes my kin folk. They have it down to a science and will put on drives through neighborhoods and yards so quick and then are gone before the CO can get there. I literally had one guy walk right under my stand several years ago. I yelled at him and he flipped me a bird. The pictures I got of him cost him $250 though as the local CO knew who it was as soon as I showed him the video. People don't seem to have any respect for others any more. That is why I can understand a lot of the anti-hunting peoples point of view.
 
For anyone who hasn't ever hunted in mountain laurel, imagine a green, gnarly, twisted steel wool pad that's 3 to 12 ft. tall. Some areas it's so thick you literally can't swing a rifle or shotgun. It doesn't grow up straight and it puts out under-leaf-mold runners that trip the sh!t out of you as you move thru it. Anyone who has hunted in Pa. knows what it is. If it weren't for some drives happening in any given area, deer get in that stuff and STAY THERE unless someone moves them. Once the shooting starts, deer hole up in that laurel like rabbits. Daylight sightings go down to about zero. Where there's lots of laurel, driving is almost a necessity. And you WON'T push 'em all out.

I realize lots of states don't have mtn. laurel - and don't know what it is. Each state has it's own habitat and hunter preferences as to style of hunting. As far as safety goes - my Dad taught me " you only get one mistake with a gun.....and it might be your last. " If we don't police ourselves - take hunter-ed., practice shooting, practice " restraint " and not fill the air with lead on Hail Mary shots, shooting at a brown patch, etc. - then shame on us. We give the " anti's " ammunition for political action. If that's the way any of us act on a deer drive - we shouldn't be hunting IMO. I have told 2 people I would not hunt with them anymore because of their shoddy safety practices.

That said, I've taken part in deer drives over the years with guys who were safe, dependable, smart hunters. And I've been on drives with guys who never looked at a topo map, had no idea of the " lay of the land " and got lost in areas where roads or powerlines were within 200 yds. Nothing like " losing " a guy or two to ruin a day. And MAGGOTS like JackTerp mentioned above ^^^ that trespass & have no respect for boundaries or other hunters should be prosecuted, hunting privileges taken for 5 yrs.

I think drives should be legal, but like so many other things, common sense has to applied. Safety is #1 in all cases - not filling a tag at all costs. I'll remove myself from a hunting situation if I have safety concerns or I think the other hunter (s) don't know what they're doing. My own taste these days is for the 1 on 1 with the deer. I take my hunting REAL seriously. I won't hunt with just anybody. If I'm gonna hunt with others, I prefer one or two other TRUSTED guys, using the wind to sneak silently after having discussed planned routes. We move deer without panic. That's my take.
 
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