Anybody ever practice this method of hunting during bowseason? I personally never have. Actually I don't care for them in gun season either (different story). But I was helping a buddy track a doe this morning. She ended up in some pretty thick stuff of about 8 acres (nice bedding area). We enter the thicket going slow looking for blood and 40 yards in front of us jumps up a BIG 10 pointer. He didn't really "bolt" away from us but kinda trotted off. He ended up walking after that and actually stopped right in front of one of his stands. Got me thinking if it's the last couple days of bow season and guns are going to be blazing after that I might try some soft pushes for the guys that hunt with me that haven't filled their buck tag. Seems like it "could" payoff if done right. Anyone ever have success with it?
The guys i hunt with 1 of them is a gun hunter only nd he puts on drives all the time for us he is very good nd knows wat he is doin but were we live the deer are overpopulated so drives can be easy. I say go for it but the bad thing is that putting on drives can put alot of stress on the area u are hunting. Good luck
I've done It many times. Soft, small, slow pushes Is exactly what we do. Usually the last few days of our deer season the bowhunters who still have a tag left will get together and do small, slow pushes. We've shot right around a dozen deer doing this the last 15 to 20 years, all from the ground. It's allot of fun and very challenging but we've gotten pretty darn good at It. We've lost one deer.
we do it in upstate new york for gun season, never hunted bow(thats why im here, learning). what we do is 3 hunters on the ground kinda "clearing" an area towards 3 hunters in stands. constant radio communication so no one gets shot and blaze orange is a must with the guys i hunt with even though new york doesnt require it during any season. father in law says no one has ever been shot doing it, and its all private land. same group of guys every year, with a few "guests" here and there. id say go for it. you dont have to be as "pushy" as we are, like you said, slow, soft pushes.
We used to do it a good bit....basically exactly like what Steve said. Slow easy pushes, more or less a still hunt where you just bump them along towards the standers. Haven't done it in a while, cause all my buddies basically quit bowhunting over the last 6-7 yrs. Kinda hard to push them to myself. I enjoyed it though and we had moderate success doing it.
Don't look at it that way, NY. I wish no direct harm to you or anyone else. Just think of it as I'm a big fan of natural selection.
shot a doe a few years back off a push. had 3 guys post with bows and 3 guys push a 40 of bedding ground. 3 does ran by me. i stopped the last doe and smoked her. we had one guy posted across the street by a big tree and had a nice buck run right by him but he didnt try to stop it. could have had 2 deer on the ground. o well.
I never have, but I know a guy that does this evidently rather effectively with his group of hunters. They sit the mornings & eves, and do slow pushes midday.
actually i have done them, we do it a bit different tho, completely quiet, one person usually, you have to know exactly how the deer move in that block, slip through the woods quietly so the deer sneak out, we cover the exit routs, its a fun quick hunt
gotcha. Speaking of natural selection.... I could never understand how a mother could eat their young until you came along. Really cleared it up for me thank you.
NYB Here is my issue with them, a soft drive or any drive puts a whitetail on alert. This means the deer will duck your arrow(or move a bunch) when you shoot. Unless the hunter knows how far the deer will drop, the shot odds get worse.
