So I was having a short text conversation with another hunter. So I thought I would ask everyone their thoughts. Have you ever done it? What are your thoughts on it? Let’s keep it respectful Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Tony. I've commented on this for years. One of the funnest ways to kill a deer. Just seem nowadays, hunters have it SO ingrained in thier minds that they have to be in a stand / blind to kill a deer. I've been in and seen 100s of deer killed doing drives. Heck, that's with archery. That many with guns also. River/ creek bottoms drives work SO GREAT.. So many sit home cuz the wind isn't right for thier stands. Dammit, if you wanna fill a tag, get a buddy or 2,wife,neighborhood kid and get em out pushing bush. I wish I would have started a YouTube channel years ago about doing drive. Excpecilly with archery. I'd have SO much footage of lots of great context/ footage.
Every year we push this 5 acre brush island where we used to hunt… we’ve taken deer and have had an absolute blast doing it. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I used to be part of a deer camp in northern WI. The group sat in the morning then mid morning started doing drives. The land up there is so much county land open to public hunting. The group sometimes had 12-15 people doing drives. Very organized and they did it safely. It was a great group of people and I had fun, but not for me I don't feel comfortable shooting at a running deer I will be honest not that good of a shot. I had another college friend I hunted with in the early 90's in northern Wisconsin it was mostly sitting around corn piles. He got married and moved off to Milwaukee but still had his shack in the woods. He brought one of his city friends up, the guy way was hunting with an AK. We attempted a 6 person drive thru the jack pines to an open logged out area. We are getting close to the end of the jacks I can start to see the opening 50 yards out and 3 shots followed by the loudest F I have ever heard. The idiot with the AK shot into the oncoming drivers and hit a guy in the arm as soon as all the reports were filed I went home the evening of the opener.
Extreme situation that is not common. When we do that drive we have one or two pushing that brush and the other hunters at the end … all open field after that. Posters all see each other and know where they can shoot… Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Yes it was extreme a one off situation. The guy was a pure bred DF. As a driver I never considered shooting just yelled when deer were flushed buck or doe.
I've done them before and can see the fun in it. But it's not the way I like to hunt. I don't participate in them anymore. I don't enjoy shooting deer that are on the run. I just like shooting deer that are doing there normal routines. I prefer the ambush approach. We are allowed to bait in this state and I don't even do that. One of the big reasons I hunt almost entirely on public, no bait. I like to blend into nature and become one with them. This is just the my style. Sure drives work, I'm just not into them. It's a big problem on public also. Alot of people get frustrated with the hunting and drive the property's. Guess they just don't care about other hunter's. Eventually the deer settle back down and return. I wish they would ban deer drives on public personally. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Did a lot of it as a kid in PA and in the big woods of the Adirondacks many years later. I love hunting as a team and grinding with a group of guys that know how to do it right. The buck below my buddy Larry and I killed years ago in the Adirondacks.
Our annual flintlock camp that’s all we do is deer drives but no one shoots at them moving. We do more slow long pushes or wind bumps as we call them. We have been hunting these specific farms for many years and figured out where the deer travel when bumped and fine tuned the standers positions so we normally get a pile of deer.But you still have to hit them. Not easy with a flintlock. there are times when you just have to leave them go by because they don’t stop. Last year we got 7 for 9 guys. The 2 that didn’t kill had multiple misses. Oh and there are almost always some misfires or hang fires. That gets frustrating!! Sooo much fun!! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I can see where it would be fun if with the right group. I personally don't care for them but that's because I know locally, it always turns into party hunting, which is illegal. Many Amish hunting parties hunt this way, push a woods, kill everything that moves and then divy up the deer amongst the guys with tags. They wonder why their county's deer population is non-existent. Also, I've had close friends shot at by groups pushing woods that they(the Amish, not my friends) were trespassing on and that turned into an interesting ordeal. Like I said, not against the concept, but the way it's used locally is dangerous and in my opinion, should be illegal. Years ago, Indiana was a shotgun only state so it made more sense to me why guys chose to push woods, now we are allowed high-powered rifle and every yahoo went out and bought a 6.5 Creedmore to hunt from the ground with. SCARY
One of the many reasons I refuse to hunt during firearms anymore. I only hunt archery and hang it up.
Nowdays, when I speak of making drives, it's with archery. A few buddies and I do them every year (usuallt) late season. It's rare we don't at least get one shot a day. Often multiples.
Not really that tough. Actually it can be quite easy, just a different mind set. The key is setting up next to trail going through thick cover. And keep whoever is pushing to do so slow n quite.
I'm tagged out but was asked if I could make a few pushes this weekend for buddies that have tags. Fricken absolutely!
If all goes well, I'll be pushing bush in both Mn and ND tomorrow. One of my favorite things to do. Get a few buddies together and see piles of deer.
Act like you are grouse hunting and you will see deer, act like you are deer hunting you will see grouse.
I pushed about 9.5 miles of riverbottoms last 2 days. Guessing we seen 100 deer but did not get ONE killed which is really rare. Had a great time with great friends and lost a couple pounds. Love doing it.
