"If your feelings got hurt you are that guy and you can cry to someone who cares, I dont."
I am surprised at the attitude of people who claim that deer drives are "not hunting" and "not ethical". Many of these same people, including several on this thread, sit in tree stands above a deer's line of sight and out of the way of most of their ability to use their nose. Baiting, feeders, trail cams are also used and talked about here and are not met with the same derision as drives.
Before horn porn existed as a huge industry, many of us grew up driving deer. It was a time-honored social activity. Then inches of antler became more important than meat or coming-of-age hunts and hunting lands got closed off to many who previously had access. Even access to hunt small game has been denied in many, if not most private properties where deer live.
All this so that the landowner or leaser could have less competition in possibly killing a big buck. So now we have fewer and fewer kids growing up hunting. We have less and less access to hunting ground. We have new-age deer philosophers denigrating those who enjoyed the deer drives of old because it doesn't fit their myopic and selfish view of what deer hunting SHOULD be.
If you are one of the ones who gladly gain advantage by sitting in a tree, using bait, using cover scents, using attractant scents, using trail cams, using ghillie suits, etc., you may want to re-examine your thoughts on the subject.
If "hunting" is the criteria for determining ethical deer killing, then what exactly is sitting in an elevated stand at the best time according to a trail cam, overlooking bait, wearing camo and cover scent? I guess timed ambushes are way more ethical than trying to push deer with a stick and string in hand.
It seems as if today's average deer hunter is more concerned with being able to control the most variables to gain advantage over the deer. If those of you putting drives down had a clue about their efficacy, you may change you tune. I grew up driving deer in one of the top trophy counties in the entire country. We saw many huge bucks during the year. We killed very few. My father, brother, cousin and a few friends have killed more big bucks as well, as does, sitting quietly in stands and blinds than we ever killed on drives.
Finally, I've been on quite a few deer drives while hunting with other trad guys. As others above have said, it is a slow, quiet, soft push. It can be fun and even works sometimes - most often it doesn't. I personally don't care how anyone else chooses to kill a deer. They are meat on the hoof and are a renewable resource.
Topic: Deer drives (Read 2554 times)
