Deer driving advice needed.

[finelyshedded]

Could you and your group just still hunt the whole day? I imagine if you all climbed up a stand and maybe had a couple hunters just still hunting slowly and strategically you could do rather well. All dressed in orange of course but those deer evidently feel pretty safe in there and instead of driving I'd suggest well orchestrated still hunters and standers near known escape routes would do pretty well.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Here is how you do it....
Get as many, many guys as you can.
Set as many as needed on the exit end to cover the best escape routes.
Have all the others start on the other end and walk towards the standers. Have them bang pots/pans, use whistles, bottle rockets, etc. Gets the deer moving and folks know where they are at.
Have a few guys remain where you start from as they always double back.
Deer drive 101, they aint that complicated.

 

[motorbreaker]

Yea I don't see how one SINGLE deer drive will make a dent in overpopulated property... I don't care how many guys and guns you line up. Do whatever you need to do make the landowner feel warm and fuzzy, but you're fooling yourself if you think a deer drive is going to be the silver bullet.

Id like to repeat that this is not my idea. And the land owner and neighbors are gonna do it anyway. I told him we would help walk the 80 acres. We will not be sitting. I don't expect to shoot a deer myself. We will be bow hunting there before gun season. I have no idea how many deer will be killed.

 

[motorbreaker]

Could you and your group just still hunt the whole day? I imagine if you all climbed up a stand and maybe had a couple hunters just still hunting slowly and strategically you could do rather well. All dressed in orange of course but those deer evidently feel pretty safe in there and instead of driving I'd suggest well orchestrated still hunters and standers near known escape routes would do pretty well.

Far as I know there is no stands on this property. Ive only seen a small part of it while retrieving deer in the past. Its all thick cedars. The farmer use to own this 80 acres and said that they use to drive it years ago with success. Personally I've only been on a few drives and it was smaller blocks of woods.

 

[motorbreaker]

So here's what we know right.

1. You can't get in without bumping all the deer out.

2. You have one day to hunt.

3. 8 deer killed won't be enough.

Question. How many deer are you thinking is an acceptable number if everything went as planned? Would have to be 8+ right? I don't think I've ever seen a deer drive where 8 deer were killed. And I've been on 40+ man drives in the heyday 2007 population of Vinton county.

The more deer killed the better. I have no idea how many that will be. If the owner wants to do it what can I say? Hes been on me since early summer about to many deer. Ive tried to gain access to the 80 acres to hunt it but the owner is dead against it. The way I see it my hands are tied. There gonna do it anyway so why not help out and make him happy that we tried.

 

[motorbreaker]

Here is how you do it....
Get as many, many guys as you can.
Set as many as needed on the exit end to cover the best escape routes.
Have all the others start on the other end and walk towards the standers. Have them bang pots/pans, use whistles, bottle rockets, etc. Gets the deer moving and folks know where they are at.
Have a few guys remain where you start from as they always double back.
Deer drive 101, they aint that complicated.

The owner said he's gonna get with all the surrounding neighbors. So i'm thinking they would be able to cover any deer going out the sides our doubling back. The way you say to do it is how we've done it in the past. I've never done as big a block at one time. Just looking for some advice. Never know what you could learn from others unless you ask.

 

[Schu72]

Don't ignore the wind. On a big drive like that scent can really help or hurt you.

 

[motorbreaker]

Don't ignore the wind. On a big drive like that scent can really help or hurt you.

Sitters will want the wind in there face if possible right?

 

["J"]

Yep... Preferably.... But when the shooting starts, all bets are off....

 

[MK111]

Pushed panic deer run every which way. I would be surprised if they only kill couple running deer. The owners idea of a quick fix isn't going to happen.
Good luck and be safe as I wouldn't be anywhere close to that ordeal.

 

[Wmiller07]

I wouldn't be anywhere near this either. A bunch of people you don't know shooting at running deer in the woods. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

 

[cspot]

If I was doing it, I would post people until mid-morning. If it is off-limits to hunting then deer will tend to head there from surrounding pressure. Also from the standers shooting or just spooking deer while standing there it will cause some movement. Have the people setup so that the standers are already in position and the drivers are to for the 1st drive. As the others said break it up into as many small drives as you can. Also you can make multiple drives thru the same woods especially if it is thick. I have done it before. Push it one direction and then a little later push it back the other. Many deer will circle the pushers and not come out.

We have had drives where we killed multiple deer, but if I remember correctly off of 1 drive probably the most is 5 or 6.

Another thing is if doing drives have the pushers walk slowly. You don't want the deer to come out running. If you do it right then they won't be as spooked. The pushers on our drives killed nearly as many deer as the standers.

I didn't really look at the pics as they were too small, but if your property is in a good spot to take advantage if the neighbors place is pushed then why not let the neighbors doing the driving. If he is getting with them then maybe just let them create all the commotion.

 

[Big_Holla]

Be safe and wear kevlar!

 

[Jackalope]

Be safe and wear kevlar!

Ahhh nothing like the sound of a 1 oz slug ripping through the tree tops overhead. Sounds like a coked out bumblebee.

 

[jagermeister]

Ahhh nothing like the sound of a 1 oz slug ripping through the tree tops overhead. Sounds like a coked out bumblebee.

One of the most frightening sounds I've ever heard. And it's amazing how long you can hear it.... almost like someone playing it in slo mo.

 

[Floki]

If it were me..... I would divide the woods up in to sectors . Maybe 20 acre sectors. To the field .

We would start in the Woods's and 4 people would be lined up. Then to the next sector 4 more people and so one until your at the back of the woods .

In the morning it would be still hunt in til 10 am. At ten am the drive would start by the sound of a shotgun going off. With a whistle after. Then the guys in the back would drive to the guys in the next sector. Once their . That group of guys would walk to the next group... then that group pushes to the next. Until the field.

Once the field is reached the people who were waiting in the feild would then rotate. At that point,they would push from another direction. And on it goes . You still have people in the woods and people will know how others are sitting and where to shoot .

Yet I still wouldn't want to be anywhere near this . Hunting with people you don't know is one thing. But going to a new property no one knows the lay of the land etc. and doing a drive I would make damn sure .... To have all who's going to be their for that drive maybe meet up a week before, walk in and show the spots where people will be sitting in sectors etc so everyone is well aware of the situation.

To me this land owner sounds really fishy.... Or dumber than a box of rocks... I mean really This is more of a liability for them than a help. I'm with big slam on this one.

Good luck to you tho. Hope it all works out safely.

 

[Lundy]

I think 4-6 gun hunters on 120 acres, working together with a pocket full of doe tags hunting for a few days would remove more does that 20 guys doing a drive for one day. Most any decent hunter with a gun in his hands could EASILY take 2 day if there are as many deer as you say there are. Coordinated combinations of stand hunting and mini drives are much more effective that big drives typically. It is very difficult to push deer in a straight line. If you have some geographical feature on the property that funnels you are way ahead of the game.

I have seen over 15 deer killed on one drive but it wasn't performed legally. Standers just kept shooting until there was nothing left to shoot at.

 

[Ohiosam]

Driven deer like to run into the wind or cross the wind. Drivers need to expect deer coming back through the drive. You need to know the trails the deer tend to use as escape routes. I don’t like to post watchers in the field if that’s avoidable. Once deer hit the open they’ll most like be on a dead run and most guys can’t hit a running deer.
I get lots of this isn’t up to you, given the limitations if you kill 2 does you’ll be doing good. Good luck.

 

[motorbreaker]

Could you and your group just still hunt the whole day? I imagine if you all climbed up a stand and maybe had a couple hunters just still hunting slowly and strategically you could do rather well. All dressed in orange of course but those deer evidently feel pretty safe in there and instead of driving I'd suggest well orchestrated still hunters and standers near known escape routes would do pretty well.

I'm thinking that were gonna do this. Sounds like it could work better.

 

[finelyshedded]

How did the hunt go this time around? Was LO happy with the results?