Drives=Fair Chase?


Guest Huntin_Cop

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

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...just ask the WOLVES!! Thats how they do it.......

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I've got to admit I have never thought of it that way before. If you have ever seen a Wolf Pack hunt before...Its not about mercy you can bet on that and they could care less about getting a deer in the "Books".

I like your view!!! It's called "Hunting"...not Mercy Killing.

Deer Drives...IMO..Deer moving away from a percieved threat and being harvested by a hunter that it did not know was there. Why some people seem to think it has to be done like a Indian Tiger Drive with drums in the movies I'll never know. If a drive is done correctly the deer are not doing high speed through the woods but walking and even stopping to look back where they came from.

Just like in other forms of Hunting...It takes skill to be done safely and with success. If you think it does not take skill...then you are better at figuring out exactly where deer move through the woods than most people..be grateful you have that skill. Hunting areas where you have an adequate size of land or cover and a chance of being successful leaves more than enough room for deer to slip out the backdoor!

I have been on many drives where No Deer Where Taken. Some unsuccessful deer drives were simply a result of the deer teaching school...we were the students...they taught the lesson. Some of those unsuccessful drives were from people passing on shots that were not safe...its called good judgement!

I have been on many deer drives....Safety rules are strictly adhered to, Blaze Orange is mandatory, and travel routes for the Drivers(affectionately known as Dogs...of which I have been one many times) grin.gif are dictated and absolutely followed.

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Guest Huntin_Cop

Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

Alot of great input from alot of great people.

I knew there were going to be more pro's than con's on this topic and I thought I was in for a rear-end chewin. But you guys proved different and showed real class. This could have easily turned into a spike killing but everyone expressed their opinions in a well mannered form which reflects why the Realtree Forums is the best cyber-deer lodge on the internet.

As for me, I may of come on a bit hard in expressing my opinion concerning drives. As with other posts of mine, I never intend on insulting or putting others down. I apologize if I caused anyone here to feel that way.

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

Sure they are fair chase in my mind, I do them all the time, with my father and brother, 3 man drive, we liek to call it organized still hunting. Often the drivers are the ones killing the bucks........oh and when doign a drive, there are many a slips twix cup and a lip my friend, deer always find a way out.

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

Although, I have never actually been in the drive, I have been sitting near them a few times. Taken a few bucks as well! As long as its done safely and legally its no big deal to me. As far as fair chase is concerned. As long as its not a fenced in area!

But you cant use dogs in PA. Dogs can run longer than a deer which is why using a dog is so effective. The deer just cant keep running. They will die quicker when being chased by dogs. Almost to the point of running them to death. Although I have no idea if you can use a dog in PA to find a downed deer.

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

It is very easy to put down what you don't understand. If you think that everytime you do a deer drive that the deer are going to run directly to a watcher without any choice, you are nuts. Here in the S. tier of NY most of the bucks go nocturnal after the first couple days of the season. If you want to see deer you have to go to them. Like GW said, it must be done correctly in order to have some if any success.

Personally I am all for deer drives.

Ranger

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

I don't do them but I can't ridicule them either because if we fight amongst ourselves then the "tree huggers" see this and have fire power on us.

If not safely I guess they are productive but each year we read about the guy who didn't make it out of the drive as someone in his/her party shot them by mistake.

I prefer to sit and wait them out and find a funnel and take my chances. I do not want to enter their safe zone which to me is their bedding area and flush them out, I want to be fair to them but in no way to I condone them, just the ones where someone gets shot because someone wasn't thinking about safety!

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Guest deerhntnwithdogs

Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

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Although, I have never actually been in the drive, I have been sitting near them a few times. Taken a few bucks as well! As long as its done safely and legally its no big deal to me. As far as fair chase is concerned. As long as its not a fenced in area!

But you cant use dogs in PA. Dogs can run longer than a deer which is why using a dog is so effective. The deer just cant keep running. They will die quicker when being chased by dogs. Almost to the point of running them to death. Although I have no idea if you can use a dog in PA to find a downed deer.

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Not entirely true. I understand the idea but the thing is that half the time neither deer nor dog is flat out runnning the deer are sneaking away and the dogs are trailing. Then wen they jump a deer is when they run hard. The deer then usually get shot long before the dogs run them to death. And the dogs usually pick up another track if they cant jump the deer. Dogs are kinda like humans in the way that some of them have REALLY BAD A-D-D haha. I ahve yet to see a dog catch or run a deer to death. Dogs really cannot outrun a deer because a deer can go upwards of half a mile on one breath of air. they are built to run. Dogs are built to sniff and trail not flat out run a deer. Plus the dogs are not close to as fast as a deer. They just cant run them down like that unless they have some kinda steriods for dogs that I dunno about haha. But besides that I understand where you would get that but in most cases it just doesnt really happen like that. Not tryin to start an argument just correcting a VERY common concern. The dogs just naturally arent built to run a deer down. Now the opposite goes for foxhunting but that is the goal for the dogs to run not to shoot the fox. But with deer hunting the dogs will run the deer out to get shot, the deer will lose the dogs or the dogs will lose the deer almost all the time but I have never heard of a case when the dogs ran a deer to death they just cant quite keep up with the deer their not quite built for the job you know what I mean?

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

I personally do not like to do drives on our property because we practice QDM and I do not want to push the deer to the people sitting on our border who shoot anything and everything that moves. I do think that is works very well for some people and if someone is lucky enough to get a large buck on a drive good for them let it go in the record books. Most of the time when you see a large buck on a drive he is running a hole lot faster than if you had seen him on your watch!!!

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Guest tarbaby

Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

I have nothing against a well organized drive but the one thing that i hate the most, which happens a lot around here is people see a flash of brown and start unloading. Way too many deer get either injured or have so many holes in them u need a grinder for the meat. I have never participated in one and dont plan on it (only bow hunter anyway). As long as the people have some respect for the animal and take smart, high percentage shots I have no problem with it.

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

If you seen how some of the groups put on drives around here it would make you sick... the drivers go through the woods yelling and banging on trees and even sometimes shooting their guns at nothing... Then they will shoot 15 times and drag out a single button buck that only weighs 80 pounds and has 4 shots in him (true story this year)... If it were up to me I would limit drives to a maximum of 4-5 people or do away with them entirely. I'm tired of them idiots coming through the woods without permission and scaring all the deer out that I'm trying to hunt. If you don't think these people are lame then you are lame yourself. mad.gif

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

dude ease up!!

You grouping all driver together. Why does it make a person lame to do something that is legal, i personally dont do it this way... but those arent YOUR deer, you dont OWN them...........i'm not saying its teh best way to hunt but people have the right to hunt that way..........same as those who chose not to use QDM

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

For starters, ;et's stick to the subject at hand, and leave QDM for other discussions.

Now, we won't be having name calling in here just because you don't like the way someone else hunts. I hate deer drives and I'm thrilled to no end that they aren't legal in Vermont, BUT I'm not going to insult anyone either.

JimT was expressing his opinion. He wasn't saying you're all lame.

Whiskeyswamp, you're pushing it with the last sentence of your post. You don't like drives, and that's fine, but don't be calling others lame because they hunt in a legal manner that you don't like.

Stay on topic and keep it civil or it will be locked.

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

Thank You Josh.

Its appreciated that you have a different opinion and yet still keep an open mind for the choices of other hunters.

In keeping with the topic:

Would anyone think that a deer taken while in a treestand at noon should be eligible for entry into the record books? Of course it should!!!

If your hunting public land...More than likely...You just shot a deer off of a drive.

That deer was possibly pushed in one way or another by a different hunter who decided to walk to their truck at 11:00AM and you decided to stick it out in the stand. Whats the difference between an Organized Drive and the deer you just shot?

I've heard in these forums that a great way of taking a deer is to stay in the stand longer than the next guy. If you do that and kill a deer because of the disturbance the other hunter or hunters created when they left for lunch...whats the difference?

Some people may choose to spend their time in the woods sitting and hoping that a deer walks by.

Other people choose to organize their time spent in different ways after the first couple of days of the opening of a season.

It seems easy for some people to slam a way of hunting they dont do. My question about that is "What do you get from being that way"?

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

i dont see how people who push bush are lazy when they have to walk through the bush to push the deer out of the bush. It is also alot harder to hit a running deer than it is to hit one standing still. I am all for it

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Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

I think we as hunters sometimes don't realize that when we see deer, rather we want to believe it or not, their is a good chance that the deer was somehow pushed to you. Rather it was by wind, people, mother nature making noise, etc. I bet the people who think doing deer drives is the lame or lazy way to hunt don't think it's so bad then.

I knew a guy at my last duty station that was like that. He said that he thought deer drives were unethical but yet he always positioned himself on the edge of a drive or the edge of the property adjecent to the deer drive grin.gif This topic kills me every time. "Lame and Lazy" grin.gif LMBO

Well I guess my answer is, if it's legal, then so be it. Like someone else said in here, hunters are their worst enemy. Who needs to worry about PETA when we have people like this wink.gif Just my thoughts

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Guest youngBlood

Re: Drives=Fair Chase?

when is hunting fair for the animal anyway? we have 70 pound compound bows and high powered rifles.

Yea people have killed large bucks using the method of drives, theres no reason you cant try that way too, but if you dont like it dont worry about them and hunt your own way. I could def. make some topics about fenced in deer, deer being fed from feeders, and ect. but whatever floats thier boats and whatever is legal in thier state.

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