[willyp]

When is the last time you were in one or even heard one going on?
First of all,there are not that many people hunting anymore to get a real deer drive going.
I am talking with 20 plus people in it! We had them,years ago,that we had to have a rooster!
We had access to lots of hill country and open farm lands to push.
We had snow to! It was a lot of fun and bucks got shoot.
It would start around 8 am the first day and be done around 3pm. A good day would be 4 or 5 drives. Then on Saturday start again!
Doe season was the time it worked out good.no antlers to look for!It was tough to get a big drive then because there were very few doe tags sold?
This was in the late 50s and early 60s.
I can still hear the guys coming over a ridge,and a shoot once in a while,people yelling"THERE IT GOES!" Then a while later another shoot and a "I GOT IT!"
Oh,and we shoot deer running and no one ever got shot!

 

[triggercreep]

You guys shot at running deer? I'm shocked! Shocked to discover running deer are being shot!

 

[triggercreep]

And it's a roster, not a rooster.

 

[Bigbrownie]

Maybe instead of hooting and hollering he took along a rooster to crow. That would get the deer moving.

 

[loridr]

Many times, back in the 60's up in Sullivan County Pa. Sure was an exciting way to hunt deer.

Last time would have been in 1971 or 72, with a big gang out of Emporium. On our last drive that day we were driving the side of one ridge while another gang was driving the side of the opposite ridge. I had a post in a bowl formed where the ridges met... I'll bet I had at least 100 deer come past... not a horn in the bunch that I could see, course there were so many I couldn't keep track of them all.

 

[blueridgehunter]

I always hunt up north for the first couple 3 days starting Thursday would hunt Greene county this was in the 80's to 2009 sit till 9 drives till 3 sit till dark was fun and work but we enjoyed it. The farms got sold or leased people pass on and the tradition ended. Still think about them days gone by!

 

[scapper]

It is my favorite way to hunt. For 49 years i live to push deer and bear. When our cabin started doing more stand hunting i found other groups that still drive and hunt with them. I do walk a lot during off season just to get ready. Before i get asked , yes we do hunt a lot a lot of state land.

 

[MathewsMan85]

We don't have 20 plus guys but every year starting the day after Christmas we do drives in 2B."They come in from up north,Sigel PA" My pap and a couple of his buddies come in every year." The old timers". There is usually 12-14 of us and we do really good every year. I know they look forward to it each and every year. The last weekend of the statewide flintlock season a group of 14-16 head up to camp "Sigel PA" and push with the smokepoles. Its a tradition now

 

[scapper]

Mathew you stated what i was trying to say. Tradition at 61 i still can't sit for long.

 

[cspot]

We never had 20 guys but usually had 6 to 10. We would do silent drives instead of hooting and hollering. It is a fun way to hunt but been a few years since we did it.

 

[Mike M.]

do drives every year although we only have about 10 guys & silent drive.

 

[Pa.Bone]

Back in the 70's we drove deer in archery season every day and sat in tree's in the evening. We would always have a full roster between three camps in Medix Run. It's a good thing my dad knew how to make arrows back then.

 

[MountainMan88]

Do drives for bear and deer every year. Don't push the first two days of buck or Saturdays. We hunt nothing but public and have no problems seeing or killing deer. We can't really do silent since most places we drive you can't see more than a step ahead of you. This is my favorite way to hunt. I enjoy the people and my alone time is spent in archery.

 

[willyp]

Bigbroenie hit it on the head,a Rooster.
These were sent into the real thick patches of laurel and brush. When they jumped a Buck it would crow?
We had him fit with a gun but he only WINGED the deer he shot at!

 

[Shed Antler]

One of the reason the deer don't move the way they used to. No one pushing them in those big drives any more. It still goes on in my area but not to the scale it was in the 70's and 80's.

 

[dce]

My father,brother and I have always hunted by doing drives but they were just slow pushes.I was almost always the driver and still am today.The driver get's just as many opportunies and the deer rarely are on the run.As I got older,we'd get about 6 or 7 guys during flintlock season.I always liked to be a flanker and I'd stop and sit half way through.About 50% of the time,I'd catch deer sneaking back through.I was only a part of a big drive once where there were 20+ guys and all kinds and yelling and hollering.It all seemed counter productive to me so I never did it again.

 

[cspot]

One of the reason the deer don't move the way they used to. No one pushing them in those big drives any more. It still goes on in my area but not to the scale it was in the 70's and 80's.

Yep. Excactly. Posted property is partly to blame and so is the average age of the hunter going up every year. Back in those days you could make a drive and then do it again later in the day. Other deer would get pushed back into the area.

One reason we don't do deer drives anymore is that once we drive our place a time or 2 the deer just pretty much will stay off it until after season. No pressure to push them back. I pretty much save it for a last ditch effort at the end of the season.

 

[cspot]

My father,brother and I have always hunted by doing drives but they were just slow pushes.I was almost always the driver and still am today.The driver get's just as many opportunies and the deer rarely are on the run.As I got older,we'd get about 6 or 7 guys during flintlock season.I always liked to be a flanker and I'd stop and sit half way through.About 50% of the time,I'd catch deer sneaking back through.I was only a part of a big drive once where there were 20+ guys and all kinds and yelling and hollering.It all seemed counter productive to me so I never did it again.

We used to do the same thing. The drivers probably took as many deer as the standers. Alot of times when walking if you stop for a minute, deer will get nervous and jump up. If you never stopped, they would just let you walk on past.

 

[casey]

Every year we get about 15-20 guys together during the second week and we have a blast.

 

[Peck Hill Will]

Hunted with a group like that for years-great fun! Like everybody has said-age, lack of land, and pressuring the deer into places we couldn't drive has led us to stop. I do miss it!

Will