I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe any caliber bullet is going to stay on course if it hits a large piece of brush. I hear folks say they just use a “brush gun” for drives, a large caliber, heavy-bullet shooting rifle that will “break through the wood.” Most are talking about. An ethical shot should put two or more pellets in the kill zone and put the deer in your truck. In tight, very thick areas when the shots range from 10 to 40 yards, a 12-gauge shotgun with 00 buckshot is the gun and load we prefer. The noise immediately alerts the deer to your presence, which means they will usually tip away and be walking when they reach a stander, making for an easier, more ethical shot. When doing a deer drive, drivers should move slowly and make lots of noise. This is the only case where we set our scopes rather high, as we might get a shot out to a little longer than 100 yards. The standers get high in trees where they can see deer moving down or along the hillside. Being that we are in stands, and expect 50- to 100-yard shots, we use the same guns we stand hunt with, rifles with 3X9 power scopes set on three.Įvery December, we do one drive that is a young clearcut on a big hillside. Weapon of Choice: The best gun to have in your hands depends on the terrain and habitat. Accidents simply should never occur for any reason.īelow are the other factors I consider important components of a successful drive. Were they shot for a deer? No, but they were hit by bullets meant for a deer between them and another hunter. Accidents have occurred when a stander shot a deer, made a less-than-perfect hit, and immediately began tracking the animal into an area where they were not supposed to be. Standers should never move until the drive is completely over. We usually put our standers in tree stands where they are shooting downward. If possible, it is also good if they are shooting into some topography, like a hillside. Standers should be stationed in positions where they will never be shooting toward the drivers or another stander. You don’t ever want to be on the receiving end of a high-powered rifle or shotgun. Everyone involved should know how many hunters are pushing, how many are standing and exactly where each person will be. The most important facet of any deer drive is safety. In this article I will mention some factors that have helped us through the years. Orchestrating a really safe, successful push involves a lot more than just, “Y’all line up over there, and push this thicket to Jimmy and Hank.” There are several important factors that influence just how well your drive will turn out. So ended the first deer drive of the day, with three fat does to be hauled back to camp. Seeing 15 deer off one drive, with a minimal amount of standers, is a good push. As luck would have it, he could have easily harvested one of the bucks, but the other doe did not present a good, ethical shot. She hesitated just before entering the thicket on the other side of the gulch. He shot the biggest doe with two grown fawns. He later relayed to me that nine deer came out of the thicket to the top funnel, a doe with one fawn, one with two large fawns, two 4-pointers, a 6-pointer and a 2 1/2-year-old, 14-inch 8-pointer. The stander on the top of the gulch was my good friend Mike Whitehead. Seconds later, a friend on the top crossing of the ravine fired once. I picked out the leader, converted her to tablefare, bolted in another cartridge and dropped the second largest before the group knew what had happened. The whole group hesitated before entering another thick cutover. Six other antlerless deer and a small 4-pointer followed her. The mature doe cautiously exited the Oglethorpe County clearcut and trotted toward the bottom of a deep ravine.
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