Setting Aside Driving Areas?

[akasutton]

I've heard Dan and Mario talk about not driving private land because of its long term effect on the deer. How then are the same public areas able to be driven during gun season year after year? Also, do you hunt those bedding areas at all during the early season, or are these areas set aside to be pushed only during the gun season? I remember Dan saying he sometimes gathers intel on drives, so he must be hunting them other times as well. Just curious . . .

[Rich M]

If you run a private deer onto another private or public, it might get shot... If you leave it be, it will be there after the gun season is over and you can continue to hunt it w bow.

[A5BLASTER]

I'm so glad deer drive's are illegal on the public land I hunt.

[mauser06]

I spent the last several years hunting "private" farmland and wood lots that were driven HARD. Even in archery season.


Archery hunting was DIFFICULT. The "rut" was nearly non-existent from a hunting stand point. Sides right place right time you could luck into something...but for the most part it was 1.5yos.
The deer absolutely know where to go to avoid humans. I ran cameras for a while and in rifle and flintlock season, I was part of the main crew that drove it...I had pics of some absolute toads and we NEVER ever saw them. Ever. Every year it was like that. I was basically hunting ghosts.


The last couple seasons I've stopped hunting down there completely. Hunting public ground I've never archery hunted. My hunting is better than it's ever been. Some of the ground I have had some Intel on passing through on bear drives or whatever...but never archery hunted it.




I'd say some public could suffer the same fate...but a lot of the public I hunt is MUCH bigger...and receives MUCH less pressure than those small woodlots did. Guys drive the public I hunt...some big crews. And like I mentioned, much of it is popular bear hunting woods and that draws big driving crews before our deer rifle season.


Often times the public offers more secure bedding and cover as well. I know here, most the public is public because it wasn't suitable to develope or farm. Thick, steep, wet. You can't match the level of harassment as you can on small pieces of private.



My buddy has a stand on private that for YEARS he's killed bucks from. It was almost a sure thing that opening morning, he was going to hammer one from it.

This year I watched deer numerous days skirt around his stand. He didn't kill anything this season and didn't see much. Deer have simply learned that if they go near there, bad things happen. It's his only stand and if he's hunting, that's where he is. Wind doesn't matter etc.