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Although not written about as much as other hunting styles, deer drives can be a very effective method for taking deer, and they are still executed in many parts of our country. The deer drive of today does not resemble the archaic method of the team of "beaters" who walked through the woods whooping and hollering, and beating the vegetation with sticks, driving panic stricken animals from the woods at a dead run to a line of waiting gunners who had to take off hand shots at bounding and leaping animals.
The modern deer drive is much more technical in nature and it starts with thorough scouting to determine the escape routes used by deer in a given area. Before the drive starts, a few well-placed stand hunters take up positions that oversee these escape routes. Once the stand hunters are in places the drivers begin moving through an area (for example, a woodlot that is a known bedding area for a group of deer) from the upwind side. The drivers move slowly, as if they were still-hunting, and let their scent move along before them. The hope is that the deer will smell the drivers, long before the people are close enough to panic them, and they will calmly sneak out through the escape routes from their bedding areas to avoid being detected by the driving hunters. With the deer moving cautiously ahead of the drivers, they will present easier non-moving, or slow moving, targets for the stand hunters. It is very important for all hunters participating in a deer drive to wear large amounts of hunter safety orange. With so many people moving through the woods, firearm safety is more important than ever. To be even safer, it would help if all stand hunters were elevated in trees, and the drivers should also know the location of all the stand hunters' trees before the hunt is started. For safety reasons this also is a hunting style that is better suited for private land where access is limited to only those who have permission to be there.
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