I emphatically disagree to say it is inherently unsafe. It is as safe as the people doing it, much like any other human activity.
And I say this having witnessed my brother pick up two 00 pellets in the foot and leg at a range of 125 yards on a drive. My brother violated the safety rules by moving from his position into harms way.

how many deer drives have you been on James?

Like most leftists, never done it but an expert on it so his opinion matters more than those who have.

Maybe a dozen. I quit after the incident I described. I decided I didn't have the same definition of gun safety as the rest of the group.

Sure, if you could find a group of seasoned hunters with the same view of gun safety, level-headed guys who don't shoot unless all stages of firing are reporting green, then go for it.

I can imagine getting involved in a deer drive again, depending on the other participants, terrain, etc.

If it's so safe, why do outfitters ban driving deer?

Jim

it pushes the deer off their natural patterns and off the stands with 5 star accomodations.i grew up driving deer but haven't done it in 20 yrs.

now a little one guy walkin slow and another sitting to take advantage of it has killed a lot of deer for our family.

it pretty much went away here when posted signs became popular.

Like most semi-literates, he couldn't read my post but that doesn't stop him from making an arse of himself.

Jim

"In Wisconsin and probably in many other states, about half of all hunting accidental shootings occur during drives."

https://biggamelogic.com/deer-driving/

Deer drives are as common as fleas on a hound dog here. I bow hunt a good bit, so when rifle season comes around, I've usually had enough sitting around, and thoroughly enjoy the movement and comradery of driving. Our family has been driving deer my entire life and many years before I was even around. I can only remember two dangerous incidents in my 35 years of driving and both were the result of someone not in our party blasting away from a half mile or so away and bullets whistling over our heads.

The pressure in our area is tremendous, and if you don't move the deer after the first couple days, they will not move until dark. We hunt with around six men, and sometimes only three, usually 2-3 watchers and 3-4 drivers. Our drivers still hunt the drives and we stay on pace by making occasional turkey calls. We never drive the first couple days, and typically not on weekends. In my little piece of the world, it appears that driving deer is not unsafe.

There are groups around here that hunt like that, crazy if you ask me. The way they drive and shoot coyotes is nutso too. Some hunt deer that way here but the coyote guys are a whole new level. Park on bridge, shoot into timber, drive the edge toward group waiting on other end.
I've been in a section in middle of it and unbeknownst to them. No fun to hear bullets hitting tree limbs over your head either. Anything that holds a lot of .223 ammo seems to be preferred coyote gun these days around here.
I always figured if it got real bad and I'm stuck in between again quietly running my little trapline that my little ruger 10/22 could at least send 15 back at em as fast as I can pull the trigger, should get their attention right?
Some folks i swear have no sense of woodsmanship and they have the most insane concepts for hunting. Loud trucks, drive anywhere you want, and shoot a gun with lots of ammo in the clip. Put some on one end and drive toward them to chase game to them. Yep James it's almost that time of year again thanks for the stark reminder of another reason why I wear lots of orange on my trapline.
Jim

We drive deer on the last Saturday of deer every season. Been droving deer almost 50 years without incident. I do a lot more things that are unsafer than deer drives.

Yep, they don't want to run deer off their property.

We still drive some but like you we do more little "pushes" than anything. The days of doing a couple mile long drive is over unless it's on state land.

I have a problem with the way SOME coursing hound guys do things. Like driving along a hedgerow or whatever with a semi auto, shooting into it to get coyotes to run out. These are the guys driving through fences, accidently shooting livestock, rutting up pastures and hay ground.

We did deer and elk drives a lot when I was a kid. It was a family thing. Nobody ever got hurt. Don't think I would do that with just anybody.

Ive never had a bad experience driving deer.

Never occured to me that others thought it was dangerous until I started reading about it on the interweb.

I think we need a little more context here too James.

What type of terrain were you in?

In my part of PA where we do drives it is heavily wooded. The drives are short (1/4 mile at most) and everyone knows where each other is.

i worry about getting shot 100 times more hunting turkey then on deer drives.

You Don't have to Do it if you don't want to.

You cannot regulate Everything.

Many things we do in the U.S.A. are more dangerous.

Folks mainly use dogs around here. Driving deer not a common practice but I've been in on a few. I figure you have a greater chance being killed in a car wreck on the way to said hunt, than you do of being shot on a drive.

Professional deer driver here. It is dangerous, highly effective and a lot of fun. If you know what you’re doing, have an idea what the deer will do, done the drive before a time or two. Any danger is mitigated. Drivers all halloo so everyone knows where they are. Drivers all know where blockers are. Whet yer knife

Been doing it here in WI my whole life. We set our standers up on elevated stands, ridges hills. Edge drivers can shoot or if the deer is behind the drive and cut back. We usually only do small pieces and stir deer with 2-3 people all else set up to be shooters. Nothing even close to an injury in 50 years.

i'd like to see the numbers of those hurt on deer drives versus those that fall from trees while hunting.