Over the years I've been a part of many deer "drives." Although I've never really liked that word because I have watched (during regular firearms season) an orange mob surround a patch of woods and listened as it turned into WW III. There used to be a couple of families in our area where all the cousins etc got together and did this. How they didn't manage to kill or injure someone the way they did it is still amazing to me.
My dad always said, "We push; we don't drive." Most of our "pushes" involve two to four people depending upon who is available and what the terrain is like. Ideally, the person doing the pushing never sees the deer as they use their scent and/or noise to get the deer on its feet and get it moving in the appropriate direction to the stander. Typically these deer are sneaking, not going mach 1. A plan is made beforehand, so both the pusher and the stander know the other's approximate location. Also, as someone said earlier in this thread, you need to identify your target and what is behind it BEFORE YOU SHOOT! This is not the place for a trigger happy fool! Dad always told me to pick my hunting partners carefully and don't hunt with someone who isn't safe.
Typically most of our pushes are done during the muzzleloader season. In Minnesota, our muzzleloader season is the last firearms season. By that point the deer have been run all over heck and gone, the dumb ones are already in someone's freezer, and things get tough. Also, when you are a working person, trying to get out and post after work becomes an issue due to the shortness of the days. When we get time to hunt on weekends, we do a fair number of pushes. We have our key spots. We pick areas likely to hold deer but are small enough that two to four guys can push and cover escape routes.
Many deer still get by us because they didn't read the script and pop out in unexpected places. Sometimes they sit tight and do come by at warp speed and you miss. But every so often, everything goes right and we put one on the ground. After several months of stand hunting with my recurve, I love the activity and anticipation (it is also often very cold during this season, so a little walk feels good!), whether I am on post, or the one sneaking along making the push. It is a fun way to hunt! Not sure that I would throw a neophyte into it by themselves, but that would be for another thread.
