MN Stricter than other states?

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

Id start with the elimination of party hunting, I personally dont see any reason for it.

What he said.... With the elimination of party hunting, then deer drives will be thwarted big time too..... Hate deer drives. Unsafe and inhumane.

[Getanet]

Love party hunting. Love deer drives too. When done correctly they are neither unsafe or inhumane. As long as we're going to reckless throw out terms like inhumane, how about we get rid of archery hunting? Read the archery thread sometime and it sounds like deer are basically living pin cushions.

[hockeybc69]

Yea ok. shooting at running deer through woods or half way across a field is "nicer" to the deer than archery.

laughable....

Off topic now. Dang it. Whoops.

[Getanet]

Laughable? Do you really want me to post links to all the Archery threads of guys that hit deer with their bows this year, and couldn't find it - with all responders saying it happens to everyone and sharing similar experiences?

I don't really have a problem with archery hunting.Just illustrating that what goes around comes around.

[jay83196]

+1! Getanet: Spoken from somebody who most likely never shot a bow, I have shot many with both gun and bow and often they died quicker and ran less when I used the bow. If you have to unload your gun on a deer in most cases you don't belong in the woods, I'd be embarrased if I had to! Certainly not bragging about like some people do...

[Getanet]

You're right, the only time I've shot a bow was when I played Cowboys and Indians. I would imagine those calling deer drives inhumane have never done one either - or at least not one properly.

Whoever said anything about unloading your gun on a deer?

Again, I was being fairly tongue in cheek about archery hunting. But if someone is going to call one form of hunting inhumane, be prepared for other forms to be called inhumane. Maybe it will be a form that person participates in and feels they do so as humanely as possible.

[jay83196]

I would agree that some peole shouldn't bow hunt either, but I tend to agree shooting deer on the run, or at distances people are not Good enough shooting is more irresponsible and wounds more deer and definetly more risk for other hunters. But just my opinion and I'm bias as I just don't think driving deer is safe in many cases.

[slimngrizzly]

Theres plenty of idiots out there with guns AND bows, thats all there is to it. Both are perfectly capable of a fast clean kill, and unfortunatly, both wound more animals than they should.

[96trigger]

Many people shoot deer on the run when they are sitting in their stand, many deer get wounded by taking poor shots by people on stand. Often times during deer drives, if done correctly, the deer are casually walking through, often as soon as the drivers get in the woods. They are not generally at a full sprint.

We don't do deer drives anymore, not because it was inhumane, simply because we weren't successful anymore, we found that if we just sat, and put in our time, we had good hunting all week, instead of for two hours. Often our results are better than with deer drives. It is becoming a thing of the pass where I hunt, 10 years ago, it was still pretty popular. We found out that lots of land owners around here don't want 20 guys tromping through their woods and driving their 4 wheelers and trucks through the fields anymore. We never had that many, but for awhile, there were a few groups that were that big, I think they turned many of the farmers off to deer drives.

Again, I am not against them, but I am glad we don't do them anymore.

[Getanet]

We don't do them much either. Many guys are getting too old and the younger guys prefer to sit in their stand all day. I enjoy doing them. Get to see a different part of the woods, get to warm up if it was cold out (when it used to be cold during the rifle season) and it's rewarding putting in some hard work to help someone else in your party get a deer.

[hockeybc69]

I dont disagree with a walk through the woods to warm up and move towards a hunting partner.... A bit more of a casual push...

Designed drives are the ones that make me cringe. A coworker of mine got the tube extension for his benelli and can hold like 10 shells or some dump... he has emptied it. Numerous times.

OMG the stories about their drives are something else.... Its all they do too. Yikes.

Dang it... off topic again. Sorry.

[96trigger]

Getanet, your group sounds a lot like ours. Many of us young guys, would rather sit instead of getting all sweated up pounding the ground. A lot of us young guys bow hunt also and we know that you can see plenty of deer sitting if you sit long enough.

I'm not against it, we did it for a long time, but just don't feel the need to anymore. Our harvest has gone up since quitting the drives and the whole week of hunting is much more relaxing. We will still occasionally do some still hunting through the woods with guys in choice stands, but that is about it.

Sometimes I do miss the comradery and the excitement of being on a drive and hearing the guns go off.

[jay83196]

I guess I shouldnt generalize, its true people are irresponsible bow hunting and still hunting. Also. I just read on several different threads few people almost bragging about how they unload their clips wile driving/hunting and I've seen and heard it first hand and not been impressed with how it wounds deer, disrupts others hunting and can be a safety issue. But I imagine a drive if done responsibly in the right conditions I'm sure its not all like that.

[picksbigwagon]

We drive hunt in Iowa, shotguns only, we are quite organized and know where everyone is at all times. I would NEVER do a drive in a rifle zone, the thought of that scares me

[nonteepical]

Agree 100%

The liberalization of the time window and ways to harvest a buck has increased pressure on bucks. The push for the four month deer hunting with all weapons came from those who want to harvest the biggest buck possible, not your average hunter.

Go back to pick a zone and firearm season. Rifle or muzzy, not both. Hunt whitewater or ottertail county, not both. You can switch next year.

lakevet

[B-man715]

We drive hunt in Iowa, shotguns only, we are quite organized and know where everyone is at all times. I would NEVER do a drive in a rifle zone, the thought of that scares me

MYTH BUSTED

Studies have shown that your theory is backwords......... And I admit until recently I have always felt the same as you.

FACT:

When a shotgun slug ricochets, it travels farther and with more energy than a rifle bullet.

But, a rifle bullet will travel farther before ricocheting

http://www.americanhunter.org/blogs/shotguns-safer-than-rifles/

The Question: If held three feet off the ground and fired parallel to the ground (and assuming no obstacle blocks it) what travels farther, a 150-grain, .30-06 bullet fired at 2910 fps, or a 385-grain slug shot at 1900 fps?

It’s the .30-06, because, although the two bullets would hit the ground at the same time, the .30-06 would travel farther because it's traveling faster, right?

The Data: As Bacastow’s data, taken from the Armaments Engineering and Technology Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., indicates, there is a 100 percent chance that both projectiles will ricochet when they hit the ground if shot at a zero degree angle. And when they ricochet, something strange happens. Because the heavier-constructed, slower traveling slug retains “95 percent of its energy and excellent ballistic characteristics after initially hitting the ground” on average it travels farther in total distance than the .30-06. Check out the graphs in the study for the precise numbers. So if you said .30-06—under the specified shot angle conditions—you are wrong. Shotgun slugs tend to ricochet further. (Keep in mind, of course, that as shot angle is increased, the before-ricochet distance increases as ricochet distance decreases, and therefore the .30-06 travels farther when shot angles increase past about 5 degrees.)

The Anti-Spin: While anti-gunners might use this counter-intuitive information to simply say, "OK then, shotguns are just as dangerous as rifles” and try to ban both for hunting, the reality is, both are statistically extremely safe. The anti's hate hunting and are scared of a hunter's tools, so they will always spin it. Meanwhile, I’m calling 1-800 BullShooters on Iowa and Illinois and the handful of other states that cite rifles are more dangerous than shotguns as a reason to ban them for hunting. If hunters follow the NRA’s rules of safe gun handling, there would never be an accident, regardless of the arm used. Also, many hunters hunt from elevated treestands, which dramatically decreases the chance of ricochet.

The Conclusion: Rifles are just as safe as shotguns. Facts, ballistic data and state-injury statistics prove it.

[hockeybc69]

Regardless of weapon... You guys have fun driving deer and trying to "pass shoot" deer...

Very interesting data if its true....

[picksbigwagon]

Which bullet ravels further, 30-06 or 12 ga slug? Not ricochet, but ill advised shot from a neighboring group driving deer? It's not a free for all / Quentin Tarantino / Rambo explosion of lead. Our drives are walked, deer rarely are running full speed and if they are, we definitely don't empty our shotguns ( bang=$3 for me). Deer get bumped out of thick areas well ahead of the drivers and like all deer do, they pause before crossing empty fields, that is when they are shot

[B-man715]

Regardless of weapon... You guys have fun driving deer and trying to "pass shoot" deer...

Very interesting data if its true....

Different strokes for different folks..........

I haven't participated in a deer drive myself for a couple seasons now. Is it because of safety? NO

Is it because of wounding deer? NO

Just limited time in the woods..... It takes time to meet up with everybody, and hit the woods. It's a ton of fun bull [PoorWordUsage]-ing before and after a drive, but it burns precious day light

The last thing we need is guys like you pitting hunter against hunter......

Come on man...........

I don't care if you are hunting with a crossbow (if legal) during archery season, shooting at a moving deer with a rifle, or running deer with dogs down south (oh my god, did I just swear??)

If it's legal, don't worry about it.

Shut up and hunt the way you want.

Embrace every minute in the woods, and don't bash others for the way they hunt.......

[deerminator]

I wouldn't go after bowhunters just cause someone is knocking party hunting? Just as many gun hunters, probably more, because of sheer numbers, lose deer. If it were up to me, I'd say put one post at the top of the forums on how to recover deer and ban all those posts, bow or gun. Everyone gives the same advice over and over. Why add fuel to the fire for antis or gun hunters attacking bowhunters? I don't like party hunting or drives but I like when the neighbors do drives because it pretty much means their season is over and the deer move off their property and onto our's and others. I think Minnesota has pretty good regs. If I could shoot two deer, then I would think we have great regs. I could be like some others and have my wife buy a tag so we could "party hunt" (me shoot a deer for her while she's not afield) but I would rather wait for the day I can legally get a second tag.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

If it's legal, don't worry about it.

Its legal today, but tomorrow it may not be because some of us arent barbarians like people like you.

How many things are legal today, that wont be legal tomorrow? And how many things are illegal today, and will be legal tomorrow??

Things change dude. And it just takes people like me to say I dont like it, and time for change. And its clear I am not alone.

Happy Hunting Bman.

[lakevet]

Which bullet ravels further, 30-06 or 12 ga slug? Not ricochet, but ill advised shot from a neighboring group driving deer? It's not a free for all / Quentin Tarantino / Rambo explosion of lead. Our drives are walked, deer rarely are running full speed and if they are, we definitely don't empty our shotguns ( bang=$3 for me). Deer get bumped out of thick areas well ahead of the drivers and like all deer do, they pause before crossing empty fields, that is when they are shot

Similar to our muzzleloader drives. Just nudge them enough to get them moving. Drivers usually shoot about half the deer when deer stand there looking back or some even in beds and the other half the deer are shot by standers in thick escape cover the deer like to "sneak" thru. Vast majority standing or walking. Always single shots. No emptying the 10 round clip.

Ultimately it comes down to staying within your skills and abilities to harvest a deer (or any game animal/bird) humanely. Only us self policing ourselves will make this happen.

lakevet

[uptracker]

I only read the OP, but...

Don't hope for less restrictions buddy. I drive right through WI in order to hunt an area in MN with less than 6 DPSM. You have a better chance at a big buck and the restrictions are a main reason. Be very grateful you guys can't bait too. The only thing that turns me off a bit is the gun pressure in my area....big woods near the BWCA. I even have a hard time finding a campsite.

Here in MI, bait piles are everywhere. We can shoot two bucks, over 80% of our buck harvest is 1 1/2 year olds. We are the laughing stock of the Midwest.

Be careful what you wish for!

[Pinusbanksiana]

Good point Uptracker. I see it all in MN and most of it has to do with greed and then the deer hunting shows on TV telling everyone they need to shoot a trophy buck every year. The amount of baiting that goes on before season is ridiculous. A friend of mine owns a convenience store, he sells bags of corn each fall like crazy. I think baiting at any time of the year should be illegal. How can you claim you hunt wild deer when you put food out? It changes the deer herd. Winter feed stations are a problem too. If a doe brings her fawns to a feeder, those fawns lose the knowledge of how to survive in an area, or where to winter, or where to migrate to. It messes up the deer.