It generally boils down to personal preference. For some, drives have been traditionally the most popular choice for gun hunters.īoth methods have positives and negatives, like everything to do with hunting. While deer drives have traditionally been a popular way to hunt when deer aren’t moving, recent years have seen them decrease in popularity.
Those two schools of thought are: stand and/or ground blind hunting or setting up deer drives. There are really two schools of thought on hunting during the busy Opening Day and the week following. Mature bucks will begin to break away from the does as the season continues until the second rut begins. With plenty of DMU tags out this year, it is as important as ever that all hunters know their target and what lies beyond it.įor those that have been in the field this year, they know that there are plenty of good bucks in the Southern Tier this season. There are still more than enough hunting opportunities that will in turn help with deer movement. While the state this year has issued a fair number of DMU tags in Region 9, it is nowhere near the number issued a few years ago, especially in 9K and 9R where tags have been limited for some. It’s no doubt local taxidermists will have be busy in the coming month preserving local hunters’ memories. But what really got us excited was the size of the bucks. The number of bucks I saw tagged was equally impressive.
Having to make a return trip the following evening, I witnessed more deer being dropped off than I can remember. Speaking with Troyer family members they confirmed that this was one of the best opening days in a while. The percentage goes down after that with Thanksgiving being the second largest day and the second Saturday coming in third.įortunately, I had to make a trip to Troyer’s to drop off a buck to be processed opening evening. The past few years, roughly 60% of all the deer in New York state for the combined seasons are taken on Opening Day. This all will change as the holiday weekend begins. It looked like the rut was in the final stage opening weekend, with many mature deer being locked down and small deer being spotted alone.