 SECRET
MAN-DRIVE TACTICS FOR TROPHY BUCKS
Tactics for Northern Drives
EDITOR’S NOTE: “A trophy buck is simply
a giant cottontail rabbit with horns,” says David
Hale, co-owner of Knight and Hale Game Calls in Cadiz,
Kentucky. “If you know how to hunt cottontail
rabbits, you can take a trophy buck. Like a rabbit,
a deer may run a circle and often head out of a briarpatch
behind the drivers.” Editor’s Note: Paul
Butski of Butski Game Calls in Niagara Falls, New York,
has mastered the art of bagging big bucks. Butski employs
some offbeat tactics for driving deer that force large
bucks to move away from thick cover where you can get
a shot.
 “To
drive deer successfully in mountainous terrain, use
the coffee-can technique,” Butski told me. Butski
places rocks in an aluminum coffee can, tapes the lid
down on the can and then surrounds a deep hollow with
two or three standers. “I may roll or even throw
the coffee can into the bottom of the hollow,”
Butski reports. “When the rocks beat against the
side of the can, any deer in that hollow will think
the world has come to an end, break out of the thick
cover and offer a shot. Even if you only have two people
hunting, this coffee-can tactic can cause some very
large bucks in deep hollows to give you a shot.”
Once the noise from the can subsides, one of the hunters
goes into the hollows and retrieves the can. The two
hunters then can move to another hollow and repeat this
strategy. By throwing the coffee can into as many hollows
as possible, the sportsmen may spook a trophy buck no
one else has drawn from his deep-hollow sanctuary.
of the drive. For this reason, I always want at least
one stander behind the drivers as the drivers penetrate
the thick cover. Then this stander probably will have
a shot at a walking buck.”
Hale also puts standers on the sides of the thicket.
But, he doesn’t decide where he’ll place
the standers until after he has driven this section
of land at least once. “After you drive a region
and see where a big buck breaks out of the drive, watch
in whish direction the deer goes,” Hale emphasizes.
“If you drive thick cover between two fields,
a trophy buck may break out of thick cover and run across
the field. Choose a landmark where the buck enters the
woods. Once you complete the drive, go to that landmark,
and look for a trail. When you find a trail, even a
very dim one, you’ll know where to place your
standers the nest time you drive that section of land.”
When Hale drives this same thick cover again, he’ll
put a stander across the field from the drive in a tree
stand 20 yards into the woods. This stander probably
won’t see or hear the drive. But he will stand
along an escape route the trophy buck may use when  forced
out of his thick-cover sanctuary. “This stander
may be as far as ¼- to ½-mile away from
the drive,” Hale mentioned. “If the buck
runs across the field, he may stop at the edge of the
field and look back at the drivers. This stander then
will have a good shot. If the deer really spools, it
may run 10 to 20 yards into the woodlot before stopping
to look back, also presenting a good shot.” By
driving a big buck out of his sanctuary, Hale helps
the stander get shots. He also drives the buck slowly
to insure the standers don’t have to take running
shots. By knowing where the deer will go when spooked,
Hale can place his standers where they have the best
opportunities for shots.
TOMORROW: Techniques for Western
Drives
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