Thoughts on Euro Driven hunts

My uncle used to do a lot of these types of hunts in the Indian subcontinent, but their hunts were with alot of noise and .22s and shotguns for axis, sambar, tiger, Indian gazelle, blackbuck, rabbits, and boar. In Europe they use people and dogs as well, but from what I can tell, the beaters aren't making nearly as much noise, and only high power, fast action rifles and/or drillings are used; they hunt boar, fox, fallow, red, mouflan, roebuck, and other stuff. Of course, in both places, they also have driven hunts for birds.

Our "American deer drive" is a poor substitute of this, in my opinion. What do Y'all think of this type of hunt/shooting?

The "best" driven hunter in Europe:

Very cool. That kid can shoot. Beautiful rifle too.

Centuries of tradition involved in those hunts. I'm not that great of a quick shot, but I would like to experience that at least once somewhere in Europe. Poland has some good, affordable hunts I think.

Well, it always looks better when you put a sponsored professional behind the muzzle to make a video. Personally, I don't find that sort of hunt to be much different than an arcade sort of game. The skill of the hunter is in firing only. The hunt isn't controlled by the hunter so much as the organizers and drivers. The hunter stands on station and is given instruction as to his direction(s) of fire and locations of other hunters and their stations. Maybe the game gets driven by his location, maybe not.

As noted, there is a lot of tradition to the European hunts. They do them well (or can) to minimize injuries to dogs, drivers, and other hunters. That the American deer drives may be a poor substitute is sort of irrelevant in that the whole set of traditions, laws, rules, and culture behind each are different. Things are different, no doubt, but not necessarily right or wrong, better or worse.

A couple of months ago, some yahoo from Utah had a less than grand hunt in Texas and found the need to post how Texans don't engage in "real" hunting. Different parts of the country have different ways of doing things as do different parts of the world. If you want a real European game drive experience, then it would be silly to expect to get it in the US.

Very true, but you have to admit, there is a certain allure of the expertise in shooting that this dude has. As simply put by Creekrunner, he can shoot. The way I see a true driven hunt is the way this video shows it, or many of the others, like Team Wild TV or Fieldsports Channel brittain. Sure, you are just shooting, but the excitement is one of its own. In a sense, our stand hunting is similar, minus the running shots part. We sit and wait, if something comes, it comes, if it doesn't, it doesn't.

Yes, I agree very much so, and I was just making a statement. An un-backable statement, as American deer drives are for Bubbas' tables, whereas European driven hunts are for dukes, archdukes, journalists, lords, ladies, and all manor of rich folk. Only the priveleged hunt in Europe (for the most part), whereas here, everybody has a 'Glock, an A K 47, or an Um 9', in the words of Eminem (Rap God).

Hah. I have a cousin who thinks the same of our hunting here as well. He lives in MD and has done literally 3 hunts here, and bases his assumption on one hunt form way back before I started hunting at the Cougar Run Ranch. To each his own, I guess.

I don't really have any thoughts on the method of hunting but do have a couple on the shooter.

That guy is good. I couldn't shoot that fast with an auto loader, even if I did I couldn't have hit 5/5.

I've seen his videos. No doubt he can shoot. Driving game isn't MY cup of tea however.

My thoughts in no particular order:

1) I wish I could afford to participate in Euro driven game shooting.
2) Don't forget to look for the Spanish driven game videos on YouTube. Look for "monteria".
3) There's a Euro style cinema shooting range ( real guns ) in Grapevine.

Thread on cinema shooting range.

Chital, it looks like a great time. If you've got the inclination, time, and of course the money, I think it would be a blast. Plus seeing and hunting another part of the world.

Since the birth of man he learned quickly that driving the animals was one of the most successful means of hunting. They would drive them over cliff's, into canyons or into the weapons of waiting hunters. Even now we see south American, African natives use the same methods in hunting. One man one animal was a rarity in it's time and rarely ended in success. Were we to go back to the weapons of old and the needs of many or methods would fall back to the most productive. The hunting of buffalo by the American Indians portrayed in historic paintings were highly misrepresented. They would drive or chase the buffalo in large numbers lancing from horseback or fling arrows until the area had numbers of wounded and dying buffalo scattered, then they would follow them for miles waiting for some to die. Taking an animal at it's weakest moment or when it's most vulnerable and enable to run or defend were the chosen method's. Even now these method's are in use all across the US.

I have participated in a driven hunt in Finland for 'elig' aka - Moose. Through the 4 days of hunting I never saw a live moose. I did however, see several whitetail deer, roe deer and one capercaille on drives. I saw a whitetail buck that had to live weight around 500 lbs less than 50 yards away, but, by Finnish tradition, you do not shoot over game on a drive other than moose.
The camaraderie of the other hunters and the drivers was second to none. They all made each of us feel more than welcomed. I would happily return for another attempt at this style of hunting. And would especially enjoy hunting with the same group of 'locals' that I had the privilege of hunting with on the last trip.

Alas, I no longer work for the company that paid for the hunt, so, until I save up the $$$, I'll just watch the you-tube videos and pray.

I find Monterias pretty cool too, and they are considerably less expensive than other driven hunts in Europe, at least from what I've found.

Interesting. Thanks.

Very philosophical. In a good way.