2015 New Year's Day Driven Hunt for Deer

Big group and BIG success on New Year's Day

The annual New Year's Day man drive is a time-honored tradition to close out one deer season, and to usher in the next one. Arriving in Jasper County at 8 a.m. a group of 25 hunters were invited to attend a safety meeting about how the hunt would be conducted. About five man drivers were chosen to walk through the woodlands and to hoot and holler in hopes of stirring up the deer, while the rest of the group would take positions as standers.

Deer standers are ready to deploy into the woods

The first drive of the morning started off with multiple gunshots all around the perimeter of the swamp that was surrounded by hopeful hunters. Of particular note was hunt host Spencer Clark who stopped two running does during this drive, but he had forgotten his shotgun shells in the early morning hours. Lucky for him I was on hand with some extra double-ought buckshot and Clark borrowed five shotshells. He proceeded to use all of my shells while dispatching the deer, so while I saw no deer to shoot at, at least my ammo got in on the action.

Brandon Twitty and Spencer Clark - first drive

One man driver was able to harvest a young buck, and two other standers were able to harvest one doe apiece, making a total of five deer taken on the first drive. The second drive of the morning yielded less shooting, which translated into two more does harvested. Many people saw multiple deer, and some of them shot at and missed their targets. Those of us who saw nothing remarked on what a beautiful day it was with a 30-degree morning and clear sunny skies. This type of hunt takes a group effort so any success is attributable to everyone on the hunt. On this day, the 2015 deer season got off to a great start!

Danielle Worthen visits the Lowcountry

To view past blog entries from New Year's Day click on 2013 - Doe with foundering - 2011 - 2009

To view past blog entries about man drives click on Santee Delta - ACE Basin -