In recent years, The Hunting Public name has become synonymous with DIY, public land whitetail hunting. Known widely for their deer and turkey hunting videos on YouTube, the THP crew is primarily focused on making entertaining and educational hunting videos to help others in their own public land pursuits. For the past three years, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in an annual muzzleloader deer driving camp with THP, where we push deer to each other through the hills of Appalachia with a group of 15 to 20 people. After this year’s hunt, I sat down with Zach Ferenbaugh of The Hunting Public to get a better understanding of how these drives operate, how to plan and organize with such a big group, and how to stay safe with that many hunters walking through the woods. We also covered the biggest challenges in executing a successful deer drive.
Ferenbaugh is the main organizer of the annual muzzleloader camp. He is also responsible for editing the YouTube videos once the drives are over (you can watch how the hunt played out in the first episode, here).
“Originally [the muzzleloader drives] were just a way to get together with friends and hunt,” Ferenbaugh says. Now they’ve become tradition, this year being the 7th anniversary of the camp, and it’s certainly grown over the years.” During that time, Zach and the group have become a lot more successful at driving deer, too.
“The number one challenge is getting people to buy in and believe,” Ferenbaugh says. You can get the plan right, but if the guys don’t believe in what they’re doing, then it’s not going to work.”
Safety is also a top priority. It’s critical that everyone is on the same page, and that everyone knows their route, along with everyone else’s routes. On the eve before the first day of the hunt, Zach holds a safety briefing, where he goes over the basics of taking safe shots, knowing where other people are when you’re shooting, muzzle control, removing your primer between hunts, and how to carry your gun safely in a group.
Read Next: I Shot My First Buck on the Run, During a Low-Country Deer Drive
My biggest takeaway from watching the THP crew is how important it is to be coordinated in terms of timing. When a drive works properly, everyone not only gets to their right spot, but they get there at the right time. And when anyone shoots a buck, we’re all just as happy as if we’d shot it ourselves. The successful shooter will rip a coyote howl, everyone howls back, and then we all run to go check out the deer.
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