Gating drums for recording?

My drum kit is mic'ed with overheads to capture the entire kit and close mic's on each drum.
 
I do NOT gate while recording ... I capture everything.
 
When I mix down I do NOT gate the overheads.  The overheads get eq, compression ... maybe reverb.
 
The individual drum tracks get gated after they are recorded (as a side note, I have been using the Sonitus gate exclusively for as long as I can remember).  Also, I do NOT use gating for an effect (e.g., gated reverb).
 
When I mix, I start with the overheads and then bring the other drums in as needed.  It is at this point that I start adjusting the gate parameters to make the individual drum tracks sit in with the overhead mix.

My question was prompted by the fact of getting so much spill of the snare into the hihats mic, making it difficult to get the snare balanced against the hihats. 
This probably has to do with my micing technique. I'll  need to work on that.
 
Qeffect, I find your approach of starting with the overheads first, interesting. I'll  need to try that, as I've always tried to get the snare and the kick working first, then bringing everything else, and finally the OH for ambience.
 
Bit, I agree that gates can be a heap of trouble, and I've  really not had much success using them, so I guess it comes down to micing technique.

I think reverb with more predelay than release sounds better than gated drums.  Sometimes smashing them with compression like with an API-2500, LA3A or V-Comp does the trick. I suppose though if I was to record drums with microphones I would try to capture it all before removing any sonics with a gate. You can also phase invert as well.
 

A lot of this applies to drummers playing hard but when you use way less energy in playing the drums and actually hitting the surfaces at more reasonable amounts of energy then things change.  Wider dynamic range results to begin with.  With practice very similar levels of volumes can be achieved as pat of your playing.  Consistency in snare volume etc.
 
I don't record with gates either preferring too use them in post production.  They are not evil though and with care can be very useful.  Set so they are closed most of the time but always come on to let certain strokes through. If you are consistent in playing then all of those stories will open the gate easily.  I use a little release so it does not chatter off.  Fast attack so it comes on as quick as it can.  Hold settings can be useful too for always keeping the gate on for a certain time.  The level of gain reduction in a gate does not have to be infinite either.  It can be much less and still provide a lot of background noise reduction and spill. e.g. in a quiet room 15 to 20 dB perhaps. The gate becomes more transparent. 
 
If a tom is hit only in a few places I find it easier to cut the  audio and slide it all back removing all audio between tom hits. It is just as fast doing that than setting up a gate.  Audio can be trimmed to behave well around the cuts making them nicer to hear.  Gates sometimes over tricky areas can help how things can sound.  Reverbs and gates are tied up together too I feel.  Very tight reverbs after a gate can make a gate less obvious.  A gate becomes obvious in how the audio cut off. e.g. a gate is closing.  Also if any part from the front end is missing.  
 
I have found them useful if after converting an external synth part to audio it may have been a slightly noisy machine.  A gate on a track like that can be set to virtually eliminate the quiescent noise.  Once the signal is present the noise is always masked effectively.  
 
Downward expanders sound better to me and tend to have more control over how they behave as audio becomes audible and how it is cut off.  Fade outs on gates and expanders can be used to overcome them cutting off too fast.  Side chain controlled gates are also interesting bringing in some rhythmical interest.  

Jeff Evans
If a tom is hit only in a few places I find it easier to cut the  audio and slide it all back removing all audio between tom hits. It is just as fast doing that than setting up a gate.

+1 here.  If you are not actively hitting the close miked tom, you don't need the information that is there.  Cut it.