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atv's and elk hunting

As much as I would like one at times around the ranch or for game retreval,I have had too many run ins with idiots on them miles from the nearest atv rt in recent years.
Warning! I am going back to my disable & report tactics now......
 
I have used them in Colorado ( back in the late 90's early 00's) but it was only to ride from camp to a trailhead, or to a particular basin and then walk in from there. I never hunted from them per se. Very seldom did I every ride mine in daylight.

Now I have never seen it personally, but an elk hunter I have shared an elk camp who has taken more elk than I will ever dream of taking has told me numerous times of where he was working a bull ( or two) during the peak rut. All of a sudden they shut up. A few minutes go buy and here comes a hunter riding a wheeler. Parks within a few hundred yards of where my friend is and starts blowing bugles and cow calls. Silence. Wheeler starts back up and once it gets out of earshot the bulls start screaming again. That story has stuck with me ever since he told me. One of those times 10 minutes after the machine left, he arrowed his biggest bull to date, a 378 that shut up while the wheeler approached and took off.

They don't get big by being stupid.
 
pre6422hornet said:
I have used them in Colorado ( back in the late 90's early 00's) but it was only to ride from camp to a trailhead, or to a particular basin and then walk in from there. I never hunted from them per se. Very seldom did I every ride mine in daylight.

Now I have never seen it personally, but an elk hunter I have shared an elk camp who has taken more elk than I will ever dream of taking has told me numerous times of where he was working a bull ( or two) during the peak rut. All of a sudden they shut up. A few minutes go buy and here comes a hunter riding a wheeler. Parks within a few hundred yards of where my friend is and starts blowing bugles and cow calls. Silence. Wheeler starts back up and once it gets out of earshot the bulls start screaming again. That story has stuck with me ever since he told me. One of those times 10 minutes after the machine left, he arrowed his biggest bull to date, a 378 that shut up while the wheeler approached and took off.

They don't get big by being stupid.
Click to expand...


I see basically the same thing with whitetails here while Im archery hunting. Deer are out feeding, they hear a truck approaching, they step into standing corn or other cover and then as soon as the truck passes they resume what they were doing.
 
Unfortunately I have seen way to many lazy a--holes who ride them all over the damn forest off road tearing the shit out of everything, it's soured me to no end on atv's. I know some use them legally and ethically but in my experience the good guys are far out numbered by the slob idiots. Just returned from our annual summer vacation in SW Montana and it was sickening with the number of jackasses riding their 4 wheelers off road as if to say " I paid good money for this machine and ain't nobody gonna tell me where the hell I can ride it". Witnessed one guy turn a small unimproved camp area into his own personal motocross dirt track during a rain and hail storm and just like I suspected when he left the next people who camped there drove the 100 yards to the end of the newly formed road and set up camp. The area was never intended for this but too damn late now. End of me ATV rant for now..
 
It's good for the guys on the other side of the mountain you push the elk to. Seriously, more of a hassle to take than any good you will get out of it IMHO.
 
SFC B said:
I think a lot of the comments are hitting it.......when people (like myslef) have trouble with ATVs it isn't really the ATVs it is the people using them. It really pisses me off how many people have no regard for laws. a prime example is where I hunt. ATVs are not allowed AT ALL and our campsite is on the edge of the wilderness area (we all know the further restrictions there). So there is a "road/ trail" that will take you all the way to the boundary of the wilderness (which is where we camp). The rules for the trail are that only vehicles with current ROAD registration are legal on the trail from where it leaves the county road all the way to the end. Signs are conspicuous at the entrance. EVERY time we are up there (including this scouting trip we just did) there a$$holes in there on ATVs. We try to gently remind them and most couldn't care at all. One summer we actually had a dude in an 80s Chevy shortbed come driving up a HIKING trail on a ridge a MILE into the wilderness. When he saw us he stuck his head out the window and said "Am I not supposed to be here?" Seriously? SMDH At least during hunting season there is occasionally CPW/ FS folks around to run them off. I guess I am old but the thing I value most in wild places is that wild and quiet.
Click to expand...

Shank a tire or 2...
 
The obvious answer is it depends on where you are going elk hunting. Parts of Idaho you would almost be crazy not to take one and other parts it's a complete waste of time. I kind of think this was more of a fishing thread...
 
Typical thread on ATV use. They are great for riding on rocky or muddy roads where trucks are allowed. I watched riders on new ATVs ride straight across a cienega leaving tracks all over. I have had ATV riders ride up to where I was hunting at the perfect time when I had a big bull coming in. You can't fix stupid and rude. If they have a street license they can go anywhere you take a truck and that is where they need to stay. If they break the law then turn them in if you can get a plate number on the cell phone. If they are in an illegal area then do what you want with them.
 
I feel like we've had this conversation ad nauseum on HuntTalk, but I am sucker for such things.

I think that in a lot of areas of the west you are at a big disadvantage if you don't have an ATV. Yes, you can drive your truck up most roads, but there are many roads that require a serious four wheel drive. I have a $500 dollar four wheeler, that I have no problem getting stuck or beating the chit out of. My marriage would be in danger if I effed up our family truck. That, and the truck is slower and not as effective as my ATV.

I live in what was the old mining country of Southwest Montana, and most of the mountain roads were built on angular granite and not designed by engineers. As Agency maintenance budgets fall further and further behind those roads are only gonna get chittier, or reach an equilibrium of chittiness. I've seen plenty of oil pans on the side of those roads.

Here's a picture of a road I use to do some September Grouse hunting. Have fun taking risking your $20,000 + rig up that. Yeah, people abuse them, but that's not a premise from which the conclusion, "I therefore shouldn't use one" follows.

badroad.jpg
 
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They can be helpful getting down a couple atv only trails but for the most part, you can drive your truck to 90% of the areas you need to go. Then you get out and start hiking and hunting.
But for most guys, they are a crutch and a great way not to kill elk. They are a good way to convince your self that you are hunting by riding around, but you're not going to kill an elk for the most part.
 
I ride mine as close to my area as legal at 3:30 am then start hiking in. There are plenty of roads here in AZ that I would rather not take my new Tundra down or up. I have an old 1996 Honda fourtrax and it is quiet and reliable so I use it like any other tool in the box. Anyone who drives a truck or quad around figuring they will get an elk with a bow is an idiot.
 
drive your truck or ATV on any road that is legal , if a truck or ATV is illegally using a road turn them in and let the warden , trooper handle them
 
Something to consider is elk could be around any corner. Trying to take your ATV to a spot you want to glass may scare off a hundred elk between here and there, where as you'd have a shot being on foot and stumbling across them. Get to the gym and train your behind off to increase muscular/aerobic endurance as well as increase your hiking speed if it's quicker terrain travel you're after. Unless you're with someone with a physical disability, leave it at home... not worth it.
 
mtmander said:
drive your truck or ATV on any road that is legal , if a truck or ATV is illegally using a road turn them in and let the warden , trooper handle them
Click to expand...

This!!! ATV's are a tool. I've heard trucks tearing the heck out of a road because of bad conditions. A ATV could pass through there without much commotion. Both are legal but in these situations the ATV is a better tool. Use either, just don't use either illegally.
 
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