Hunters with ATVs cause thousands of dollars of damage to alpine tundra trail

People driving ATVs on closed roads is becoming a big problem. I have started to leave nails all over the ground in hopes that the offenders will at least leave with a flat tire.
 
Trespassing in Wyoming with vehicles across private property is about as bad as I have ever seen in any state.
They have a serious a$$hole problem out there. Guys driving around whiskey drunk in the middle of the day with loaded rifles all over the BLM.

It wasn't the experience I had hoped for. Thats for sure.

Best I can tell is that nobody out there gives a $hit about anyone else.
 
Trespassing in Wyoming with vehicles across private property is about as bad as I have ever seen in any state.
They have a serious a$$hole problem out there. Guys driving around whiskey drunk in the middle of the day with loaded rifles all over the BLM.

It wasn't the experience I had hoped for. Thats for sure.

Best I can tell is that nobody out there gives a $hit about anyone else.
hmm-ok.gif
 
This is part of the writeup in the Fairbanks Newspaper following the 40-mile caribou hunt:
Devastation is an understatement,” he said of the trail wreckage. “The aesthetic is completely gone.”

This year the BLM took time to place warning signs instructing hunters and ATV users to stay off the hiking trails when using vehicles.
Many of these signs were ignored and as much as mile-long stretches of the trail have been littered with ruts that cut deep into the mud and leave the trail relatively unusable.

The BLM had placed plastic grating filled in with gravel, called Geoblock, across some of the wetter parts of the hiking path over the last few years to allow backpackers and hikers to easily walk across the boggy areas. Many of those grates were driven across and buried in feet of mud
. "

Here is a photo I took in July, and a photo after the hunt was closed:
Thousands of dollars were invested in the geoblocks to protect the alpine tundra.
View attachment 153405
Another reason why the general public sometimes has a low opinion of hunters...

I'm finding out that use of off-road vehicles in my state of Oklahoma is largely restricted on public lands during hunting seasons. One practically has to have some disability motor vehicle permit to get their truck or car anywhere close to their dead deer in the field to pick it up. It seems that ATV's were once fashionable for deer hunting in the South but that probably occurs chiefly on private properties.
 
I've never thought of trying to get a vehicle close to my deer, what a brilliant idea 💡
Google drag rope.
Drag ropes might be great for the young, bold and strong. But for an old arthritic man like me with asthma...well, maybe the doctor will sign the application for the land-access vehicle permit. I went on a Trinity Co., CA guided deer hunt in fall of 1996. Zone B2. My guide was on his private ranch. My dead deer lay in a small depression in the side of a mild-sloping hill. He went back to his ranch house to get his Dodge 4x4 truck while I waited by my blacktail yearling buck. We each grabbed the little buck by one horn each and drug him no further than 100 feet to the tailgate of his pickup. Easy peazy.

Oklahoma game authorities even consider a motorized walk-behind deer cart a "motor vehicle" in regard to hunting on public land, mostly WMA.
96 deer hunt.jpg

Here is a gas-powered deer cart if you can believe that:


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The other day, I emailed ASCENDER OF NEW YORK AND ASKED THEM ABOUT THE LEGALITY OF THAT CONVEYANCE ON PUBLIC HUNTING LANDS IN NY STATE. Here is the response I just got from the builder of that gas-powered deer cart.

I am also sad to say that my motorized carriers are considered motor vehicles on many state and federal game lands. I called the US Forest SVC. for 9 years before I started the Patent process and I always got the same answer “It you do not ride it We do not govern it” . Now they use the dictionary definition of a “vehicle” (something that transfers something) . The problem with this is all the regulations were written for something you ride (4 wheelers). The proof of this is the fines or penalties. They always are for riding, usually “off trail”. I cannot tell you to ignore Fish and Game but these Regs. were not written for game carts. Happy Holidays!!!

Scott Witzigman, Ascender Game Carrier
 
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It is not all hunter's. Lot's of people with 4 wd vehicles like to go out playing on dirt roads and trails when the mud get's bad just foir the heck of it. Dirt roads around here, lot of them, are easy access for people fron nearby towns. Down on the John Day guy's seem to love trying to climb hills and a lot of them never make the hill but tear the land up just the same. I don't doubt hunter's do a good share of it but generally younger guy's that really like to go out mudding. Down here what happens when they do that is to creat a hazzard for rancher's getting in to tend to cows in the wet season. Don't see a lot of them out close to the river itself as to much clay and clay pretty much stops them normally. Builds up in tire treads anf vehicle ends up can't move! Cost a fortune to get them out but unbelieveable some of them just go try it again! Destroys the dirt roads and off road where they like to try climbing!
 
My goodness is moose hunting fun or is it "slave labor"! A whitetail doe is the most meat I'd ever care to slave over. No millionaire hunting client would ever dare pull a moose sled.
Suck it up, buttercup! Hunting isn't all about killing. There's work involved. 90% or more AFTER the animal is down. I would LOVE to put the work in with a moose.
 
Drag ropes might be great for the young, bold and strong. But for an old arthritic man like me with asthma...well, maybe the doctor will sign the application for the land-access vehicle permit. I went on a Trinity Co., CA guided deer hunt in fall of 1996. Zone B2. My guide was on his private ranch. My dead deer lay in a small depression in the side of a mild-sloping hill. He went back to his ranch house to get his Dodge 4x4 truck while I waited by my blacktail yearling buck. We each grabbed the little buck by one horn each and drug him no further than 100 feet to the tailgate of his pickup. Easy peazy.

Oklahoma game authorities even consider a motorized walk-behind deer cart a "motor vehicle" in regard to hunting on public land, mostly WMA.
View attachment 206748

Here is a gas-powered deer cart if you can believe that:


<iframe width="1029" height="579" src="
" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


The other day, I emailed ASCENDER OF NEW YORK AND ASKED THEM ABOUT THE LEGALITY OF THAT CONVEYANCE ON PUBLIC HUNTING LANDS IN NY STATE. Here is the response I just got from the builder of that gas-powered deer cart.

I am also sad to say that my motorized carriers are considered motor vehicles on many state and federal game lands. I called the US Forest SVC. for 9 years before I started the Patent process and I always got the same answer “It you do not ride it We do not govern it” . Now they use the dictionary definition of a “vehicle” (something that transfers something) . The problem with this is all the regulations were written for something you ride (4 wheelers). The proof of this is the fines or penalties. They always are for riding, usually “off trail”. I cannot tell you to ignore Fish and Game but these Regs. were not written for game carts. Happy Holidays!!!

Scott Witzigman, Ascender Game Carrier

Having hunted Cali’s A/B/C zones for decades a can guarantee you that is not a yearling blacktail, if so it would have been about 2/3 that size if it forked at all. And a guided hunt for that buck? (not throwing stones here) is a interesting decision on private land nearly 30 years ago. Just my opinion for the $0.02 it’s worth.

Side note: most millionaire hunters aren’t DYI either…hence the term “client” of which you referred to.🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I am also handicapped. And need the help of my wheeler. I also take care to tread lightly. It can be done responsibly. Others choose br jerks. And everyone has to suffer consequences because of a few jerks.
I've packed plenty of moose and other game. They are big n take a few trips. But rewards are big also. Wore my body out too. But still desire to get out.
A few folks can make it bad for all. The majority are responsible users. Folks shoot up road signs. Probably the same group.
I have to use a wheeler. And I enjoy getting out. I'm glad I'm where I'm at
 
Having hunted Cali’s A/B/C zones for decades a can guarantee you that is not a yearling blacktail, if so it would have been about 2/3 that size if it forked at all. And a guided hunt for that buck? (not throwing stones here) is a interesting decision on private land nearly 30 years ago. Just my opinion for the $0.02 it’s worth.

Side note: most millionaire hunters aren’t DYI either…hence the term “client” of which you referred to.🤷🏻‍♂️
The private land I hunted 25 years ago in Trinity Co., CA was my guide's land and not mine. I chose that Mr. Rourke in Trinity Co. for that "small" buck because his fee then was only $500. Included three square meals by his wife, cleaning/quartering the deer and field retrieval of the deer by 4x4 truck. A ground squirrel hunt was also included as a bonus. That $500 guide fee was about my threshold for what I wanted to spend then. I just had a hankering to get out and shoot 'something', deer-wise, once and for all. The guide would have surcharged me an extra $750 to take a "trophy" buck off his spread. I was only interested in meat. As I recall, there were no doe/antlerless tags easily available then. That zone was chosen by me for relatively inexpensive tags that did not have to be drawn and that was my guide's zone. I think the tag even then was $70 something for me as a resident. But that's pricey CA for you. Here in OK, deer can be had much cheaper, fees-wise, off of any of a number of public-accessible properties. Plenty of antlerless/doe opportunities here to boot.
 
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