Poll: ATVs

[elk_hunter]

Do you guys use ATVs during hunting season? Do you use them to help pack out animals?

 

[wilecoyote76]

In a lot of the units here in Idaho, there are ATV restrictions which ban the use of atv's for hunting. You can use a four wheeler to retrieve game but are not allowed to have a firearm in your possession on atv trails during hunting seasons. I don't have a four wheeler so I use my own hooves to get into where I'm going. It's hard work but well worth it when you get a hard earned animal down without the use of horsepower. My .02 .......

 

[scottymack]

I use mine to get out further tan most in this area, I ride in a ways then hike in further.

 

[FLIPPER]

When possible, yes.

If it is legal in your area, why not?

It is a tool that makes hauling easier.

That's like asking, do you hike in 6 miles wearing your hiking boots or flip flops?

 

[Moosie]

Nope! I'm a living, breathing ATV and do all the work myself!

Yep. Just need Choco Shakes for gas

 

[elk_hunter]

We do have fellow hunters here, who are partial to pink flip-flops...

 

[lilbiggun]

Gee with options like that I dont know which one to choose

Surprised on how smart folks are on this board how closed minded some are.

I use my ATV's for hunting and proud of it. I dont use them as shooting platforms or as a beer carrier. I use them as transpertation but I do hunt on foot. When you go in 40-50 miles, they come in real handy, especially when you have bum knees.

This spring for instance, I rode the machine in and then it sat for 10days until our trip out.

 

[scottymack]

I use them as transpertation but I do hunt on foot. When you go in 40-50 miles, they come in real handy, especially when you have bum knees.

This spring for instance, I rode the machine in and then it sat for 10days until our trip out.

That's exactly why I use mine, I need both knees replaced but the doctors won't do the surgery for at least 15 years based on my age. Their only offer of relief is pain pills and Handicap placards. I get in further and then hike from there.

 

[lilbiggun]

it sucks when body parts go south on you. If I hike more than 3-4miles with a pack, my knees are so swollen I can hardly stand up. I gotta thank uncle sam for that one.They are tools IMO, unfortunately some folks abuse the hell out of the country with them and we all get blamed.

 

[elk_hunter]

Yep; I too, like to ride in as far as I can and then hike from there.

 

[cjcj]

Yep they are just a "TOOL" like boots or a backpack... use them lawfully/ethically = no problem... the main bitch is the tear it up jerks that take them everywhere... but I have seen plenty of dickheads in 4x4 trucks too!... ATV's are great for packing out big game.

 

[Washington Hunter]

I don't think hunters on ATV's are as much of a problem as the guys who are just out there to ride and see how fast they can go, and how far off the road they can go. It seems their entire reason for being out there is to see how much ground they can tear up.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

LIke several others, sometimes I use them to get to a location and walk from there. If I Can get my truck there, I just use it. If the road is too bad or too narrow (I have an F-350) then I use a quad. Actually, I use someone else's quad as I don't own one. (just a couple of little ones for the kids.)

 

[drahthaar]

I wouldn't mind so much if they were all crushed into small cubes of metal, plastic, and rubber. I think its the exhaust fumes that makes the majority of the riders of those things become delerious and stupid. Tresspassing, poaching, tearing crap up high marking on every hillside, going behind locked gates illegally, bushwacking off-road through the woods, and on and on. And that was just this spring and early summer.
Honestly, I never had much of an opinion of the things before the past couple of years. But the stuff I have run into recently has pushed me right off the fence into the anti-atv camp. I just don't buy the "few bad apples making us all look bad thing" anymore, I have seen a lot of bad apples.

 

[Mooseheadred]

Like some have said, it is just another item for a sportsperson to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Each of us have a unique situation. I wouldn't mind seeing an area in our province that motorized vehicles were restricted and that would give us an option to travel that area by foot or I could stay in an area where I could use my ATV. I enjoy scouting using my ATV, as well as using Google Earth, GPS and other items. Who is to say which is right or wrong.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

I have signed leases where the use of ATV was "strongly encouraged" to help maintain the Lease roads during wet weather. But, some of these machines are as big as a Jeep. And, I allow no Beer on my leases or anything stronger. That is in my lease also! John

 

[Washington Hunter]

There is a 90,000 acre state forest near where I live, and ATV's are allowed on most of the gated roads, as the ATV's do not damage the roads when wet as much as a full sized vehicle would.

 

[elk_hunter]

Ideally, I'd like to see ATVs banned from being used for hunting. However, I understand there are circumstances, such as being disabled, etc. that make that impractical. It would be nice for everyone to be on a level playing field, so to speak. For years, I never used one during seasons, but when I'd be walking up a skid road in the wee hours of the morning and an ATV came whizzing by to get up a ridge, that torqued me. It's damn near impossible to outlaw them, so I figured okay, I'll get one and that will get me in as far as they are allowed. From there, I'll head out on foot and try to get away from the guys that ride trails.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Definately two sides to the ATV issue. For years I wouldn't be caught dead on one and considered anyone who used one exclusively to be a pretty lousy hunter. I've already related the story of when a guy drove up to my brother and me while in the middle of a push on a peak where we knew for sure 3 or 4 nice bucks were living and asked us, "Hey, seen any deer?" I had to tackle my brother and literally stop him from dropping the guy like a bag of dirt.
On the other hand, my cousin recently gave me a '87 2wd Suzuki quad, so I got it running again and learned how to not get killed on it... it's affectionately known as "Deathtrap." The thing comes in handy hauling bucks out of steep, remote canyons, sips gas and doesn't tear the roads and land up. It's the only machine to use while working on my property.
Yet: I refuse to hunt with a loaded rifle off of one. I'll quietly putt up to as close as is rational, and THEN sneak in to where I'm going to hunt. But, if I just so happened to run across and nice buck while getting to my spot, I'm not so nihilistic as to think that I wouldn't shoot him. Still, if it ever gets to the point where I can't hunt without one, well maybe I should consider another way to get my venison.

 

[the nikster]

I do not use them... except to blow my stalk after I have hiked several miles into an ATV closed area.
When confronted, the riders claimed to be "Bird Hunting their way in", and that they weren't big game hunting so they were legal. I have lots of similar stories. My dad uses one too-no accounting for genetics!