Do you use an ATV for hunting etc., and if so what is it.
I still use a (like new) 1986 Honda 250 Big Red. I built a trailer with 4 wheels and a walking beam that I tow behind it and the loaded weight of the trailer is approx 1200 lbs. I use this when hauling in tent and equipment into our Elk hunting camp through mud bogs etc. The walking beams make this trailer so easy to pull.

I gotta ask........what's a walking beam??
YB

The easiest way to explain it is this. You take a beam or channel iron and put a wheel at each end. Then you fasten the center of your beam to your trailer so it can pivot. With this configeration you have the same amount of weight on each wheel at all times even if one wheel is, lets say going over a rock. Here's an example www.huntsinc.com/wolve...efault.asp
www.trail-mark.com/

ATV--don't have one, don't use one. Off road use prohibited in this state, but lightly enforced.--tr

None of our hunting group owns an ATV. In Arizona it is unlawful to use them off established roadways and while that law is seldom enforced during most of the year, numerous abusers get ticketed during hunting seasons.

Arizona has lots of roads in the backcountry due to ranching and timber industries. For hunters, it allows access and invites excess. Few things can be so infuriating as to have some ATV wheeling around an area while you are stalking a nice mulie or bull elk.

Some hunters are so offended by the inconsiderate ATV owner (the majority obey the law) that they will disable the infernal machines via slashing the tires or placing a bullet in the engine. While that, too, is illegal, that type of direct action appeals to many.

I have a 1997 Honda Foreman I bought brand new... terrific machine. Use it for play in the summer, hunting in the fall and plowing snow in the winter. Lots of fun.

I hear tons of "abuse" stories but I cant say I've seen an excess of that in the Nat Forests where I live. Now snowmobiles... you will see those boys on their supersleds in the wilderness areas constantly through the winter months.

Great tools when used legally.


-DallanC

You know the real problem is not the ATV it is the ease of which some people get access to other wise hard to get places. That is not to say they, ATV;s should be outlawed or restricted, it is just to easy for some people. I think when you invest the time and effort to go hunting and you back pack you way in or hike what ever. You are doing so with a purpose in mind. Which is no different that the off roaders. They have a purpose in mind. Unfortunately it is completely different that your, ours. I want quiet and stealth they want speed and laughs.

The first one I ever saw being used was by an elderly gentleman. Jack Hunter was a doctor and a gentleman. He was a good hunter too, and a friend of nature. At 87 it was getting to difficult for him to get to the back of the wood and shoot squirrels. He bought a Honda three wheeler. I don't think he ever got it going faster than 10 miles an hour. He would come and go and none would be the wiser.

Isn't that all any of us would really like not even know they are there. I say let them use the resource just like I do. Sneak in and sneak out try not to let the world know you are there.

longwalker

I have an '88 Honda Foreman 350 and it usually stays on the truck unless I get a deer or hog down in the woods. Then it comes off for retrevial. I also use it pre and post season for hauling deer stands in and out of the woods.
I like it quiet in the woods too but the older I get I can appreciate the extra help in and out of the woods. When I do use it I go into the woods at least one hour before daylight and don't come out till noon then back in by 2 pm and out after dark.
The Honda has been a good investment with no repair problems. I change the fluids and filters every year and it keeps on going and going and going.... I keep a small 'on board' trickle charger plugged up when it's not in use to keep the battery going strong (I have a charger on the lawn tractor too).

Bulls only Elk season starts here usually the second or third week of Sept. At that time you can only use/operate, for the purpose of hunting, your ATV from noon to midnight unless you are retrieving legally killed big game by the most direct route.

im to the point i must use a atv to properly hunt any more. being disabled in missouri i have whats called a driving/hunting permit.

i can legally ride my atv or pickup and shoot game from them as long as i dont shoot across a road.

it also allows me to bowhunt with my crossbow during bow season.

I think those permits are a very good thing and we have them here as well. I hope I never need one but if the day should come it sure will be nice to be able to keep hunting.

Howdy. I have a honda 300 trxfw 4X4. I use it much like pop gun to drag a deer out or set stands and it's only used with permission from the land owners. There also a lot of fun in the snow
Joe

Try dragging these thigns out by hand:



... thats not even a really big one either, about 500lbs.




-DallanC

That's right Dallan, you get one of those and you have your work cut out even with an ATV in some areas. Besides being hard to get out, if the weather is warm you run the risk of the meat spoiling if you don't hurry. I wouldn't go to the area I hunt Elk without an ATV.

Looks nice to be able to get an animal out with an ATV. Where we shoot ours its a little to rough to use an ATV so we still have to get them out the old fashioned way, on the back. --tr