I think I hate ATVs.

[rjthehunter]

I have a love hate relationship. When I'm hunting, I hate them. I'd rather walk 2 miles to a spot then drive. You disturb so much with them. My uncle (notorious shitty deer hunter) parks his truck under his stand. My cousin (his son) parks the wheeler usually around 100 yards from his stand. Then they complain when the only deer they see are running.

That being said, Iove them for trapping. I'd prefer they weren't allowed on public lands though.

 

[Cornell Cowboy]

Apparently I'm in the minority, but as long as they're used legally, I like them. They can be a game changer if you're hunting elk with small kids. I've personally ran into more jeeps and tacos in places where they weren't supposed to be than I have ORVs.

 

[Tomahawk]

The unfortunate reality is if it’s physically possible to get a SxS into an area there will be one there regardless of the legality.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

The unfortunate reality is if it’s physically possible to get a SxS into an area there will be one there regardless of the legality.

I agree with you 110 %! If they can get there, there will be there. It's like drinking and driving and accidents. The people who break the law are the problem,,,,,,and there are just so many of them, too many of them and they do so much damage.

I really do not think our hunting culture as it now is can ever find its way back to a place of integrity. Go to Walmart and they sell a mini quad for kids for under $300. For double that amount one can really get a hot model for youngsters. Kids nowadays are barely potty trained and are being trained that hunting and the outdoors require quads.

On the other end there are the old ones who are so out of shape they could not function without a quad.

Before last year's elk season, I was at the range and some fellows who were maybe early 40's were so overweight and out of condition, they had to drive out to the 100 yard target line.

And this is only gonna get worse.

 

[JM77]

Yeah, I agree 100%. Maybe we can talk Randy into pushing some legislation.

 

[BearFoot]

They had taken an old jeep trail up the mountain.

Trails will always be followed.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Four things happened in the 1980's which have forever damaged the public image of hunters.

In 1988 Honda produced the TRX 300 quad 4x4. There would be 530,000 of them sold and the quad explosion was underway

In the mid 1980's the tidal wave of cheap AK-47"s began being imported into America.

Next, after Colt lost the patent on their AR-15, cheap knock offs were everywhere.

Lastly designer camouflages clothing began to be marketed aggressively in America.

And then the new image of hunters was born, riding a quad, dressed in camo and carrying a military rifle.

You’re forgetting number five.

Men started overtly sucking dongs.

Perhaps you were busy doing it.

 

[BearFoot]

Mechanized recreation and mechanized hunting have both dramatically shrunk the amount of quality habit available to wildlife.

Love the science! We have come so far since the discovery of fire, and invention of the wheel!

 

[BearFoot]

The biggest problem I see is almost ZERO enforcement of laws already in place.

ZERO enforcement of laws already in place

 

[noharleyyet]

They're awesome when the helicopter is in the shop.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

You’re forgetting number five.

Men started overtly sucking dongs.

Perhaps you were busy doing it.

My hunting/field ethics were forever formed by my first hunting mentors. At 15 years of age, I was taken to my hunter's safety course by a WW2 combat vet named Zigmond, who was in his early 40's then.

The old Fish and Game Club building was filled with WW2 vets who had grown up with the new ideas about saving all wildlife that came with the 1937 Pittman Robertson Federal aid to wildlife act.

There were even some WW1 vets there, in their 70's then.

WW1 vets were the creative force behind getting the PR Act going in the first place.

What a privilege it was to be with these men. In two world wars they had seen such destruction, and here they were working to help put something back together.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

I think about how lucky I was to grow up with these men not just as my hunting mentors but also as my schoolteachers, college professors, and the journeymen and master tradesman that I served my carpentry apprenticeship under.

They were not "perfect men" but they were excellent. They operated with a sense of accepted responsibly, could work as a team, and just continuously exampled grit and integrity. Notice the root of the word inte-GRIT-y.

And they loved beautiful sporting rifles, many custom-made from rifles they brought back from the war.

 

[Farmerj]

Before last year's elk season, I was at the range and some fellows who were maybe early 40's were so overweight and out of condition, they had to drive out to the 100 yard target line.

Hey some of us resemble that remark

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Yeah, I agree 100%. Maybe we can talk Randy into pushing some legislation.
View attachment 251782View attachment 251783View attachment 251784

If you had just walked you might have been able to find a decent bull instead of these raggy little dinks.

 

[westbranch]

I want an ATV or side by side to go on some roads I never want to take my pickup on again. Between cost, storage, trailer, etc. it is less compelling.

But for all of the people I see driving on closed roads and/or cross country on timber company ground:

 

[nrpate05]

I hate them too, but I really really want a UTV...

 

[KB_]

ATV's are great. Keeps me from breaking my truck. Its so nice not having to plow snow with a dang shovel too.

 

[idahohuntr]

I have zero issue with ATV's...its irresponsible users riding in illegal areas that I don't like. I use ATV's on many different hunts...especially the many open roads where I just don't want to take a full-size pickup.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Don’t get me wrong- we have one and I love it. Super fun to tool around on the trails and great when roads are bad. But they have their place, and it isn’t driving off-road, and not every place needs to be accessible to motorized use.

 

[mountainlaurel3]

Hunted deer on a 400 acre or so parcel of BLM landlocked by private. One very nice older gentleman would drive the trail around the perimeter of about 150 acres of it, and drive it, and drive it. How he hopes to succeed like that, I don't know.

I will never own a sxs or 4 wheeler, but when my buddy offered to drive his out to grab me and my deer, it was impossible to refuse!