Using ATV on public lands

[wildlife414]

Our wildlife class is involved in a discussion about the use of ATV while hunting on public lands. Some of us agree that you should not be able to go off road with an ATV under any circumstance and others of us feel you should be able to leave the full sized vehicle roads and go on trails if the four wheeler will fit. Please share your opinion with us.

 

[83blazer]

I bought a Grizzly 2 years ago and have not been able to take it hunting. I live in California and the roads or trails in my woods don't allow ATV's. This is BS.:BLEEP: i agree that if there are existing trails then you should be able to use your atv but if there are no trails then you souldn't be able to.

Where I go hunting in the Los Angeles National Forest there are plenty of dirt roads that we (atv owners) can use but can't because of restricitions. It's funny how they can allow 4x4 trucks but they can't allow atv's on these same trails. I don't see the point. If 4x4 trucks can use the trails that lead off the road then why can't atv'c be used for the same reason. I wish we can use our atv's a lot more out here. I can only ride in certain areas but there is no hunting allowed. :BLEEP:

 

[mtmiller]

I bought a Grizzly 2 years ago and have not been able to take it hunting. I live in California and the roads or trails in my woods don't allow ATV's.

God, please forgive me, but hip-hip-hooray for California.

 

[gundog]

I vote with mtmiller.

 

[AkBearHunter]

Luckily, up here in we can ride just about anywhere with just a few restrictions. hip-hip-hooray for Alaska!

 

[mtmiller]

Luckily, up here in we can ride just about anywhere with just a few restrictions. hip-hip-hooray for Alaska!

Sounds like it works in AK, but down here there is much more pressure and in smaller areas.

BTW, I don't have a problem with 4-wheelers permitted to use all roads that are open for full-sized vehicular travel, but I won't lose any sleep if they are restricted either.

 

[AkBearHunter]

You say you don't have a problem with 4 wheelers permitted to use all roads that are open for full sized vehicular traffic, yet you jump with glee when they are not allowed. Isn't that a little 2 faced? No offense meant.
Most of Alaska is not easily accessible by anything other than aircraft or boat, of which I have no problem with either. Trouble is most people cannot afford to pay that kind of money every year and without 4 wheelers most people would have a very difficult time accessing good hunting country. Most people that hunt from atv's up here abide by the law but there are always those that will not and they give us all a bad name. Don't punish the many for the illegal actions of a few.

 

[shoots-straight]

The off Road rules state, that you can take your 4 wheeler anywhere that an existing road goes without regular seasonal or yearlong restrictions apply.
An existing road can and does mean a double track that existed before the law was wrote. Motor cycles and bikes can use single track or regular trails as long a restrictions aren't in effect.

This means that you can't take them off trail. I believe this applies to all Federal lands, which does include Alaska. The problem around here is that people are abusing the system and making their own roads with the 4-wheelers and it's costing all of us for the Forest Circus to reclaim them.

I predict that in the near future that even in Alaska that the Feds will clamp down on ATV use because it will have an impact on game populations.

 

[AkBearHunter]

Problem is with enforcement, there are not nearly enough officers to patrol all this country. I have never seen a wildlife protection agent out in the field and have met only 1 on the highway. Without enforcement there's no way to make people abide by the law that don't want to do so. I've seen 2 track rigs that weigh more than a ton literally tear up the land just to access a remote hunting spot away from other people. Argo's, 2 tracks, Nodwells, swamp buggies and other such vehicles are the ones I see doing the majority of the damage up here, not atv's.

 

[mtmiller]

You say you don't have a problem with 4 wheelers permitted to use all roads that are open for full sized vehicular traffic, yet you jump with glee when they are not allowed. Isn't that a little 2 faced? No offense meant.

Well I don't know if I jumped with glee. I just saw it as an opportunity to make a California funny.

As I have mentioned many times, if it is open to motorized vehicles, then I think quads should be able to use it as well. I don't like roads that are only open to quads, so I think it should go both ways. That being said, I don't have quad, so if they want to prohibit them, no hair off my ass.

I think most would agree, most of the illegal off-road activities (motorized) are from ATV's, at least on the public lands I help manage. Of course the fault is not of the ATV, but the butt-nugget guiding the rig. Obviously a few ignorant lazy asses can reflect badly on an entire group.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

I remember going on a blackpowder deer hunt on public land in Nevada with my brother. I didn't have a tag, but I would walk up on a peak and spot bucks for my bro and wave him in from a mile away and put him on a few now and then (don't know if this was legal or not -if not- oh well).
Anyway, at least TWICE every day an ATV rider would jam up the ridge and ask me, "Hey, what's goin' on? Seen any bucks?" I'd ignore them for as long as I could, and then would politely ask them to leave me alone. If any of them spotted my brother sneaking around in an opposite canyon, they'ed roar off and attempt to ask him the same thing!! I ain't making this up!! I could hear my brother cussing the guy out from nearly a mile away.
Long story short... ATV's don't belong on public land, especially where there aren't 4X4 roads and where trucks aren't allowed either.

 

[Ithaca 37]

In the topic with the same title in the Elk section I asked AKBearHunter , "What is the law in Alaska on riding ATVs off trail?"

Here's his answer:

"There are only a few areas where you can't ride off trail and they are clearly marked. Most of Alaska is open to ride and the hunting regs tell you where you can and can't ride depending on which unit you hunt."

shoots-straight says:

"The off Road rules state, that you can take your 4 wheeler anywhere that an existing road goes without regular seasonal or yearlong restrictions apply.
An existing road can and does mean a double track that existed before the law was wrote. Motor cycles and bikes can use single track or regular trails as long a restrictions aren't in effect.

This means that you can't take them off trail. I believe this applies to all Federal lands, which does include Alaska. "

Who is correct, AKBearHunter or shoots-straight?

 

[Moosie]

Thread = Can of worms

Someone opened it.....

My prediction is 5 pages minimum with someone calling someone an A$$hole by the 2nd page....

 

[IdahoBugler]

Thread = Can of worms

Someone opened it.....

My prediction is 5 pages minimum with someone calling someone an A$$hole by the 2nd page....

Moosie -- You're an A$$hole. Looks like your wrong Moose-man only took the first page.

On the subject though, 4-wheelers have there place and should be used accordingly to the law. If they banned all 4-wheeler use on public land, I'd have no grief with it.

 

[83blazer]

mtmiller,
I agree with you on the fact that atv riders shouldn't be able to make new trails and yes there are some that mess things up for everyone else. My complaint or rant was that atv riders should be able to use roads that are being used for motorized vehicles. If a 4x4 truck can use it then why shouldn't atv riders be able to use it.

Now, if it's on a highway then of course they shouldn't allow atv riders to ride but if it's a dirt road or a trail used by 4x4's then I don't see why atv riders shouldn't be able to use them also.

What's fair is fair.

Also, I am not lazy. Sometimes we kill deer 5 or more miles from our truck. If somone with an atv can ride down to the nearest point from where we are at on a road then why shouldn't the atv help us carry it out. Here in Los Angeles national forest there are a lot of dirt roads closed. The santiago canyon road. It extends from the the 2 hwy and ends up in Little Rock. This road closure consists of over 50 miles that we used to be able to use on trucks. It is closed now. We hike in about 5 miles from the truck and if we kill a deer then we just try to get to the dirt road and use that to walk out to the trucks. Now if I could use my atv then I could easily pick up the deer and haul it out.

If anyone calls me lazy then you are more than welcomed to come out with me and I'll take you hunting. I'll bet anyone that you will be exhausted and you would wish for an atv to pick you up.

 

[Turbo]

My question to you is, why would you want to freeze your ace off road hunting on a 4 wheeler, when you could be in your nice cozy jacked up 4X4 truck?

 

[AkBearHunter]

In my opinion I think that atv's should be able to use existing roads and trails. I don't like it when people jump on their atv and just ride whereever the hell they want too. I have used mine a few times to recover moose that we have killed but other than that, I stick to the trails and walk when I go off trail. There are thousands of miles of trails here so people really don't have a reason to complain.

 

[Ithaca 37]

AK, There's a question for you in the other ATV thread in "Elk".

 

[shoots-straight]

AKBearHunter,

It sounds to me that your following the law they way it's written, (other than game retrieval). All the new law states is that you can't drive cross country.

Also I believe that quads are classified to be legal on all roads that other vehicles use if they are equiped with street legal lights. This doesn't include special area restrictions. I know of area's that quads are legal and full sized vehicles are not, but I don't know of any area's that are just un-legal for ATV use. Barring interstates and Hwys.

 

[AkBearHunter]

ATV's are not legal on public highways or paved roads in Alaska but that doesn't stop people from riding on it. In the area I hunt moose I am fully aware of where i can and can't ride a wheeler and we are allowed to go off trail unless it is posted saying that we can't. Like I said before, I don't take my wheeler off trail except for game retrieval and that has only been a few hundred yards at most from any trail. If I spot a moose thats farther than i'm willing to pack then I won't shot him, plain an simple.