My buds 500's, 1 Cat, 1 Suz have always been too noisy to sneak up on a rumbling locomotive, but we found that simply adding a 90* elbow on the exhaust end really quiets them down. Just try holding a pipe with a 90 on with the machine running.

 

Your critters must have significantly different tastes than ours down here. I have no problem "sneaking" up on wildlife on any occassion. I frequently see deer and elk while riding, and just a couple weeks ago when I was up at my property, I drove right past a moose with calf, 4 different black bears, probably 35-40 deer, and a ton of those little prairie dog things. I'm confused though-doesn't your 'Cat already have a drop 90* welded into the endcap? Or, are you adding an additional 90* to that one, making the exhaust now face forward or backward?

I've thought about adding an aftermarket pipe such as the IDS, with Silencer to compensate for the noise, but I've still heard that even with all the disc's in, and the silencer, it's still a good bit louder than stock. Maybe this could be a possible cure for those types of mufflers, as I believe the exhaust port shoots strait out the back??? Your 90* trick might help with them???

Mike

 

SXR6,
What kind of cats are you hunting? I have hunted mountain lion with my in-laws. We have always used dogs, and very rarely are we even remotely by a road or trail that we could use the ATV's to sneak upon them. Besides by the time we get there the dogs have it tree'd so there really is no need for sneaking. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] We have used ATV's and snowmobiles to help transport the dogs. Once we find some fresh tracks it was just let the dogs loose.

Cowboy,
The IDS2 exhaust systems get louder when you add discs. The more discs you add the more flow and noise its going to make. The fewer discs you have the less flow and noise you have. They usually come standard with 8 discs. You are suppossed to be able to add up to 20 discs. On my DG Pipe I have 12 discs right now. Its pretty loud but flows better.

Like Cowboy mentioned my exhaust already has an 90 elbow which turns it down to the ground. I have seen some people cut the elbow off so it shoots straight out the back. The primary reason they do it is because it reduces the amount of dust being kicked up on the dry dusty trails out here. So, do you have two elbows?

 

Sorry TT, misunderstanding, I'm hunting ON a Cat. Cowboy; My 300 has the 90* elbow but buds 99 500 Cat doesn't nor does 2000 500 Suz. I believe animals will get acustomed to sounds, that's why deer can live next to major highways,etc. But up in Northern Ontario, Canada, where I moose hunt they would rarely hear any engine noise, so they get very spooky, very easy. Last year my 300 which is VERY quiet had them on the dead run at 300yds.

 

My 00 cat has it.Ican hear the boys big bear over mine,also have a friend with a 300 king qoad that is louder than my cat.
JIM

 

One of the big secrets to hunting large game with atv's is to leave the machine running once you have spotted the moose/elk etc. We've found that if you just putt along the bush trails that moose generally arent spooked by the sound of an approaching atv, when they are spooked however is when you stop the atv and shut off the motor.The game then loses the positional reference of the noises its been listen too for the previous few minutes. Think of it this way, in WW II when the germans fired v 2 rockets into london, folks became accustomed to the sounds of the approaching missiles,its when the noise stopped that they panicked,for they knew that once the noise stopped that an impact was imminent and that it would likely be nearby. Animals are the same i think, as long as they can audibly track a predator they remain at relative ease, when the predator suddenly 'disappears' ( ie you shut off the atv) they fear it is preparing to pounce on them.
We.ve found the best tactic is to ... putt along the trails until you spot your moose,, then slowly ride a 100 yds of so past him, stop you atv behind some brush but leave the motor running.. then dismount and slowly make your way back in the general direction of the moose.. use terrain to cover your approach.. the moose will be content that the predator( your atv ) is at a safe distance .
Heck we even hunted off of 440 pantera's near dryden for the late hunt a couple years back, now these sleds are an order of magnitude louder then any atv out there, yet we were able to approach to within 125yrds of a cow and calf that were feeding in a clear cut.

 

i don't sneak up on anything i just pick it off at long range--your quarry will never hear the shot unless you're shootin' some kind of pumpkin roller or turnip thrower like a .45-70. my choice is either a .280 remington, 220 swift, or .338 winchester magnum.

texascat

 

T-cat... youre just gonna have to trust me wheni say... when hunting moose in northern ontario its in your, and your buddies , best interest to shoot the moose as close to a bush road as possible. Most of the hunting is down in clear cut areas and swampy areas. Dragging or packing out an adult moose,even if quartered , is no small job. Clear cut areas are difficult to negotiate there are stumps, rocks, holes and jagged remains of trees all over , ie very difficult to traverse even on an atv with good ground clearance. If you dont manage to drop the animal within 100 yrs of the road you can expect a BIG job getting it out.So while its quite possible to take a moose at 500 yrds with a large game rifle such as a .338 its not a good way of making friends LOL.I once hunted the winter hunt,where surprising you can get farther into the 'outback' .Because of the deeper snow we were able to used snowmobiles to ride 'over' all the stumps and rocks and get to places no atv could ever hope to go .

 

Here Here well said, I shot 1 in the heart once & he ran 150 yds into a swamp to lay down, mud to your crotch with 1/4 moose on your back, NOT FUN. I should have went into the swamp to shot maybe he would have run up to the trail!!

 

You think thats bad.... about 6 years ago.. dad was "lucky" enough to drop a Cow and calve as they walked across a beaver dam. From his perspective he couldnt really see that there was ALOT of water behind that dam,and you guessed it they both just HAD to fall on the wet side of the dam LOL. Needless to say, 3 ft of water in mid november in northern Ontario is NOT the place you want to be without hip waders. 4hrs later the six guys in the hunting party were able to carry the quarters out to the trucks in the dark ! They couldnt get vehicles close enough to hook onto the moose to drag them onto dry ground( they didnt use atv's at the time) so they ended up manhandling a 1000lb+ moose out of 3 ft or water and on top of the dam so they could gut and quarter it. NOT fun. Dad still shakes his head at that one LOL.