I have read post after post as a guest before I decided to sign up and ask a few questions. I appreciate all the info so far. I would appreciate your thoughts or opinions as I try to decide on my first machine.

I am looking for something to mainly use for hunting. Mostly waterfowl getting to and from the blind but also for some deer hunting. We hunt crop fields, flooded fields, and cow fields so the main ingredient is mud and water.

I was looking at the Gators and Mules because of their low psi. Most times we are guests and I don't want to leave the farmer with big ruts to deal with. But, that said, when the mud gets deep or we need to cross a flooded field, I don't want to get stuck.

I know an ATV will run mud far better but I like the idea of a bed for gear. Then I found the Deere Trail Buck. It's pretty much an ATV with a bed on it. Looks like best of both worlds but it's hard to find much info on them.

Rhino's are well respected and I am leaning that way right now. Will they handle the mud like an ATV and can they go through knee deep or deeper water? I guess with them I might need a small trailer as well- but then I would need one ofr an ATV as well so where is the trade off? Is there a trailer out there that I can use to haul my machine behind my truck then take and hook it to the machine to haul my gear to the field?

I would like to get through very wet and muddy fields with as Little damage tot he field as possible. If it takes multiple trips thats fine as well but I will need to be able to carry at least one additional person. I thought of tracks also for the minimal disturbance but that's pretty expensive and I have no idea if it's worth it.

Thanks in advance for any help. You guys have the experience and I would love to hear about some of it.

 

You could get an Arctic Cat ATV with a bed:

ARCTIC CAT - TBX 700 H1 EFI

But, that doesn't solve the two-rider issue, and I don't know what you could do with tires as far as balancing traction and footprint.

You could get two riders on this Cat, but without the bed.... You can view their Accessories catalog (the link is at the bottom after you click the accessories tab) to see if they might offer alternative storage to a bed and different tires:

ARCTIC CAT - TRV 1000 H2 EFI CRUISER

I could have sworn they made a 2-up ATV with a bed....

 

thanks snow. I will check them out. Also know that there are 6x6 atv's as well but i will need to research how they compare to a 4x4 atv/utv.

 

Just know that I'm NOT an ATV expert, and I haven't had any experiences with Cats except riding our neighbor's two ~2000 500cc ATVs a few times (and LOVED doing so). I was just pointing out what's out there.

 

There really isn't anything that will not tear up a muddy farm field that I can think of. As far as traction goes Polaris makes the Ranger 6x6 that will give you full 6 wheel drive with the 4 rears going when not in all wheel drive. They also make a quad like 6x6 called the Big Boss. It has a bed in the back that's pretty good sized. It also has 6wd. Not a 2 seater though. I don't know that anyone makes a 2 seater with a dump bed of box without getting into the UTVs. Any of the UTVs will be heavier than a quad which would cause them to sink in deeper than a quad. All have good workable 4wd systems. Ranger has top towing and toting capacities. Rhino is a bit sportier. Don't know about the ArcticCat Prowler. Hope this helps you.

 

helps a bunch- thanks for teh info. I did see the big boss and have been all over the road working out how to get them around and trailers vs truck bed and so on. Lots to think about and it will be hard to get one that fits all.

 

Gunner....tracks on an ATV with a trailer would cause the least damage and you would float across pretty much any slop.

I've seen some crude tracks for the 6x6 that Moose speaks of that look pretty cool. If it's serious mud and swamp conditions I would think twice about a UTV without tracks. Do a search on youtube.com for Polaris 6x6 videos.

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VD_rsiP0nI

 

Cool video. I understand the ATV's are lighter than the UTV and that will allow them to float better. The 6x6 is heavier but still lighter than a UTV. That said, and with the size of the rear track, seems to me that that track size gives it so much more surface area that it would allow it to float better than just about anything else- including a 4 Wheeler with tracks.

I'm curious though if a 4 wheeler with tracks can fit in the back of a pick-up? The 6x6 is long but the width is the same and the wheel wells are what worry me.

Even if they are long and sit back on the tailgate, with tracks I would think the point load on the gate would be eliminated and the track would bridge it to where it's not an issue. Any thoughts?

 

I think the tracks add about a foot of additional width to a quad. You'd have to go up and over the wheel wells and probably leave the tailgate down. I would get a 12x8 trailer or something around that size. I think even the largest UTV would fit on that. The longest is probably the Ranger Crew Cab that can seat six with a dump box behind it.

 

Technically, my Teryx will fit in the bed of my truck...but personally, I don't trust the tailgate straps to hold 1500lbs.

UTV Transport - UTV Guide