How do you use your quad while hunting? Do you drive to a base camp and walk or how does this work. This may sound like a stupid question but I am new to 4-wheeling and would like to take it hunting with me but I am not sure where to go. I would like to go big game hunting in Colorado, Wymoing, or New Mexico. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you Bradley

 

Bradley,
Make sure you check the state regulations for the area you will be hunting in. In Colorado, ATVs are only allowed on marked motor vehicle trails. You can get a short distance off the trail, I believe (something like 200-300 feet). I've hunted elk for two years in Colorado and will go again this year. I took my Arctic Cat 500 the first year and it's unlikely I'll ever take it again. I just didn't use it all. You can't use it to take yourself out into the deep woods and you can't use it to pack an animal out unless there is a trail very, very near by. I prefer to hunt where there are no trails, so for me, the ATV was almost useless. I did use it to run from our campsite down to an outhouse that was about 0.5 miles away.
I did see some people road hunting using ATVs and if you like that sort of thing, then you should do it. If you like to be alone in the woods, the ATV is not going to help you out much. A good set of legs and lungs will be much more beneficial.

Bill the Dog

 

I have been hunting with an atv for years (not road hunting). I love it. Opening morning because of the shear chaos, we get pretty close to our area on our atv's but besides that , it is nice to hunt one area in the morning and jump on the machines and go hunt another area 10 miles away that same day. I like to hunt at the top of this perticular ravine and I shot a spike last year and it fell all the way down to the bottom. I just backed the atv up to the edge and tide a rope around it's neck and the atv did all the work for me. I do like to hike in to remote areas, but it just seems that the atv makes it a little less remote since I can drive with in a few miles of everywere I like to hunt.

 

Trailburner I agree with you 100% But you forgot the part about not getting a heart attack trying to drag it out by hand.

 

I used mine last year mostly kept it in the back of the truck for recovery. Did jump a bunch of deer bombing down a really ruff trail through some sage brush and a small aspen stand. Only buck in the bunch had too many does between me and him for a shot though. These sage brush areas we hunt during the middle of the day are way long to walk them and just enough rise and fall that you spook most of them before you can see them well enough for a shot. In these areas ridding the trails works well the deer like to lay in there during the middle of the day. So it depends on were you are and what the law says. A bunch of the hunting areas here in Idaho will be closed completely to Quads this year. Enviromentalist convinced people the quads violate fair chase. I'm all for leaving the animals alone completely if the will come up with an enviromentalist seasion. Solve a bunch of problems that way!! Just kidding nobody get too wound up. Maybe we could just chase them and shoot them with paintball guns still be real fun. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Your coments remind me of a segment CNN did the other day. This guy set up a business where he would gave several women $5,000 so run around NAKED and get shot by "hunters", ouch, they would get $10,000 if they did not get shot. Sounds kinda wild but it was on CNN and they had video.

 

Bet it cost plenty to go play that game of paintball. Bunch of rich guys shooting undressed women with blue ***** (paintballs that is). Who needs body paint just go get the paintball gun.

 

I used my quad last year to get about .05 mile away from my stand site.Saved alot of walking with my stand,back pack and gun or bow in tow.I used to have to make a trip the day before I wanted to hunt to just get my stand to where I wanted it but know I can just throw it on my machine the day of the hunt and go anywhere I want and like trailburner said go some place completely different in the afternoon.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Plus, nobody mentioned that it's just plain FUN to be out on your quad every chance you get! Especially if you're with a bunch of other guys on theirs.

 

The four wheelers really make it easy to get the deer back to camp also.