From what I can see of the house, it looks very nice... with a sweet view.

I'm also pretty lucky. We live back out in the sticks too. I own 4 acres with an ATV trail around the entire property. Probably about 1/2 mile with a creek to cross, a small swampy area across the creek for some "muddin", and a short, but steep hill with plenty of rocks. It's nice for "cleaning out the carbon" in the Sportsman.

 

That sounds like a sweet set up!
My property is not very big but I'm lucky enough to have neighbors that let me ride their properties. I have about 10 acres that I have unrestricted access to including mine and another 40+ that I can ride on after making a phone call(they hunt it so it's a safety thing). All of this property ajoins mine,so it is very convienent. It has hills,mud, creeks,alot of downed trees from hurricanes..pretty much everything. And if we ride in the evening or at night we are bound to see several deer,fox,owls ect. Maybe even a cat or a small bear if we get real lucky.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: DCT

From what I can see of the house, it looks very nice... with a sweet view.



I'm also pretty lucky. We live back out in the sticks too. I own 4 acres with an ATV trail around the entire property. Probably about 1/2 mile with a creek to cross, a small swampy area across the creek for some "muddin", and a short, but steep hill with plenty of rocks. It's nice for "cleaning out the carbon" in the Sportsman.</end quote></div>

That sounds really nice DCT. My dream is to have about 5 + acres of land, maybe 1/2 acre cleared and a nice trail into the woods.

I'm working my tail off now with both my side businesses (aquiring, fixing and selling power equipment, database administration services) and full time job to make that happen. Adding the XP doesn't help, but you need to enjoy yourself a little.

North Carolina is a pretty state, I was in Greensboro about 7 years ago @ Volvo to aid in a software implementation and all I saw was land for sale, and it was really cheap.

I'm hoping to find a nice piece of property in New Hampshire, and the way the economy is going, I should be able to get a decent deal within a year or two.

 

Thanks IronBear,

Yep, I've been to NC... beautiful state. I've also been to NH. Specifically the Lakes Region and the White Mountains Region. Another beautiful state. However, there's too much snow in NH for my liking. HIGHOCTANE looks like he has a great setup where he lives.

My son and I are also members of two land associations that allow ATV riding. We have somewhere between 30 to 50 miles of trails we can ride between the two. However, it's about a 1/2 drive to each one. Being able to get the cobwebs off the Sportsman on my property is nice.

Hope your dream comes true.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: HIGHOCTANE

I needed to move my pop up today,not that I minded,it was another excuse to ride,lol

Anyway..I mentioned before that the higher ratio low range is nice for trail riding in technical stuff but that I thought it might be a concern when towing heavy. Well it isn't.It pulled the 1500# camper very easily,more easily then the lower geared 800 even. The clutch engaged nicely and it was moving with little to no perceived strain. It feels like alot has to do with the clutching,the 800 used to feel like it might be slipping the belt a lttle right at engagement pulling the camper. And you could tell it was working,not real hard, but it was working to move it. It pretty much felt like it was effortless for the 850. Honestly it isn't at all what I expected. I thought this might be a XP weakness,but it seems it is another strength.

Also even on the lightest rear spring setting it didn't seem to squat too bad. I was still able to steer pretty good. Seems like it squats a little less than the 800 did on the next stiffer setting.



And no I do not live in the house in the background.





</end quote></div>



Cute camper!....of course the 850 can pull the little bugger!LOL!

See your black landscape in the pic? I had mine loaded with wood 2 almost 3 levels high with my X2 pulling it with almost FLAT rear tires (so much weight!) with the IRS bottomed-out and the ATV did it with EASE! !!!!!

Other than the front end wanting to skim-along and not want to make a turn, the engine had no problem pulling it! (and yes, I stayed-off the hills!!LOL!)

I am amazed at the strength of the Sportsman family!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mtpockets


Cute camper!....of course the 850 can pull the little bugger!LOL!

See your black landscape in the pic? I had mine loaded with wood 2 almost 3 levels high with my X2 pulling it with almost FLAT rear tires (so much weight!) with the IRS bottomed-out and the ATV did it with EASE! !!!!


Other than the front end wanting to skim-along and not want to make a turn, the engine had no problem pulling it! (and yes, I stayed-off the hills!!LOL!)

I am amazed at the strength of the Sportsman family!</end quote></div>


LOL, it is heavier than it looks,especially since we keep if packed to the gills with our camping gear.
I knew the 850 could pull it,just didn't think it would do it easier than the 800 did because of the higher low range.
I am amazed too,the biggest test I gave the 800 was dragging several logs ranging from about 1000 lbs to about 1400lbs, dead weight about 75yards... My buddy was helped me move some of them,he used his 4x4 F150 and it was a pretty good workout even for the truck. On the largest one the 800 churned all 4 tires the entire length of the pull on fairly hard ground. That was fun,lol. My buddy was shocked that the 800 could drag the logs. I told him as long as you can get traction it will pull it.

 

A few pics from today. After the ride I decided to hit the good mud since I needed to wash anyway. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics in the mud pit. Maybe next time I'll get someone to shoot pics,.... I wasn't keen on crawling though the mud for pics sorry. The XTR's performed very well,mud was easily up to the frame and it never high centered,just drug it right through.. I rarely even needed 4x4 matter of fact and I never even had to really get on it,just crawled through it.

 

Well, again, great pics and nice country to ride. However, the "butt" shot of the dog could be better. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

That last shot of the quad up on the log really gives a good perspective of how big the 14" wheels look on your XP.

 

Your not the only person to say that about that pic,I think it is an illusion in the photo as they jump out at you like that in person. In the pics they look silly big like a Caprice on 30" wheels. You don't get that imression in person,at least I don't.


On a side note I got one of the little storage pouches that goes under the front rack. I hadn't noticed before but you can actually run 2 of them if you wanted to,one on each side. You'd just have to put the one on the left zipper side down. It isn't alot of storage but every little bit helps. I just put small rarely used items in it. My small tool kit,extra bunngie cords ect. I don't need much around the house. When I get a front box or bag for away from home storage I'll just throw the small pouch in the bag/box to keep easy accessability.
I also broke out my GPS,the window mount suction cup holds it nicely right in the area where the gas cap would be on the standard Sportsman.
The GPS will get little use but I am going to be making some new trails soon and I'll use it then to make sure I'm putting the trails where I need to.
I store that and some other stuff in the back,it was crammed full but now it's easier to find what I need without pulling everything out since I put some stuff in the pouch.

 

Here is a few pics of the pouch. I might add another just to be symmetrical,lol.