Guns and ATVs. Sounds good to me. I myself don't have any rifles. But I did just pick up a .40 Glock and boy that thing is fun to shoot. Gets kinda spendy quick though as I find myself emptying that clip pretty fast.

 

I shot my 4x4 white tail a couple of years ago with a 357 mag. with only a 4" barrel....shot him at about 35 yards....right thru the hart....I wont forget that one...my guess is I'll probobly never be able to do it agin.

But I would like to get back into archery again...my boywant to also so maybe this spring I'll have to find him a bow.

Ragged

 

Thats a heck of a shot Ragged. I have a 357 myself and I know I couldn't pull that off. But then again in all honesty, I'm not a very good shot yet. I keep working on it though [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Shooting just takes time. And yes it gets spendy. But someday all of a sudden it all comes together and you dont even notice. Where are all of you guys from. I am in Missoula Montana and do lots of riding. But have been looking for an excuse to road trip and ride. I have seen lots of atv action up close to lookout pass.

 

Weare allthe timeriding near you...we ride out of Lookout pass Wallace and Kellog all the time!

The guysare riding out of the Sunshine mine at the Big Creek exit in the morning...

There on ATV Nation .com planing it right now....There al ways up for new riders to so check um out...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Ragged

 

Ill be there !! Come on over if you can! Take the big creek exit, headed from spokane, take a right at the exit off the freeway, go to the end of the exit. Go right, follow the road up a ways, you will go past the sunshine mine then its like less then a mile from there, big gravel pit.. THats where we will be.

 

In an effort to downshift the growing controversy concerning the damage all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) can do to the woods, Polaris Industries Inc. is borrowing a page from environmentalists and giving grants to ATV clubs to help stabilize trails, improve signage and build bridges and culverts, all in an effort to protect sensitive areas.
The Medina-based ATV and snowmobile maker began issuing industry-first grants this year through its Trail development, Responsible riding, Access, Initiatives, Lobbying and Safety (TRAILS) program. So far, Polaris has parceled out $325,138 to 47 national, state and local ATV clubs, associations and grass-roots nonprofits. By year's end, the company will give out $550,000, officials said, adding that the number of grant applications recently doubled.

The grants, from $2,000 to $10,000 each, are being used to develop new ATV trails and to stabilize and recondition older ones left rutted or eroded by use. ATV clubs also are using the money for education, rescue equipment, global positioning system trail-mapping and signs that help riders navigate Minnesota's 1,100 miles of approved ATV trails, Polaris President and COO Bennett Morgan said.

For Polaris, the relatively small investment could prove invaluable in guarding what has become a major, and controversial, part of its business.

"Polaris has viewed land access as perhaps the single greatest threat to the sport of ATV and for our consumers," Morgan said. "We used to complain about it like a lot of people did, but we finally decided to do something about it. The Polaris TRAILS grant initiative is really to protect the long-term health of the sport for our consumers who purchase products from us. That is really why we did it."

Polaris, which originally made just snowmobiles, has watched its ATV sales explode from $753 million in 1999 to $1.24 billion last year. As ATV ridership has multiplied, so have calls from environmentalists to restrict state funding for trails and ATV use. They complain that the vehicles erode soil, damage forests, wetlands and other wildlife habitats.

Their warnings have been gaining ground with lawmakers. Clinton-era federal laws were recently reinstated to bar vehicles from additional acreage within national forests. In Minnesota, state Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, sponsored a bill this year to cut the portion of gasoline taxes that go toward maintaining Minnesota's off-road trails. Marty wants the money, estimated at nearly $2 million a year, to be diverted to highway maintenance.

But ATV riders already complain that state funds are insufficient to maintain the state's heavily used trails.

Under its TRAILS initiative, Polaris is giving some clubs the ability to take trail maintenance into their own hands.

The grants will be awarded three times a year, with the annual totals varying based on vehcile sales. Polaris, with plants in Roseau, Minn., Osceola, Wis., and Spirit Lake, Iowa, recently gave money to the Lake of the Woods Sportsman Club in Roseau, the Apache County ATV RoughRiders in Arizona, the National Forest Foundation and ATV clubs in North Dakota, Montana, West Virginia and California.

The ATV Club in Hoyt Lakes, Minn., will use its grant to patch ruts and address erosion along 470 feet of trail between Aurora Township and Hoyt Lakes. The multiuse trail had been "considerably degraded due to rutting," but will be repaired in accordance with state Department of Natural Resources guidelines, Polaris spokeswoman Molly Wulff said.

In Ogden, Utah, Polaris' cash helped the "Tread Lightly! On the Road to Adventure" nonprofit create a traveling information booth to educate tourists and residents about responsible recreation and safety. The unit will travel to nine ATV events this year.

Morgan concedes that "tension" remains between ATV fans and staunch environmentalists. But he said that "our view is that, if we work together, there is a way for both groups to experience our natural resources the way they want."

 

wow i thought i was the only one up this late.. sounds like a great program polaris has. would be nice if the other companies would follow their lead. well, i had to use a sick day (mental health day ya know?) but I'm gonna actually be going for a ride on a saturday woo hoo baby! see ya'll at the parking lot or in the woods. Nichole isn't excited about getting up that early to get there, but for me it's actually sleeping in. Viper look for my truck, it will be good to see ya again. Later, Steve

 

Ragged...I must 'tip my hat' to Polaris for putting their money where their mouth is. It's time for other manufacturers to do the same. Obviously, they (Polaris) are not stupid and recognize the long term affects of allowing leftists to continue to dwindle away our freedoms. This is an issue that effects ALL of us....what can WE do?

 

Anybody see the article in todays Spokesman? They are expanding the trails at Canfield! Yahoo!

Sure is quiet around here. I went to that other forum and it doesn't exactly seem to be a hopping place either.