PSA - Hunting off atv/utvs…

svivian

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Damnit.

I wasn't thinking clearly yet.
Had a lot going on this morning.


Going to need to be like that snap it service that doesn't save anything....
Dont worry about it.... ill team up with Onx with a subscription add on service that you pay. Just ping me a way point via Onx and a drone takes off from one of our central locations throughout the west and we will get your elk, deer, you even. Hell ill even have it flown to a butcher if you would like for an additional fee.

After a year or two ill add on my fly in guide service where i drop clients off by drone on all the waypoints ive gathered.

Its all coming together
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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Does "11 miles back" count when an atv can get there? it sounds more like zero miles back.

If you're glassing elk at 500+ yards, it's not often that an atv putting up and pulling into a trail turn-out will spook them.
500 yards is basically a 1/4 miles. An atv will absolutely spook elk at 500 yards. I watched it happen, more than once. And it was more than 500 yards when they started to move off.

11 miles back from the main road…yes 11 miles back. In the context that it was written, not a lot of rec riders are riding quads 11 miles in the dark when the temps are in the teens, wearing blaze orange. Thanks for your quality response.
 
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Dont worry about it.... ill team up with Onx with a subscription add on service that you pay. Just ping me a way point via Onx and a drone takes off from one of our central locations throughout the west and we will get your elk, deer, you even. Hell ill even have it flown to a butcher if you would like for an additional fee.

After a year or two ill add on my fly in guide service where i drop clients off by drone on all the waypoints ive gathered.

Its all coming together

I'm smart enough to not save stuff on onX.

Don't trust big brother.
 

IdahoBeav

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500 yards is basically a 1/4 miles. An atv will absolutely spook elk at 500 yards. I watched it happen, more than once. And it was more than 500 yards when they started to move off.
Almost every year I do it without spooking them. I've even killed elk with archery equipment within 1/2 mile and 1 hr. of parking my wheeler. Last year while deer hunting I hiked 300 yards from my wheeler and up to the top of a ridge to find a herd at 150 yards and with a bull presenting shot opportunities.

It varies by state, but in general, mountainous public land is mostly inaccessible to atvs, i.e. there is much opportunity to avoid them when hunting on foot. You just have to be willing to hike terrain that might be a little more difficult than a 50" trail.
 

Randle

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Nope
I have watched elk in the open spook from atvs at varying distance.
Timbered up elk dont seem to mind at all.
One of the places I hunt you can ride up on elk in the Atv trail. shove the atv in the brush and the hunt is on. They sometimes only go a few hundred yards.
Its a mode of transportation . Dirtbikes been doing it for years.
20 years ago there was probably hate for them.
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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Almost every year I do it without spooking them. I've even killed elk with archery equipment within 1/2 mile and 1 hr. of parking my wheeler. Last year while deer hunting I hiked 300 yards from my wheeler and up to the top of a ridge to find a herd at 150 yards and with a bull presenting shot opportunities.

It varies by state, but in general, mountainous public land is mostly inaccessible to atvs, i.e. there is much opportunity to avoid them when hunting on foot. You just have to be willing to hike terrain that might be a little more difficult than a 50" trail.
Well you must hunt dumber elk than I was hunting.
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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I have watched elk in the open spook from atvs at varying distance.
Timbered up elk dont seem to mind at all.
One of the places I hunt you can ride up on elk in the Atv trail. shove the atv in the brush and the hunt is on. They sometimes only go a few hundred yards.
Its a mode of transportation . Dirtbikes been doing it for years.
20 years ago there was probably hate for them.
This ^^^

Elk in timber feel a lot safer than elk feeding at first light in meadows.
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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Lord help me if any of you dudes complaining about loud UTV's have diesel pickups with smokestacks, are fans of Big & Rich, or routinely rock out to Ted Nugent's "Fred Bear."
I have a 3.0 diesel in my Silverado. I routinely get passed by little old ladies driving Cadillac Devilles, flipping me the bird, as I try to milk every mile per gallon I can put of that thing.
 
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I've hunted a fair bit of area with ATV access in a few different states. I see lots of hunters riding UTV,ATV, ect.. but one thing I've rarely seen is one parked out in the woods. I see them parked at camps and sometimes on a landing with the hunter 20 yards away, but very rarely any other scenarios.
I often read of folks riding them to get to where they hunt, and have buddies that say the same. Just cant say I see it very often if ever. I cant recall ever seeing one parked at a trail head.

The "11 miles in" comment threw me for a loop. Now I'm second guessing my impressions of every backpack hunting story I've ever read. I'd always assumed when a guy said he was "x miles in" that meant he was that far from the nearest road.
 
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@dieselchessy that's a pretty good point. I exclusively use my buggy to get me to where I will walk in, and that's how all my friends use them as well, but I can't say I see many parked like how we park them. Maybe we are idiots and aren't hiding them very well, and that's what others are doing? This phenomenon is probably influenced by the fact that I'm up early and out late...the other dudes are parking after me and heading back to camp before me.
 

tdhanses

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I have a 3.0 diesel in my Silverado. I routinely get passed by little old ladies driving Cadillac Devilles, flipping me the bird, as I try to milk every mile per gallon I can put of that thing.
See i have the 3.0 as well, now you just need a utv to keep it in great shape!
 

tdhanses

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I've hunted a fair bit of area with ATV access in a few different states. I see lots of hunters riding UTV,ATV, ect.. but one thing I've rarely seen is one parked out in the woods. I see them parked at camps and sometimes on a landing with the hunter 20 yards away, but very rarely any other scenarios.
I often read of folks riding them to get to where they hunt, and have buddies that say the same. Just cant say I see it very often if ever. I cant recall ever seeing one parked at a trail head.

The "11 miles in" comment threw me for a loop. Now I'm second guessing my impressions of every backpack hunting story I've ever read. I'd always assumed when a guy said he was "x miles in" that meant he was that far from the nearest road.
To me 11 miles in means from the nearest road/motorized trail, also it’s mostly impossible to get that far away.
 

tdhanses

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@dieselchessy that's a pretty good point. I exclusively use my buggy to get me to where I will walk in, and that's how all my friends use them as well, but I can't say I see many parked like how we park them. Maybe we are idiots and aren't hiding them very well, and that's what others are doing? This phenomenon is probably influenced by the fact that I'm up early and out late...the other dudes are parking after me and heading back to camp before me.
I don’t hide mine, park it at a trail head or a spot that looks like a good starting point. But you would really have to be walking on the road to mostly see them i’d think or drive next to it.
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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See i have the 3.0 as well, now you just need a utv to keep it in great shape!
The question was asked “how do I know it wasn’t rec riders?” When I said 11 miles back it was answering that question. I was 11 miles in from where a trailer would be parked and someone would have to ride their quad. in the context that nobody is likely riding 11 miles in the dark for Rec riding. I hope I cleared that up so we can all move on with complaining about people and their atvs. 😆
 
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People saying they are not spooking animals with their ATVs because they are killing stuff close to the road/ATV only proves that not all animals are being spooked by ATVs, not that there were not more animals there before they drove in.

Personally, I'd like to see some percentage of "roads" that people are choosing to use ATVs on to preserve their truck's longevity turned into non-motorized trails during hunting season. This would push trailheads further out of core habitat and also reduce the need for ATVs in western hunting. A consequence of this would be more animals remaining on public land during hunting season and improved hunting for those willing to put the effort in. It would also lessen the need to trailer ATVs/UTVs on such a high percentage of western hunts. When reading about different hunting units on GoHunt it seems like 90% of the time it says ATV/UTV recommended.
 
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