Those who hunt off bikes…

[sacklunch]

Lots of threads on e-bikes, enduros/trails, mtn bike, etc. which is great. Haven’t seen much info on packs/weight for such trips.

I’ve never say hunted outside of birds, my elk hunts have been pack in for multiple days and move as required.

Thinking about day hunting this year from my base camp/truck and staying light. Plenty of basins to hit in my unit, most with single track walking trails up the bottom, creek running down. Not overly aggressive grade up, but would require some work.

Is it worth me buying a decent mtn bike and doable on single tracks with a lighter daypack and a bow? It would cut easily an hour, hour and a half of my hikes in on the dark, under headlamp,

Obviously back to packing out a downed animal vs riding down with quarters, but for the quick access, is it doable/worth it? I’d be locking the bike to a tree and hunting the timber all day from there.

Lots of worlds for, is a mtn bike doable with a light 15# pack and a bow and water? Or more trouble than it’s worth?

 

[Fowl Play]

I hunt extensively from bikes. For reference, switched to an e-bike 3 years ago from a standard mountain bike and have over 600 miles on it already. Bikes are all about balance and your physical fitness, especially in rough terrain. And allot of it is just being able to get up to speed to balance correctly. A light pack with a bow strapped to it should be fine with a standard mountain bike on flat terrain to get up to speed. You start getting super heavy and you are going to wish you had an e-bike if nothing else, just for it to help you get to 3-4mph to make balancing easier. Also if you go heavy and awkward and push the limits on speed you WILL eventually fall.... deep loose sand, sliding rocks, too steep of an incline, etc. and you're going over if heavy (like trying to pack out an animal). Heavier you go, slower you need to go, and you should not attempt any incline riding that you are not absolutely positive you can crest.

 

[S.Clancy]

For me, the bike is more for the way out than the way in. Sure, you can ride quite a bit faster than walking on fairly flat roads/trails, but any reasonable incline is going to slow you way down. But, coming out at the end of the day and covering 6 miles in a half hour is pretty sweet. I haven't had the pleasure of packing big weight while riding a bike, only day packs and 2-3 day overnight packs. If I was going to be packing elk I would want a trailer, like a BOB trailer. At least then when you crash, and you WILL crash, it's only your own body weight hitting the dirt.

 

[KHNC]

750W mid drive Rambo e-bike is the bomb for single track elk access. We covered 12-20 miles a day in New Mexico on mine in 2020.

 

[mtnbiker208]

I have hunted off of a bike for decades. They work, but i have found gated forest service roads work the best. Singletrack loaded is doable, but tough. If you ride year round or are a mountain biker. They work well. If you don't ride bikes and expect to ride them in the mountains, you will chuck it off of the mountain.

as far as camps. Pack it in on the bike and hunt off of foot for the next x amount of days. 4-5 days seems to work good for me.