I Hate ATVs

[Mauserguy]

A buddy and I scouted an area in central Utah several months ago and found a area where there were tons of deer. We just spent a couple of days in the mountains camping out and hunting- our experience was terrible. There were ATVs everywhere, and no deer.

Everywhere, on roads and trails alike, were teenagers zipping arround with rifles, kicking up clouds of dust, billowing exhaust, and roaring noise. It was awful. People, apparently, think that constantly being in motion is hunting, but the awful racket these people made was deafening.

Everybody we spoke with said that they had seen no deer. One, perched atop a rumbling four-wheeler, told us that he spent a week in the area durring the muzzle loader season and he saw lots of deer around.

"Did you bag one?" my buddy asked.

"No, I never got lucky," responded the ATVer.

Spending a week in an area with lots of deer and not bagging one is innexcusable. Clearly his ATV drove the deer away, so he merely saw them when they were allerted to his presence and were running away.

We saw plenty of tracks and fresh dung, but no deer. I think that all of the yahoos on ATVs so disrupted wildlife behaviors that the deer weren't coming out until well after midnight when you can't shoot them. ATVs suck!
Mauserguy

 

[R.W.Dale]

Moonlight was very bright over the weekend, When deer can see to do their business after dark they tend not to move as much during the daylight hours. Deer can be very nocturnal creatures at times.

However I'm left wondering why didn't you hike in to an area where the ATV's cannot go?

Spending a week in an area with lots of deer and not bagging one is innexcusable

LOL haven't hunted much have ya?

 

[ArmedBear]

We're scouting a National Forest Off-road Recreation Area. Some parts -- especially where there are springs or other natural features -- are fenced off and off-limits to dirt bikes and ATV's.

Guess where the deer are.

Of course, these aren't hunters on ATV's. Still, the loud things can be used to the boot hunter's advantage.

 

[Jst1mr]

Don't hate ATV's...do a better job of planning and preparation! I personally spend nearly all my time hunting in areas designated as hunter walking areas only. There are other areas with limited use of ATV's allowed, and I don't begrudge them that - to each their own. Now, if someone drives around a barrier, and impinges on a non-ATV area, then I will do everything in my power to get them in the hands of law enforcement! If you take the time to understand the regulations, you can avoid the issues, and, as noted, take advantage of them.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Amen to everything you said Mauserguy- infuriating, maddening, etc. That's not hunting either. To me, hunting is going in on foot or maybe horseback. I'm getting to the point where I despise ATVs and the nincompoops who drive them. They do scare away the game, and they come out at exactly the wrong time, when it cools off enough and hunting season starts.

 

[caribou]

I hate the mis-use of things.....ATV's, Guns, women, ect. ect. ect.

 

[Vicious-Peanut]

I hate the mis-use of things.....ATV's, Guns, women, ect. ect. ect.

+1, couldn't have said it better.

 

[sam700]

I usually hunt wilderness areas to get away from ATV's since no mechanized transportation is allowed there including bicycles. Check out wilderness.net for an area near you. In Wisconsin, if you're hunting a wilderness area and are more than 1/4 mile from a road or trail, it's extremely unlikely to even see another hunter. Good reason for that since getting a deer out when you're a few miles back is always the challenge. Check out the dead sled from cabelas, it's worked for me since I spend too much money on guns to afford an ATV.

 

[JWarren]

ATV hunter here.

No, no, not what you are thinking.


I use my ATV to get into our land where I park it and walk the rest of the way to my stand. Then I walk back and drive out.

I'd go nuts if I had to put up with what you guys have described.


Now, my pet peeve is dog hunters who through their dogs out on the edge of your land to drive deer through your land.



-- John

 

[Mauserguy]

The area was crisscrossed with trails. I've hunted in areas where vehicles were prohibited, and the animals definately come out more in the twilight hours. This weekend was nothing but a circus.

I bet you that an old guy in tattered coveralls and a rusty 30-30 on private land can get more deer than any of these Cabela ATV warriors.
Mauserguy

 

[Floppy_D]

You mean they scheduled a free ATV deer drive? I avoided hunting near a road until a few hunters pointed out that the cars push deer back, and bump up your alert-o-meter when the deer go a-runnin'.

 

[Art Eatman]

One day I watched a couple of mule deer as a truck came along a jeep road. Each side-stepped around his bush, keeping the brush between them and the truck.

"Aha," sez me, "I know a trick!"

I'll figure an area where there oughta be deer. I'll just sit some 200 to 300 yards from a jeep road, and watch. Mule deer do more resting than wandering, in my country, so what I want to see is motion.

Sure enough, sooner or later, here comes sumdood in his pickemup, and a fair amount of the time, Ol' Bucky stands up and does his pivot thing. Once.

, Art

 

[qajaq59]

I hate the mis-use of things.....ATV's, Guns, women, ect. ect. ect.

Now THAT is absolutely 100% the right answer.

 

[Byron Quick]

Spending a week in an area with lots of deer and not bagging one is innexcusable

Don't think so. I've spent an entire season in an area with lots of deer and only saw three. At a 150 yards and a dead run. Sign and scat everywhere. Hair on bushes. Bucks heard fighting walking to stands before dawn. I'm not talking about four or five times in a stand. I'm talking about only working three twelve hour shifts a week and spending the other four days at hunt camp hunting morning and afternoon for the entire season.

A season or two later, hunting from the same stands in a twenty acre area, I killed the Georgia limit-2 bucks and 10 does. Most seasons I'd get six or seven. Buddy of mine hunted there a few years for a week or so each time without even seeing a deer. Then one season, he started killing them two at a time and killed the largest buck ever taken in the area. During the same period of time when he was slaying deer right and left, some friends came down and got skunked. Only one saw any deer at all, and there wasn't enough light to use iron sights.

A week isn't really time enough. You can get skunked in an area with a large population in a week.

The single best tactic I've found for deer hunting is staying in the woods with a rifle as much as possible.

 

[salthouse]

A lot of people hate hunters for the same reason you hate ATV's. Its really about being considerate IMO. I personally can't stand inconsiderate people. It doesn't matter if they are on ATVs, in cars, hunting in my yard, throwing trash out the window, etc.... I hunt, I own and use an ATV during hunting season, but I stay on primary trails and walk the rest of the way in. Just plain being considerate of others is the key.

 

[ChefJeff1]

I used to hate atv's too until last Thursday when I had to borrow my neighbors to retrieve my deer. I used it respectively. I have specifically hunted where they are not allowed but they have their place. I'll be the first to agree that it sucks when they're abused such as creating new "roads" up the side of a hill. Used respectfully, they are acceptable.

 

[f4t9r]

I Hate ATVs

I take it you do not have one.
Its really about being considerate to other hunters. Always stay on the trails and careful of my timing of when to ride in and out of the woods. In my old age I really like having an ATV and I have helped a few people out getting those deer out of the woods.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

A lot of people hate hunters for the same reason you hate ATV's.

You mean they hate me because I make loud obnoxious engine noise, make unsightly trails, leave trash everywhere, and run all the game out?

Oh wait, no, that couldn't be it because I don't do any of those things, but they do. So what in THE heck are you talking about?

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

The funny thing is that those guys on the ATVs were probably complaining about how all the Californians come to Utah. Trust me on this one.

 

[moooose102]

well, i can certainly appreciate your bad experience. but it sounds to me like you did not plan very well either. if all those atv trails were visable, didn't you think that atv's would be opperating there? atv'ers have the right to use the land as much as you do. i would suggest next time, you find an area where there are no atv trails. then your hunting will go much better. i personally have hunted in and along atv trails for years. if you are in an area where they can opperate, you have to accept that they are going to be there doing their thing. i have had them scare off deer as well as push them past me. so it works both ways. my pet peave is horseback riders. wandering around,leaving huge piles of splat all over the place, and making certain that they ride in the direction that you will be hunting so they can scare off all the deer. but we all have to put up with other people. everybody has their own thing. and we all have to get along.

 

[3pairs12]

Hey there premium sauces slow down a second. Not all ATVers leave trash around or make unsightly trails. There are good and bad in every walk of life. Now I am no ATVer but I do know some who are very respectful. There are also some so called hunters that do leave trash around go cuttin peoples fences and leave other un sightly blemishes to land that is not theirs, its happened to me. We had some "hunters" trespass 10 or so years ago shoot all of our domestic ducks take em home and shoot one of our cows in the ass and leave to die. During dove season. So lets not judge every book by its cover here huh.

 

[Jst1mr]

My favorite is walking down an old semi-overgrown logging road looking for grouse, then suddenly meeting a pickup/jeep coming back the other way listening to a college football game on the radio and shooting any grouse along the trail through the truck window, then cracking the door open to let the dog out to go retrieve it....hunting at its best!

 

[Voodoochile]

On my Hunt Club I usually keep my ATV in the truck till after I've retrieved the downed Deer & just have to drag it the near mile that I may be from my truck.

I Bow Hunt mostly so silence is golden to me & when I hunt I respect others by doing the same.

 

[salthouse]

Premium- Sorry I wasn't clear. A lot of people in my area hate hunters because SOME of them are inconsiderate slobs. They leave trash, tear down fences, remove posted signs, shoot livestock, etc... That gives the rest of us a bad name that we have to overcome. I use my ATV during hunting season, but I don't (or at least try my best not to) do any of the things you listed. My point was that the logic of hating ATV's is the same logic that a lot of people apply toward hating hunters. Its really about hating inconsiderate jerks who sometimes ride ATVs and sometimes hunt (unfortunately sometimes do both).

 

[K3]

SOME of them are inconsiderate slobs. They leave trash, tear down fences, remove posted signs, shoot livestock, etc...

Calling them slobs for some of these things is awfully generous. I'd call them criminals, particularly for tearing down a fence or shooting some of my stock.