Motorized Horses

[WapitiTalk1]

Simply, do you use quads/motorcycles to access any of your fall elk hunting hang outs? Could be ATV only trails that get you back in; perhaps you use them from base camp to save gas. Just curious.

[planebow]

We hunt out of a base camp. We use quads to take us where we plan on hunting for the day. They are not allowed off from the road but when you are there for two weeks it does save on the gas. Usually off from them well before day light and back on after dark unless we come back to camp in the mid day.

[ChukarNUT]

Yes. When hunting out of basecamp on the outskirts of wilderness will use them to access higher country or different areas. Saves on the abuse form rough roads and gas. Also where i huht there are a few old roads that are atv only and allow you to get into pretty high elevation right at the edge of wilderness. saves you a 4 hour climb through some steep country. i have 2 2012 polaris 500ho. great machines for the money! $4500 new, out the door.

[cnelk]

I bring 2 ATVs. we use them to run down to the creek, move timber, etc.
Sometimes we will drop one off and then drive around the mtn and hike back to it.

[LckyTylr]

I use my dirtbike to get to the end of the trail. From there, it's still another 2 miles to where I hunt. It allows me to get back in far enough where only the horse hunters get to hunt. It's a roller coaster ride on a skinny single track goat trail with an 80 lbs load of meat and antlers . . . in the dark with sleet and rain.

[elkmtngear]

Apparently some fine young folks felt they needed drugs more than I needed my quad...so they broke into my shop building and trailered it away last Winter.

So my legs have taken up the slack

Actually, we can drive my truck to the trailheads in most of our elk spots in Colorado...no quads allowed in the Wilderness areas

[pointysticks]

i go where no quads are allowed.

[Wapitibob]

I'm using mine more as time goes on. $300 per tire is a little expensive and some of the roads are really tough on them. Utah had a lot of open ATV trails so they were pretty much std issue if you wanted to get to some areas. You're still hiking a mile plus to start hunting but the quad was the only way to even get close.

[Indian Summer]

I tend to avoid areas where ATV use is permitted. I know places where motorcycles are allowed on trails but nobody uses them to hunt and the dirtbikers don't seem to disturb too much. Except my peace.

I know some roads that area gated but open to motorized. I used to take a 4 wheeler back there as did some other people. But it seemed like they were all really lazy, go figure, and never ventured very far if at all from the road and I had the holes to myself. Killed some elk there too.

I still jump on the back of a friend's snowmobile when the roads get to deep for our trucks. by then the elk are stacked up and staging before they are forced to drop in elevation. We get up high when all the other hunters have bailed off the mountain and come from below. What a dream! Killed a few doing that for sure. But man alive it's not easy getting quarters to the sled in snow to my thighs in places. I never complain though. OK maybe a little.

[RockChucker30]

I've got these bumper stickers from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers hanging on the wall above my desk.

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[Freebird134]

Rockchucker....I want that red sticker!!!!

[Indian Summer]

Nice Rockchucker! I prefer the shoe leather express if I'm not lucky enough to have a horse.

[LckyTylr]

I'd like to agree with the last few posts . . . as I'm young and dumb, so I'm okay with expending boot leather to get to my hunting destinations . . . but think of this.

I hunt in areas that have the following traits.

LOTS of 4-wheeler access - so LOTS of lazy 4-wheeling hunters.
Private Land - No Access
Zero Motorized Access (Wilderness) - Zero Lazy hunters - LOTS of Wolves and very weary Elk (and much lower animal/square mile)
Minimal Motorized (a few Single Track Trails) - Few Hunters, but just enough to keep the wolves at bay - LOTS of Animals!

I hunt with methods that yield results. I ride my dirt bike in several miles, and then I hike a few more. I'd say that, reasonably, I hike about as far away from the trail as many diehards hike from their truck. It just means that I'm SEVERAL miles from the truck. So, let's say that we both shoot elk in our respective areas at exactly the same time, when your pack-out is over and you are driving home with antlers in your truck . . . I'm still on my dirtbike ferrying meat from where I packed it to the trail to my truck . . . in the dark!

[cnelk]

Im not so sure I agree with Backcountry Hunters Anglers philosophy.
As with most interest groups, they have a narrow point of view and sometimes miss the big picture

ATVs and MC trails have their place. And they are not going away anytime soon as a lot of $$$ is invloved

As the hunting generation ages, getting further off the beaten path gets harder and harder.
And for you younger guys, it may not seem like it, but it does happen...

[WapitiTalk1]

I've got two metal horses. A Polaris quad with a yutrax trailer that pulls two backcountry packs into the spot I'm gonna jump off into or camp very nicely. The most recent, is a DR-Z400 that will be used as needed, whether getting back in on an ATV trail, or, gated road open to bikes/quads, or, just saving some gas from a base camp. That'll be Dotman's horse in Idaho this September

There's no replacing the deployment of boot leather for archery elk hunting whether in backcountry hunts or even from a basecamp. I have used my steel horses only to get me back (deep) into areas where I take off from, or as mentioned, to save some gas when base camping.. Come on September!

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[LckyTylr]

Those DR-Z's (Doctor Z) are great machines. Not all that fast or powerful, but they sure are bulletproof.

What kind of trailer is that? Is it big enough to put your quad in for towing to the mountains or only for the quad to tow.

The quad trailer is only for that purpose.. to pull gear in with your quad.. worked outstanding in ID last year. Here's a link if anyone would like to research them.

http://www.yutrax.com/

[Swede]

I don't have any, but I am not against them when used legally and courteously. I don't like them when they come illegally up to my tree stand. Well, maybe it's not the ATV I don't like.

[WapitiTalk1]

Those DR-Z's (Doctor Z) are great machines. Not all that fast or powerful, but they sure are bulletproof.

What kind of trailer is that? Is it big enough to put your quad in for towing to the mountains or only for the quad to tow.

The quad trailer is only for that purpose.. to pull gear in with your quad.. worked outstanding in ID last year. Here's a link if anyone would like to research them.

http://www.yutrax.com/

[Freebird134]

I'm really not a fan of atv's or bikes, but I think it's like most things: there are good and bad people in everything. After growing up in southern Idaho and experiencing innumerable blown stalks from inconsiderate (illegal) ATV use, I'm pretty jaded by them. I'll never forget watching a guy chasing a small herd of pronghorn across the desert in #46 with a bow in 1 hand and driving his atv with the other. It was pretty unbelievable.

[pointysticks]

1.LOTS of 4-wheeler access - so LOTS of lazy 4-wheeling hunters.
2.Private Land - No Access
3.Zero Motorized Access (Wilderness) - Zero Lazy hunters - LOTS of Wolves and very weary Elk (and much lower animal/square mile)
4.Minimal Motorized (a few Single Track Trails) - Few Hunters, but just enough to keep the wolves at bay - LOTS of Animals!

so you're saying that vehicles move the wolves out, and not the elk?

i would love a side by side ATV. when my stepdad got cancer and started to slow down, i just about bought one so he could center punch a hog or something from the seat.

last year in idaho..we just about hiked a guy to death. we went into a new area, and he just plopped down. done! he stayed on the radio and kept touch with us between napping sessions. my brother and i entered an area we called "sidehill-hell". it was brutal. eventually we dropped into a dark valley..no elk, lots of deer. my friend got on the radio and said he saw a pack of wolves. so we started listening for every snapping twig..and discussing the movie, "THE GREY"..ahhah..then we heard it..VROOM! a pack of quads roared past us!! we walked into a network of trails they were blasting thru. damn it!! we had to hike out of that steep valley knowing they just blew out every elk. i tried to put on my tired face hoping one of them would give us a ride up..nope!! they had some awesome side by sides!!

i do want one!

[WapitiTalk1]

Those DR-Z's (Doctor Z) are great machines. Not all that fast or powerful, but they sure are bulletproof.

Plenty fast and powerful enough for this old elk hunter Tyler ... Shoot, my wife refused to ride with me unless I promise to "not go fast".. LOL

[Lefty]

I ATV a lot but the quad stays home during archery elk season.
I do have a trailer set up to get back in on a ATV trail to rifle deer hunt but still a mile from camp to the hunt

[DirtyErn]

I use a Polaris 600 sportsman, yes even in Washingion where it is "illegal" to be on forest service roads,to get to trail heads , a few years ago bought a Beta 450 duel sports to cut down on the "illegal" issues with forest service. Great for checking out trails(where posted to do so). No matter what you use their will all ways be someone miss using it, giving others a bad impression.

[LckyTylr]

1.LOTS of 4-wheeler access - so LOTS of lazy 4-wheeling hunters.
2.Private Land - No Access
3.Zero Motorized Access (Wilderness) - Zero Lazy hunters - LOTS of Wolves and very weary Elk (and much lower animal/square mile)
4.Minimal Motorized (a few Single Track Trails) - Few Hunters, but just enough to keep the wolves at bay - LOTS of Animals!

so you're saying that vehicles move the wolves out, and not the elk?

I'm saying that Elk are not dumb. I think they understand how to exist among a network of trails full of 4-wheelers and dirt bikes. I think that it's largely an aspect of the old adage that hunters on 4-wheelers are lazy. Elk understand this, they hear a machine coming, they stand still and let the hunter ride right by. No stress, it's not like the ATV's are chasing them through the woods like a mountain lion could. What's different about wolves is that they don't like competition (us hunters) and they don't stay on the trails. They are MUCH better hunters than we are in many regards. So what I see, or how i interpret my findings, is probably not very intuitive to elk hunters that are privileged to hunt in low-pressure areas. I see it like this, areas that have very limited or no hunter access would ordinarily have more elk. The wolves don't like competing with humans and they want to be where the elk are, so they follow the elk into the wilderness areas that are steep, rugged, inaccessible and full of elk. After a few years with no seasons and no bag limits for the wolves . . . the elk numbers plummet and the few remaining elk will learn to survive elsewhere . . . possibly where there are more ATV trails and more humans, but where they only get direct pressure for a few months out of the year . . .

I don't know, sometimes it's hard to explain what happens in my little head after I have been in the elk woods for 3 days and I'm trying to figure out why.