muley69

I have started to scout this season off of my mountain bike. I have spent a good chunk of change getting the bike ready and yesterday bought a rack and saddle bags. I tried out the bags yesterday and biked 9 miles into the back country. It is amazing how quickly you can cover ground off a bike, add in that it is quiet as can be and I am considering hunting with the bike. I have always enjoyed mountian biking but never really thought about hunting or scouting off of it, this year I got serious with the bike and was impressed yesterday with the ease of scouting offered. Has anybody else ever got into this kind of hunting? Love to hear about it.

jones123

No, sorry I can't help, but I will be keeping up with this thread because we want to start as well. Some of the horseyback hunting we paid forlast year we could and should have done DIY on bikes.

BareBack Jack

Hey guys just a heads up on that bike riding.Alot of trails and areas are closed to everything except hores and foot traffic.If you are using a forest service map they will have what trails are open to what and what time of year you can use them on.
I thought about doing the same thing into the Bob marshall until I found out that you cant take a bicycle on them trails.
BBJ

muley69

Most of the trails and roads in my area are "non-motorized use" areas. I can penatrate deep behind a gate in in short amount of time quietly. I just never really put 2 and 2 togather until recently. I talked to the bike shop owner and he said they even have carts that hook to the bike for transporting game and equiipment. The bike I ride is nothing like the ones I had when I was a kid, independant suspension, multiple gear selections etc. Actually, my accessories are probably more than the bike.

jones123

I'm pretty sure all states allow foot traffic, but not hores. That's only allowed in Nevada

Sorry, I couldn't resist. [:-]

rick_reno

Here in N. Idaho they close the "roads" to motorized vehicles too. I use my bike with a BOB Ibex trailer. It's a single wheel trailer with a shock that can carry 70 lbs and it tracks very nice. If you go this route, make sure to get the Ibex - I had the older BOB without the shock and it would really bounce around off-road. Here's the BOB URL http://www.bobtrailers.com/

muley69

Hey rick, tell a little more about your experience. How easy or difficult is it packing out an animal? I can forsee advantages for biking but lets here your story.

ironranger

I've done some scouting and also some hunting via mountain bike and in certain areas/conditions they work real good. I'm putting the rack back on my bike soon so I can bungy my portable tree stand on this fall. I'm planning on using to get into some wildlife areas in Minnesota where there are trails and I can bowhunt farther back in.

rick_reno

It's never easy packing out an animal. I'll usually quarter them out and then depending on size debone them or load the quarters in the trailer and bike out. I carry rope and hang what I can't get out in one trip. The last couple of years I've been elk hunting where I ride uphill going in - and then I have a downhill ride on the way out. This helps a lot. The trailer has a good dry sack for loading meat, it's made out of something that cleans right up with a water hose. I've found those big plastic sacks that mattresses/box springs come in work good too - and they're free. I generally hunt doe deer (more of 'em and they taste better), I can get half a deer on the trailer pretty easy. I've read these trailers have problems on bikes with disc brakes - I don't havedisc brakeson my bikes so it's not a problem.
Something to keep in mind if you're using panniers (bags) on a bike - make sure your wheel has lots of spokes, 36 is the minimum. Loading a bike puts a lot of stress on the spokes and a broken spoke can quickly ruin a bike ride. I have panniers - they'd work for packing deboned meat out but not as well as my BOB
(beast of burden). They just don't hold enough.
I've got a Burley two wheel trailer here too. It'll hold more, but tracking isn't as good and it's width would be a problem on a single track trail.
I ride about 100 miles a week to stay in shape, doing all my around town chores on my bike/trailer.

wyomingtrapper

I don't normally use a bike when I hunt, though I have once or twice, and will this year. Did use a Burley bike trailer and a Little Tykes wagon to haul out an elk once. Packed the quarters to a logging road (closed to motorized traffic). Threw the hind quarters on the wagon and the front quarters in the burley and walked both out. Wish I'dhad a camera--quite a site to see mom, dad, and a passle of kids pulling the "vehicles" down the road with a big cow elk on board! Expect we were a bit over the recommended weight limits for both wagon and trailer.