RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

I' m proud to know there are fellers out there with a reasonable portion of common sense. But I don' t agree with the " you cain' t legislate common sense" argument. Yes you can. We must. Its a shrinking world. Your actions impact not only other people, but rare and sensitive resources. Hunting laws are legislating common sense. Game was wiped out in many places prior to licensing. Traffic laws the same. With so many people stackin' up in this world, there' s gonna be a large portion of idgits, more an' more all the time. I think the proportion of sensless people is growin' with fatherless chilrin' an' money being the main value, but anyhoo, I say protect our game an' backcountry at all costs. You jus' don' t whore out yer main womun.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

BeaverJack: I agree with you regarding the value of conservation legislation. In my opinion however hunting laws are legislation that are made using common sense and in no way do anything to smarten up the " idgits" that have no regard for the natural resources they so carelessly destroy. I fully agree that we need to protect these backcountry wild areas and I wholeheartedly support motor vehicle restrictions to that end.
My original point was aimed at the liberal, tree hugging driven legislation that assumes that " no access" is the only way to keep a wild area wild. I live in California for the time being and this state is full of those types. In past years, legislation has been proposed here that would restrict all access to some federal lands and national forest without a permit. IMO that' s over kill.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

Oldelkhunter, you are absolutely right. There has got to be a little maturity in riding and as usual, its the small % that gives the majority a bad wrap.
The honda that I have is quiet and can approach moose, deer and elk without spooking them most of the time, as long as I don' t stop, but as soon as you stop, there GONE. ;) Bobby

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

I think the whole " liberal tree-hugger" labeling thing is overused. I' ve heard it applied to radicals who burn houses, and used for people advocating responsible gas drilling in sensitive winter range. Seems everbody thet ain' t into somebody else' s cup of tea is a liberal tree-hugger. Was Teddy Roosevelt a liberal tree-hugger? He set up much of our public lands. How about Rockerfeller, who gave us much of our national park land around here. Both were hated for their positions and influence. Myself, I don' t like shootin' bison cause they migrate outta the parks. Bison are migratory animals. We kilt off all but a few thousand, now we' re gonna shoot ' em cause they use public land that private cattle use? Now lots of ranchers consider those protesters to be liberal tree-hugging radicals. I think they' re exercising their rights and are no more than conservationists. You gotta look at each issue. No sense in makin' broad generalizations in an attempt to garner support from people with their own definitions based on self interest. To an motocross racer, every hunter who' s adverse to opening wilderness to motorized vehicles is a tree hugger.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

I really don' t mean to get so far off topic, but where are people getting the numbers that there are only a few thousand bison left? I' ve got an uncle that owns just under 3000head of them himself, and gets federal grants to do it (not much, but every penny helps in farming), he' s one of the smaller buffalo ranchers around here, and these aren' t no ' beeffalo' , pure bred American made bison.

As far as ATV' s go, I really don' t care for hunting with them at all,I ride a horse or a bike into where walking would be a waste of time, then I walk the last mile or so, ATV' s would be handy for hauling out, but I don' t feel that their place is within the hunt itself, unless you' re covering a range that riding a horse or bike would be a waste of time for, and there just aren' t many places like that left in the world, so I' m doubting that that' s the case. Riding an ATV to save yourself from dying from hauling that heavy carcass out is one thing, riding an ATV to save yourself from dying from hauling your OWN lazy carcass IN is another. I' ve used ATV' s in the past, leave them in the back of the truck, walk out, shoot a deer, walk back to the truck, and unload and drive out as close as not hurting the terrain will allow, haul my deer there, load up and head home. The only time I use an ATV is when I have a party with me, I discovered five or six years ago that hauling three deer out at once really isn' t fun (ambush stand locations surrounding a wheat field, when twenty-thirty deer walk out, getting three isn' t much-three shooters of course!!!)

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

I say ban them all on public land. Walk or don' t hunt except for handicap and elderly who honestly and truthfully cannot get around.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

" Ban them all on public land"

What a statement. Some of you guys sound just as bad as these anti-hunters like PETA. There are some idiot hunters out there, lets ban all hunting on public land!! There are some idiots driving trucks or jeeps off the roads and making eyesores in our pristine mountains, hell lets ban those too!!! Come to think of it I know some who can' t drive a car worth a darn, lets ban all cars everywhere!!!

Give me a break, you all whine when someone wants to take your hunting rights but when its not your cup of tea then you' re crying ' ban it' !! ATV' s are just like hunting. There are ethics and responsibility involved. A few out there do not practice those things and whenever any of you see this you have a responsibility to turn them in. But don' t cry ' ban it' because there are a few bad apples out there. And yes an ATV is a machine just like a truck. In other words it does nothing that you don' t tell it to do. I am a ATV enthusiest year round, when I' m not on the trail I' m at the sand dunes. When done responsibly and people stay on the trail or road then there is nothing wrong with them. Part time I teach an ATV course and teach responsibility and ethics. If they ban ATV' s while hunting or on public land what do you think they' re going to go for next. Your guns! WHY?? Because there are plenty out there who use them irresponsibly. How many people do you know hate guns for that reason?

ATV' s are a good tool. And even though mine stay on the roads and trails, the gas is cheaper. You can cover ground a lot faster going from area to area and it saves wear and tear on my truck. Not to mention there are plenty of ATV trails in Utah where I can get where someone without an ATV would have to walk a couple miles. As I said before once the ATV is parked then the hiking begins.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

So you ban atv' s.That is about the stupidest statement that I have heard.Are 4x4' s next.Then all vehicles period.I personally hunt on foot but do use an atv to retrieve game and see nothing wrong with doing so.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

I have a honda 4 wheeler and I only use it in places where I can drive my truck, but where we elk hunt the two roads to the top of the mountains are thin and rocky and would take about 1.25 hours getting up there, it takes me 20 minutes on the 4 wheeler, saves a lot of time and wear and tear on my truck. I guess they need to start putting licesence plates on ATV' s then you could get a plate number if you see someone off road and turn them in. Probably be tought to prove though.

RE: ATV' s I would like to hear opinions
 

Here in AZ we have a big push by granolas to ban the use of public land for grazing and ATV use and the next thing for sure will be to ban hunting so that they can keep the forest for hiking and bird watching. I don' t like the sound of pushing to ban ATV use and think we can take care of the dumb@$$ riders on our own. A few choice words has done the job so far. It' s interesting that we seem to break into groups and bite at each other when the opposition has learned the benefits of organizing and pushing together. There' s a lot I don' t like about a lot of things but I hate to see this country giving up the freedom we were founded on just cause the majority is shifting to urban weenies who forgot their roots.Good hunting.