ATV/UTV vs. Jeep vs. Truck
 

Any off roaders out there?

How about UTV/side by side owners?
The Kawasaki Mule has my attention, along with those electric versions..., anyone feel one side by side is hands down the utv winner? I've been in a polaris which was nice, sounds like guys love the Kawa Mules though...?

After buying an atv, it leaves me wanting a UTV/side by side, which are almost like a small truck nowadays, and new you're looking at $13k?

I'm sure you could buy a Jeep or Truck and lift it etc...and probably have a better vehicle, go anywhere just about, sure an atv could probably cut through woods better, but on trails/roads, also you'd have heat/AC and storage etc..

Also a quieter vehicle compared to an atv... although an electric vehicle would be super quiet.

I'm thinking maybe a Jeep Cherokiee, or Grand Cherokee, or maybe small truck like a ford ranger, etc...

btw this is mostly for private land, could be full time off road, ie lift it, big tires...and you're probably way ahead for a 13k new UTV....

Polaris Ranger - HD. I have had excellent experience and service from my 2 year old model. I do not raw-hide it or do "off road" as such, but it gets a ton of use in rough stuff, up and down hills, through heavy deep clay muck bottoms ... hauling 500# of people most of the time and being used to do all sorts of off season work. Only issue I have had has been the factory tires .... on the two rear tires, the knobs separated from the rest of the practically at the same time.

to me a suzuki samuri is the only way to go..it was a utv before utv's....its a 4 wheeler with a roll cage and can haul you, yer buddy and 20-30 bags of anything, the feeder and the legs. super low 4X4 gears. can be totally street legal, and will out climb a jeep...done it.

I have a little 1988 toyota pickup 4x4 that works great. Gets about 23 MPG with 33" tires and a lift. Can pick one of these bad boys up for around $3k and dump less than $2k to have a good rig...

Plus you can carry about 5 deer in the bed....not like i have done that... :)

My parents have a Polaris Ranger 800 and that thing is a beast. Is hard to get it stuck (Ive tried). Towed a 4x4 S10 out of a muddy field no problem.

I own a Cherokee Sport, not a fan of the Grands, but love the Sport. I had a buddy who had a Samurai, also a very capable vehicle, but a lot smaller, not that Cherokee's are that big. One of the questions you have to ask is how much access do you have to driving off trails. On public land, not much, of course, so an atv/utv doesn't give you much of an advantage. On trails, might as well have the bigger vehicle (heat, hauling, security).

The new UTV side by sides are nice,You can get into tighter/rough areas,use an ATV disc and other implements for planting in out of the way areas and they are very nice to have!

My slightly modified Taco is a beast.

Get one of each and see which you like the best. :D


I'm more of a quad guy myself.

I have an old fashioned Kaw. 650 4X4 and it does for me. I have a friend that bought this old Suz. Samuri and uses it. It is great! Looks like crap but it will get there and can haul friends and stuff too. He keeps it street legal so it is also a back up in case the car is somewhere else. I second Half Baked, the Samuri is great.

i ride a camo 2013 canam outlander 800r and while it hasn't joined me hunting yet it is a pretty deadly mud/trail rider.

The UTV is great for utility work. But when you get to be an old guy like me, you need something smaller to drive through the woods to get at that animal you just shot.

One of the guys in my club has a UTV and has to drag his deer out of the woods to the trail, then load it onto the machine!!!

This is my 1994 Toyota 4 banger pickup:

Lock Right lockers.
Demountable 6,000 pound winch.
Headers and catback system.
Line-X bed liner.
Tweaked engine control module.

Toyota
 

My buddy had a T100 and I have an 89 4runner and we went a lot of places. neither were lifted. With tire chains they just hug the trail. I was heading to my Camp and I know when to chain up heading in this country. Whenever it is wet or muddy. I stopped at the bottom to chain up and here comes a full size pick up with a trailer full of elk and UTV and a atv. He was chained up. Another full size bronco was behind him chained on the front. Guy's piled out and tried to keep that truck and trailer from sliding off the trail. It was quite comical watching these guy's try and push from the down hill side on the trailer as they crept down. It took 30 minutes. It normally takes about 1 ... The bronco was not as lucky and slid off the trail. Luckily pointed down. When they got to me they told me I was not going to make it. I just smiled and took off and was up at the top in about a minute. Cheaper and warmer in my opinion and can use it driving in town.

Here is my latest toy. Its a old geo tracker (same thing as a suzuki). I put a folding hitch hauler on it in deer season. Can not stick it, fits down any trail a sxs will go down, AND it was $12.5k cheaper than the gator I wanted!

Consider the Can Am Commander, great all around vehicle for sport and utility purposes.

I have a Grand Cherokee and the down fall I have with that is you will need to put a skid plate under the front end as the radiator is to open.. I lost a radiator once and found out the hard way.. My next door neighbor had got his Polaris stuck in the mud and had to get a truck in to haul him out of it.. So yes they can get stuck just like anything else can but, a lot lighter and is harder to get a pick up into where it is if the need arises .. Still all and all I would not mind having a nice side by side..

hossdaniels I like your Geo, it looks great and most likely would go just about any place in that little jewel..

there in nothing I know of that will go in the type of terrain like the UTV's, I have a 2013 Kawasaki teryx, have also driven Yamaha rhino's a lot. like the engine brake on the Kawasaki, very handy in really steep ground.
I have a Yamaha 660 grizzley atv and its quite a machine but as far as steep rough ground it cannot hold a candle to the utv's.
RR

For all around hunting uses you can't beat a jeep or a small 4wd truck. You can leave the house, drive to your hunting location, and go to the stand all in the same vehicle. Depending on how far/much you drive you do risk wearing down your grip tires always on and off the black top.
For our camp we use our 2 jeep wranglers ( one is just a hunting vehicle only but kept road legal, and the other is a daily driver) along with a 4wd toyota tacoma. My hunting jeep and the toyota have co-op grip spurs, possibly the best mud tires ever made. Only way to stick one of these is to high center or find some quick sand. The other jeep has some decent grips, i dont remember the name, but they pull well but clean out poorly.
We keep a 4wheeler at the camp to only pick up deer in hard to reach areas, only been used twice in 4 years.
The jeep is nice because if you take the back seat out you have a good bit of room and can haul junk and people, rain or shine. All vehicles are warm when its cold, and dry when it rains.
The jeeps and trucks are quieter than a ATV/UTV, not the electric models obviously, I have had my dad or cousin drive me right to my box I hunt when its raining or very cold and have not noticed one difference in the hunting.
Deer that are hunted some what hard know what a 4wheeler or UTV etc sounds like and means. Keep that in mind.

Silverado King Cab 4x4... it's the only way to go!

Maybe for your situation, but too large for many trails in my neck of the woods as well as others.

Nice Taco!
Mine is slightly lifted , bigger tires , underbody skids , frame welded rock sliders and a middle aged driver that knows how to approach situations that gets younger wheelers stuck.;)

It goes where my Longbed 4x4 Double Cab Tundra doesn't dare.

not at all my friend, you just drive OVER the trees. up one side and down the other. lol
snatch a squirrel or two for lunch as you pass through the limbs...

jokes aside, i always walk the little trails before i take my truck in. or just bring a mountain bike during the off season. loads of fun.
we have the hatfield mccoy trail system running all through the area, jump off on any one of thousands of little side trails. i even bought a trail sticker for my truck. just in case...

So you can take yer King Cab Silverado 4x4 where I can take my 4x4 Tacoma? :happy0157:

Bull

That's like me saying Ican take my Dbl cab 4x4 Tundra the same place I can take my Taco.

Bull

easy big guy, i didn't mention your tacoma at all. i'm not really driving up and down trees or snatching squirrels from limbs and eating them either.

and yes, a silverado could easily drag a tacoma away, sideways... and then do things to it in the woods that we dare not speak of...

i'm just kidding with you, don't get mad :)

my truck said he would be on his best behavior, while your little girly truck was around.

I've got a Jeep Grand Cherokee that I like. It won't go everywhere a fourwheeler will go, but can't hop on the highway with a fourwheeler either. I also like to wheel my jeep outside of hunting. Buy both. You "Need" both.
-Jake

It's also "camouflage"
-Jake

you can ride atv's on the roads here, the hatfield mccoy trail system runs all through the area. it's perfectly legal, as long as you have a trail sticker and a helmet.

I don't think anything is even close to a simple ATV for hunting timber as far as just getting the job done.

I guess the terrain in your area is a major factor. I have access to a couple Polaris rangers and Toyotas and they simply won't reasonably fit where I end up having to go to often.

The ranger will fit but its more trouble than its worth.

I can pretty much always pull my atv right up to the animal and that has not been the case with anything else.....which is unfortunate because the comfort of a UTV sure is nice.

To many times we have negotiated our way through thick timber in that ranger for 45 minutes to get within 50 yards of the animal when I could drive my 4 wheeler right to it and have it loaded and out in 15

I guess it also depends on your purpose/situation. I hunt alone most of the time and do everything on foot besides retrieve downed animals and in my terrain nothing will touch a 4 wheeler for my needs.

Not legal in all situations. Excerpts from the governing WV law are:

West Virginia Statute

§17F-1-1. Acts prohibited by operator; penalties for violations.
(a) No all-terrain vehicle may be operated in this state:
(8) Unless operating in compliance with the provisions of section two of this article.
(b) An all-terrain vehicle may, for the sole purpose of getting from one trail, field or area of operation to another, be operated upon the shoulder of any road, street or highway referred to in subdivision (2), subsection (a) of this section, other than an interstate highway, for a distance not to exceed ten miles, if:
(1) The vehicle is operated at speeds of twenty-five miles per hour or less; and
(2) The vehicle is operated at any time from sunset to sunrise, the all-terrain vehicle must be equipped with headlights and taillights which must be illuminated.

This is the actual law that applies to paved roads with a centerline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Co73pmN9ns

they are out there every day, rain or shine. dozens parked in town. as a matter of fact, some people here use them as their primary vehicle. they don't even use their cars unless they are going shopping or something.

if you look in the video, the local roads have blue hatfield mccoy logo's painted on them.
you can ride on any of them. it is perfectly legal...


http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/atta...1&d=1406576437

Municipalities can have special rules within their jurisdiction, but only within their jurisdiction. Just because you can do something in certain situations does not make it "perfectly legal" in all instances. Lack of law enforcement (apparently all too common in Mingo, Logan, etc.) does not mean that the state statute is invalid.

yes, it's legal here. on most local roads, with a trail stamp and a helmet.
the state made the special rules, and probably paid for the signs with a grant.
you can ride right through all the local towns, all day long!!!
they have to have gas... right?


"Lack of law enforcement (apparently all too common in Mingo, Logan, etc.)"

was that some sort of insult??? why don't you like mingo county??? we wuv you... lol

mad heck I'm far from it. My girly truck is ready to take yer man truck on a tight trail ride. Let me know when he's ready. :guiness:

Point being different vehicles are better suited for and can handle varying trails/conditions.

I've had them all mentioned (well not Toyota's but) had 2 Nissan frontiers, a GMC 2500 (single cab), an '84 cj8, a Yamaha 660 grizzley, a Kawasaki terryx, the Kawasaki wins hands down, no comparison. on a 4x4 trail the jeep was hard to beat, did ok on trails that would have beat the nissans to pieces.
RR

In the state of wv, it is only legal to run atv's on hardcapped roads if they are unmarked, if they have painted lines on them your not allowed there, what you got local ordanances that override state law?
RR

also if you cross the road you must do so at a 90 degree angle,(this is for farmers engaged in agricultural activities who own landon both sides of a secondary marked highway) as far as running on the shoulder, if you come to a bridge with no shoulder and cross the white line you are in violation, I have been pulled over in a Kubota RTV 900 for crossing the white line going around a bridge
RR

leo....

That's what I thought.:hail:

oh sorry, yeah, i'm ready...
bring your tent and stuff, we'll make a hunting trip of it.
or bring your atv, and you can get a hotel in town. lol

fine...
i looked up the local ordinance for riding atv's on designated roads within the city of williamson. it's been in effect since 2005, most local town have one like it.
it is for designated roads only, designated by HM logo's. "most" of the local roads have a HM logo painted on them. no, you can't just jump on 4 lane highways...
it is not just lawlessness being overlooked by local police, it's a local exception to state law...

if you think about it, there really is no alternative. you can't just leave riders in the woods to die, right??? they have to have gas, food, and occasionally parts too.
pike county ky has one just for their local atv dealers' repair shops. i don't think they even have trail heads there(that i know of).


https://www.trailsheaven.com/shared/...vordinance.pdf