Question about ATV use in WY
 

I drew a deertag for region R which is around the BigHorn area and had a question about using ATV's out there. Can you use them on BLM and national forest?What are the restrictions as far as off road/trail use? I don't plan to road hunt using it but it would be nice to drive a distance to get away from the roads, park then spot and stalk and also game retrievel. Also what is the best way to huntmulies out there? I have ideas and have been reading alot.

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

You can ride them on the marked trails in the NF. I am not sure what the regulations are for NR but all of them require an ORV license/sticker. You may want to check into that before you go.

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

Thanks wheatley, I did seeyou neededthe ORVpermit but was wondering also about where to get trail maps and other area maps. I called the BLM field office and can order maps but the my dilema at this pointis where to hunt?Never being out there before i feel like I should just close my eyes and play pin the tail on the hunting spot! I don't want to drive around amlesslyat first light wondering where Ishould startat. I have been looking at the arials of certain areas but don't know what areas hold more deer than others? Should I look at the meadows more? areas with water? cover? food source? avoid people or other terrain? I am looking at a hunting area about the size of my entirestate and and it gets a little confusing on where to go. I have marked some spots on my GPS so maybe that is a good start. I go through the same ritual every time I go hunting in a new state/area I have never been to.

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

NJ, go over to MonsterMuleys forum and ask for help, they won't give you any honey holes but they should put you into the right area, another way is do a search both here and MM for wyo bighorns and go over the conversations sometimes you can glean good info, good luck

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

I think you may be allowed to drive a short distance off of the road for game retrieval, but I can't remember how far exactly.

In all honesty, though, it'd be best if you just stayed on the roads/trails. There's a real problem here with irresponsible ATV users going off of the trails and tearing stuff up. They give us all a bad name and if the idiots keep it up they're going to ruin it for everyone. I'm not saying you're irresponsible- I just think it's better for everyone if ATV's stay on the roads/trails. There are more than enough ORV trails to get you in the general area where you want to hunt (get a free ORV map to see all of them), and some of them are plenty rough if you're just looking for a challenging ride. Besides, deer don't weigh that much. Dragging them out isn't that hard if you just halve them.

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

it's 300 ft. in blm, or state land.
where is region r? is it above buffalo, or east of ten sleep? if so i was up there last weekend, and you would have to be blind not to see a half dozen 4-5pt 24" bucks, we saw one that would go 180" 6x5. we got out the truck and was withen 20 yards when he finally left!

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

manboy,
I think your dead on with the 300 ft in NF and as far as BLM and state land I think they mostly say no trailblazing

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

well if you go down to the thunder basin grassland you will see the signs.;)

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

I was up camping around the Meadowlark lake area over the 4th and there were alot of deer in the low meadows in the evenings. I seen two pretty good size bucks and alot of smaller bucks. There are alot of trails everywhere so you should have alot of areas to pick from.

I road the Motorcycle, 4-wheeler and ranger up to east ten sleep and that is some rough riding but it is an awesome place. I bow hunted there years ago with my brother and there is a lookout tower just west of Meadowlark lake and we seen all kinds of deer around there. We were talking to a local at the lodge and he said they counted 25-30 bucks on one hill in one night the week before.

There are good numbers of deer, good luck.

RE: Question about ATV use in WY
 

wheatley and manboy- I just looked and region R is on the other side of the mountains (shell canyon, paint rock lakes, medicine wheel area).

I did see a pile of deer heading up 14A (the highway from Lovell to Burgess Junction) back in May. That was before the entire highway was open, though. I had to turn around at the top of the grade and haven't gone back that way since. Closest I've been to region R since then was up to Burgess Junction and Granite Pass. I'm probably heading up to the Passage for the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet Saturday night, so if I take a drive towards the medicine wheel to look at moose I'll let you know about all of the deer I see.[8D]

There are always deer around. Just a matter of finding them, because come rifle season you'll have to look a heck of a lot harder than you do during the summer.;)