James B

Where I hunt we ambush the deer as they come out of the deep river breaks in Western SD. 99 percent of the time we can drive to them with a four wheel drive or even a two wheel drive pick-up. In the case where they are shot down in those deep canyons I carry 1000 feet Of rope on a couple of those reels made for garden hoses. There have been cases where I used all the rope and wished for more. We set down behind some cedar trees a couple hundred yard from the side draw where they come up. The chalenge comes from quessing where they will come out and when. You really can't hunt them in the breaks very easy unless you have some driver to get them moving. The cedar trees are so thick that in most places you have to crawl through them on your hands and knees. It a bit hard to see them there and even harder to get a shot. Hunting is different every where. I have one draw on my place that is suitable for using a tree stand or ground blind. Its so deep that you cant take a position about 1/2 way up and see the bottom in enough places to get a good shot. Then you better have the rope. Or a good horse.

LY

I used to always walk the last quarter mile to my stands. But I'm starting to change my habits after watching my uncle and cousins kill alot more deer and much nicer ones than me with their atv's parked right beside them. My cousin for example is afraid of the hogs and parks his so that he can step off of it and onto his climber without ever touching the ground. He has killed several nice deer this way icluding one in the 170 class range that wasn't more than 10 yards from the bottom of his tree/atv. My uncle and cousin both have killed other nice bucks including another in the 170 class out of a box with their atv's parked about 10 yards behind them.

You talk about dishearting. I'm the first the leave in the moringings and the last one to return to camp, I park and walk farther than anyone else and actually hunt in the rain. Yet when it comes to seeing nice bucks let alone killing one I'm always the one coming up short. So what I've done is to start hunting like them. Leave when they do, sleep in when it rains and ride my atv as close as I can and guess what? The last two years I've killed two nice bucks. Not in the class of the ones they've been killing but hey I'm just a beginner to this style of hunting.

Although, I still prefer to park and walk as far as possible I believe it depends on the amount of atv traffic in an area as to how the deer respond. I've had hunters blast atv's for ruining hunting while riding at Windrock, yet later that same day I counted 6 nice rubs along the main road with the heaviest amount of traffic on it. If the deer are used to hearing, seeing and smelling atv's in an area I thing you'll be okay parking close to where you're hunting. Think about the deer you see along the interstate, they're as wild as any other deer away from the highway but they're used the the cars going by and are not bothered by them. If anything lots of traffic in an area may push the deer to move more at night. But on the otherhand, my dad used to talk about the big ones only moving at night except during the rut long before atv's were ever invented.

So who really knows, for every person who says they're bad for hunting you can find another with examples of how they don't hurt anything. So I say try it both ways and in a couple of years let us know which side of the fence you land on.

whiskeysnoot

I think it depends on the type of area you hunt. If you hunt a cattle ranch or farm or around oil rigs then the deer are accustomed to machinery. Ever notice how a deer can stand on the side of a busy highway unaffected but bolt if you tried to walk up on it?

JagMagMan

I usually park mine 4 or 500 yards from my stand and walk the rest of the way! I know of people who ride them pretty much right up to their stands with no harm doen to the hunting! I guess it just depends on where you are hunting, if you get there 45 minutes before hunting time, the deer will have forgotten about the ATV, especially if you don't have to ride right through the deer trails.

charlie brown

I think that 4 wheelers have their place in hunting. Unfortunately, people abuse them way too much during hunting season. I will be using a 4 wheeler for deer hunting for the first time this year. In the past, I have just parked the truck and walked everywhere, including down two-track roads and jeep trails. This year I had a kidney transplant, and just do not have the strength to walk as much as I could in years past, so I will use the 4 wheeler to get me as far back as possible, and then walk to where I want to hunt from there. If I get a deer down, I will get as close to it as possible to make my work as easy as possible. I have had hunts ruined because people on 4 wheelers a lot of times just do not care, and will run offroad, not paying attention to where anyone is, and having no respect for other hunters. It makes me sick, but not much you can do until they change the laws, which are being worked out right now, at least here in Nevada, to address those issues.

wear

I have a quad, but I won't use it to get to and from my stands with. My farthest stand away from camp on my lease is maybe a mile. I plan on using my mountain bike this year to get to the stands that are on the separate piece of land. I noticed last year while driving onto the property with the truck, that I was spooking a lot of deer going in. Hopefully the bike will get me in there a little unnoticed.
I'll use the quad to drag or carry the deer out though.