ATV travel on forest service roads
The Forest Service is proposing sweeping changes on public lands concerning ATV travel. Each district will have their own set of changes under an umbrella policy whish is basically: All lands and roads are closed to travel unless designated open. As an owner of four ATV's here are some thoughts. My land borders USFS land and we(neighbors and I) provide a public easement(gravel road) to that public land. My 11 yr old and 13 yr old daughters cannot ride on that road because they are not licensed drivers, not all of my quads are street legal. We have one trail in the entire district that is open to all atv travel regardless of age. Of course that is 90 minutes away. The total road closure on the Bitterroot district under the new plan is about 13%. Most of the closures are either illegal roads and trails or duplicate roads so we are not losing much. HOWEVER; the Ashland district in eastern MT has the best idea. Make a new designation; motorized trails. These can be any road, in any condition. The clincher; NO AGE LIMIT and no vehicle restrictions(stay on the trail) SO if you have a pet area you hunt check the maps out and let them know...turn secondary roads into motorized trails which opens up alot of riding opportunities for families with young riders. BTW, Once the changes have been implemented up to date maps will be available for all districts that have all travel regulations on them. The comment period is open till 2/29
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I live in the center of Mark Twain Ntl. Forest, and the woods are
rittled with 10's of thousands of miles of trails, logging roads and
such. I had my first 4 wheeler in 82 IIRC, and traveled, or even
made many of these trails.
After a few years the ATVs started getting more popular, and the
gov. tried dozing little mounds up in front of some of the roads
and trails..[?] It was all too easy to just go over or around their
little mounds, and i think they gave that idea up.lol0 -
Ban the doggone little nuisances forever during hunting season! I'm so sick and tired of stalking game almost all day, set up in a nice spot just ahead of the group, ease off the safety, and some ignorant SOB comes ripping up the road/trail/deer path with open muffler, new tires ripping turf and tossing it 30 feet behind him, ruining my hunt and spooking all game in the AMU.
I'm surprised more folks don't get blown off those loud, annoying lazy hunter machines!
I hope the Forest Circus does away with any use of motorized vehicular traffic on all the roads, everywhere! It'd sure thin out the fat, lazy, drunken jerks that always seem to find me when I'm out hunting and enjoying the woods!
I can see using one to transport a handicapped or limited-mobility hunter, but when there are more of them in the woods than game animals; something's gotta give!0 -
Not gonna happen. The AWDA will not let them close all trails.
Again why do you want to pass a law having to do with bad behavior?
You should find a better hunting area.0 -
quote:Originally posted by gunnut505
Ban the doggone little nuisances forever during hunting season! I'm so sick and tired of stalking game almost all day, set up in a nice spot just ahead of the group, ease off the safety, and some ignorant SOB comes ripping up the road/trail/deer path with open muffler, new tires ripping turf and tossing it 30 feet behind him, ruining my hunt and spooking all game in the AMU.
I'm surprised more folks don't get blown off those loud, annoying lazy hunter machines!
I hope the Forest Circus does away with any use of motorized vehicular traffic on all the roads, everywhere! It'd sure thin out the fat, lazy, drunken jerks that always seem to find me when I'm out hunting and enjoying the woods!
I can see using one to transport a handicapped or limited-mobility hunter, but when there are more of them in the woods than game animals; something's gotta give!
Do you feel the same way about criminals committing crimes with guns? Should all guns be banned because of few are used illegally and irresponsibly? I can agree that it would be annoying to have ATV's screaming by while your hunting but keep one thing in mind it is public land. Thats the funny thing about some gun owners they dont want the Govt restricting their gun rights but have no problem calling for laws restricting others in the things they would rather not see. I am not trying to upset you but I see this all the time on this forum. We need to all stick together even if you don't always see eye to eye. What ends up happening is the ATV's get banned on the public land, and then soon after the hunter gets kicked out because the ATV guy Votes to ban hunting there. I am seeing this right now in my state. On one side you have trappers fighting with hunters. Fisherman fighting Ducks unlimited and duck hunters, and a few others. All that will end up is more laws and before long everybody's going to lose. So basically suck it up its better to stand together than it is to stand alone.0 -
I just wish every big game tag came with an ATV tag. The rule around here is that if the road is not open to full sized 4x4 traffic then it is not open to ATVs. I support this 100%. Multiple times EVERY year I see them in areas with no roads even in wilderness areas. From my viewpoint they do much more damage than good. 0 -
revoke your easement. 0 -
Dan-
Your argument, although compelling, has one major flaw. A vast majority of gun owners don't break the current set of laws. I've met very few ATV owners who even know the existing regulations and even fewer that abide by them.
I heard this one at least half a dozen times last year: "Yea this road is closed to ATVs but the Forest Service says its ok to come in to get our elk out."--B.S. pack it out on your back like the rest of us.0 -
quote:Originally posted by elkoholic
Dan-
Your argument, although compelling, has one major flaw. A vast majority of gun owners don't break the current set of laws. I've met very few ATV owners who even know the existing regulations and even fewer that abide by them.
I heard this one at least half a dozen times last year: "Yea this road is closed to ATVs but the Forest Service says its ok to come in to get our elk out."--B.S. pack it out on your back like the rest of us.
I agree a vast majority of gun owners don't break the current set of laws, but a vast majority of ATV owners don't ether. I am not saying there isn't a few knot head ATV people out there. But then again there is a few knot head gun owners to. Now I have a ATV I rarely hunt with it, but until the snow flies and I can use my snowmobile the ATV gets used mainly for trapping. By thinking that ATV's should just be banned is nothing short of being selfish.0 -
I wrote the message and forgot to add I hate anyone hunting off an ATV. BUT ATV's are great hunting tool. It rides in my truck bed and gets dropped off at the bottom of the mountain. Then I drive the road like everyone else. Only difference is I get out and walk. My best spot is an 8 mile walk(all downhill) and I shoot an elk there every year. They get boned out and get a ride in a cabellas game cart. I'll turn in any offroaders and absolutely agree that ATV's are not for retrieval unless legal. 0 -
My experience mostly in New Brunswick is that ATV riders are pretty careful and they are pretty quiet. I would like to get one when I go back to Canada in retirement. The snow mobile crowd are a bit more on the loud and crazy side!
I have not had a hunt messed up by an ATV rider ... not yet anyway.
Seems to me like they are a lot of fun and they should be encouraged to ride safely and have fun.0 -
Sounds to me like someone is hunting too close to the trails. If you got far enough off the beaten path the ATVs should't be a problem.
I hunted for years without one but the other guys on the lease all had one. I saw how handy they were and had to have one. I don't ride my ATV right up to my stand. I park a ways away and walk in.
I do like having the ability to ride in and pick up a deer or hog when I am fortunate enough to bag one.
Bode0 -
quote:Originally posted by gunnut505
Ban the doggone little nuisances forever during hunting season! I'm so sick and tired of stalking game almost all day, set up in a nice spot just ahead of the group, ease off the safety, and some ignorant SOB comes ripping up the road/trail/deer path with open muffler, new tires ripping turf and tossing it 30 feet behind him, ruining my hunt and spooking all game in the AMU.
I'm surprised more folks don't get blown off those loud, annoying lazy hunter machines!
I hope the Forest Circus does away with any use of motorized vehicular traffic on all the roads, everywhere! It'd sure thin out the fat, lazy, drunken jerks that always seem to find me when I'm out hunting and enjoying the woods!
I can see using one to transport a handicapped or limited-mobility hunter, but when there are more of them in the woods than game animals; something's gotta give!
I've had OHHH SO MANY ignorant hunters on foot do the same thing. My last year turkey hunting, during our two week season, i had hunter on foot of in trucks scare birds off at the last few hunting minutes of the day.
My last time out, it was the last day of the season, and i'd been working this bird for two hrs., and he was almost in shooting range, and only a few minutes left of legal hunting.
Here comes this bozo strolling up the trail making the most awful turkey call you ever heard, and scared the bird off.
He walks within 5ft of me (without seeing me) and i jump up ready to kill.
Mind you, stuff like this had already happened the previous 13 days of season. So with this being the final day, I found a narrow ridge road and parked my truck in the entrance of it so hunters would know this ridge was taken.
Well, I did have my 4 wheeler in the back of my truck, so i politey walked back to my truck, unloaded the 4 wheeler and did do some "ripping and tearing" up and down that ridge for awhile.[:D][:D]
BTW, it was a Honda 4trax 250, and many times i would right right up on a hunter (or even game for that matter), and they tell me that they didn't hear me until i was right on em.0 -
I've got my own problem with the Forest Service here locally. We had some roads wash out in a "1000 year flood" last year. Congress allocated funds to specifically fix each and every road in this localized area. The Forest Service now intends to use those funds to reclaim (or tear out completely) about 1/3 of these roads...essentially cutting off a very large portion of our national forests. This really pisses me off. Our forest roads barely touch the vastness of our national forest and yet they keep gating them off and tearing them out. When they are done with a reclaimed road, you cannot even walk where the road once was. These are the people's forrests...the people's roads. The people that use these forests and roads should be able to do so, as long as they can keep them open.
One of the reasons they want to reclaim about 1/3 of the roads that were washed out here locally is problem Grizzly bear habitat...where they release the problem Grizzlies right outside of town.[:(!]0 -
quote:Originally posted by dan55362
quote:Originally posted by elkoholic
Dan-
Your argument, although compelling, has one major flaw. A vast majority of gun owners don't break the current set of laws. I've met very few ATV owners who even know the existing regulations and even fewer that abide by them.
I heard this one at least half a dozen times last year: "Yea this road is closed to ATVs but the Forest Service says its ok to come in to get our elk out."--B.S. pack it out on your back like the rest of us.
I agree a vast majority of gun owners don't break the current set of laws, but a vast majority of ATV owners don't ether. I am not saying there isn't a few knot head ATV people out there. But then again there is a few knot head gun owners to. Now I have a ATV I rarely hunt with it, but until the snow flies and I can use my snowmobile the ATV gets used mainly for trapping. By thinking that ATV's should just be banned is nothing short of being selfish.
Wrong again and totally irrelevant. I'll only talk about my personal experience and avoid your personal attacks.
I own two ATVs. I love them. I only use them where it is legal. Which around here is only on roads open to full sized vehicles and where specifically marked as ok. Which means they have almost no useful purpose for hunting.
I hunt places that are far enough off the beaten path that the only people I should see are on horses. Unfortunately I see many more ATV and trail bikes than anything else.0 -
quote:Originally posted by elkoholic
Dan-
Your argument, although compelling, has one major flaw. A vast majority of gun owners don't break the current set of laws. I've met very few ATV owners who even know the existing regulations and even fewer that abide by them.
I heard this one at least half a dozen times last year: "Yea this road is closed to ATVs but the Forest Service says its ok to come in to get our elk out."--B.S. pack it out on your back like the rest of us.
That's why I stillhunt the same 400 private acres my Daddy and I used to hunt. Shoot it, ride up to it, flop it on the back of the ATV and go to the truck. It adds to fun of the hunt.0 -
Personally, I think an ATV ought to be able to go anywhere it's rider can take it in a National forest (within reason). Even if this were the policy, we would only be able to access a very small portion of our National Forests. The VAST MAJORITY of OUR forest would still be unaccessible. 0 -
The animal Units we hunt out here are about 850 sections(square miles) or so; it's tough to always be so close to a "road". Sometimes we can walk for hours and not see a soul, but during hunting season for some unexplainable reason; everybody and their family is out cruising around like Texans on an Elk hunt, drunk, armed to the teeth, and zooming around miles from camp.
I really pity the poor fools back East, in those tiny states where you have to shoot deer with a shotgun because everyone lives right on top of one another,; the ATVers out there must all be very polite.
It's hardly ever "crowded", where you have other hunters walking up and bumming smokes while you're on the stalk or anything, but then, I feel "crowded" when I can see my neighbors' chimney smoke rising past the Poplars on the ridge a mile away....0
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