Everyone's hunting situation is different. Three of us hunt in Colorado every fall and we take three ATV's. We ride them on the main gravel roads and on designated ATV trails to where ever we want to drop off and hunt. It's not reasonable to drive my pickup and camper even if we all hunted the same canyon every day which we don't. I've seen men in their 80's on ATV's that otherwise probably wouldn't be in the woods and I applaud them. I suggest that some of you guy's rethink your comments.
This...
The horse and pack in crowd will get old and crippled someday. I hope they remember their intolerance for those who are now.
I hunt with a good friend from Helena who has had 11 back surgeries, just to keep him walking now. He was strong as an ox and tough as nails before his back injury.
We use 2 ATVs to hunt in more limited ways than the horsey riders. Without the ATV, my friend would be shut out of the sport he has loved for 50 of his 58 years, and he can't ride a horse. We don't go off trail or roads, but we use the machines to whatever advantage we can to gain elevation. One gets parked where we plan to come out at the bottom, and one takes us as high as roads or trails allow, then we ease down the mountain and hunt it out as much as possible. I used mine on my antelope hunt last year. I stopped at the end of an ATV trail where no truck would make it, then I walked 5 miles on out to the antelope spot, shot one, dressed it out to pack, and carried it 5 miles back. It was darned hard to do with a previously broken back, and I couldn't do it again anymore.
So, bristle and bellyache all you want about ATVs. I sure join you when I see them off roads and trails, but they have their place.
All you younger mountain men will eventually get to a point where a little help is necessary...or just choose to give it up.
You kind of described me, use to run with the big dogs up and down mts. Now being in my late 60's, bad back where it hurts sometimes to walk across a parking lot, bad leg, and my buddies are in the same condition due to all kinds of reasons, vietnam, acidents and so on. We use A.T.V.'s. My brother in laws are in their 70's and have hunted up by meeker for probably 30 years.
those atv's are a heck of a lot better in the mud/conditions around where they go just to get around. Typically they drive up some place on a road, park it, then take off a ways. But they are a lifesaver. By the way, they have horses to, but don't haul them up there. Not everybody can support a hayburner year round.
my buddy has had a quadruple bypass, diabetes, neuropathy, and other issues. In his 70's and still likes to hunt. He remembers his early days, different now, but still likes to hunt.
He will ride in to some tank, and park his butt, and he is perfectly happy with that. Also shot a nice cow last year doing that.
