Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire bicycles ruining forest trails

Yup your right. Can't argue with that. I have changed my position on this subject.

Sounds interesting. Have a picture?

I think bikers with their outfits and little foam helmets must not be right in the head. They don't seem to think quite like "normal" people.

I think it needs to be a trail by trail kind of decision. (who and how the decision is made is another whole bag of worms). Some trails because of terrain and construction can handle bikes and more. Some can't. Here in the NE, lots of trails are pretty wet and drainage is lacking and bikes or ATVs would ( and sometimes do really trash them.)

For along time we have had trails that are ok for snow machine, but closed to other motorized traffic and we have dealt with it.

One thing that's hard to accept is that by limiting some access, you have back country that's beyond the reach of some (many) individuals.

From a hunting perspective its a bigger deal where the game is bigger than deer. I can carry a boned out whitetail for miles, but a elk or moose is a different story.

Contact whoever manages the forest and let them know.

Send an email to a couple of the local mountain bike groups. There are a bunch in Idaho and they all have a vested interest in keeping up the trails.

http://www.singletracks.com/mountain-bike/club.php
https://www.swimba.org
http://www.cimbarides.org
http://snakerivermountainbikeclub.com
http://eaglebikepark.org


Buy a pair of decent boots.

Quit whining.

I gave it away a few years ago, I got a few more old bikes around, plan on making another someday, maybe I'll make a thread here when I do. I also think I'll use a small post next time.

I'm a mountain biker, hunter, and trail walker. I belong to a local group, COPMOBA, that maintains and builds trails. It sounds like there are a couple of things wrong with this FS trail. Obviously the bikers don't care enough to be involved in fixing the trail. If water runs down the trail instead of off of it will be a problem. Sometimes the FS just makes it too hard for anyone but them to work on trails (local experience) and they don't work on them.

A side note: Mountain bikers are making a push to be allowed in some wilderness areas. I am totally against that. If you feel strongly about this you should be contacting your local representatives to let them know how you feel.

Kind of a stretch coming from you, fball2.

I don't go out in public in tights, so I think I'll do ok, but thanks for the vote of confidence, 'preciate it.

The score for dirtbags on mtb's vs hunters on foot/horse/atv is about equal. For every ricardo on a bike I can find a hunter/horse packer etc. being just as bad. People are people, regardless of their choice of locomotion. Some are d!*k's and some aren't.

Use only soft-pawed animals as pack animals. Lynx, Cougars and Wolverines are my choice of back country pack animals. 😉

And camo is any different?

just when I wanted to get into ATV trail riding, people before me phugged it up for everyone by not being considerate.

now the closest "approved" trail is 3.5 hours away.

can't say I blame the decisions makers though. I've seen how some of those atv guys leave a trail after their done. Its more like a monster truck rally than getting into nature.

You must be thinking of roadies, most of us MTB riders wear baggies.

Those evil bikes.

This. I am in Elko,Nv. having spent the last week here hiking in the Jarbridge and Ruby mountains. It snowed in the high country last week followed by lots of sunshine, Elk season opened on Saturday. We went into the Jarbridge Wilderness on friday and the trail was a mud trench peppered w/ horsecrap. Every FS 2 track whether open or closed was deeply rutted by the ATVs which were everywhere. As soon as we entered the FS land every wide spot contained elaborate camps full of travel trailers and ATVs. I saw a jerk cutting live trees w/ a chainsaw for firewood and stopped and filmed him causing him to threaten to kill me if I reported him which I did anyway.

Many people are richards, dressing in Camo or Spandex just makes the easier to classify.


mike r

In the late 60s and early 70s I spent 6 summers on FS trail crews in Idaho and Alaska, respectively. RC has it right on wheeled vehicle damage to trails when wet. Horse use is much less so, but still pretty bad.

As to not being "designed for such use - blame the FS" - well that's mostly ignorance talking , tho actually true in part. Many of these trails were never "designed" at all - just established by use between places people wanted to go. Quite a lot of them over 100 years ago, when no one used wheeled vehicles unless they built a road, or improved the route in well used questionable areas.

I will add that many of these bicycle damaged trails were, even if put in by FS, were done so before mountain, multi-speed bikes came into vogue. And motorcycle use was prohibited at that time for RC's very point. But dice mt bikes are not "motorized" they slipped under the radar.

So there IS an easy solution with precedent. Restrict mountain bikes to those places and trails where they cannot cause damage, or as suggested, to new trails designed for them.

Of course the biking " environmentalist" elite, the so called "greens" will have a chit fit for obvious reasons, while hikers and horsemen wil love it. Ironic, no?

I've never seen a biker, horseback rider, or a hunter maintain trails in my neck of the woods.

Maybe it's different where everyone else lives.