Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Best ATV for hunting ?

Forget the debate, you really can't go wrong with any of the major manufacturers. Go look at them all and pick the one that is most comfortable and has the features you like. I picked Polaris because I liked the auto transmission, suspension, and active hill decent. I've had them for years and have not encountered a single problem.

Wife and I are going through this very thing right now. Our freind's we camp and hunt with run nothing but Polaris, and put them through everything you would put a 4 wheeler through. They have had excellent service from them. We had one Yamaha Grizzly 660 in camp and we would have to push it into the cook tent to warm up so it would start. The next one that friend bought was the same way. He went with Polaris after that. Looked at two Eiger's on friday, but they were overpriced for what they are. In the end, I think we are going either Polaris or Honda. As to the horse vs 4 wheeler, they both have their place, imho, and we use one or the other, depending on what part of the area we're going to hunt that day. If you can have both in camp, so much the better.

That was only a problem with the carb models. New ones are all FI. My biggest complaint with Polaris quads is their weight. They do climb like a billy goat though and have a great ride. If you're going to use the quad for sporty trail riding (like we do), the Honda's are the least exciting of all the Jap bikes.

Sure like my Grizzly 700's with fuel injection and power steering. All three of them. No problems.

The Yamaha 660 is a cold starting son of a gun. The Grizzly 450 with the carb does not have the same issue. I have used a Honda Rancher for a long time but I prefer the Grizzly 450. The 4wd system and locking differential is better in my opinion. The Honda does have the smother engine.

Here is a good comparison video obviously biased toward Yamaha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-48DQkyYpo

It isn't the prettiest by any means but I have to say an old King Quad is pretty awesome. You have the option of 2wd or 4wd, high-low-or superlow range, reverse, independent suspension and small enough and light enough to get around in the woods in tight situations. We have had one at our hunting camp for years with no issues. With its old blue and pink color combination we affectionately call it the "Queen Quad".

That's not neccessarily true anymore. The newer Ranchers and the Rincon are great trail riding machines but not so good for hard utility type work or playing in the mud. My wife has had 2 Ranchers and they are quick on the throttle and a very snappy machine but they lack in torque when it comes to playing in mud or hauling heavy loads, same with the Rincon. I put a gear reduction in the wifes 09 Rancher and it made a huge difference torque wise. My biggest complaint with the Polaris is that they are ugly as sin and I hate their rack system.

I agree with the 450 size / weight vs. the big dogs.

I've also seem many a polaris guy brag how they outpull and out perform honda.

Oh a quad won't out due a horse in the moutains but on flat land where other things apply a horse would be a heck of alot harder.

It's hard to outpull and outperform anybody when you're broken down, which is the usual state of most polaris's I've seen.

I'll take the old Tote Gote for hunting anyday...I have had most atv's and there all good if you take care of them.They each have there quirks which some are good and others aren't so much in certain circumstances. I have always leaned towards Yamaha anything and still do even with Honda's in the arsenal...If I were to buy a new machine it would be the Yamaha w/power steering...

I also went from this...





To this....





I use it year round...and play on the Raptor when the wife lets me.



But as I get older,this ain't to bad either.



Jayco

Hard to top the fun factor of a Raptor.

Yeah..My wife made me sell my 250 dirt bike..Said I was to old to act like a kid and I don't heel like I used too..



Jayco

I have had dozen of bikes over the years and Yamaha or Honda has been great on reliability for sure. Now ATV I have had Polaris, Honda, Yamaha, along with a Suzuki.

I like the Yamaha's 550's one for a fact! I do have an older 2004 Honda-450 Foreman with 500 miles on it (chore duty mostly around the place) but never could trust that electric shift tranny. I finally worked the bugs out of it and now it is much better but those "power steering" Yamaha's are a piece of cake to drive in tuff terrain. It sure keeps a man's upper torso from getting wore out during the day.

The only problem I ever had with a Yamaha, was driving across 500 acres of flooded land to get to the duck blinds, now that is were a 350 Honda really comes in handy. I gave up duck hunting 2 years ago......to ride more with my ATV.

All of these pictures make me want to hunt and ride, ride and hunt! Great thread full of pics!

Go to Moab for a week and rent one of each every day. Thousands of scenic miles and every brand and size of ATV is there for rent. You will have an awesome vacation and get some education as well.

Regardless of brand I've learned a couple things that might help you:

I pull the kids up the hill in the snow on their sleds with my ATV. It has a selectable 2wd/ 4wd option as well as selectable front diff lock. In 4wd in 15-20" of fluffy snow, I can get about 1/3 up the hill and it bogs and stops. Three wheels spinning and done. When I back up about 3 feet, engage diff lock in the front, it climbs the whole way up the hill without any struggle at all. It's a bugger the steer in diff lock, but it's night and day more traction.

So I would not buy one that does not have the ability to LOCK the front, not limited slip, but selectable LOCK. The Can Am I used had some auto locker and it would engage climbing in and out of tire ruts which would rip the handlebars out of your hands and about through you over them at times. I would never choose an auto Locker on the front of an ATV! With the Selectable design you use it when needed and turn it off when not. A much better plan!

Low range is absolutely mandatory. Don't even look at an ATV that does not have a low range!

IFS or Solid Axle? This is a tougher choice. Mine has IFS for long rides it's better. It cannot carry the weight that the solid rear axles can. My 30 gallon agri sprayer squats this thing big time til the tires rub the fenders. I still prefer the articulation of the IFS rear, but it your going to expect to pack a lot of weight then the solid axle may be better.

A 12v outlet. Can't even begin to tell you how handy this is. It's a must for cell phones GPS, garden sprayer, electric lift, spot lights, air compressor etc. A must have.

Finally tires. Your gonna get what you get but when time comes the replace, buy The Bighorn radials. This is "the tire" for all terrain. I've had them on three different ATVs and a 2wd motorcycle now. I've never used a better tire. My week in Moab last week at least half of the ATVS and side by sides are running this tire. that says something in Moab!

Full bottom skid plates are a must to slide over stuff. I have ricochet full bottom skid plates and they make more of a difference sliding over rocks and logs then you can imagine. The open bottom frame of an ATV gets the edges caught on everything.

Full floor boards I think are pretty much standard now, but they are a must have too.

If you choose to get a winch, the warn with the rope cable is so nice and easy to use. I would not choose a wire cable winch lead for an ATV again.

I've Owned Hondas, amazing and unbreakable. Yamaha's equal in every way with some better 4X4 selectable features and the front LOCKER. Suzuki, great performance but nagging little stuff was always breaking. I've also used several other the hunting partners have. Polaris, way to finicky and unreliable IMO. Can Ams:........ wow........... these are spooky powerful and can launch you into space. I've never driven a more responsive and powerful ATV EVER. Great fun for trail riding but a bit too much "sport" for my taste when hunting.

As an aside to this, I borrowed a Yamaha side by side, I don't know the name. It's the first model they ever made. It's a rental at the shop in Moab. It had 2400 hours and change. It looked old fashioned compared to the new ones for rent. I asked the guy about this old beast. He said that it has been the most reliable machine of any type they have ever had. He's only done maintenance and put on about 10 sets of tires! This is a rental with people beating the crap out of it every day. It's also the one with the recovery gear now to go rescue the ones that break down. Has an owner limited top speed of 33mph but just keeps ticking away! I was impressed with that track record. Hope these observations help

Yamaha's first UTV was created in 2004 and still bears the same name today, the Rhino.

Have a 93 Honda 300 Fourtrax.....jus like a timex....takes a
lickin and keeps on tickin....time for a new gastank now
but thats it....

Oh I don't know. I keep hearing that, but it only cost us about $400 a year to feed 3 horses and they started out a lot cheaper then the ATVs. We do have good pasture to put them on so only feed during the winter and not all the time either.

I have always liked my little Honda Rancher. I belive it is just a 350, but I have never needed more power from the rig. It does very well.