Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting How many use Quad runners on Elk hunts...

Thinking about getting a Quad for Elk hunting next year ....

I've only elk hunted from a Horse or Mule...

Can it be done - I guess - how much harder is it?

Only to pack my camp in...from there it is a wilderness area..so on foot as I don't have a horse. I have a little trailer a friend built that I use to make trips from where we park the trucks to where we camp.

don't own one, but use one often for late season cow hunts.

this property I hunt (about 12K acres) is at about 7500 feet and is landlocked -- a seven mile ride from parking to the land (too narrow for a truck).

we ride up, park it, and hunt on foot. (if you're cutting the engine within about 1/2 mile of the elk, it doesn't seem to bother them too badly, IME)

they're great for hauling elk the seven miles back to the truck (!)

one can drag two (three if on snow) or carry one (1/2 on front, 1/2 on back).

I don't know of any NF or BLM land where it is legal to take an ATV off approved trails to haul and elk out, although many do it illegally.

I don't know of any areas that I would want to hunt that allowed use off trail or off road of ATV's. I have been in some of that country and it sure distracts from the hunt.

Saddlesore- I know you don't really care for us lowlander, atv using, out of staters, but due to the fact that we are lowlanders, camping under 10k becomes a need. We use ours on established trails to get to hunting grounds higher up. Then we hike into the timber and out to go back to camp. I'm over in GMU55 hunting at 10-12k camping at 9.5k. Back in '06 I got altitude sickness real bad because I camped at 11k. Started scaring the locals and talked me into dropping down to 9k where I felt much better and lost half my hunt in the process. I no longer hunt up on Antelope Creek for that reason and too many idiots on foot, truck, and atv. Just because we use the tool, doesn't mean we are all like the other idiots......In all fairness most atv users might not be like me either......
This season is my fourth and probably last try for elk. Without the atv, it'd be a little out of the question for me. Maybe this year I'll actually get one.

First off, I have had many out of staters in my camp. The OP is one of them,. You won't find one post of mine in the last ten years thatI have made derogatory remarks about NR's

Secondly, I can't camp above 9K ft either and usually hunt less than that mostly killing elk, When in fact I live at 7600 ft.

I suppose there are a few decent ATV's out there. I just haven't come across them. Most I have encountered are running up and down roads and trails and joy riding around camps. Even the ones who say they ride so far and then walk, I have caught them going off trail to retrieve game which is illegal on almost all areas of public land.

I'm in the same boat in that if I didn't ride a horse or mule I would not be able to hunt. This year will undoubtedly be my last hunt for elk at least.

The machines and all of their operators that I have run into SUCK!!
Maybe a loooong streak of bad luck?
I don't think so.
Cheers

No motorized vehicle allowed where i hunt for Elk, it is either pack or drag them out . Just not sure i will hunt Elk again , just getting to old to get them out after the kill

We use atvs on our hunts most of the time. We travel on roads/trails that are open for the use. We have packed out many elk on our atvs. We have also driven our trucks to a point where we can get our elk. We just can get there faster on the atvs.ymmv!

ATV's can't get near where I hunt. Just the way I like it.

+1

Tons of decent ATVs out there. Not many riders.

We ride to where we get off to walk moose hunting at times.

But where we go the ATVs are legal to retrieve the game. I"m good either way but retrieving game, IMHO, should be the only off road use of ATVs and again, IMHO it should be blocked to after dark, or between say 9am and 4pm or such.

But thats just my take.

Or have a pass from a doc for medical reasons and use ATV to get somewhere, but not just to ride around.

But i'm asking for nirvana I know.

Of course OTOH the more ATVs on the trails means teh fewer hunters in the woods. 3 years of moose hunting I have YET to see ONE person OFF an ATV and walking to "hunt" instead of riding around.

We use them on existing roads some to take hunters to the top and drop them off, then as a pick up at the bottom.

They are also useful at getting up washed out roads that haven't yet been repaired.

Ten years ago I simply hiked up and back down. My back and knees still let me do a fair amount of hiking, but I can cover far more ground afoot if dropped on or near the top. I can also get to the tops from the initial elevation gain.

We keep things on existing roads and trails, and often don't take the 4-wheelers off the trailer, unless really needed.

Using an ATV to retrieve game is a horrible idea. That means you're driving your ATV right into hunting areas while others are hunting.

There are plenty of Wilderness areas to hunt where no motorized use is allowed. ATV's have a use and are quite handy to get to places you can't walk with worn out knees and hips. The idea that walking is the only acceptable way to hunt is a bit selfish.

Before ATV's were invented, I walked for miles and hunted without a thought that some day I wouldn't be able to hike all day. That was a lot of years ago, I can still get to back country where I couldn't hike to, without an ATV.

Horses get a pass and yet the hay that is hauled into back country and the seeds from horse crap change the native grasses to something other than natural. Everything has it's cost, but an ATV is still easier to own/maintain than a horse. When I am done, I park it and turn off the gas, you can't do that with a horse.

From open trails you can retrieve animals with Mule Tape up to 1/2 mile away with the use of ATV's and carribeaners...

If you can use an ATV to retrieve game without interfering with other hunters. That's fine.

I'm 70, and hunt alone. If I can get the meat out. I'm sure youngsters can do it too. Although i'm coming to an end of doing that. I might have to change to muley's only pretty soon.

GREAT POST!

Mule Tape is amazing stuff.

I have tryed but no matter how hard I peddeld the training wheels still hung up in the saige brush.

I have used atv's twice to cart out elk. After we lugged both animals out in pieces to a spot that was atv accessible.

It's all the paraplegic types, they come in all ages, that use the things for there legs 'lazy' in areas have no atv access or if there machine fits between trees and things threw the wilderness. Causes quite a few heated seens and many tickets get wrote out to violators wich is in the several hundred dollars range anymore.

I dont mind them at all, if use correctly such as shrapnel's photo's show. I just tend to not hunt those areas cause of all of the traffic and people competing in the same area.

I like to hunt the areas that the roar of atv engines and platoons of hunters have driven the elk back into... the steep, deep and thick stuff.

Course, I have got lucky a time or two and was able to snipe an easy elk in the easy stuff that get filled with hunters and 4 wheelers.... but from my own two feet and not a seat.

I have been using an ATV in Colorado since 2004. We drive on the main forest road to our hunting area and then hike in about 1.5 miles, since ATV's aren't allowed off posted and numbered trails. The only other hunters in the area are on horseback, since most are too lazy to walk more than 100 yards.

There are some azzholes that blaze their own trails because they don't care about anyone but themselves.