Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game New Clearwater Idaho atv restrictions

https://www.bigcountrynewsconnectio...f0c2f22-c717-11ec-a49c-533dc48240f7.html

Guess the locals aren't too happy, I know atving is pretty popular in that neck of the woods.

Over the years, Potlatch has been one of the most sportsman friendly large forest operators in the west. Most of the big timber operators have completely locked out the public. With the legal liability situation what it is now, I suppose this was inevitable. Down here, everyone remembers the federal govt civil suit against Sierra Pacific Ind. An independent logging contractor working on SPI lands allegedly caused the fire when a cat 'struck a spark', but the contractor had no deep pockets and the Feds went after SPI for 122 million. Supreme court rejected hearing the case and SPI had to pay 32 million and give 22,000 acres to the govt. But wait, there's more, CalFire got caught witholding exculpatory evidence on the cause of the fire, and the Calif Supreme Court overturned CalFires separate lawsuit and fined CalFire 22 million. So it's hard to blame any company for reducing wildfire risk.

That's exactly why we have a 50" Polaris RZR. I'm in the southern part of the state and we also have hundreds of miles of 50" public land ATV trails that are open to us. Of course we can't haul much in the RZR, but we have a great time on the trails. Also, it fits in the back of my long bed pickup.

I haven't been on any of the private lands in the OP but before I screamed too loud, I would have to see how much ORV damage has been done by idiots who won't stay on the trails. This might be well justified.

Seems reasonable to me. They could always tell the public to pound sand and gate everything.

Ya probably get some better age class animals too. It’s amazing how many atvs a guy sees over in huntin season

well within their rights to do so it only takes 1 idiot to ruin it for everyone

And there are a lot of them!!

Yep, Less trails = Less ATVs = Less Road hunters = more game = more enjoyment by me….all bonuses in my book!🙂

Leftybolt

The vast majority of folks I see in the Clearwater aren't locals on atv's, most I see are from WA state. I've since given up and head to designated wild areas that are walk in only.

Ya, lotsa quads/sxs in orifino weippe, pierce etc. I agree though, it’ll make for some better huntin. 👊🏻

We have a lot of them here in Montana to

Honestly ATV restrictions has made hunting better here in So. Idaho. Sure you have to work harder, but the game is overall closer to the main roads and there seems to be more critters. I get that some game gets used to them and have witnessed deer lay down when they hear an atv coming and get back up after they have gone by, but elk just don't seem to put up with them and just keep moving father and farther back. I'm not anti atv and have ridden motorcycles my entire life, but I'd rather hunt a roadless or restricted area.

On the other hand, restrictions like this ends up being just the beginning and given an inch the government takes a mile.

For a long time, ATV's were limited in some units to established roads passable by a full sized vehicle. For years, they defined 'full size' as anything over 1500lb. They've dropped that 1500lb thing and now don't really define it. I assume they mean full size to be basically anything designed for highway use.

I do a lot of recreational riding in Idaho in the spring and summer. There are some really neat trails, all old logging roads that I will be sorry to see shut down. I understand Potlach’s reasoning, but I hate to see more closures. Anymore everyone has those huge SxS and don’t get off the main roads anyhow.

We have a 50" Polaris RZR. Here in so. Idaho, we have many hundreds of miles of 50" ATV trails where we can ride it. We rarely see another ORV on those trails but the roads are pretty busy with 60" UTVs.