Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska BLM to ban atv's....comming soon

BLM's has to do something about all these caribou also. From the air their trails look like integrated circuits. Damn shame.

Get busy with the RS 4277 Movement - my County Supervisors are preserving our access with it, you can save AK too.

Might as [well] put up "No Hunting" signs and close the roads as well. There's a huge quantity of land in Alaska that never gets hunted due to access difficulties. Restricting ATVs would certainly reduce hunting access. Anyone who has hiked some miles across tundra can appreciate the value of an ATV in Alaska. That isn't to say that ATVs, or their riders, aren't sometimes responsible for causing serious damage, but it certainly doesn't warrant blanket mandates. ATVs make access possible for the ordinary person where otherwise only those who could afford charter flights via tundra plane or helicopter might be able to hunt.



This honda trail is over 20 years old.

Guess I don't understand your reasoning Big Red ....Michigan is one of the worst when it comes to ATV access as it is! Basically, all roads and trails are CLOSED unless specifically listed as open, and in the LP there are but a few trails open to ATV use, and virtually no hunting lands.

The UP is the reverse, all trails and forest roads are open unless psoted closed....

I have a Yamaha Grizzly 660 that I've owned since 2006 and have maybe 200 miles on it. Only time I get to use it is when I go out west hutning, mainly Colorado. When you get moisture on those slick, oil roads, nothing gets you in and out better than an ATV......

The feral govt shouldn't have any land except what is necessary for military use.

Was not aware you could transport via helicopter for hunting in AK. I'll have to re-read that a bit again on the regs.

Put some mudlites on that wheeler and see how much longer it lasts. I don't think it is the ATV that is the issue I think its the "newer" tread designs. Notice everyone says "these _______ will get you anywhere." Yeah look behind you. The main trail to my cabin in trapper creek years back was wide enough to drive a truck down and solid enough for the truck as well. It was that way for over 20 years now a truck can't go 300 yards down it the original trail has over half a mile that won't dry out ever and the trail keeps widening with each year because more gets destroyed. I don't see the issue being increased traffic but did notice it starting around the same time the newer more popular tread designs came out.

I believe you are quite right about tires. The same holds for how aggressively a rider rides. And two wheel drive is also more damaging generally than is 4 wheel. Of course, repeated traffic can also be very detrimental to trails as well. Some trails simpy need to protected from heavy use, or reinforced in ways which can handle the traffic. Making wide, braided trails to prevent deep, muddy ruts isn't much of an answer.

While I'm not a fan of blanket restrictions, I am really NOT a fan of ATVs in the backcountry. I grew up racing motocross, still have a bike and ride. I would like to see certain areas available for riding, maybe some dedicated/identified ATV trails. But after hiking into a great area to hunt and then having some guy come riding through on his ATV, and going back and forth multiple times I was very turned off. Edit: let me caveat this by saying that is in relation to Colorado where you have more hunters confined in a smaller area than Alaska. I would think some dedicated ATV trails could be identified to enable access in certain areas without spoiling the backcountry too much.

Hunting in Alaska is a whole different ballgame compared to the lower 48, without atv access hunting is damn near impossible. Sure there are a lot of places that you can access on foot but to get where the game is you usually have to get way off the grid. I couldn't even imagine having to walk into my favorite moose hunting spot with all the gear I need for a week or more then having to pack one out on my back. If that was my only way to hunt up here I would probably either move or stop hunting.

When I hunted the lower 48 I didn't use an atv that much but that's because I could access lots of areas on foot and didn't have to walk 5 miles to find deer or elk.

Jeff, it is illegal to be transported to the field via helicopter for hunting purposes. You can be rescued by heli but you have to leave all your stuff behind. Actually, that pretty much applies to any kind of rescue performed by the state.

Was pretty sure heli was illegal for hunting.

Will do a drive by ya in September again... grins.

Jeff

Right on, when you coming by? Haven't finalized my moose hunting plans yet but looking at going back to the ole stomping grounds again. I know a good place for coffee and breakfast if we can meet up and timing is right.

Good to know it was impossible to hunt big game in Alaska before the ATV.

Anyone know the reasoning behind not allowing helicopter access for hunting in AK? Seems like a strange rule to me.

Alaska has some rather interesting (and silly) history when it comes to hunting. "Hunting season" at one time was apparently based on when deer were hunted in Southeast....pretty crazy considering the size of the state. But bigger land mammals, in this area anyway, were hunted on a more limited basis - at least until the airplane arrived on scene. Or you could fish for and dry fish for your team of huskies all summer - and hunt for them as needed as well. This enabled one to make week-long excursions into remote country where moose and caribou might be found. Of course this was done independent of the seasons that the "silly government people" considered correct. It made more sense not to risk one's life and hunt instead when the weather was safer and more suitable.

Sidney Huntington relates an interesting moose hunt in winter over the course of several days via snowshoes in order to kill a very rare (then) moose. (A cow was killed as a result.) (In Shadows on the Koyukuk.

Lol.......that's not what I said Dennis but you can interpret it any way you like.

Ya got your Mule Deer/muledeer wires crossed!

Oppps! Good catch Mike! My apologies to Dennis.

And with all due respect towards Mr Barnsess, I wonder how many walk-in or non-motorized hunts he has done in Alaska? Horseback hunts don't count.

Equine envy if I ever heard it.

a good guy can get farther off the road system on a wheeler in a hour ...than a guy could walk in a day... wheeler 8,000...plane 100,000 = wheeler is poor mans hunting rig ...I guess LPC's are the cheapest .