ATV ? and how close to your stand?

[Berserker]

Midwest turkeys are more respectful.

[Wyosmith]

Stand?
ATV??


Stand - what Western Hunters do after sitting and glassing for a few hours

ATV - Eastern speak for "horse"...............

OK, I get it now.

Elk learn pretty fast what horses look like, smell like and during hunting season, who is riding them.
500 yards is about right

[Art Eatman]

I guess that if there's any one thing I've learned about critters, it's that there is no such thing as "always" in their behavior.

Lots of "generally" or "mostly", yeah, but no "always".

[FITASC]

on't hunt from ATVs, but use them for transportation. I doubt you guys are walking miles from your house. You are taking a truck or riding something.

Not up loose shale slopes you aren't............You're not walking very easily either, but sometimes that's the only way to get where you need to go. I tried not to walk more then 3-4 miles from truck or camp. The way the weather can change it just wasn't too smart.

[FrankenMauser]

Not up loose shale slopes you aren't............You're not walking very easily either, but sometimes that's the only way to get where you need to go. I tried not to walk more then 3-4 miles from truck or camp. The way the weather can change it just wasn't too smart.

Rule #1 in hunting camp:
Don't be stupid.

Rule #2:
Don't hike any higher or any farther than you want to drag or pack a deer/elk back out by yourself. (Others are likely to help out, but you have to plan on doing it yourself.)

I made the mistake of checking out a little area I hadn't hiked into before, during the season, while armed, in 2012. I figured I wouldn't see anything; so what was the worry about breaking rule #2?...
Dropped a bull elk, too high and too deep.
Took three days to pack him down off the mountain.
- -

[bamaranger]

Whitetails are expert at establishing patterns..........they pattern us, then avoid us if they associate danger with the pattern. I know of areas where you can ride in an auto and park adjacent deer feeding on the road shoulders and crop fields, and they will not spook. I suppose many have seen that behavior in the Parks across the country, or in urban/suburban areas....where hunting is not permitted.

But on my club, and on the public land I hunt, deer have connected vehicles with hunters, and tend to avoid areas with roadways, or at least move in areas or times, where they cannot be seen from roadways.

This winter, I left my ATV about 200 yds from a pine plantation that I expected the deer to emerge from at dusk. The wind was quartering across the hillside Deer moved from this cover in such a fashion as to eventually get downwind of my ATV, but still upwind of me. The ATV was out of sight to both of us. When they smelled the ATV ( I have no doubt that was the circumstance, I could smell it (gas) when I walked up to where they had been later) one blew and the whole bunch fled down hill, past me (still downwind of them) and back into cover.

I am a newbie to hunting with ATV For two seasons, I have been using my first and only "four wheeler", a '95 Polaris 2WD chain drive/traditional type. The motor is great...the chain and sprockets a pain.....but it was cheap.

[Berserker]

I've had deer walk behind my truck, as I was talking leak. Wasn't season monster.

Deer also get used to people. Nor that they don't avoid them. But it's really hard to say on this.

Is it better to leave your footprints and take 10 minutes to walk through, or buzz by? I debate this, but I think times at is better.

[603Country]

Many years back, during 3-wheeler days, I'd slip into the woods way before sunrise. More than once I was watching deer when the sun brought a little light, and one of my late sleeper brothers could be heard a half mile away driving an ATV, and the deer would almost always fade into the brush. They knew.

But a year or two ago it was raining hard, and cold, so I took the noisy Kubota 900 diesel, with roof and windshield, to the stand, and parked it 20 steps away from my stand, though hidden in the brush. I had deer all over me that evening. They were upwind of me, so I guess that made the difference.

Was well hidden in the brush many years ago, and I had hidden my ATV, but not that well. Had a nice 8 point slip out from behind me, through a roadside ditch (road through our woods), and into the road. He looked left and didn't see me, looked right and saw the back end of my Honda and went 3 feet in the air, ran into the brush on the other side of the road and than peeked out to have another look at the ATV. And I shot him. He knew that ATV meant danger. He was right.

As for what ATV these days, I sold the reliable old Big Bear 400 Yamaha (17 years old) and went shopping. I bought a new Honda Rancher 400 2wd/4wd with the dual clutch transmission and independent rear suspension. Wow! Great machine.

[FITASC]

I made the mistake of checking out a little area I hadn't hiked into before, during the season, while armed, in 2012. I figured I wouldn't see anything; so what was the worry about breaking rule #2?...
Dropped a bull elk, too high and too deep.
Took three days to pack him down off the mountain.

Friend of mine drew a mountain goat in the middle of Nevada. Shot distance was ~250 yards. Issue was - it was 1500' down one slope and 1500' up the other side to the tiny outcropping where he was. Took him most of the day; but as it is a once-in-a-lifetime tag, yo go get it. Overall elevation was around 10,000' - that's a serious strain on legs and lungs...........