Scouting Around With A Four Wheeler Or UTV - Accountability Or Maybe Regulation?



The use of utility vehicles (UTVs) and four wheelers during hunting season has rapidly skyrocketed in the past few years. All terrain vehicles (ATVs) and Utility vehicles (UTVs) both offer numerous advantages -- they are much easier than walking, they cause less harm than nearly all other vehicles, they can access terrain that would not be accessible to various other vehicles, and bringing an elk or deer out on the back of a four wheeler or UTV is much easier than bringing it out on foot.

You can also find disadvantages to the use of ATVs. Considering they are more convenient than walking, lots more people are hunting from their 4 wheeler rather than walking. The sound and odor of a four wheeler can alert game animals from a long way off so your chance of seeing a deer from a four wheeler is diminished. And that same noise and odor that is running big game away from you is also chasing them away from any other hunters in the nearby area as well -- this can create very hard feelings among hunters who used stealth and stalking skills to get into high-quality habitat only to have the deer run off by UTVs and ATVs!

Due to the fact Four wheelers can go into terrain that many other vehicles cannot, some individuals are making improper use of that advantage and creating a widespread network of brand new roads and trails in spaces that were formerly roadless. This leads to higher impacts to plants and soils. It also generates a path to tempt other riders to follow until those barely visible tracks through the wooded area become a full-blown route. The elk or deer in that certain area are then subject to year round disruption. Big-game hunters should be aware that 6 studies have definitely shown that big game stay away from vehicle activity connected with a road or 4 wheeler trail. Other note-worthy tidbits from these studies indicate that:

Elk use declines in areas close to roads for distances ranging from a quarter of a mile to almost 2 miles, according to the volume of traffic, the quality of the road and the strength of the plants and topographic coverage alongside the road. In general, greater traffic flow on higher quality unpaved roads results in a more substantial area of big-game avoidance.

Slow moving vehicles on crude roads and trails are more upsetting to elk than fast moving vehicles on a state highway.

As road and UTV trail denseness increases in an area, the quality and quantity of the elk habitat will decline substantially, which ultimately influences the quality and size of the elk population.

When motor vehicle use within hunting season actually reaches a certain threshold, Elk will abandon that spot completely and turn to out of the way areas such as non-public land or wilderness areas. The end result is that road and trail increases and constant use of ATVs during hunting season is cutting down all hunters' chances of harvesting that elk and it is having an effect on the home of the very animal they are hunting.

So exactly what does this suggest for the frequent hunter with a four-wheeler? It's easy - it means responsibility versus regulation. If, as a group, All terrain vehicle operators are reckless with the use of their vehicles, then there will likely be ever-increasing demands on land management agencies to restrict 4 wheeler use during hunting season. Presently you can find groups, particularly other hunters, which have been requesting a total ban on ATV & UTV use during hunting season. In other regions, regulations have already been instituted that confine ATV use to certain hours of the day and then only to recover a harvested animal.

None of us likes stipulations, however if heavy ATV use continues to cause undesirable outcomes then regulations will eventually become needed to ensure the protection of the land. A more desirable choice is for ATV users to recognize the consequences their activity causes and purposely take measures to lessen those impacts. ATV users are not distinctive in this respect -- as an increasing number of individuals use public lands for recreation, the potential impacts of these activities are escalating quickly. Nearly all recreation users -- jeepers, horse enthusiasts, those who raft, snowmobilers, climbers, campers, bikers, fishermen, and mountain bikers -- have been asked to reduce the impact of their activities so the public lands might be experienced by both today's citizens as well as by our children and grandchildren.

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