Fishing & Hunting
How Much Should Hunters With ATVs Be Regulated?
Across the West, bills favoring motorized hunting gain favor, but many tracking elk and other animals on foot or horseback resent the disruption of off-road engines.By Kimberly Hirai, High Country News, Guest Writer, 7-30-11
Image by Flickr user Marada.
The hunters stalked their game for hours, carefully taking note of scat and tracks the herd left behind. They hunted on foot through the West’s backcountry wilds, through brush and over mountains. A rumble in the distance sounded like the characteristic clap of a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. It spooked the elk. Over the hill emerged a firearm-clad off-road vehicle rider.
Many hunters contend they should be protected from noisy, ungulate-frightening machines when out seeking their prey. And in numerous states they are, with rules keeping hunters on ATVs tied to major roadways instead of backcountry paths. But ATV advocates want those restrictions changed, and across the West lawmakers continue to propose bills favoring motorized uses for hunting.
In Idaho, the issue is coming to a head, where a back-and-forth on whether hunters can use ATVs to access wilderness is under way.
This spring, Idaho’s Senate considered, but ultimately tabled, two bills that would have prevented Fish and Game from regulating off-highway vehicle (OHV) hunters who use the brawn of a machine to reach their prey rather than hunting by foot or horse. The bills failed, but Fish and Game came back in July requesting public comment on a new rule that would impose motorized vehicle restrictions on trophy hunters (for moose, sheep and mountain goats) where the restrictions already apply to big game hunters (deer, elk and bear).
A 2002 regulation currently governs the state’s motorized hunters. It prevents hunters from using the ATV trails that recreational off-roaders do in 31 hunting units south of the Salmon River. So hunters with OHVs are currently chained to roadways used by full-size automobiles while hunters who hike or ride horses have greater access to backcountry.
The shelved bills, 1015 and 1016, would have stripped Idaho Fish and Game’s ability to regulate where hunters can drive their vehicles in a third of its 99 hunting units.
Lew Pence, a 70-year-old hunter from, Gooding, Idaho, voiced his concern and desire to keep the hunting woods quiet when he testified before Idaho’s House and Senate resource committees in a February hearing on the bills: The real hunter does not hunt wildlife with vehicles, he said.
While Fish and Game is currently taking comment on the proposed rule, an Idaho natural resources interim committee plans to explore solutions to the previously shelved bills. But too often, trying to troubleshoot a balance between non-motorized hunters and off-highway vehicle hunters is like spotting a gray wolf through the scope.
Non-motorized hunters wonder whether use of a vehicle to access game animals like elk and deer in the backcountry should be allowed under a “fair chase” ethic. They also argue technology takes the skill out of hunting. But advocates of ATV-based hunting say the vehicles are not a hunting aid like dogs or bait, just a means of getting to hunting grounds. So a few motorized vehicle hunters who act out are causing conflict when most may be law-abiding and respectful.
But fish and game commissioners cite impacts to wildlife populations: Elk and deer were subject to greater harvest with more hunters in the backcountry.
The issue over motorized hunting is not new to the West; Idaho is simply the next locus of action where hunters must weigh in on the appropriateness of off-highway vehicles in the backcountry.
Other states have struggled with the same dilemma and also shelved proposals, leaving the matter unresolved as the number of OHV users increases.
In 2003, Nevada hunters traveling by foot blamed hunters on vehicles for dashed hunting opportunities and public land damage. A group in the state then proposed a regulation that would have prevented hunters and trappers carrying a hunting weapon from straying more than 25 yards off an established road.
That idea got pushed to the side. But the same arguments appeared elsewhere — hunters using off-road vehicle users were cast with blame over newly dug trails on public lands. Individuals hunting by foot or on horse had their experience ruined by the resounding hum of an off-road vehicle chasing their carefully stalked prey away.
Complicating Idaho’s debate is the ability of campers, landscape chasers and berry-pickers operating off-road vehicles recreationally to travel on trails and paths, though hunters using those same vehicles cannot. The rules of the game aren’t the same for all, and lawmakers have yet to address this discrepancy.
Whether or not the new Fish and Game rule goes through, the issue won’t be left in ATV trail dust — Idaho Conservation League associate Brad Smith says the debate “seems to be kind of a perennial issue in the Idaho Legislature the last few years and I’m not certain how much longer it will go on until the legislature finally passes something.”
Kimberly Hirai is an intern for High Country News.
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Can't you touch your keyboard without spewing yet another denigratory blanket falsehood? Is something miswired?
Back to the subject, Miss Hirai needs to get her wilderness facts straight -- ATV's, as any other mechanized transport, are not allowed in wilderness.
And the cheesy little part about riders "acting out" while others "may" comply with the law is unneeded slant -- of course, she's interning at HCN.
As for hunting on ATV's...the alternative is a pickup, I guess. Like most outdoorsmen, I wish ATV's could be quieter, and it is possible to choke them down even more than factory with a weight and power penalty. But they are great staging devices and pack-out tools, period.
I understand that hunting is not supposed to be easy. In fact, I prefer hunting to be a challenge -- but on the other hand there are parts that could be easier or shouldn't be made unnecessarily difficult.
In an era when the sporting segment is shrinking, recruitment and retention is an issue. Those guys whining about other hunters may temporarily succeed in the short run, but in the long run they will have fewer potential allies when the real enemy attacks.
Timed access for ATV's on a rotating basis, according to agreed-upon standards matched to the units would be a much wiser approach.
Mike, your a real tard. Most hunters, by a large volume don't advocate the use of ATV's for hunting. You have no clue to what hunters are, or are not.
Personally I dislike them just about everywhere. People who have them tend to just drive around seeing nothing and spooking the animals. I'd much rather hike 2 miles and see almost no hunters, than try to strategically place myself to take advantage of hunting pressure by swarms of ATVers. They make mountain bikers look benign in comparison.
My alternative to an ATV isn't a pickup, it's my feet.
Ethics? Psht. This country was based on the assumption that citizens would exercise moral restraint in lieu of the all-powerful state. It was a good try while it lasted.
They are ruining what we go to the wilderness for and should be completely banned.
They should follow the same rules as when in any vehicle.
They should follow whatever the ATV regulations for the area they are in.
Nothing beyond that.
FWIW I detest ATVs and everything they stand for.
In some jurisdictions they have a law which says that NO ATV (whatsoever) may be used in wilderness (hunting) areas form 00:01 AM until 11:59 AM. After that the use of ATV's is allowed. This serves to allow hunters to pack-in their gear the day before the hunt and to pack out the game on the day of success. It also allows a quiet hunt (stalk) during the morning (the most succesful time of day). Everyone is then happy.
Let us propose that to our legislators!
ATV's are not allowed in the Wilderness. If they are there, whether ridden by hunters or not, they are in violation of the law.
On federally managed land the new travel plans require you stay on the designated roads and trails. You are not allowed to drive off roads or trail in order to retieve game although you can drive in those same areas to camp.
Idaho has 4,656,833 acres of Wilderness - no motorized vehicles allowed. We also have another 11.2 million acres of federal roadless area - also no motorized vehicles allowed. 62% of all National Forest Land is designated as roadless. 1/5 of the state of Idaho is non-motorized. On the Payette National Forest 2/3 of the forest is closed to all motorized activity. That doesn't count areas closed by seasonal closures. Is that not enough for a non-motorized hunting experience?
The proposed legislation would require that hunters not be able to ride ATV in areas that non-hunters could ride. What about people who are not hunting but are armed for personal protection?
Some of our forest roads are more suited to ATV riding than they are for driving full sized vehicles. I know several roads open to full sized vehicles that I am much more comfortable on an ATV especially during hunting season when there may be snow on the roads. You ride to the area you are going to hunt and then get off and walk just like you would with a pickup. Handicapped hunters are allowed more leeway on hunting from roads and vehicles but even they can't drive cross country. They have to stay on the designated roads and motorized trails.
I don't think this is about slob ATV riders but about slob hunters who aren't following the rules. Will adding more rules make them behave better or will it just peanalize those who are following the existing rules.
I would like to be able to retieve game with ATV's rather than with horses. We have wolves in our area and they make the horses very skittish. The ground we hunt is not good for the rodeo that follows.
As the Forest Service obliterates more roads we are going to have a harder time accessing hunting areas on foot. Many of these old roads haven't been driveable for years but have been used as trails by people as well as animals.
If roads are so bad for wildlife why aren't the animals all hanging out in the Wilderness and roadless areas?
Come on-your statement that hunters are getting fatter and lazier is simply not true,and you know it-there will always be those who abuse things like ATV's,which are not permitted in wilderness areas anyhow.
How many guys who actually hunt the backcountry areas are fat and lazy? I don't know about you,but I've never seen many fat guys very far from a road,and seen no lazy guys miles from the road.
However, now I am a "senior" with a bad back and a significant heart condition. I still walk in further than the "fat & lazy". The problem is that now I cannot pack out what I could take so a vehicle would help JUST FOR THAT PORPOSE. I do not want any special privileges but I would like to be able to legally take a vehicle (ATV) to pack out that animal in the afternoon - as should anyone else.
I think it's New mexico that is allowing ATV 's to be used for game retreival, I have no problem with that,how much different is it from using a horse? Not much.
I always hunt far as possible from roads,logging roads,I would rather be where there are no other hunters,or only one or two in several miles. 3 or 4 days in puts a person in great hunting areas 99% of the time.
11 miles is one h*ll of a pack out! I did about 15,but I had help,and a horse.
I'm not quite a senior yet,but getting there quick,hope you have many more good hunts,and that some common sense prevails,and ATV use for packing out big game will be allowed everywhere.
But I like hiking at altitude, and I like hunting far from any foot path, and I especially like taking a bag and a tarp and going for a few days. The pack outs kill me, I usually drop some serios weight if I get an elk.
You see an old fat guy puffing around close to 10K feet with an old frame pack that's me.
Yer right, There are few obese out of shape slothards hunting above, say 7500 ft elevation, on foot or horseback, or the Wilderness. Nope--- the slothards were all down lower, and they were like vermin. It was just about the time that ATV's were getting popular. Notwithstanding the poorly engineered Suzuki 3-wheelers that bucked off many of these porkers and even killed a couple, I watched the numbers of ATV-ers go up and up in lockstep with their decreasing metabolism and increasing waistlines. You can run but you can't hide from the Great American Obesity Epidemic.
The slothards thought they were invincible on those ATV's and 6-wheelers, and they r an over the country like vermin. We never had issues with pickup drivers and camp hunters, but when those ATV's showed up we had to chase 'em all hours and it was all we could do to keep 'em civil and on the trails and roads. They were internal combustion powered slobs of the first order.
That phenomenon was not unique to the Pitchfork Ranch by any means. It is by far the most common complaint I hear these days... the machineheads running all voer the country in all seasons, too often against the regs. No respect.