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Do you guys hide your ATVs when hunting?

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BlackBelt

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Joined
Aug 9, 2008
Messages
7,883
Location
SouthWest TN
I've been setting up deer stand sites this past week, and was wondering if the ones that I'm going to have to ride my ATV to should have a designated site for parking/hiding my ATV. If so, I'll have to chop a little brush down to make a parking spot. I don't want it to be close enough to my stand site to spook the deer, so i was thinking maybe 400 yards or so away (downwind) would be enough distance.
Any of you guys do this?
 
I do. I think it depends on your setup and the wind. I use an electric most of the time and with the right wind I'll drive it right up to the stand, I think that's the most quiet and scent free way I can get there in some situations.
 
I used to use my 4-wheeler getting to the stand.

It was a huge bean field in Hardeman county and would take 45 min to an hour to get to the spot or 5 minute ride.

I would always park 150-200 yards away.

We still killed deer at of that stand.

1 being a little over 110" 8 point.

The deer might be there and they might not.

Point it do what you have to do to get you there.

I walk now but thats just me. If I was not going to go because of the walk then I'd back that wheeler off the trailer and ride it!

Point being is to BE in the WOODS
 
Ducking Hunting ....yes
Deer hunting.... no cause according to the GREAT ONE what I do is not deer hunting...... :o
 
the 4 wheeler stays in the truck on the lease & i walk in,if & when i get a deer i walk/skip/float out to the truck & go get the deer.in area's/drawn hunts it all depends as to how far off the road i place my stand,less that a mile & no trails close i walk,i try to balance my scent & noise in a area to make the least impact of sight,sound & scent,good stuff rite there :) mike243
 
One reason that I was thinking of using an ATV this year is because I set up a couple of great stand sites, but they are a little over a mile from the closest access point by truck/vehicle. Of course an ATV can get there in 10 minutes. Anyway, I have learned the hard way to not put up a fixed stand in an area that I want to hunt, or I'll come back to the stand to find beer cans and cigarette butts at the base of the ladder where someone else has been using it. So I pick a tree, clear the shooting lanes, and check it out so I can carry a climbing stand with me (a TreeLounger).
Between what it weighs (with the foot platform attachment), my bow or rifle, and whatever else I carry in (usually scentlok clothes in a duffle), a mile walk in the woods before light can get pretty tiresome. Not to mention that even if I wore shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of winter, by the time i got there I'm sweating like a prostitute in church...
The terrain is too rough for a bike, so I guess I'm going to be figuring out a way to hide my Honda in the woods. I figure by the time I get there, park the Honda, and the woods settle down from the intrusion, the same amount of time would have passed if I had just walked the distance in.
Either way, I'll be out there!
 
I have used mine to help direct deer to where I wanted them to go before( or not to go)...It would all depend on travel routes...who says hunting has to be hard on the body...if your in great shape walk a mile...my days of sweating and climbing a tree are done...
 
I've walked enough and get exercise 6 days a week so I ride my ATV. That's what I bought it for. I do try to be careful where I park it and try not to get too close. However, some spots I've been less than 100 yards from it because the deer were used to hearing them all of the time. In areas where they're not common I think you could educate and run deer off but a lot of times they just stand there when you go by. One thing I hate is climbing in my stand soaking wet so I try to find the balance between being semi close but not right under my tree. Small properties I hunt by my house under 20 acres I don't use it.
 
I've got one stand that I walk to and leave the atv at the truck. The other places I hunt I ride most of the way to, then walk. Heck, during gun season I've parked my atv under my stand and still seen/killed deer. Last year on opening weekend of gun, my son and I watched 2 bucks spar 40 yards behind us and my atv was sitting right behind our box blind.
 
I like to come in down-wind and park 2-300 yds in a bottom dip easy walking distance from my stand. I use camo netting 6'H and 20'L in an L shape to hid my Elect Hunt cart. I replace/repair it every 2-3 years
 
Took from the stand, 4 wheeler is
between the 2 trees…30 yards.





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They don't seem too concerned, matter of fact I've had the walk up too it .

Keeps them from looking up..
😬
 
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I drive a white, electric golf cart and park it in between three cedar trees, 10 yards from my blind.... had a doe try to walk between the trees once... she blew and came running out. She stopped after 20 yards or so, looked around at a few other deer like "did y'all see that hidden in there?" She then returned to eating winter wheat! :)
 

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