ATVs on public ground

[horst]

Just curious what everyones views were on ATVs being allowed on public hunting grounds?

what brought this up was there was a proposal in Iowa{that was finally defeated} by an ATV club to turn a 4 mile long strip of public hunting land known as the Greenbelt into an ATV trail.

The land was kept in wildlife habitat as opposed to being clear cut and farmed by the family that previously owned it.They donated it to the county to be opened for public hunting.Personally I thought it would be very disrepectfull to take land donated for one purpose and turn it over to another group for entirely diferent purposes.

The ATV club went on to say that the ATV trail would have no effect on the game animals in the area, would actually be benificial to the ecosystem there, and would bring money into the local economy.I totally disagree with the first 2 points and have a feeling that itwouldnt have much overall effect on the economy because the trail wouldnt be big enough to attract much tourism.Also we alrady have trouble with ATVs on public land while its illegal, I cant see them staying on the designated trails if it were legalized.

And finally, even though that proposal was shot down, theyre already making plans to push for the trail to be put on another piece of public ground, this one was payed for by money from hunting and fishing licenses.I cant tell you how I feel about that idea but lets just say I disagree with it as well.

Finally, IMO, these special interest groups such as ATV clubs, horseback riders, hikers, birdwatchers etc... that pay absolutely no money into the DNR every year are welcome to use our public ground, thats what its there for.But to come in and try to change the rules, take the place over, and turn it into something else besides what my licenses money was meant to go for really pisses me off.They should take up a collection and buy there own ground for these things or else the DNR should start charging fees for public lands usage for non hunting/fishing related activities.

[Texan_Til_I_Die]

I'm not in favor of opening public lands that are relatively small (like your example) to ATV's, but in many western states the public land may go for 20, 30, 50, heck even 100 miles or more. In those situations, I think ATV usage is appropriate. You just have to take each situation on a case by case basis to determine which rules should apply.

[HuntingInMaine]

I have an ATV and it is becoming harder and harder to find places to ride. Here in Maine, most of the trail have been closed to everything except snowmobiles. It wasn't cheap to buy this ATV and now I can only ride it in a few places. And since I hunt too, I can see both sides of this.

I certainly don't want to be settled in for a day's hunt only to hear an ATV tearing through. On the other hand, it is public land and that means it is for everyone.

Maybe a compromise where ATV's could use the land on the off season and it be closed for hunting season? I don't know about your state, but I think that monies in Maine, paid when registering your ATV, does go towards land usage (when the government isn't dipping into the pot to pay for something else!)

[horst]

good points and ones I hadnt thought of.I guesse the problem here is most of our public areas arent measured in miles, theyre measured in acres.They arent big enough to support both hunting and ATV riders, even in the off season.

Huntinmaine, the monies paid in here for registration were supposed to goto land usage.Unfourtanately the state appropriated the funds for other things, and theyve done the same thing with the DNR budget.Now due to lack of places to ride, and the money being used for other purposes theirs a growing sentiment here that peole just arent paying thier yearly registration fees.Theyre forced to ride on private ground only so theres not much point to licensing them.

Im not against ATV usage really.But the areas they want to put these trails in are prime hunting habitat, bought and paid for by hunting license fees.

On the other hand theres a lot of county owned ground thats been abandoned and isnt fit for hunting in.Old gravel pits, quarrys, and such that would be better suited for ATV riding and are just sitting idle that these clubs show no interest in.iowas got the second least amount of public ground in the U.S. the way it is and the states already putting in and maintaining hiking trails, horseback trails, and things like that in these areas.Theres not room for a whole lot more.

I was in my treestand a couple years ago, and two other guys were hunting a patch of trees about 300 yrds away.It was just getting towards dark and from where I was sitting I could see a big string of deer heading towardsthe other 2 guys.all the sudden the deer freaked and ran back the way they came from.Pretty soon I seen two guys on horseback coming through the grove they were hunting in.It got pretty ugly when the bowhunters started screaming at them, I knew the hunters though and walked over and calmed things down before they got outta control.We all had every right to be out there, but the place wasnt ig enough for 3 hunters let alone the horseback riders.I cant imagine the situation if they were to start letting ATVs in these little chunks of ground as well as everyone elsde thats already using them.

[SaskMan]

If the land was paid for by $$ gained through the selling of hunting licences than I say no way!!! We have what are called wildlife lands and they are paid for by $$ gained through the sale of hunitng licenses.

On these wildlife lands one is able to hunt but they are hunt on foot only areas and the only time you may use an atv or vehicle in them is to retreive game. That is the way it should be in my eyes.

Here we are fortunate enough to have literally millions of acres of public forest for atv use along with any other form of use so it is not an issue here but regardless, if we didn't have all the available ground that we do I still would not support atv use in wildlife lands.

[ParrotHead]

Not in favor of it - get a horse.

[slugshooter]

At the public land I hunt, no vehicles of any kind are allowed off the main road leading onto the game lands, and I have absolutely no problem with that. I fail to see how having ATV's running all through the woods would benefit the ecosystem and not bother the animals. Let's see, like was posted earlier, I would be highly PO'd to be sitting up in my tree and an ATV ripping by underneath me, plus, how much of the ground is gonna get tore up, then, let's see, they might carry a gas tank to fill up out there and spill some on the ground, I am pretty sure that the smell of gas would be enough to keep every deer out of that area for a good while. All I see are negatives to allowing ATV riders to use the same land as hunters. Plus, there are some hunters who I guarantee would not be beyond taking a shot at someone joyriding on an ATV while they are hunting. There is just too much room for conflict in this situation.