Quads

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Do any of you use a quad to varmint hunt with?
I have been using one for a few years now and honestly am so spoiled I would feel lost without it.
I ride a Polaris Sportsman 500, it's soft on the bumps handles like a dream and most important its very easy to hide .

I have had a few folks wondering how my pard and I could have gotten the take we did in a contest recently.
Well the biggest advantage we had was our quads. They are fast and low to the ground. Relativly quiet and as I mentioned easy to hide.
We set them up and practiced until we could park and be walking to a call in literaly seconds.
The number of calls that we were able to make is the primary advantage we enjoyed.

Time is of the essence in a deal like that, and being able to hide them behind a cedar tree and be walking to a call that is only 50 yards away is a great time saver.

What are your thoughts on this?
 
Amen, Craig! I sold my Explorer 400 back in September, said I'll have another one pretty quick. Still don't and man do I miss it.

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B. Pierce
 
Right now I wish I had a quad just to get around in. Since my surgery, I can't handle staying up on my feet for long spells.

Oh well, I'm grounded I guess....
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I really think having a quad to hunt on is a bonus. A quad will get you many places your truck wont and you can also sneak up alot easier on small hills without being seen. Just make sure your electronic caller is strapped down tight on your front rack going down a steep hill, or youll run it over.
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MP

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I couldn't live without mine. I live on a ranch, so mine is a working machine as well as a play machine. It's got a gun rack on the handlebars, a gun case bracket on the back rack, and I've got a big plastic dry box that straps on the back rack that'll hold a lot of stuff, plus a can carrier on the back rack that'll hold a 5 gallon gas can. And the best part is, it gets better gas mileage than my pickup. And a whole lot easier to hide. I can stash it behind a sage brush, and it disappears.

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If your aren't havin' fun, why bother doin' it?
 
Craig, there is no doubt that a Quad is an advantage.

Over here, we won't allow a Quad on a hunt, one "vehicle" per team during the hours of the hunt. That's how much of an advantage we consider it to be.

It's kind of funny, looking back on it, but we have had guys try to ride bicycles along the canal while the other guy tries a different road.....disqualified. One guy used a motorized skateboard on the blacktop, leap frogged past his partner, etc. He was seen. Claimed he didn't know. We don't allow airplanes, either. Did for a while, too much problems, logistically.....like who drives the vehicle back to check in? A team member? Well then, who's driving the airplane? A non team member? Some guys got to push the limits.

But I'm not discounting what you did, by any means, just talkin'
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Good hunting. LB
 
Quads? I had to ride one of those things on my Washington hunt last fall because you just can't get around up there with anything else(except maybe a horse, mule or on foot). They wouldn't be just too bad if ridden below the speed of a .30-06 bullet. I had to keep up with my guide or get lost in the mountains. Quads? Pure four wheeled terror!
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There are almost no roads around this area. You got the Alaska Highway, The Cutoff, and the Taylor plus a couple of side roads that go into the villages and that is it! So my 4 whlr is very useful for getting around until the snow flies then its the sno-go.

I use a Suzuki quad runner with 15 foreward gears, 2 & 4 whl drive plus locked hubs if needed and equipped with winch (get stuck alot). Gun rack mounted in speed use position plus a couple of milk crates to hold stuff for day trips. Add a large cooler (stores overnite stuff other then just beer!) for long trips. Can easily stayout a week if I want. Use it to plow snow for 6 months each winter. Very useful piece of equipment around here.
 
Leonard I can see where a quad is an advantage for sure. I would disagree with not allowing them however. If a team stays together and calls together then they are are just another form of transport in my opinion.

I can see where not everyone can afford one or want to use one. The biggest disadvantage I can see about them is that you can't drive along and BS between stands.

Rules are rules though and every hunt has the right to set them to please the most folks. I can't help feeling though that if they are not allowed then what about electronic calls, bipods ,scopes, any rifle capable of 3500 fps or more, you get the drift I am sure.

Things progress and people use thme to their advantage. People are also going to abuse them to their advantage as well , and that is wehre things get sticky I agree.

If they were banned in the hunts that I compete in then I will just have to live with it. However predator hunts serve a two fold purpose in my mind, one is to determine the best hunters ,and two is to reduce the coyote pop in critical times for fawn survival.
In this light things look a little different.

We brought in 10 coyotes in this hunt, the average was one per team. Perhaps it should be mandatory that every team rode quads if it is looked at that way.

Just for the info, there are no rules that people have to hunt together either on these particular hunts,and yet we did. If we had split up then the take would have been even higher I am sure.

Just some thoughts .
 
I have a Sportsman 500 too and have to admit to being spoiled. It's like a limo. Seems like everywhere I go around here is pretty rough country. It would take forever to cover much ground in a truck sometimes. However when dealing with educated coyotes I try to bring my Toyota pickup which is almost silent when traveling into the wind. My quad is considerably louder than the pickup. But for regular calling in spots that are not overcalled, the ATV sure is handy.
 
I have a honda quad, buty dont use it much for calling , i have a few times , but found that my suzuki samari is a lot quiter and almost as easy to hide . It also will go almost anywhere, It uses a little more fuel then the quad but not much . I have it all set up with gun racks , and the doors are easily removed due to a little work on the hinges. the lil bugger is the ultimate callin rig in my mind . when there is heavy snow on the ground it just stays on the top . got it stuck once . put it in 4 low and got out lifted up on the front bumper and pushed . it crawled right up on the snow and away we went .I also have it set up for night calling witha cig plug and a reostat in the rool bar . in the summer months , I take the top off and stand in the back to call. I am in the process of building a rack for the top that you can stand on for calling at night . In a way i guess it is a quad. with a little more creature comforts .and the ability to haul a little more stuff. later Jerry .
 
Jerry: about the only difference between a 4 wheeler and a Samurai is the Suzuki has a steering wheel and is street legal. They're about the same size. Oh yeah, and the heater usually works better.
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PS Talked to my grandmother Mother's Day weekend and gave her your name. She says the coyotes are worst around her house when the apples and stuff start falling off of the trees in her back yard. I gave her your name so she can call you.

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If you aren't havin' fun, why bother doin' it?
 
The Polaris dealer in Yuma, AZ (about 5 weeks ago) told me that they are making a lot of the Polaris 500s street legal. According to him all that is needed is a horn. They already have the foot brake, brake light. He also stated that they did not need a windscreen to become street legal.
In 1991 I bought a Suzuki King Quad and took it from Alabama to southeastern Ca. I was never able to call in any coyotes using the Suzuki as transportation. In my opinion there are so many people on motorbikes, dune buggies, quads, three wheelers and such in the area that when the coyote hears one coming he runs the other direction and will not return no matter how delicious the sound of the call is.
 
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