Any harm in riding your ATV/side by side into the woods?
- Thread starter Bushape
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Volbuck777
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Where I live in East Tennessee these deer are the most nervous herd of deer I've seen. They won't eat out of feeders, they won't move much in daylight, when I do see them they are mainly running or going somewhere in a hurry. I'd never use anything with a motor around here. But I've had leases in middle and west Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky and I wouldn't think twice about it on those properties. I think the biggest thing is pressure and how familiar they are with the smells and noise of the machine.
I wouldn't worry about it. They will tolerate an ATV more than they will you walking in on them.
The land I hunt you will not see a deer
If you use an ATV to get in. That being said I believe it is what they get use to. We never ride ATV's there. So that is something out of the ordinary.
If you use an ATV to get in. That being said I believe it is what they get use to. We never ride ATV's there. So that is something out of the ordinary.
It doesn't seem to bother deer on our property. I've ridden by deer in greenfields many times that didn't spook as long as you did not stop.
The machines sound like an echo chamber at my place in the head of a deep hollow, and deer stay away. From my back porch I have a 400ft climb to reach the ridge top. Once there it's pretty easy hiking to any of my spots, but getting up there is a sweaty mess no matter the weather. I've tried taking my machines up but when I do, the deer are non-existent. I'm really considering an electric bike.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I think a lot of deer reaction to vehicle traffic is dependent on how and when they hear this activity. On properties where ATVs are a near daily occurrence year-round, deer pay little attention to them. On properties where ATVs only invade the woods during deer season, deer become highly leery of them.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
And, for most hunters, when they ride their ATVs into the woods, it is in fact mostly just during deer season?
With my deer hunting experiences in TN, generally speaking (rare exception), ATVs are the scourge of the earth. I use them sometimes (actually rarely) to retrieve a deer, year-round on a limited basis, but generally NOT to ride into a hunting area during deer season, or soon before.
But deer can get acclimated to almost anything, especially when it's a daily or near continuance occurrence.
A great example is a farmer's tractor used daily to deliver hay to a cattle feeding station. Another is highway traffic, as some local deer will acclimate to that noise, aroma, and visual, often choosing to bed all day within 75 yds of a major road. After all, how many hunters want to hunt near a highway?
I'm lucky to not have to ride a 4 wheeler or sxs in on my property the way it's laid out. I used to hunt a place that I would drive my truck or 4 wheeler in about half way. It was 180 acres but I really only hunted maybe 60 acres of it. The rest was wide open cow pasture with rolling hills and you would have to walk your tail off to get to the back to hunt. It had so many rolling hills you could park at the bottom of one and be just fine. Even one you could drive down and park and walk about 100 yards to the stand and they never knew anything was around.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
This exactly.
A 4 wheeler can be the worst thing ever if used on a property only during deer season. The same 4 wheeler if used regularly throughout the year won't bother the deer a bit. On my farms, deer are terrified of 4 wheelers and clear the fields before you even get to them. But drive into a field in a truck (they are used to trucks checking the cattle) and they will just watch you and not run off (unless you stop and open the door). Ive shot a bunch of nice bucks just parking my truck in a field and hunting from the bed with the rifle set up on the cab. Had deer come to within 10 yards of the parked truck as long as they are upwind and don't smell me.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
If they are accustomed to it (year-round use), it won't bother them. If the area is voided of atv's all year and all of a sudden atv's are being driven through the woods, you better believe they will run at the fist sound of it firing up.
huntintn
Well-Known Member
Year I found out I had leukemia I hunted off a 4-wheeler, ride in shut it off and hunt from it. Killed 14 that year one being a 5.5 year old buck.
I used to drive my side x side down a levee for a little over 1/4 mile, I would park in some high grass at the end, then walk from there. I started walking that levee then on to my tree. I started seeing older mature deer slipping in without driving the UTV in. My place may be different from yours. As someone said, it's what they are used to. But, you could be pushing an older mature deer out and not know it. Just saying.
I have been using a ATV to access our hunting property since 1988. Before then it was a old CJ-5 Jeep. It is a very large tract of mountain property, but I usually don't ride in to where I hunt no closer than 1/4 mile. I would never be able to get the deer out without my ATV. I do think ATVs do educate the deer for the most part. If I hunt farm land I wouldn't use one, except to retrieve a downed deer.
RobDooley
Well-Known Member
I lease a working farm. Farm hands are routinely on a four wheeler. If I use mine to go hunt (rare occasions) I'm more concerned with the scent. I have an old pair of coveralls just for this and I spray down with no scent.
Sold my ATV and bought an eBike last December. Spent a lot of time in the woods post season scouting. This eBike is so quiet I had deer stand and watch me ride by them. Even got within 75 yds of a Coyote before he heard me and ran. Lots of hunters ride these to their stands and just throw a camp net over them. I'm not sure I can make myself go that far, but if you have any issues keeping you from walking 1/4-1/2 mile to your stand this is definitely a solution. I would love to brag about the abilities of this eBike but that's not what this thread is about, so suffice it to say it's a solution to getting close to your stand in stealth mode!
I agree I live and hunt East Tn there is not the deer here as once but they are nervous as all get out! I drive in as close as I can because here it almost always straight up in and out! Then walk in!
I've heard a lot of good things about them, but haven't quite convinced myself to part with the cash yet. This might just be the year!
BSK
Well-Known Member
I used to be very anti-ATV/UTV for hunting, because of what I've seen on big clubs that allow hunters to ride ATV right to their stands. Some even build tower stands with covered ATV "garages" underneath the stand. In those instances, I've watched as deer quickly cleared food plots as soon as they heard an ATV being fired up, often a LONG distance away. However, I also have the experiences generated from 30+ years of running trail-cameras and 21 years of running trail-camera censuses. It didn't take long to learn that the fastest way to kill a camera site was to walk to it frequently. All that human scent going to and from the spot, and concentrated around the camera itself, really shuts down older deer activity in the area.
So you have deer that become highly sensitive to ATV traffic when that traffic is associated with hunting, and yet constantly walking to a stand can shut down deer activity in the area as well. What's the answer, walk or ride? I really don't know. Once I began using video mode on trail cameras I learned some really valuable information. Over and over I got video clips of deer suddenly snapping their heads up and looking off in a particular direction, then rapidly leaving the area. The next video is me pulling up on my ATV to check the camera (I only place cameras where I can drive an ATV right to the camera. This reduces scent left on the ground). Checking the time stamps, the videos invariably will be less than a minute apart. The video of the deer reacting is proof the deer are hearing me coming on my ATV and getting out of the area. So even though I ride an ATV around the property regularly, all year, deer are still reacting negatively to an approaching ATV. However, what is most interesting is that the same deer that ran away from the approaching ATV are often right back in front of the camera 5 minutes after I leave.
So which is the best practice? Walk long distances to your stand and lay down scent that reduces deer traffic in the area, or ride closer on an ATV that certainly spooks deer, at least temporarily? Now I would never practice nor recommend driving an ATV right to the stand. On the other hand, walking long distances to stands is probably not the best practice either. I really don't know where the "inflection point" is between the two practices.
So you have deer that become highly sensitive to ATV traffic when that traffic is associated with hunting, and yet constantly walking to a stand can shut down deer activity in the area as well. What's the answer, walk or ride? I really don't know. Once I began using video mode on trail cameras I learned some really valuable information. Over and over I got video clips of deer suddenly snapping their heads up and looking off in a particular direction, then rapidly leaving the area. The next video is me pulling up on my ATV to check the camera (I only place cameras where I can drive an ATV right to the camera. This reduces scent left on the ground). Checking the time stamps, the videos invariably will be less than a minute apart. The video of the deer reacting is proof the deer are hearing me coming on my ATV and getting out of the area. So even though I ride an ATV around the property regularly, all year, deer are still reacting negatively to an approaching ATV. However, what is most interesting is that the same deer that ran away from the approaching ATV are often right back in front of the camera 5 minutes after I leave.
So which is the best practice? Walk long distances to your stand and lay down scent that reduces deer traffic in the area, or ride closer on an ATV that certainly spooks deer, at least temporarily? Now I would never practice nor recommend driving an ATV right to the stand. On the other hand, walking long distances to stands is probably not the best practice either. I really don't know where the "inflection point" is between the two practices.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Actually, the ideal scenario is to have someone drop you off right at the stand in a vehicle/ atv, then have them pick you up at the stand after dark. That way, the vehicle pushes off the deer rather than having the deer spooked by you climbing down out of the stand. at, do this on some of our larger fields with airtight shoot houses, and deer continue to use the fields and it takes much longer for them to learn to avoid the shoot houses.
bobbuck
Well-Known Member
Very good information here. Thank you for sharing this with us.
The one thing I did like about walking in was a lot of times you knew when you bumped deer and where they were bedded and how they escaped. Riding on an Atv you do not get all of that Intel unless you actually see the deer moving. When walking you can hear what's happening in the woods.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Agree with this completely.
My property is a series of long, narrow meandering ridges, with roads along the crest of each ridge. Going to the stand often means several people in a UTV being dropped off in a string along the road, close to their stand, with the person going to the farthest stand being the driver and parking at least 100 yards from their stand. The UTV going along the road definitely spooks deer, but as hunters are dropped off and the UTV continues on, deer seem to relax once the UTV is out of sight/earshot.
I definitely agree; however, how often do you have this luxury? I've only had one time in 45 years of hunting (that I can remember) where I had this luxury, and I was able to take advantage of it almost all season. My brother hunted almost every time I did and he was a couple miles past where I broke off to my stand. It was about a 200 yard walk from the ATV trail, so he would drop me off quickly and keep on going. I could still hear him in the distance as I was climbing my tree. I also kept the last 100 yds raked free of any leaves or rocks, so I could hurry up and get in the tree under the diminishing noise of his ATV and not make a sound. Oh my does that work like a charm. To this day it's been about the best deer stand I've hunted taking 3 wall hangers over 2 years. The biggest came one morning when it was so dark it had to get within 15 yards before I could tell it was my target buck, and that couldn't have been but 15-20 minutes after my brother dropped me off. Yes sir that definitely works when it's available. Having said all that, about 10 years ago I took up the habit of keeping a trail raked out about 100 yards from my stands. I keep the rake in the woods and will touch it up in the middle of the day (when needed) coming out from the hunt. It's one of the best ideas I've ever had...that worked. Last year I took a 125" and 132" (at separate leases) with a bow, both which made the TN Deer Registry, and both stands I had a trail raked probably two weeks before taking either one. I also wear moccasins to my stands and then slip on boot blankets if needed. Between the moccasins and my raked trail, I can't even hear myself walking. The raked trail doesn't spoke the deer, and in fact many times deer walking through will turn and walk down the raked trail for a ways before moving along. The drawback is it gives away your hunting spot to other hunters, so you obviously wouldn't want to do this on public land.
What if you purposely began taking the hard road? Go down a steep ravine and up the other side, instead of going around. Or walk inside a creek bed, even if it means wearing waders. By making a conscious effort to stay away from where deer typically travel, wouldn't it be logical that they won't avoid you because they likely didn't encounter your trail?
BSK
Well-Known Member
I blow close to a mile of leaves every year. All the way from my house to every one of my 10 stands. Not only makes it super easy to get in and out in the dark while still being able to hear deer in the woods, but also keeps me from having to take guests all the way to their stands. "Just follow this trail until it stops at the base of the stand," is all it takes to get them there. And no lights, at all. I can walk my leaf-cleared trails in the pitch black. Love, love, love hunting this way.
BSK
Well-Known Member
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
One of my frequent "solutions" is to slip into a stand, actually be on stand about an hour before dawn. For whatever reasons, deer are not "spooked" as much by any movement or sounds made over an hour before dawn.
I then stay on stand all day.
So only coming & going under the cover of darkness.
The biggest single advantage to this tactic is that I don't spook deer coming into a stand location for an afternoon hunt. Plus, being on stand all day generally means more opportunity compared to not.
Most would be surprised, BSK might not even believe, how many mature bucks will just suddenly decide to take a mid-day long linear jaunt, often covering several hundred yards, yet they had been mainly bedded, holding tight within a very small "spot" since before dawn. If you don't stay on stand all day, you never experience this, and rarely would most trail cams pick it up, as these bucks are mainly just scent checking for an estrous doe, often not walking up to a scrape, but scent checking from 25-50 yards downwind.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Ha! I've always said we see very little midday movement of older bucks, simply because we never got pictures of older bucks moving between 10 AM and 2 PM. However, that really changed last year, and I have no idea why. We've been hunting mornings and evenings forever, and deer never adjusted their movement patterns to midday (although they CERTAINLY adjust to moving at night to avoid us). As hunters, we're generally out of the woods by 10 AM. This last season, I got a disturbing number of pictures/videos of older to mature bucks moving between 10:30 and 11:30 AM, just after we had left our stands. Again, I don't know why. Deer suddenly adjusting to our hunting pressure early and late? Possible, but why did it take 30 years for that to happen? Most likely due to the near total acorn failure we experienced last year. Deer had to move more and farther to find food.
But even if this move to more midday movement is permanent, would we adjust our hunting times? Nope. At this point in our hunting careers, hunting is far more about enjoying the experience rather than what we kill. And for me at least, anything longer than a 3 1/2 hour sit is true torture, and not enjoyable.
