Do you ride your atv to your stand or walk ?

[rob-c]

I am having a dilemma, all the years of hunting I have walked and only used the quad to drag deer out in the last 5-6 years ( bad back ). But this year setting up stands we noticed on our lease that we have been on 3 yrs now that the deer paid no attention to our quads. The farmer is on the property a bunch and the owner cuts trees and does some log skidding in the off season we spray the trails with a sprayer on the back of a quad also.so there is quit a bit of activity on the lease. So thinking about using the quad to drop my son and wife off at there stands then riding to mine and parking it 100 yards or so away from mine. Walking in we always see deer, so for those that have done both what's your opinion? I am leaning towards trying it to see .

[bugsNbows]

Generally I walk in ... and use the quads to extract downed deer. If I'm going way over towards the State woods, I may drive part way and park along a hedgerow. Then I hoof it the rest of the way.

[YFKI1983]

Try it... See how it goes. I know people who ride to their stands. Just don't know how good it would be if there are too many. 3 or 4 quads on a small lot can get loud

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[NYBowhunter]

Last year i drove my UTV up my mountain, parked it 50 yards from my stand.  Walked to the stand and as put my foot on the first rung of the ladder stand i turn around and there is a big doe below me about 100 yards. Shot her got the UTV and took her out. Fastest hunt ever. If they are use to machines it really doesnt bother them, if you get too close with the machine they may run off a bit, but will usually stop to look back.

[NYBowhunter]

But to be honest i usually just walk in and use the UTV to take game out. 

[Nomad]

Don't own one or a truck for that matter.

Ive seen both good and bad. I've sat in a stand as a friend who lives by my spot drives his ATV towards the thick stuff, park it and start to walk the last bit .

I d call him and say forget it as soon as you got close a herd of deer ran out the other side . That was common on my spot.

Then I've been on the back of one as we drove past deer standing on the side of a hill a few yards away, this was a different spot .

[genesee_mohican]

I don't own a large tract of land to hunt, but even if I did, I would still walk to my stand just because I like to enjoy the quiet of the woods and like see the sites in and out of the woods.  With that said, some of my stands are 2 miles off the road, and it sure would be nice to take a quad ride at least half way.

[growalot]

walk always.

that said, when my knee was in really bad  shape and we first got the Gator I would drive to our lower drive and park the Gator about 20 yrds in. I did this one afternoon and as I stepped away from the Gator, after I had got my gear together and my harness on,I. Nearly stepped on a doe 5 yrds  away in the brush. Another time I had deer let me walk by before popping up and running.

Edited August 31, 2017 by growalot

[Jeremy K]

We drive the big red up the hill to check cameras and my buddy uses it to cut firewood ,they don't seem spooked by it driving by but parking it might be different .

[Five Seasons]

these stories are like the guy who talks about wearing his work jeans and boots and smoking a cig in the stand when he dropped his 10 point. it can always work if the conditions are right. but...

I subscribe to doing everything you can to improve your odds. Driving an atv to the stand does not improve your odds. If you had to compromise i would drive it to a certain distance outside of your hunting area as long as its not disturbing travel or bedding areas. 

[Steuben Jerry]

I'm fortunate to live where I hunt, and am on the property a lot with a quad and tractor almost all year round. They never get spooked by the machines like they do when I'm on foot.

I get a little lazy by the end of rifle/muzzleloader and usually take the quad at least half way in and once in a great while, right up to the stand. It's more likely that I do that for the afternoon watch and I try to not ride in the morning. All that said, these are mostly younger deer and I would think the wise old bucks don't tolerate much unless they're in the thick of the rut.

When I do ride in and see deer, I frequently wonder if that big old buck that I'm targeting blew out of there when he heard the engine coming. We're on top of a hill and sound carries. I can hear quads running a mile away. 

[fasteddie]

I leave the ATV on the trailer and walk 3/4 mile to a stand . I'll be 76 next week and starting to slow down . When I get a deer , it's the same walk back to the trailer to get the ATV and return . Still waiting for the GVHC to cut the 5' high grass in the Pond Field so I will have a trail to ride on .

[stoneam2006]

I ride quad to a few hundred yards from stand and walk the rest.

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[Pygmy]

I drive my pickup, which is much quieter than a quad,  to within about 300 yards of my stand and walk the rest of the way...

Most of my deer the last few years have dropped in a field  or close to a woods road where I can pull up with the truck and slide them up into the bed.. If they drop where I can't use the truck, I have a Ford 9N to drag them out with...My days of dragging deer more than a few yards at over...hehehehe...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

50 minutes ago, Belo said:

these stories are like the guy who talks about wearing his work jeans and boots and smoking a cig in the stand when he dropped his 10 point. it can always work if the conditions are right. but...

I subscribe to doing everything you can to improve your odds. Driving an atv to the stand does not improve your odds. If you had to compromise i would drive it to a certain distance outside of your hunting area as long as its not disturbing travel or bedding areas. 

During bow season when I am trying to get in an evening hunt  and the days are gettign shorter  I ride mine about half way in and actually use it as a deterrent for deer to enter the big field. They don't like seeing it parked in the open field and by taking it half way it extends my ability to get that half hour hunt in. 

[BigMedicine]

I ride part way, usually park 800-1000 yards away from my stand.

[land 1]

Ive found that if they hear and see the wheeler on some what regular basis they dont seem to mind, i take mine about 3/4 of the way in and park it. Just last week i was doing work and got off and several deer jumped out 20yrds away no doubt if i just kept going they would have stayed bedded. Now if your never in the woods with iit and suddenly open day comes and this new noise and activity starts they get alerted and may spook out. Either way if the deer are within a couple of hundred yards the deer more then likely will hear you walking or riding unless you have a super stelth way of walking in , backdoor or creek bottom  .

[Buckmaster7600]

At home I could fill every tag we get without getting of my wheeler "if legal." There are a few stands that I hunt that I will not walk to/from I have my wife or brother drop me off and pick me up on the wheeler because it just doesn't bother them but if I was walking out across the field they would all bust.

Other than that I walk not because I couldn't kill everyone of my deer with a wheeler at the bottom of my stand but because I like walking.


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[BizCT]

Always walk. Even a few miles is nothing in the dark when you are walking slow. No need for ATV unless a deer is dead.


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[thphtm]

At 76 years old with  COPD  I drive to my stand, does not bother the deer , I have had them walk up within 15 ' of my blind with the atv parked outside of it. Could be because I am either on it or my tractor riding around the property year round. 

[Five Seasons]

another part to this discussion is what may not bother "deer", still might bother that mature 3.5 you're after. It all depends on your goals of course, but just saying that if a doe of 1.5 hangs around your wheeler it doesn't mean a booner will too.

[land 1]

True about the bigger bucks but at the same time ive looked out the cabin window while we are all being loud music playing and there stands a nice buck of course its after dark.... Too each there own, do what you thinks works,

[grampy]

There is always a tractor or wheeler running on our farm property. The deer are used to it. They will stand or be bedded down only a few yards away as you just putt by them, and occasionally we even see good bucks, coming in or out in the dark. Just putt by and don't stop or raise the motor RPM's. If they see you walking though, they will be gone hundeds of yards before you even get to them. We never park closer than 500 yards from where we hunt. And always park on a field edge, in tall grass, or hedgerow, as most all our stands are in woods or thicker areas. But my lake property is entirely different.  It's a huge funnel on a side ridge. We ALWAYS walk into our set ups over there. It really does all come down to what the local deer are conditioned to seeing and hearing on a given property. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

49 minutes ago, Belo said:

another part to this discussion is what may not bother "deer", still might bother that mature 3.5 you're after. It all depends on your goals of course, but just saying that if a doe of 1.5 hangs around your wheeler it doesn't mean a booner will too.

The problem we have with deer or especially mature deer is we usually never know the actions we take that have them avoid us in a given situation becasue we don't see their reaction. On on property I hunt it is pretty small and three stands can see to each other but it is thick. I have seen mature deer react to friends in the other stand and they didn't even know the deer were near them. 

Edited August 31, 2017 by Culvercreek hunt club

[Fletch]

I like to walk and I am in the group that while deer can get used to it and not get rattled I am not betting all mature bucks reacts the same.


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